The Fall of British Tyranny; Or, American Liberty Triumphant

Transcriber's Note:
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Searching the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, I discovered no less than three John Leacocks mentioned, all of whom were Coroners, as well as a Joseph Leacock, who occupied the same position. Examining the Records of the Pennsylvania Soldiers of the Revolution, I found several John Leacocks in the ranks as privates, and also one John Laycock.
Professor Moses Coit Tyler, in his Literary History of the American Revolution (ii, 198), giving a list of the characters in the play and the names of those supposed to be lampooned, analyzes the piece thoroughly, and says, From internal evidence, it must be inferred that the writing of the play was finished after the publication of 'Common Sense' in January, 1776, and before the news had reached Philadelphia of the evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776. Though Sabin takes for granted that Leacock wrote The Fall of British Tyranny, Hildeburn, in the Issues of the Press (ii, 249), states that it is said to have been written by Mr. Laycock of Philadelphia. If the John Leacock, whose name appears in the Philadelphia Directory of 1802, is the one who wrote The Fall of British Tyranny, following that clue we find his name disappearing from the Directory in 1804. Hence, he must either have died, or have moved away from Philadelphia.
The reason why this piece is attributed to Colonel Thomas Forrest is that there is a memorandum in substantiation on the title-page of a copy owned by the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Mr. Sonneck gives further and more extensive treatment of the subject in his excellent book on Early Opera in America, (Schirmer, 1915) as well as in Sammelbände der Internationale Musik Gesellschaft, for 1914-1915.
We mention the matter here, because, although Sonneck enters into a long discussion of the life of Forrest, he fails to give any satisfactory account of John Leacock. In fact, he says in closing, If Andrew Barton, Esq., is to be a pseudonym, it seems to me that John Leacock, claimed (by Mr. Hildeburn) to have written the tragi-comedy of 'The Fall of British Tyranny,' should not be cast aside so cheerfully in favour of Thomas Forrest.