The Contrast
Produced by Judith Boss
The Contrast
Royall Tyler
A Comedy
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THOMAS J. McKEE
A comedy called the 'Mercenary Match,' by one Barnabas Bidwell, is said to have been performed by the students at Yale College, under the auspices of the Rev. Dr. Ezra Styles, President of the College. Dunlap speaks of having heard it read, but does not mention whether it was from a manuscript or printed copy. It was printed at New Haven in 1785. The 'Contrast,' however, was the first to meet successfully the critical judgment and approval of a professional manager. This fact alone should redeem it from the neglect and inattention it has heretofore met with. Besides, it possesses considerable intrinsic merit, and as an acting play will compare favorably with many of the English comedies of the period; and though, perhaps, meager in plot and incident, it is bright, humorous, and natural; the dialogue is sparkling with genuine wit; and its satire aimed at the evils and follies of the time is keen and incisive. The contrast between the plain and simple honesty of purpose and breeding of our American home life and the tinseled though polished hypocrisy and knavery of foreign fashionable society is finely delineated, and no doubt suggested the name of the play. Thoroughly natural in its plan and characters, it was a bold venture of a young writer in a new literary domain.
The character of Jonathan is a thoroughly original conception; nothing of the typical Yankee, since so familiar and popular, had as yet appeared, either on the stage or in print.
Royall Tyler, the author of the 'Contrast,' was born at Boston, Mass., July 18, 1758, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families of New England. He received his early education at the Latin School, in his native city, graduated at Harvard, and during the Revolutionary War, and afterward in Shay's Rebellion, acted as aid-de-camp with the rank of Major on the staff of General Benjamin Lincoln. It was owing to the latter event that he came to New-York, being sent here by Governor Bowdoin on a diplomatic mission with reference to the capture of Shay, who had crossed the border line from Massachusetts into this State. This was the first time that Tyler had left his native New England, and the first time he could have seen the inside of a regular theater, thus confirming the statements made in the preface of the play as to the author's inexperience in the rules of the drama, and as to the short time within which it was written, as his arrival in New-York was within but a few weeks of its first performance.
Royall Tyler
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THE CONTRAST
PROLOGUE
SERVANTS
ACT I.
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
SERVANT.
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
SCENE II.
MARIA
MARIA
MARIA
MARIA
MARIA
MARIA
MARIA
MARIA
SERVANT.
ACT II. SCENE I.
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
SERVANT.
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
SCENE II. The Mall.
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
ACT III. SCENE I.
DIMPLE
JESSAMY
DIMPLE
JESSAMY
DIMPLE
JESSAMY
DIMPLE
JESSAMY
DIMPLE
JESSAMY
DIMPLE
JESSAMY
JESSAMY
JESSAMY
JESSAMY
JESSAMY
JESSAMY
JESSAMY
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
SCENE II. The Mall.
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
ACT IV. SCENE I.
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
MARIA
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
MANLY
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
SCENE II.
MANLY
MARIA
MANLY
MARIA
MANLY
MARIA
MANLY
MARIA
MANLY
MARIA
MANLY
MARIA
ACT V. SCENE I.
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JEREMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
JONATHAN
JESSAMY
SCENE II.
MANLY
LETITIA
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
DIMPLE
LETITIA
CHARLOTTE
LETITIA
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
CHARLOTTE
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
JONATHAN
MANLY
JONATHAN
MANLY
DIMPLE
LETITIA
JONATHAN
LETITIA
JONATHAN
DIMPLE
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
MANLY
DIMPLE
DIMPLE
MARIA
LETITIA
MANLY
MANLY
MARIA
MANLY
MARIA
CHARLOTTE
MARIA
MANLY
CHARLOTTE
MANLY
NOTES.