PARKE, JOHN
John Parke was born in Delaware about 1750. At the commencement of the Revolution he entered the American Army and was attached to Washington's Division. After the war he was for some time in Philadelphia, and was last heard of in Arundel County, Va. A number of the pieces in his book are dated at camp in the neighborhood of Boston, at Valley Forge and other places.
Virginia. A Pastoral Drama, on the Birth Day of an Illustrious Personage and the Return of Peace, February 11, 1784 [4 lines of poetry in Latin].
Published in a volume of poems entitled The Lyric Works of Horace, etc. Printed by Eleazer Oswald, at the Coffee-House, 1786.
Another edition. Philadelphia: Eleazer Baldwin. 8vo, pp. 14, 1789.
This is probably the first attempt to celebrate Washington's Birthday.
PAULDING, JAMES K.
James Kirke Paulding, born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess Co., N. Y., August 22, 1779, died in Hyde Park, in the same county, April 6, 1860, was associated with Washington Irving in literary work on Salmagundi. A paper on political affairs from Paulding's pen led to his appointment by President Madison as Secretary of the Navy Commission in Washington. He was Agent of the Navy at New York, 1825, and Secretary of the Navy under Van Buren.
The Bucktails; or, Americans in England. A Comedy, written shortly after the conclusion of the War of 1812.
This play was published in a volume entitled American Comedies, by W. I. Paulding, Author; Carey & Hart, Publishers. Philadelphia, 1847.
PAYNE, JOHN HOWARD
John Howard Payne, born in New York City, June 9, 1791, died in Tunis, Africa, April 9, 1852, was an actor and journalist. In early life he removed to Easthampton, L. I., where the greater part of his childhood was passed. He played in a number of amateur performances, and made his début as an actor at the Park Theatre, New York City, February 24, 1809, as Young Norval. He made his literary début by contributing to The Fly, a juvenile paper published by Woodworth. He soon after published a little paper called The Thespian Mirror, which had a short existence.
After playing in a number of American cities he went to England in 1813, where his success as an actor and dramatist was very great. His first appearance was at Drury Lane Theatre, June 4, 1813, as Norval. He also started a periodical in London called the Opera Glass.
He returned to America in 1832 and contributed to the Democratic Review and other periodicals. Soon afterward (1841) he was appointed United States Consul at Tunis, where he died.