iii
Prologue to the Camp. Written by Richard Tickell, Esq.
This entry is from The London Chronicle, 23 October 1778. Though printed in several magazines at the time of the production, the Prologue seems first to have accompanied the text of the play in John Murray’s edition of Sheridan’s Works, 1821, II, 161-162.
The Camp, “a musical entertainment,” was first performed 15 October 1778, at Drury Lane Theatre; it was first printed, without publisher’s name, London, 1795. Sheridan’s authorship was universally accepted by the press of the time and in the early biographical notices of Sheridan; see R. Crompton Rhodes’ edition of Sheridan’s Plays and Poems, New York, 1929, II, 271. The first to question it was Tate Wilkinson, who asserted that Sheridan “never wrote a line” of this “catchpenny for the time” (The Wandering Patentee, York, 1795, IV, 124). Later, Thomas Moore likewise thought The Camp “unworthy” of Sheridan’s genius and declared, on the evidence of a rough copy in Tickell’s hand, that Tickell was the author (Sheridan, 2nd ed., 1825, I, 264). Following Moore, some editors have omitted it from editions of Sheridan. Library catalogues and recent bibliographies, apparently following Walter Sichel (Sheridan, I, 443), whose statements on these matters are sometimes merely conjectures, generally assign The Camp to Tickell as “revised” by Sheridan.
A rough copy in Tickell’s hand is very inconclusive evidence of his authorship. In view of known “catchpenny” work by Sheridan, the alleged inferiority of The Camp is still less conclusive. Tickell may of course have contributed to the dialogue, as he later did in many of the Drury Lane productions. But there are no adequate grounds for denying the contemporary attribution to Sheridan.
iv
Anticipation: Containing the Substance of His M⸺y’s Most Gracious Speech to both H⸺s of P⸺l⸺t, on the Opening of the approaching Session, together With a full and authentic Account of the Debate which will take Place in the H⸺e of C⸺s, on the Motion for the Address, and the Amendment. With Notes. “So shall my Anticipation Prevent your Discovery.” Hamlet. London: Printed for T. Becket, the Corner of the Adelphi, in the Strand. 1778.
8vo. P. , half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [v]-vi, “Advertisement”; p. [vii], “The Gentlemen trading to the East-Indies ...,” verso blank; pp. [1]-74, text. (The last leaf of the text is signed L, and it is likely that a blank leaf should follow as the conjugate. In all the copies I have seen and in all but one of those consulted for me by librarians, this final leaf is wanting. Miss Anne S. Pratt reports a copy in the Mason-Franklin Collection at Yale that, though closely bound, appears to have been issued with this final blank leaf.)
Copies: BA, BP, C, HC, HEH, JCB, NEWB, NYP, WLC, YU. Sabin #95788.
Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Editions, Becket, 1778. Also a variant “Second Edition,” with the same imprint and date but with a different number of blanks in the words containing deleted letters in the title and with different collation: p. , title, verso blank; pp. [iii]-iv, “Advertisement”; pp. [5]-67, text; p. [68], blank. Tenth Edition, Becket, 1780. A New Edition, Becket, 1794. Dublin: Byrn and Son, 1778. Philadelphia: T. Bradford, 1779; called “The Sixth Edition.” New York: James Rivington, 1779 (no copy traced; announced as published in Rivington’s Royal Gazette, 17 March). Reprinted in The Pamphleteer; Dedicated to Both Houses of Parliament, A. J. Valpy, XIX, 1822, [309]-345.