



Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed
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 THE
 RECRUITING OFFICER,

 A COMEDY,
 IN FIVE ACTS;

 BY GEORGE FARQUHAR, ESQ.


 AS PERFORMED AT THE
 THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN.
 PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS
 FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.


 WITH REMARKS

 BY MRS. INCHBALD.


 LONDON:

 PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME
 PATERNOSTER ROW.




 WILLIAM SAVAGE, PRINTER,
 LONDON.




REMARKS.


If the two last acts of this drama were equal to the three first, it
would rank the foremost among Farquhar's works; for these are brilliant
in wit, humour, character, incident, and every other requisite necessary
to form a complete comedy. But the decrease of merit in a play, on
approaching its conclusion, is, as in all other productions, of most
unfortunate consequence.

The author was himself a recruiting officer, and possibly gathered all
the materials for this play on the very spot where he has placed his
scene--Shrewsbury. He has dedicated the piece "to all friends round the
Wrekin," and has thanked the inhabitants of the town for that cheerful
hospitality, which made, he adds, "the recruiting service, to some men
the greatest fatigue on earth, to me the greatest pleasure in the
world."

He even acknowledges, that he found the country folk, whom he has here
introduced--meaning those most excellently drawn characters of Rose, her
brother, and the two recruits,--under the shade of that beforementioned
hill near Shrewsbury, the Wrekin; and it may be well supposed, that he
discovered Serjeant Kite in his own Regiment, and Captain Plume in his
own person. Certainly those characters have every appearance of being
copied from life--and probably, many other of his Salopian acquaintance
have here had their portraits drawn to perfection.

The disguise of Sylvia in boy's clothes, is an improbable, and romantic
occurrence; yet it is one of those dramatic events, which were considered
as perfectly natural in former times; although neither history, nor
tradition, gives any cause to suppose, that the English ladies were
accustomed to attire themselves in man's apparel; and reason assures
us, that they could seldom, if ever, have concealed their sex by such
stratagem.

Another incident in the "Recruiting Officer" might have had its value a
hundred years ago--just the time since the play was first acted; but to
the present generation, it is so dull, that it casts a heaviness upon
all those scenes, whereon it has any influence. Fortune-tellers are now
a set of personages, in whom, and in whose skill or fraud, no rational
person takes interest; and though such people still exist by their
profession, they are so vile, they are beneath satire; and their dupes
such ideots, they do not even enjoy sense enough, for their folly to
produce risibility.

Perhaps, the author despised this part of his play, as much as the
severest critic can do; but having expended his store of entertainment
upon the foregoing scenes, he was compelled to supply the bulk of the
two last acts, from the scanty fund of wasted spirits, and exhausted
invention.

The life of Farquhar was full of adventures.--As a student, he was
expelled the college of Dublin, for adventuring profane wit upon a
sacred theme, given to him by his tutor for his exercise.

As an actor, he forsook the stage in grief and horror, on having
unknowingly made use of a real sword, instead of a counterfeit one, by
which he wounded a brother performer, with whom he had to fence in a
tragedy, nearly to the loss of his life.

In love, and marriage, his enterprises were still more unhappily
terminated.--And merely as an author, and a soldier, can any events
of his life be accounted prosperous.

As a dramatic writer, Farquhar was eminently successful; and in his
military capacity, he was ever honoured and beloved--whether fighting
with a great army in Flanders, or recruiting with a small party in
Shropshire.




DRAMATIS PERSONAE.


 CAPTAIN PLUME          _Mr. Holman._
 JUSTICE BALANCE        _Mr. Murray._
 WORTHY                 _Mr. Whitfield._
 SERJEANT KITE          _Mr. Knight._
 BULLOCK                _Mr. Fawcett._
 FIRST RECRUIT          _Mr. Munden._
 SECOND RECRUIT         _Mr. Emery._
 WELSH COLLIER          _Mr. Farley._
 CONSTABLE              _Mr. Thompson