_THE WHITEFRIARS LIBRARY OF WIT AND HUMOUR._ EDITED BY W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. "_Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum._" HORACE. "_We shall spare no pains to make instruction agreeable to our readers and their diversion useful. For which reasons we shall endeavour to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality, that our readers may, if possible, both ways find their account in the speculation of the day._" ADDISON (adapted). A BOOK OF BURLESQUE Sketches OF _ENGLISH STAGE TRAVESTIE AND PARODY_ BY WILLIAM DAVENPORT ADAMS _Author of "A Dictionary of English Literature," "Rambles in Book-Land" etc., etc._ _WITH PORTRAITS OF F. C. BURNAND, W. S. GILBERT, AND G. R. SIMS_ LONDON HENRY AND CO., BOUVERIE STREET, E.C. 1891 The Whitefriars Library of Wit and Humour. _Vol. I._ _ESSAYS IN LITTLE._ By ANDREW LANG. [_Seventh Thousand._ _Vol. II._ _SAWN OFF: A Tale of a Family Tree._ By G. MANVILLE FENN. [_Fourth Thousand._ _Vol. III._ _A LITTLE IRISH GIRL._ By the Author of "Molly Bawn." [_Ready._ _Vol. IV._ _THREE WEEKS AT MOPETOWN._ By PERCY FITZGERALD. [_Ready._ _Vol. V._ _A BOOK OF BURLESQUE._ By WILLIAM DAVENPORT ADAMS. [_Ready._ Vol. VI. _IN A CANADIAN CANOE._ By BARRY O. E. PAIN, B.A. [_July._ PREFACE. In the pages that follow, I make no attempt to supply a consecutive and comprehensive history of English stage travestie. This would have been impossible within the limits assigned to me. My object has been simply to furnish an introduction to such a history, supplemented by sketches of the various groups into which English stage burlesques naturally fall, with such extracts as might serve to exhibit the respective methods of individual travestie-writers. My business has been with the literary rather than the histrionic side of burlesque--with the witty and humorous, rather than the purely theatrical, features of the subject with which I had to deal. At the same time, I hope that the details I have been able to give concerning dates, and "casts," and so on, may be useful to at least a large section of my readers. * * * * * I ought to say that, while I have endeavoured to mention all the most representative burlesques of which our stage history keeps record, I have intentionally left outside of my scheme all "extravaganzas," "bouffoneries musicales," and other such miscellaneous varieties of comic literature,--confining myself to definite and deliberate travesties of subjects previously existent. * * * * * I have to thank more than one kind friend for information and material supplied, and more than one living writer of burlesque for the opportunity of consulting his "prompt books" and thus quoting from unpublished work. DAVENPORT ADAMS, JUN.