The piece was given by Hackett, at the Park Theatre, New York, on August 22, 1830, and Sol Smith, in his “Theatrical Management in the West and South,” declares, “I should despair of finding a man or woman in an audience of five hundred, who could hear [his] utterance of five words in the second act, ‘But she was mine vrow’ without experiencing some moisture in the eyes.” While the _Galaxy_, in a later year, for February, 1868, states: “His _Rip Van Winkle_ is far nearer the ordinary conception of the good-for-nothing Dutchman than Mr. Jefferson’s, whose performance is praised so much for its naturalness.” The statement, by Oliver Bell Bunce, is followed by this stricture against Jefferson: “Jefferson, indeed, is a good example of our modern art. His naturalness, his unaffected methods, his susceptible temperament, his subtleties of humour and pathos are appreciated and applauded, yet his want of breadth and tone sometimes renders his performance feeble and flavourless.” On the day before its presentment by Hackett, the New York _Evening Post_ contained the following notice: Park Theatre, Mr. Hackett’s Benefit. Thursday, 22d inst. First night of Rip Van Winkle and second night of Down East.—Mr. Hackett has the pleasure of announcing to his friends and the public that his Benefit is fixed for Thursday next, 22d inst., when will be produced for the first time the new drama of “Rip Van Winkle; or, The Legend of the Kaatskill Mountains”—(founded on Washington Irving’s celebrated tale called “Rip Van Winkle”)—with appropriate Dutch costumes; the River and Mountain scenery painted by Mr. Evers, all of which will be particularly described in the bills of the day.—Principal characters—_Rip Van Winkle_, Mr. Hackett; _Knickerbocker_, Mr. Placide; _Vedder_, Mr. Chapman; _Van Slous_, Mr. Blakely; _Herman_, Mr. Richings; _Dame Rip Van Winkle_, Mrs. Wheatley; _Alice_, Mrs. Hackett; _Lowenna_, Mrs. Wallack. Durang refers to the dramatist who is reputed to have done the version for Mr. Hackett, as “Old Mr. Kerr,” an actor, who appeared in Philadelphia under the management of F. C. Wemyss. However much of an actor John Kerr was, he must have gained some small reputation as a playwright. In 1818, Duncombe issued Kerr’s “Ancient Legends or Simple and Romantic Tales,” and at the Harvard Library, where there is a copy of this book, the catalogue gives Kerr’s position in London at the time as Prompter of the Regency Theatre. He must have ventured, with a relative, into independent publishing, for there was issued, in 1826, by J. & H. Kerr, the former’s freely translated melodramatic romance, “The Monster and Magician; or, The Fate of Frankenstein,” taken from the French of J. T. Merle and A. N. B�raud. He did constant translation, and it is interesting to note the similarity between his “The Wandering Boys! or, The Castle of Olival,” announced as an original comedy, and M. M. Noah’s play of the same name.