Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team [Illustration: SPEED THE PLOUGH ASHFIELD--DICKENS AND DAISES! WHAT A GENTLEMAN YOU WOU'D BE TO SHEW AT A FAIR! ACT I SCENE II PAINTED BY SINGLETON PUBLISH'D BY LONGMAN & CO. ENGRAVED BY FITTLER 1806] SPEED THE PLOUGH; A COMEDY, IN FIVE ACTS; AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN. BY THOMAS MORTON, ESQ. 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. SAVAGE AND EASINGWOOD, PRINTERS, LONDON. REMARKS. This comedy excites that sensation, which is the best security for the success of a drama--curiosity. After the two first acts are over, and pleasantly over, with the excellent drawn characters of Ashfield and his wife, and the very just satire which arises from Sir Abel's propensity to modern improvements--the acts that follow excite deep interest and ardent expectation; both of which are so highly gratified at the conclusion of the play, that, from the first night of its performance, it has ranked among the best of the author's productions, and in the first class of modern comedies. The various characters of this play are admirably designed, but not so happily finished as the author meant them to be--witness, Bob Handy, who begins a self-conceited coxcomb, and ends a tragedy confidant. But the good intentions of an author are acceptable: execution will not always follow conception; and the last may often give as much instruction, though not equal delight with the former: as an instance, who does not see the folly of attempting to _do every thing_ in Handy, though he is more the shadow, than the substance of a character. Notwithstanding there are some parts, not so good as others, in this comedy, there is no one character superior to the rest, nor any one in particular, which makes a forcible impression on the memory:--this proves, (in consequence of the acknowledged merit of the play) the fable to be a good one, and that a pleasing combination has been studied and effected by the author, with infinite skill, however incompetent to his own brilliant imagination. The plot, and serious characters of this comedy, are said to be taken from a play of Kotzebue's, called, "The Duke of Burgundy,"--if they are, Mr. Morton's ingenuity of adapting them to our stage has been equal to the merit he would have had in conceiving them; for that very play called, "The Duke of Burgundy," by some verbal translator,--was condemned or withdrawn at Covent Garden Theatre, not very long before "Speed the Plough" was received with the highest marks of admiration. The characters of Sir Philip Blandford, his brother, and his nephew, may have been imported from Germany, but surely, all the other personages of the drama are of pure English growth.