The earliest portion of _The Man of the World_ in the Larpent Collection
is a passage in the fourth act of _The School for Husbands_, performed at
Covent Garden as _The Married Libertine_ on 28 January 1761, twenty years
before _The Man of the World_ was finally presented in London. Elsewhere I
have compared the three complete versions submitted to the Examiner and
have shown why the Lord Chamberlain could not permit it to be licensed.[4]
_The Man of the World_ was first published in England, with Macklin's
farce _Love a la Mode_, by subscription, in a handsome quarto. Facing the
title-page is a portrait of the author, "in his 93.^d Year," engraved by
John Condé after Opie, for which the trustees of the fund paid 25 guineas.
Preceding the text of the play are the list of subscribers, which contains
many eminent names, an "Advertisement from the Editor," explaining the
occasion and method of publication and giving an account of the handling
of the fund by the trustees, and a dedication to Lord Camden, dated 10
December 1792, and signed by Macklin, though one rather suspects that
Arthur Murphy had a hand in its composition. These pieces of front matter
have been omitted from the present reproduction as containing nothing
material to the reading or interpretation of the play. The _Dramatis
Personae_ follow, and the text begins with signature B page 1, and runs to
signature K2^{V}. _Love a la Mode_, not reprinted here, then follows,
with separate title-page and pagination.
Dougald MacMillan
The University of North Carolina
Notes to the Introduction
[Footnote 1: See _Catalogue of the Larpent Plays in the Huntington
Library_ (1939), Nos. 55, 58, 64, 96, 184, 274, 311, 500, 558.]
[Footnote 2: _Biographia Dramatica_ (1812), III, 15.]
[Footnote 3: Quoted by Edward Abbot Parry, _Charles Macklin_ (1891), p.
179.]
[Footnote 4: See _The Huntington Library Bulletin_, No. 10 (October,
1936), pp. 79-101.]
THE MAN OF THE WORLD.
A COMEDY.
BY
MR. CHARLES MACKLIN.
AS PERFORMED AT THE
_THEATRES-ROYAL, DRURY-LANE AND COVENT-GARDEN_.
_LONDON_:
PRINTED BY J. BELL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES,
AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY, STRAND.
MDCCXCIII.
[Illustration: CHARLES MACKLIN (COMEDIAN) _in his 93d. Year_.
Printed for the Author by John Bell British Library London July 1792]
_Dramatis Personæ_.
COVENT-GARDEN.
Men.
_SIR PERTINAX MACSYCOPHANT_, MR. WILSON.
_EGERTON_, MR. LEWIS.
_LORD LUMBERCOURT_ MR. THOMPSON.
_SIDNEY_, MR. AICKIN.
_MELVILLE_, MR. HULL.
_COUNSELLOR PLAUSIBLE_ MR. CUBITT.
_SERJEANT EITHERSIDE_, MR. MACREADY.
_SAM_, MR. LEDGER.
_JOHN_, MR. ROCK
_TOMLINS_, MR. EVATT.
Women
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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