_The Village Coquettes_ enjoyed a run of nineteen nights in London during the season, and was then transferred to Edinburgh, where it was performed under the management of Mr. Ramsay, a friend of Sir Walter Scott. Sala, as a boy of ten, witnessed its first representation in London, and ever retained a vivid impression of the event; while especial interest appertains to the fact that a copy of the play became the means of first bringing Dickens into personal communication with John Forster, his life-long friend and biographer. It is more than probable that 'Boz' felt a little elated by the reception accorded by the public to the 'dramatic bantling,' but as time progressed he realised that the somewhat unfavourable comments of the critics were not entirely devoid of truth. Indeed, when in 1843 it was proposed to revive the play, he expressed a hope that it might be allowed 'to sink into its native obscurity.' 'I did it,' he explained, 'in a fit of damnable good-nature long ago, for Hullah, who wrote some very pretty music to it. I just put down for everybody what everybody at the St. James's Theatre wanted to say and do, and what they could say and do best, and I have been most sincerely repentant ever since.' The novelist confessed that both the operetta and a little farce called _The Strange Gentleman_ (the latter written as 'a practical joke' for the St. James's Theatre about the same time) were done 'without the least consideration or regard to reputation'; he also declared that he 'wouldn't repeat them for a thousand pounds apiece,' and devoutly wished these early dramatic efforts to be forgotten. _À propos_ of this, the late Frederick Locker-Lampson has recorded that when he asked Dickens (about a year before the great writer's death) whether he possessed a copy of _The Village Coquettes_, his reply was, 'No; and if I knew it was in my house, and if I could not get rid of it in any other way, I would burn the wing of the house where it was!' Although, perhaps, not of a high order of merit, _The Village Coquettes_ is not without bibliographical interest, and may be regarded as a musical and literary curiosity. Copies of the first edition of the little play are now seldom met with, and whenever a perfect impression comes into the market it commands a good price, even as much as £10 or £12,--indeed, a particularly fine copy was sold at Sotheby's in 1889 for twenty-five pounds. In 1878 the words of the opera were reprinted in facsimile by Richard Bentley, for which a frontispiece was etched by F. W. Pailthorpe a year later. THE VILLAGE COQUETTES ROUND Hail to the merry Autumn days, when yellow corn-fields shine, Far brighter than the costly cup that holds the monarch's wine! Hail to the merry harvest time, the gayest of the year, The time of rich and bounteous crops, rejoicing, and good cheer!