Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/12

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The Life of

Numb. 552) he is author of the following dramatic pieces.

1. Love’s a Jeſt, a Comedy; acted at the new Theatre, in little Lincoln’s-Inn Fields, 1696. In the two ſcenes, where love is made a jeſt, ſome paſſages are taken from Italian writers.

2. The Loves of Mars and Venus; a Maſque ſet to Muſic, performed at the Theatre in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, 1696; dedicated to colonel Codrington. The ſtory from Ovid.

3. The Novelty, or every Act a Play; conſiſting of Paſtoral, Comedy, Maſque, Tragedy, and Farce, after the Italian manner; acted at the Theatre in little Lincoln’s-Inn Fields, 1697.

The model of this play is formed upon Sir William Davenant’s Play-Houſe to be let: But neither of them met with much ſucceſs.

4. Europe’s Revels for the Peace, and his Majeſty’s Happy Return, a Muſical Interlude, performed at the Theatre in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, 1697.

5. Beauty in Diſtreſs, a Tragedy; acted at the Theatre in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, 1698. There is ſome poetry in this play; and in the multiplicity of its incidents, he has followed the example of the Britiſh Poets. Before this piece, there is prefixed a diſcourſe on the lawfulneſs or unlawfulneſs of plays; written originally in French, by the learned father Caſſaro, divinity profeſſor at Paris; ſent by a friend to Mr. Motteaux.

6. The Iſland Princeſs, or the Generous Portugueze; made into an Opera, and performed at the Theatre-Royal, 1701. The muſic by Mr. Daniel Purcell, Mr. Clark, and Mr. Leveridge. The greateſt part of the play is taken from Fletcher’s Iſland Princeſs. Scene the Spice Iſland.

7. The Four Seaſons, or Love in every Age; a muſical Interlude, ſet to Muſic by Mr. Jeremiah Clark; printed with the muſical Entertainments of the above Opera.

8. Britain’s