But he has long since
appealed to the wider audience of posterity; and his fame is not
confined to his native country, for he has been translated into most
European languages. Dr. Primrose and his family are now veritable
'citizens of the world.'
A selection of 'Poems for Young Ladies', in the 'Moral' division of
which he included his own 'Edwin and Angelina'; two volumes of 'Beauties
of English Poesy', disfigured with strange heedlessness, by a couple of
the most objectionable pieces of Prior; a translation of a French
history of philosophy, and other occasional work, followed the
publication of the 'Vicar'. But towards the middle of 1766, he was
meditating a new experiment in that line in which Farquhar, Steele,
Southerne, and others of his countrymen had succeeded before him. A
fervent lover of the stage, he detested the vapid and colourless
'genteel' comedy which had gradually gained ground in England; and he
determined to follow up 'The Clandestine Marriage', then recently
adapted by Colman and Garrick from Hogarth's 'Marriage A-la-Mode', with
another effort of the same class, depending exclusively for its interest
upon humour and character.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55