SURRENDER OF CALAIS
EUSTACHE.—HERE TAKE THIS TRASH.
ACT I. SCENE II
PAINTED BY HOWARD PUBLISHD BY LONGMAN & CO ENGRAVD BY W POOLE
THE
SURRENDER OF CALAIS;
A PLAY,
IN THREE ACTS;
By GEORGE COLMAN, the younger.
AS PERFORMED AT THE
THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS
FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.
WITH REMARKS
BY MRS. INCHBALD.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORNE,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
WILLIAM SAVAGE, PRINTER,
LONDON
REMARKS.
In this drama are comprised tragedy, comedy, opera, and some degreeof farce—yet so happily is the variety blended, that one scene neverdiminishes the interest of another, but they all combine to produce amost valuable composition.
In the rank of excellence, the tragic parts are to be accountedforemost; and, among these, the original and admirable character ofEustache de St. Pierre stands first.
Other characters, of the author's invention, are likewise so prominent,that Edward, our renowned conqueror of Calais, is made, perhaps, theleast interesting, as well as the least amiable, warrior in this wholedramatic field of glory: and yet, such is the equitable, the unbiassedjudgment of the vanquished, they profess a just, a noble, an heroicreverence, for the bravery, and other qualities, of their triumphantenemies.
The exception to this general rule of patriotic courage in the French,is most skilfully displayed in one short speech, by a feeble andfearful citizen of the besieged town; in whom extreme terror of thebesiegers is so naturally converted into malignant abhorrence,[4] that theman who, in all Calais, is most ready to die for his king and country,is, by the aid of certain political logic from this alarmist, openlyaccused of disloyalty, because he will not slander, as well as fight,his foe. This speech, with some others, no less founded on the truedisposition of lordly man, subdued by the humiliation of fear, wouldfalsely imply—that the play of "The Surrender of Calais" was of alater date than fifteen or sixteen years past, before which period theauthor must have had much less knowledge of the influence of apprehensionin the time of war, than experience, or rather observation, has sincehad the means to bestow upon him.
It may be said, that Mr. Colman gave the virtues of justice andbenignity to the valiant part of the French, merely as instruments toresound the praise of the English.—Whatever were the author