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Richard Cumberland (dramatist)
Encyclopedia
Richard Cumberland was a British
dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian
was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain
in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived critical journal called The London Review (1809). His plays are often remembered for their sympathetic depiction of colonial
characters and others generally considered to be margins of society.
on 19 February 1732. His father was a clergyman, Doctor Denison Cumberland, who became successively Bishop of Clonfert and Bishop of Kilmore
. His mother was Johanna Bentley, youngest daughter of Joanna Bernard and the classical scholar Richard Bentley
, longtime master at Trinity College. She was featured as the heroine of John Byrom
's popular eclogue
, Cohn and Phoebe. Cumberland's youngest sister Mary became recognized later as the poet Mary Alcock
. One great-grandfather was Oliver St John
, the statesman; another was the bishop of Peterborough
.
Cumberland was educated at the grammar school
in Bury St Edmunds. He later releated how, when the headmaster Arthur Kinsman told Bentley he would make his grandson an equally good scholar, Bentley retorted: "Pshaw, Arthur, how can that be, when I have forgot more than thou ever knewest?" In 1744 Cumberland was moved to the prestigious Westminster School
, under Doctorr Nicholls as headmaster. Among his contemparies at Westminster were Warren Hastings
, George Colman
, Charles Churchill and William Cowper
. At the age of fourteen, Cumberland went to Trinity College, Cambridge
, where in 1750 he took his degree as tenth wrangler. In his beginning writing, he was influenced by Edmund Spenser
; his first dramatic effort was modeled after William Mason
's Elfrida and called Caractacus.
who had been made President of the Board of Trade in the Duke of Newcastle's government
offered him the post of private secretary
. Cumberland's family persuaded him to accept, and he returned to the post after his election as fellow. It left him time for literary pursuits, which included a poem in blank verse
about India
.
Cumberland resigned his fellowship when he married his cousin Elizabeth Ridge in 1759, after having been appointed through Lord Halifax as "crown-agent for Nova Scotia
."
In 1761 Cumberland accompanied his patron Lord Halifax to Ireland
. Halifax who had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
and Cumberland the post as Ulster
secretary. He was offered a baronetcy, which he declined. When in 1762 Halifax became Northern Secretary
, Cumberland applied for the post of under-secretary, but could only obtain the less prestigious clerkship of reports at the Board of Trade
under Lord Hillsborough.
When Lord George Germain in 1775 acceded to office, Cumberland was appointed secretary to the Board of Trade and Plantations, a post he held till Edmund Burke
's reforms abolished it in 1782.
and his minister Count Floridablanca
, the question of dominion over Gibraltar
prevented resolution. Recalled by the government in 1781, Cumberland was refused repayment of his expenses, although his advance was insufficient. He was £4500 out-of-pocket
and never recovered his money. Soon after this, Cumberland lost his office in Burke's reforms, and retired on an allowance of less than half-pay. In 1785 he wrote a defence of his former superior, The character of the late Viscout Sackville.
He took up residence at Tunbridge Wells
; but during his last years he mostly lived in London, where he died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey
, after a short oration by his friend Dean Vincent.
He is said to have joined Sir James Bland Burges in an epic, the Exodiad (1807), and in a novel, John de Lancaster. Besides these he wrote the Letter to the Bishop of Oxford in vindication of his grandfather Bentley (1767); another to Richard Watson
, Bishop of Llandaff
, on his proposal for equalizing the revenues of the Established Church (1783); a Character of Lord Sackville (1785), whom in his Memoirs he vindicates from the stigma of cowardice; and an anonymous pamphlet, Curtius rescued from the Gulf, against the redoubtable Dr Parr. He was the author of a version of 50 of the Psalms of David; of a tract on the evidences of Christianity; and of other religious pieces in prose and verse, the former including "as many sermons as would make a large volume, some of which have been delivered from the pulpits." Lastly, he edited a short-lived critical journal called The London Review (1809), intended to be a rival to the Quarterly, with signed articles.
His plays, published and unpublished, totaled fifty-four. About 35 of these are regular plays, to which have been added four operas and a farce
; about half are comedies. His favorite mode was the "sentimental comedy," which combines domestic plots, rhetorical enforcement of moral precepts, and comic humor. He weaves his plays out of "homely stuff, right British drugget," and eschews "the vile Gallic stage"; he borrowed from the style of sentimental fiction of Samuel Richardson
, Henry Fielding
and Laurence Sterne
.
His favorite theme is virtue in distress or danger, but assured of its reward in the fifth act; his most constant characters are men of feeling and young ladies who are either prudes or coquettes. Cumberland's comic talents lay in the invention of characters taken from the "outskirts of the empire," and intended to vindicate the good elements of the Scots
, Irish
, and colonials from English prejudice. The plays are highly patriotic and adhere to conventional morality. If Cumberland's dialogue lacks brilliance and his characters reality, the construction of the plots is generally skilful, due to Cumberland's insight into the secrets of theatrical effect. Though Cumberland's sentimentality is often wearisome, his morality is generally sound; that if he was without the genius requisite for elevating the national drama, he did his best to keep it pure and sweet; and that if he borrowed much, he borrowed only the best aspects of other dramatists' work.
His first play was a tragedy, The Banishment of Cicero
, published in 1761 after David Garrick
rejected it; this was followed in 1765 by a musical drama, The Summer's Tale, subsequently compressed into an afterpiece Amelia (1768). Cumberland first essayed sentimental comedy in The Brothers (1769). This play is inspired by Henry Fielding
's Tom Jones; its comic characters are the jolly old tar Captain Ironsides, and the henpecked husband Sir Benjamin Dove, whose progress to self-assertion is genuinely comic. Horace Walpole said, that it acted well, but read ill, though he could distinguish in it "strokes of Mr Bentley."
The epilogue paid a compliment to Garrick, who helped the production of Cumberland's second comedy The West-Indian (1771). Its hero, who probably owes much to the suggestion of Garrick, is a young scapegrace fresh from the tropics, "with rum and sugar enough belonging to him to make all the water in the Thames into punch,"—a libertine with generous instincts, which prevail in the end. This early example of the modern drama was favorably received; Boden translated it into German, and Goethe
acted in it at the Weimar
court. The Fashionable Lover
(1772) is a sentimental comedy, as is The Choleric Man (1774), founded on the Adelphi of Terence
. Cumberland published his memoirs in 1806-07. George Romney
, whose talent Cumberland encouraged, painted his portrait, which is in the National Portrait Gallery.
Among his later comedies were:
The other works printed during his lifetime include:
His posthumously printed plays (published in 2 vols. in 1813) include:
' Clouds (1798)
William Shakespeare
's Timon of Athens
(1771)
Philip Massinger
's The Bondman
and The Duke of Milan
(both 1779).
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian
The West Indian
The West Indian is a play by Richard Cumberland first staged at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1771. A comedy it depicts Belcour, a West Indian plantation-owner travelling, to Britain. Belcour tries to overcome his father's lingering disapproval of him and marry his sweetheart Louisa...
was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived critical journal called The London Review (1809). His plays are often remembered for their sympathetic depiction of colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
characters and others generally considered to be margins of society.
Early life and education
Richard Cumberland was born in the master's lodge of Trinity College, CambridgeTrinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
on 19 February 1732. His father was a clergyman, Doctor Denison Cumberland, who became successively Bishop of Clonfert and Bishop of Kilmore
Bishop of Kilmore
The Bishop of Kilmore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the parish of Kilmore in County Cavan, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:...
. His mother was Johanna Bentley, youngest daughter of Joanna Bernard and the classical scholar Richard Bentley
Richard Bentley
Richard Bentley was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge....
, longtime master at Trinity College. She was featured as the heroine of John Byrom
John Byrom
John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS was an English poet and inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand. He is also remembered as the writer of the lyrics of Anglican hymn Christians Awake, salute the happy morn.- Early life :John Byrom was descended from an old...
's popular eclogue
Eclogue
An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics.The form of the word in contemporary English is taken from French eclogue, from Old French, from Latin ecloga...
, Cohn and Phoebe. Cumberland's youngest sister Mary became recognized later as the poet Mary Alcock
Mary Alcock
Mary Alcock [née Cumberland] , was a poet, essayist, and philanthropist.Mary was the youngest child of Joanna Bentley and Bishop Denison Cumberland...
. One great-grandfather was Oliver St John
Oliver St John
Sir Oliver St John , was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1653. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.- Early life :...
, the statesman; another was the bishop of Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
.
Cumberland was educated at the grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in Bury St Edmunds. He later releated how, when the headmaster Arthur Kinsman told Bentley he would make his grandson an equally good scholar, Bentley retorted: "Pshaw, Arthur, how can that be, when I have forgot more than thou ever knewest?" In 1744 Cumberland was moved to the prestigious Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
, under Doctorr Nicholls as headmaster. Among his contemparies at Westminster were Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
, George Colman
George Colman the Elder
George Colman was an English dramatist and essayist, usually called "the Elder", and sometimes "George the First", to distinguish him from his son, George Colman the Younger....
, Charles Churchill and William Cowper
William Cowper
William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...
. At the age of fourteen, Cumberland went to Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, where in 1750 he took his degree as tenth wrangler. In his beginning writing, he was influenced by Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
; his first dramatic effort was modeled after William Mason
William Mason (poet)
William Mason was an English poet, editor and gardener.He was born in Hull and educated at Hull Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1754 and held a number of posts in the church....
's Elfrida and called Caractacus.
Political and diplomatic career
He had begun to read for his fellowship at Trinity when the Earl of HalifaxGeorge Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax
George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, KG, PC was a British statesman of the Georgian era.-Early life:...
who had been made President of the Board of Trade in the Duke of Newcastle's government
Newcastle Ministry
Newcastle Ministry may refer to one of two British governments:* First Newcastle Ministry 1754-56* Second Newcastle Ministry 1757-62...
offered him the post of private secretary
Private Secretary
In the United Kingdom government, a Private Secretary is a civil servant in a Department or Ministry, responsible to the Secretary of State or Minister...
. Cumberland's family persuaded him to accept, and he returned to the post after his election as fellow. It left him time for literary pursuits, which included a poem in blank verse
Blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
about India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Cumberland resigned his fellowship when he married his cousin Elizabeth Ridge in 1759, after having been appointed through Lord Halifax as "crown-agent for Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
."
In 1761 Cumberland accompanied his patron Lord Halifax to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Halifax who had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and Cumberland the post as Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
secretary. He was offered a baronetcy, which he declined. When in 1762 Halifax became Northern Secretary
Secretary of State for the Northern Department
The Secretary of State for the Northern Department was a position in the Cabinet of the government of Great Britain up to 1782. Before the Act of Union, 1707, the Secretary of State's responsibilities were in relation to the English government, not the British. Even after the Union, there was...
, Cumberland applied for the post of under-secretary, but could only obtain the less prestigious clerkship of reports at the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
under Lord Hillsborough.
When Lord George Germain in 1775 acceded to office, Cumberland was appointed secretary to the Board of Trade and Plantations, a post he held till Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
's reforms abolished it in 1782.
Mission to Madrid
In 1780, he was sent on a confidential mission to Spain to negotiate a separate peace treaty during the American War of Independence in an effort to weaken the anti-British coallition. Although he was well received by King Charles III of SpainCharles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
and his minister Count Floridablanca
José Moñino y Redondo, conde de Floridablanca
José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca , Spanish statesman. He was the reformist chief minister of King Charles III of Spain, and also served briefly under Charles IV. He was arguably Spain's most effective statesman in the eighteenth century...
, the question of dominion over Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
prevented resolution. Recalled by the government in 1781, Cumberland was refused repayment of his expenses, although his advance was insufficient. He was £4500 out-of-pocket
Out-of-pocket expenses
Out-of-pocket expenses are direct outlays of cash which may or may not be later reimbursed.In operating a vehicle, gasoline, parking fees and tolls are considered out-of-pocket expenses for the trip...
and never recovered his money. Soon after this, Cumberland lost his office in Burke's reforms, and retired on an allowance of less than half-pay. In 1785 he wrote a defence of his former superior, The character of the late Viscout Sackville.
He took up residence at Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...
; but during his last years he mostly lived in London, where he died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, after a short oration by his friend Dean Vincent.
Writing career
Cumberland wrote much but has been remembered most for his plays and memoirs. The collection of essays and other pieces entitled The Observer (1785), afterward republished with a translation of The Clouds, was included among The British Essayists.He is said to have joined Sir James Bland Burges in an epic, the Exodiad (1807), and in a novel, John de Lancaster. Besides these he wrote the Letter to the Bishop of Oxford in vindication of his grandfather Bentley (1767); another to Richard Watson
Richard Watson (bishop)
Rt Rev Richard Watson was an Anglican clergyman and academic, who served as the Bishop of Llandaff from 1782 to 1816. He wrote some notable political pamphlets....
, Bishop of Llandaff
Bishop of Llandaff
The Bishop of Llandaff is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff.-Area of authority:The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul , in the village of Llandaff, just north-west of the City of...
, on his proposal for equalizing the revenues of the Established Church (1783); a Character of Lord Sackville (1785), whom in his Memoirs he vindicates from the stigma of cowardice; and an anonymous pamphlet, Curtius rescued from the Gulf, against the redoubtable Dr Parr. He was the author of a version of 50 of the Psalms of David; of a tract on the evidences of Christianity; and of other religious pieces in prose and verse, the former including "as many sermons as would make a large volume, some of which have been delivered from the pulpits." Lastly, he edited a short-lived critical journal called The London Review (1809), intended to be a rival to the Quarterly, with signed articles.
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
; about half are comedies. His favorite mode was the "sentimental comedy," which combines domestic plots, rhetorical enforcement of moral precepts, and comic humor. He weaves his plays out of "homely stuff, right British drugget," and eschews "the vile Gallic stage"; he borrowed from the style of sentimental fiction of Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
, Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
and Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
.
His favorite theme is virtue in distress or danger, but assured of its reward in the fifth act; his most constant characters are men of feeling and young ladies who are either prudes or coquettes. Cumberland's comic talents lay in the invention of characters taken from the "outskirts of the empire," and intended to vindicate the good elements of the Scots
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
, Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, and colonials from English prejudice. The plays are highly patriotic and adhere to conventional morality. If Cumberland's dialogue lacks brilliance and his characters reality, the construction of the plots is generally skilful, due to Cumberland's insight into the secrets of theatrical effect. Though Cumberland's sentimentality is often wearisome, his morality is generally sound; that if he was without the genius requisite for elevating the national drama, he did his best to keep it pure and sweet; and that if he borrowed much, he borrowed only the best aspects of other dramatists' work.
His first play was a tragedy, The Banishment of Cicero
The Banishment of Cicero
The Banishment of Cicero is a 1761 tragedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It follows the downfall and death of the Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. David Garrick declined to stage the play, so Cumberland instead had it published. After this Cumberland switched to writing...
, published in 1761 after David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
rejected it; this was followed in 1765 by a musical drama, The Summer's Tale, subsequently compressed into an afterpiece Amelia (1768). Cumberland first essayed sentimental comedy in The Brothers (1769). This play is inspired by Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
's Tom Jones; its comic characters are the jolly old tar Captain Ironsides, and the henpecked husband Sir Benjamin Dove, whose progress to self-assertion is genuinely comic. Horace Walpole said, that it acted well, but read ill, though he could distinguish in it "strokes of Mr Bentley."
The epilogue paid a compliment to Garrick, who helped the production of Cumberland's second comedy The West-Indian (1771). Its hero, who probably owes much to the suggestion of Garrick, is a young scapegrace fresh from the tropics, "with rum and sugar enough belonging to him to make all the water in the Thames into punch,"—a libertine with generous instincts, which prevail in the end. This early example of the modern drama was favorably received; Boden translated it into German, and Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
acted in it at the Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
court. The Fashionable Lover
The Fashionable Lover
The Fashionable Lover is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in January 1772. A sentimental comedy, it follows the adventures of Augusta Aubrey after she leaves her ward's house and is nearly seduced by the villainous Lord...
(1772) is a sentimental comedy, as is The Choleric Man (1774), founded on the Adelphi of Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
. Cumberland published his memoirs in 1806-07. George Romney
George Romney (painter)
George Romney was an English portrait painter. He was the most fashionable artist of his day, painting many leading society figures - including his artistic muse, Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson....
, whose talent Cumberland encouraged, painted his portrait, which is in the National Portrait Gallery.
Among his later comedies were:
- Calypso (1779)
- The Natural SonThe Natural SonThe Natural Son is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in December 1784. The play is notable for the return of the popular character Major O'Flaherty from Cumberland's 1771 play The West Indian.-Bibliography:* Baines, Paul...
(1785), in which Major O'Flaherty who had already figured in The West-Indian, makes his reappearance - The Country AttorneyThe Country AttorneyThe Country Attorney is a 1787 comic play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre on 7 July 1787. The play was reworked and much of it used again by Cumberland for the 1789 play The School for Widows....
(1787) - The ImpostorsThe ImpostorsThe Impostors is a 1998 farce motion picture written and directed by Stanley Tucci, starring Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci, Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, Steve Buscemi, and Billy Connolly....
(1789), a comedy of intrigue - The School for Widows (1789)
- The Box-Lobby ChallengeThe Box-Lobby ChallengeThe Box-Lobby Challenge is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Haymarket Theatre in February 1794. It is a farcial comedy of manners set amongst the working class.-Bibliography:...
(1794), a protracted farce - The Jew (1794), a drama, highly effective when the great German actor Theodor Döring played "Sheva"
- The Wheel of Fortune (1795), in which John Philip KembleJohn Philip KembleJohn Philip Kemble was an English actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...
found a celebrated part in the misanthropist Penruddock, who cannot forget but learns to forgive (a character declared by August von KotzebueAugust von KotzebueAugust Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue was a German dramatist.One of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival in 1817. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl Ludwig Sand, a militant member of the Burschenschaften...
to have been stolen from his Menschenhass und Reue), while Richard Suett played the comic lawyer Timothy Weasel - First LoveFirst Love (play)First Love is a 1795 sentimental comedy play by the British playwright Richard Cumberland. It was first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre in May 1795. Frederick Mowbray becomes the protector of Sabrina Rosny after her abandoment by Lord Sensitive....
(1795) - The Last of the FamilyThe Last of the FamilyThe Last of the Family is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1797 as a benefit performance for the actor John Bannister.-Bibliography:...
(1797) - The Village Fete (1797)
- False ImpressionsFalse ImpressionsFalse Impressions is a 1797 melodramatic comedy play by the British playwright Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Covent Garden Theatre in November 1797. Much of the plot resembles Cumberland's 1795 novel Henry. Algernon has to pretend to be a servant to restore his good...
(1797) - The Sailor's DaughterThe Sailor's DaughterThe Sailor's Daughter is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland which first premiered on 7 April 1804. After a young woman, Julia, is orphaned following the Battle of Copenhagen she enjoys a series of adventures until settling down with her long-lost guardian Captain...
(1804) - Hint to HusbandsHint to HusbandsHint to Husbands is an 1806 comedy play by the British dramatist Richard Cumberland which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre. The play was not a success and lasted for only five nights.-Bibliography:...
(1806), which, unlike the, rest, is in blank verse.
The other works printed during his lifetime include:
- The Note of HandThe Note of HandThe Note of Hand, or Trip to Newmarket is a 1774 comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. A farce it was the final play performed by David Garrick at the Drury Lane Theatre before his retirement. The play mocked some of the leading Whig politicians of the era such as Charles Fox and...
(1774), a farce - The Princess of ParmaThe Princess of ParmaThe Princess of Parma is a 1778 play by the British playwright Richard Cumberland. It was originally staged at Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire. No copy of the work is known to survive.-Bibliography:...
(1778) - Songs for a musical comedy, The Widow of Delphi (1780)
- The Battle of HastingsThe Battle of Hastings (play)The Battle of Hastings is a 1778 play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It is a tragedy set around the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It was staged at the Drury Lane Theatre in October 1778 by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Sheridan later mocked Cumberland's sensitivity to criticism by modelling...
(1778), a tragedy - The CarmeliteThe CarmeliteThe Carmelite is a tragic play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Drury Lane Theatre on 2 December 1784. The play's hero Saint-Valori disguises himself as a Carmelite. The play enjoyed some success, and was later staged a theatre in Belfast where Wolfe Tone saw it...
(1784), a romantic domestic drama in blank verse, in the style of John HomeJohn HomeJohn Home was a Scottish poet and dramatist.-Biography:He was born at Leith, near Edinburgh, where his father, Alexander Home, a distant relation of the earls of Home, was town clerk. John was educated at the Leith Grammar School, and at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated MA, in 1742...
's Douglas, furnishing some effective scenes for Sarah SiddonsSarah SiddonsSarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
and John Kemble as mother and son - The Mysterious HusbandThe Mysterious HusbandThe Mysterious Husband is a play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It is a Domestic drama with a tragic ending, first performed in 1783. Along with several other Cumberland plays it was influenced by the 1768 gothic novel The Mysterious Mother by Horace Walpole.-Bibliography:* Frank,...
(1783), a prose domestic drama - The Days of YoreThe Days of YoreThe Days of Yore is a British play by Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Covent Garden Theatre on 13 January 1796. The work is set in the Anglo-Saxon era. The work was possibly influenced by Horace Walpole's gothic novel The Mysterious Mother.-Bibliography:* Chew, Samuel C. & Altick,...
(1796), a drama - The CloudsThe CloudsThe Clouds is a comedy written by the celebrated playwright Aristophanes lampooning intellectual fashions in classical Athens. It was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423 BC and it was not well received, coming last of the three plays competing at the festival that year. It was revised...
(1797) - Joanna of Mondfaucon (1800)
- The Jew of Mogadore (1808)
His posthumously printed plays (published in 2 vols. in 1813) include:
- The WalloonsThe WalloonsThe Walloons is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Covent Garden Theatre in April 1782. The character of Father O'Sullivan was widely believed to be based on Father Thomas Hussey an Irish-born Priest with whom Cumberland conducted secret talks in an...
(comedy, acted in 1782) - The Passive Husband (comedy, acted as A Word for Nature, 1798)
- The Eccentric LoverThe Eccentric LoverThe Eccentric Lover is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 30 April 1798.-Bibliography:* Mudford, William. The Life of Richard Cumberland. Sherwood, Neely & Jones, 1812....
(comedy, acted 1798) - Lovers' Resolutions (comedy, once acted in 1802)
- Confession, a quasi-historic drama
- Don PedroDon Pedro (play)Don Pedro is a tragic play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Haymarket Theatre in July 1796.-Bibliography:* Mudford, William. The Life of Richard Cumberland. Sherwood, Neely & Jones, 1812....
(drama, acted 1796) - Alcanor (tragedy, acted as The Arab, 1785)
- Torrendal (tragedy)
- The Sibyl, or The Elder Brutus (afterwards amalgamated with other plays on the subject into a very successful tragedy for Edmund KeanEdmund KeanEdmund Kean was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever.-Early life:Kean was born in London. His father was probably Edmund Kean, an architect’s clerk, and his mother was an actress, Anne Carey, daughter of the 18th century composer and playwright Henry Carey...
by Payne) - Tiberius in Capreae (tragedy)
- The False Demetrius (tragedy on a theme which attracted SchillerFriedrich SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
)
Adaptations
AristophanesAristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
' Clouds (1798)
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Timon of Athens
Timon of Athens
The Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about the fortunes of an Athenian named Timon , generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works...
(1771)
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
's The Bondman
The Bondman
The Bondman is a later Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger, first published in 1624. The play has been called "the finest of the more serious tragicomedies" of Massinger.-Performance and publication:...
and The Duke of Milan
The Duke of Milan
The Duke of Milan is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger. First published in 1623, the play is generally considered among the author's finest achievements in drama.-Performance:...
(both 1779).
Novels
- Arundel (1789)
- Henry (1795) - was printed in Ballantyne's Novelists' Library (1821),
- John de Lancaster (1809)