Arthur Murphy

“ Jack. Madam, hors de Paris, il n'y a pas de salut. The French to be sure, are the dearest creatures in the World. Under an absolute Monarch, you'll see them dance, and sing, and laugh, and ogle, and dress, and display their pretty little small talk—while an English John Trott, with his head full of Politics, shall knit his brow, and grumble, and plod, unhappy and discontented amidst all his boasted Liberty and Pudding.
Lady Betty. Then the French Ladies, what lives they lead! The Husband makes it the Business of his life to ruin himself for his Wife's diversions. ”

“ Lady Betty. Like the life! That's a cold northern Sentiment again—why can't you see that if it were like the life one might soon become an old face? Now I like to be a new face every day—then the men cry, what a deal of sweetness my Lady Betty has in her face—ay, and what a deal of fire—and what a deal of meaning—and what a—and what a Je ne sais quoi! But I shall lay aside this face soon, and you shall have the preference of it.
Harriet. Dear Ma'am, I wou'd not rob your Ladyship on any Account. ”

“ Wildfire. What's that, a Wig? (Jack puts on a mask while his man powders him) Wounds what a fellow it is. Egad he's in earnest all this while. He has forgot the plainess and honesty of an Englishman without having the outside Shew of a Frenchman.
Foxchase. Come along man, let's leave the fellow to himself.
Wildfire. Lookye Jack. (Pulls the mask from Jack's face) When you are the same honest fellow we once knew we shall to crack a Bottle with you, but while you continue a ridiculous Ape of French Manners, we heartily despise you, and so you may go and be damn'd Mounsieur. ”

“ Mon cher Cavalier the horrid creatures got round me as if they had never seen a Gentlewoman before.
Jack. Madam, I have the Honor of sympathising with your Ladyship. They surrounded me too, and I suppose wou'd still have kept me en Embarras had they not been call'd off to participate of an English Diversion call'd ducking a Pickpocket.
Lady Betty. Marquis! Marquis! Marquis! As sure as you are there my poor little Dog is lost—let my Chairman and Servants seek about—I'll give any reward for him. ”

“ Lady Betty. Trifle! Trifles are the most important things in Life. The Beau Monde is made up of Trifles—Paris is made up of Trifles—I am made up of Trifles—the French are all Trifles, and so vive la Bagatelle. But my dear Madamoiselle Harriet you're a perfect corpse child, let me put on a little Rouge—no, I have none about me ”

“ Harriet. Don't you think a good Play has something more rational and more natural than an Opera?
Lady Betty. I detest Plays—but I shall go to the first good Play that's acted—my Lady Tattleaid and I have made a Party to go and talk at the first good Play. ”

“ Quicksett. Is a mere Coxcomb, I hear, since I came to Town—I have no Opinion of your French Education.
Sir Robert. Dear Sir, it is the best thing in the World to reform youth.
Quicksett. I don't know that Sir Robert; I have seen a great many hopefull, promising young Men, come home such mere Ragouts. I'll tell you what, Sir Robert—I was hugely pleas'd with one Inscription I once read in a country church-yard. "Here lies John Trott, an honest Man who was never out of his own Country."
Sir Robert. Nay, nay, but I tell you, all accounts from Paris speak very well of the young Man. ”

“ Though the climax of the plot is the fop's rejection of French affectations (and Murphy made sure that the French dogs did not get the best of it) , English brutality and intolerance are also exposed; and care is taken that nothing irrevocable is done so that there is room for [Pg iv] reformation on both sides. Foote's sequel, unlike his original, is a fast-paced, almost brutal farce that depends on slapstick and whimsy for belly laughs. Foote did pay some lip service to the superiority of English manners and morals, but he was more interested in getting his audience to laugh than to applaud. ”

“ Murphy's play is more serious, more sensible, and more tolerant than Foote's, but it would suffer in comparison with the livelier play. Murphy's realization of this inevitable comparison would probably be a strong reason for him to disown his play.
Murphy's attitude is exemplified by his characters. Except for Florid, none of them is truly treacherous or malicious; though some may be foolish and intolerant, they are not beyond redemption. Characters that represent simple-minded patriotic attitudes—such as Quicksett, Roger, and The Mob—were likely to be cheered by the galleries ”

“ It is also possible that Crab of Foote's play was developed from certain characteristics of Quicksett. Yet on the whole, Foote's plot, characterization, and dialogue are so distinctly different from Murphy's that Foote can be given credit for writing his own play. The attitudes of both writers towards their objects of satire were entirely different. Foote wrote a wild and whimsical farce where much of the humor is slapstick. Murphy's play is a carefully worked out comedy where extreme behavior of any kind is gently ridiculed. ”

“ Quicksett as a no-nonsense John Bull squire may serve to draw Jack Broughton out to his foppish worst, but he is also too set in his ways to appreciate anything beyond his own narrow views of property and propriety. Roger, the servant, is sincere in hating his French compeers, and his thrashing of the French servants undoubtedly elicited applause ”

“ Sense, honor, honesty, and a regard for our word, are the characteristicks of the English Nation—and tell 'em the most ridiculous object you saw in this country is a Frenchify'd Englishman.
Abbé. Mais, Monsieur, est-il possible!
Jack. No more Monsieur l'Abbé—I wish you well, and take my leave.
Abbé. Pardie! Den I must go back. I shall now go play a game at Trick-Track with my friend Monsieur d'Eschallot, and den I look over my little Memorandum. To-morrow Morning, I take my Party to go back to Paris. ”

“ Florid's role in the play is more ambiguous than that of the other characters. As a false philosopher who spouts nonsense, he represents an affectation that is universal rather than national. Murphy, by placing him in Jack's entourage as a tutor and by having Florid claim that his theories are partly French, does put him on the French side. ”

“ In 45 and 90 Murphy quotes passages from Akenside with great approval, including one that is later parodied by Florid.
Murphy's play is a plea for good sense—for all classes of society to avoid extreme behavior. The upper classes tend to be affected or unthinking, boorish pranksters; the lower classes can degenerate into a brutal, capricious mob. Murphy shows that there is room in the English way of life for tolerance, good sense, and patriotism. ”

“ Matrimony is too plain a dish, and what I believe I shall never sit down to—I possibly may go to an Ordinary, but that will only be for a Smack and away—at least if I ever should take up with it, I shall be sure to have it better season'd to my Palate, than mon cher Pere intends. ”

“ And what do you think they call the French King?
Sideboard. The grand Monarque.
Roger. It's worser than that, it is not as you read in the Flying Mercury and the Country Journal, but they call un the King of France, they do indeed.
Sideboard. Hush! The bell rings, I must go into 'em.
Roger. Do so, Master Sideboard, and I'll step down—Beff, I'll tell you what Master Sideboard, it's my Opinion they'll never come to speak English while they live—Beff. (Exeunt)
(Scene discovers them [JACK, WILDFIRE, FOXCHASE,
SIR ROBERT, ABBÉ, and FLORID] at Table)
Jack. Mort de ma Vie! I am burnt alive. ”

“ Roger. I'll go and speak to un, they'll give over for an honest Englishman, I warrant un. (Exit)
Lady Betty. What a pack of Savages!
Jack. They have no police; at Paris one of the Canaille dare not come within the Atmosphere of a Man of Condition—there, for sending forty Livres to the Lieutenant of the Police, a Man of Quality may run a Scoundrel thro' the Body.
Sir Robert. Well, well, come let's in to dinner—Mr. Florid, and the French Gentleman are waiting for us.
Lady Betty. Oh, I could not eat in this condition—I'll step upstairs to M'am'selle Harriet. ”

“ A fine Lady can never sleep in her Bed if anybody that she has a regard for keeps more Card Tables than herself. There was my Lady Fanny Brilliant, and I, vying about it for a whole half year—first she had twenty—then I had five more—then she kept Sundays then I kept Sundays—then she had thirty—then I had forty—then she added, then I added—then she—then I—then she again—then I again—'till at last, there was not a Hole or corner in the House but was cramm'd—and [Pg 24] you'd think the front of the House wou'd come down, with all the Men's backs lolling out of the Window. ”

“ Foxchase. Wounds! I wish they have not made a Papist of him.
Jack. A Papist! Do you suppose there's Religion in France?
Abbé. Ah! Pour ça non—parmi les honêtes Gens, wid les Espirits forts, dare is none at all. Religion it is ver pretty Bagatelle to quarrel about, but ma foi, dat is all.
Florid. Yes, they have the Religion of Nature, and the Theory of agreeable Sensations. (Drinks) They have the Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, and by the favor of the Sylvan Nymphs, they pursue their platonic Loves (Drinks) and invoking first the Genius of the Place—what is the Bottle come round again? ”

“ This unplayed farce was probably published in late January, a week or two before Foote's play was to be shown. In an understandable but scurrilous rage, Murphy vilified Foote (as Dapperwit) using all the advantages of a once close friendship. In addition to being accused of plagiarism, Foote had all his personal foibles held up to public ridicule. Though an able and often eager controversialist, Foote made no reply but slyly advertised that his play would open 3 February at Covent Garden and would be "a New Farce Sequel to The Englishman in Paris, by the same author." ”

“ Abbé. But by Gar me vas ver much please to see so many naked Shoulder in de Box, and ma foi, to see some of the Ladies paint as much by Gar as if dey be in Paris. But Monsieur de Broughton tink upon vat I say to you about des Airs, des façons, and de manières—you have already ver pretty French Manners—you have de turn of de Head, de movement of de Shoulder, de geste, de Look, de Inflexion de Voix; and pon my vor, you take snuff, you smile, you whisper, comme à la cour de France.
Jack. Oh you flatter me—I wish I could obtain an Act of Parliament to unnaturalize myself. ”

“ Then, thinking that no one had a better right to a sequel than the author of the original, Foote, keeping his own counsel, wrote The Englishman Return'd From Paris in time for the new season. [3]
[3] William Cooke, Memoirs of Samuel Foote (London, 1805) , I, 72-73.
Although Foote was accused of plagiarism by Murphy and then by others who had not seen the play, the charge was not strictly true. There are general similarities because both plays are based upon the same idea, and, if one looks closely, certain jokes and other bits of dialogue are too alike to be accidental. ”

“ Jack. Well to be sure they have very fine Raillery in this Country—
Lady Betty. And then at the Brag Table, such a Scene of confusion! I brag—hum! I pass—hum! And then to see my Lady Laststake bully the Room with a Thump of her Fist on the Table, "And I brag ten guineas over." (Hurra without)
Jack. Oh that rude Canaille have duck'd their Pickpocket, and are following us again, do my Lady Betty, let us make our Escape. Hey! Let touts mes gens be ready. St. Louis, Bourguignon, La Fleur! (Exeunt)
(Enter WILDFIRE and FOXCHASE)
Wildfire. What a figure they both cut!
Foxchase. ”

“ William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles; Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
Corresponding Secretary: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
The Society's purpose is to publish rare Restoration and eighteenth-century works (usually as facsimile reproductions) . All income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and mailing. ”

“ Foxchase. With all my Heart. Sir Robert will be glad to see us.
Wildfire. By Jupiter the People are after 'em still. They deserve it. The Man who foolishly adopts French Manners, joyns in League with their Barbers, their Milliners, and is guilty of a Petit-Treason to his Country. ”

“ Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of $5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request. Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus. ”

“ Arthur Murphy, The Englishman From Paris (1756) . Introduction by Simon Trefman. Previously unpublished manuscript.
138. [Catherine Trotter] , Olinda's Adventures (1718) . Introduction by Robert Adams Day.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION FOR 1968-1969
After THE TEMPEST. Introduction by George Robert Guffey.
Next in the continuing series of special publications by the Society will be After THE TEMPEST, a volume including the Dryden-Davenant version of The Tempest (1670) ; the "operatic" Tempest (1674) ; Thomas Duffet's Mock-Tempest (1675) ”