The Works of Aphra Behn Volume Iii Part 113

_We charged you boldly in our first advance, And gave the Onset_ a la mode de France, _As each had been a_ Joan of Orleance.

_Like them our Heat as soon abated too; Alas we could not vanquish with a Show, Much more than that goes to the conquering you.

The Trial though will recompense the Pain, It having wisely taught us how to reign; 'Tis Beauty only can our Power maintain.

But yet, as tributary Kings, we own It is by you that we possess that Throne, Where had we Victors been, we'ad reign'd alone.

And we have promised what we could not do; A fault, methinks, might be forgiven too, Since 'tis but what we learnt of some of you.

But we are upon equal treatment yet, For neither conquer, since we both submit; You to our Beauty bow, we to your Wit_.

THE EMPEROR OF THE MOON.

ARGUMENT.

Doctor Baliardo, a Neapolitan philosopher, has so applied himself to the study of the Moon, and is enraptured to such an extent with the mysteries of that orb, that he has come steadfastly to believe in a lunar world, peopled, ruled and regulated like the earth. This wholly fills and absorbs his every waking thought, and, in consequence, he denies his daughter Elaria and his niece Bellemante to their respective lovers, the Viceroy's two nephews, Don Cinthio and Don Charmante, as being men of men of mere terrestial mould. The girls are, however, secretly a.s.sisted in their amours by Scaramouch, the doctor's man, who is himself a rival of Harlequin, Cinthio's valet, for the hand of Mopsophil, duenna to the young ladies. Harlequin, hoping to find his way to his mistress, gets to Bellemante's chamber but when she appears conceals himself. The doctor, however, who has been hastily summoned to the bedside of his brother, reported dying, returns a moment after he has set out for a key which has been accidently dropped from his bunch and finds Cinthio and Elaria. The gallant can only escape by pretending to be a lunatic brought to the house for medical treatment and cure. But during the doctor's subsequent absence, whilst the two lovers are, as they suppose, securely entertaining their mistresses, the father is suddenly heard to return. For the moment they evade him by feigning to be figures in a rich tapestry (their masquing habits aiding the trick), which Scaramouch declares he has just purchased. But this sham being discovered, Scaramouch runs off with the candles and all slip away in the darkness and confusion, leaving him to return in his s.h.i.+rt as newly risen from bed. The doctor is bawling for help when the wily servant totters out yawning and rubbing his eyes to explain the whole affair away as a delusion or a vision produced by lunar agency, declaring that there has been a visit from the Moon World of their King and the Prince of Thunderland, who have descended a-courting Elaria and Bellemante.

This is borne out by the girls themselves, who have previously been well primed by Mopsophil. After some intriguing between Harlequin and Scaramouch for the duenna's hand, in the course of which the former disguises himself in female attire and again as a country lad, the latter as a learned apothecary, Charmante visits the doctor, and feigning to be a cabalist profound in occult lore, bids him prepare that night to receive Irednozor, monarch of the Moon, and the Prince of Thunderland who will appear to wed his daughter and his niece. Harlequin shortly after makes his entry as an amba.s.sador from the celestial spheres to confirm this news, and as Baliardo, overjoyed, is conversing with him strains of music are heard to herald the arrival of the lunar potentates. All repair to an ancient gallery, long disused, whence the sound proceeds, and here, indeed, a pageant has been secretly arranged.

The room is discovered to be richly adorned with costly hangings and pictures, ablaze with lights, and presently, after various masqueraders have appeared dressed as the astronomers Keplair and Galileus, as the different signs of the zodiac, and in other fantastic garbs, Cinthio and Charmante are seen in a silver chariot like a half-moon, attended by a train of heroes and amorini. There is no delay, the lovers are united in matrimony, Baliardo being overwhelmed at the honour done his house. But when Scaramouch and Harlequin fight a ridiculous duel, in which the former wins, for the favour of Mopsophil, the doctor discovers the whole trick, to wit, that the lunar courtiers are in reality his own friends and neighbours. He soon, however, yields to the persuasions of the lovers and the common-sense of his physician, who has taken part in the masque, and, realizing the folly of the fables he has so long implicitly believed, condemns his books to the fire and joins in the nuptial rejoicings with a merry heart.

SOURCE.

Mrs. Behn's farce is derived from _Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune_, which was played in Paris by Guiseppe-Domenico Biancolelli, a famous Harlequin and the leading member of the Italian theatre there from 1660 to 1688. The original Italian scenes from which the French farce is taken belonged to that impromptu Comedy, 'Commedia dell' Arte all'

Improviso,' which so far from being printed was but rarely even committed to writing. 'The development of the intrigue by dialogue and action was left to the native wit of the several players,' writes J.A.

Symonds in his excellent and most scholarly introduction prefacing Carlo Gozzi's _Memoirs_. In the case of a new play, or rather a new theme, the ch.o.r.egus or manager would call the company together, read out the plot, sketch the scenario, explain all business, and leave the dialogue to the humour and smartness of the individual performer. Their apt.i.tude was amazing. In Kyd's _Spanish Tragedy_ we find Heironymo, who wishes to have a subject mounted in a hurry, saying:--

The Italian tragedians were so sharp of wit, That in one hour's meditation They would perform anything in action.

And Lorenzo rejoins:--

I have seen the like In Paris, among the French tragedians.

Of course much was bound to become stereotyped and fixed, but much was ever fluctuating and new.

When Biancolelli died on 2 August, 1688, of pneumonia, contracted through neglecting to change damp clothes, the loss to the Italian theatre seemed irreparable, but in the following year an equally celebrated Harlequin, finer and wittier if not more popular than he, appeared in the person of Evariste Gherardi. Gherardi was a man of culture, and he collected and edited a number of scenes, written in French, which were on the boards intermingled and played with the Italian farces in order to raise the tone of, and give something more solid and durable to, these entertainments. In 1695 three volumes of these scenes were published at Amsterdam, 'chez Adrian Braakman,' under the t.i.tle _Le Theatre Italien, ou le Recueil de toutes les Comedies et Scenes Francoises qui ont ete jouees sur le Theatre Italien par la Troupe des Comediens du Roy de l'Hotel de Bourgogne a Paris.

Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune_ had been published in its entirety eleven years previously (1684), but it was sufficiently popular for Gherardi to include various scenes therefrom in his collection.

Accordingly he commences his first volume by giving the 'Scene de la Fille de Chambre', where Harlequin, disguised as a woman, pretends to be seeking a place as waiting-maid to the Doctor--_Emperor of the Moon_, Act ii, v. In the French, Pierrot, dressed as the Doctor's wife, interviews the applicant. Gherardi also gives a scene between Isabella (Elaria) and Colombine (Mopsophil); a scene where Harlequin arrives tricked out as an Apothecary to win Colombine (in Mrs. Behn it is Scaramouch who thus attempts to gain Mopsophil); and the final scene which differs considerably from the conclusion of the English farce. In Vol. II there are two further extracts 'obmises dans le premier Tome', a dialogue between the Doctor and Harlequin, 'recit que fait Arlequin au Docteur, du Voyage qu'il a fait dans le Monde de la Lune', and a short pa.s.sage between Harlequin and Colombine, both of which can be closely paralleled in the English version. Mrs. Behn of course used the edition of 1684. Her statement that she only took 'a very barren and thin hint of the Plot' from the Italian, and again that 'all the Words are wholly new, without one from the Original' must not be pressed too strictly, although she has undeniably infused a new life, new wit and humour into the alien scenes.

In Maurice Sand's standard work on Italian comedy, _Masques et Bouffons_ (Paris, 1860) there will be found copious citations from this pantomime, the popularity of which he attributes wholly to Gherardi. It was Biancolelli, however, who first brought it into favour and in whose lifetime it was actually printed, a rare honour, although doubtless it was owing to the great Gherardi that it retained and renewed its success. Gherardi died 31 August, 1700.

As the author himself states in his preface, _Harlequin roi dans la Lune_, a three act comedy by Bodard de Tezay, produced at the Varietes Amusantes, 17 December, 1785, has nothing to do with the old Italian scenes. An opera by Settle, ent.i.tled _The World in the Moon_, put on at Drury Lane in 1697, is quite different from Mrs. Behn's farce. Settle has written a comedy which deals with the rehearsal of a new opera, _The New World in the Moon_. Tom Dawkins, a country lout just arrived in London, is taken to the theatre to see the rehearsal, and ordinary comic scenes intermingled with provision for elaborate sets, as the opera proceeds, form the strangest jumble. The piece takes its name from the first operatic scene, which represents a huge silver moon that gradually wanes, whilst a song, 'Within this happy world above', is performed.

THEATRICAL HISTORY.

_The Emperor of the Moon_, which is certainly as Lowe says 'one of the best pantomimic farces ever seen' on the English boards at any rate, was produced with great success at the Duke's Theatre, Dorset Garden, in 1687. The character of Scaramouch was admirably suited to Tony Leigh, a low comedian 'of the mercurial kind', who 'in humour ... loved to take a full career', whilst Tom Jevon, young, slim and most graceful of dancers, proved the King of all Harlequins, past, present and to come.

Lee and Jevon also acted the parts of Scaramouch and Harlequin in Mountford's three act extravaganza, _Dr. Faustus_ (4to 1697), but produced a decade earlier, probably November, 1685. Scaramouch is the necromancer's man, and the comic scenes, although the stage tricks are old, prove very good pantomime. It will be remembered that Harlequin and Scaramouch are to be found in _The Rover_, Part II. Mrs. Behn's farce kept its place in the repertory and long remained a favourite. On 18 September, 1702, at Drury Lane, Will Pinkethman, complying with the wish of several friends and critics, essayed Harlequin without the traditional black mask, 'but, alas! in vain: Pinkethman could not take to himself the shame of the character without being concealed; he was no more _Harlequin_; his humour was quite disconcerted; his conscience could not, with the same effrontery, declare against nature, without the cover of that unchanging face, which he was sure would never blush for it; no, it was quite another case; without that armour his courage could not come up to the bold strokes that were necessary to get the better of common sense.'

Amongst the more notable performances of _The Emperor of the Moon_ were two at Dorset Garden on the 16 and 21 November, 1706, when Estcourt acted Scaramouch, and Pinkethman, Harlequin. On 3 September, 1708, at Drury Lane, Bullock was Scaramouch; Bickerstaffe, Harlequin; Johnson, the old Doctor; Powell, Don Cinthio. At Lincoln's Inn Fields, 28 June, 1717, Bullock again sustained Scaramouch and had Spiller as his Harlequin. Four years later, 6 February, 1721, they were acting the same roles at this theatre, with Mrs. Cross as Bellemante, and Quin, Ryan, in the cast. The farce was repeated on 25 October of the same year. Bullock and Spiller kept their favourite parts, Hall was Baliardo; Quin, Cinthio; Ryan, Charmante; Mrs. Egleton, Mopsophil; Mrs. Bullock, Bellemante. Doggett's _The Country Wake_ was played the same night. Ten years later, still at this theatre, on 20 October, 1731, Hall was again Baliardo and Mrs. Egleton, Mopsophil. On this occasion Pinkethman played Harlequin; Hippisley, Scaramouch; Milward, Charmante; and Chapman, Cinthio. The farce was put on as a first piece at Covent Garden, 14 February, 1739. Pinkethman was Harlequin; Rosco, Scaramouch; Arthur, the Doctor; Hallam, Charmante; Hall, Cinthio; Mrs. James, Mopsophil; Mrs.

Vincent, Elaria; and the fair Bellamy, Bellemante. In 1748 there was a curious rivalry between the two theatres when both produced _The Emperor of the Moon_ on the same night, 26 December. At Covent Garden, where it was billed 'not acted 10 years', and produced as a first piece at considerable expense with magnificent decorations, Cus.h.i.+ng played Harlequin; Dunstall, Scaramouch; Sparks, Baliardo; Ryan, Charmante; Delane, Cinthio; Peg Woffington, Bellemante; and the Bellamy, Elaria.

It was, however, a dead failure and only acted twice. Contrary to expectation Cus.h.i.+ng was very bad as Harlequin, whilst at Drury Lane Woodward was excellent. At the Lane, where it was played with Mrs.

Centlivre's _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ and billed 'not acted 20 years', Yates took Scaramouch; Palmer, Charmante; King, Cinthio; Winstone, Baliardo; Miss Murgatroyd, Bellemante; and the inimitable Mrs. Green, Mopsophil. A great effect was produced when Harlequin is tossed in a blanket, Act iii. Two long strips were sewn to the sides of the blanket by which he held. From the front, however, they were invisible, and as it seemed that Woodward was being thrown to a dangerous height this spectacle immensely pleased the galleries.

In 1777 _The Emperor of the Moon_, very unnecessarily altered and by no means bettered 'with the addition of several airs, duets, and choruses selected from other compositions' (8vo, 1777), was produced at the Patagonian Theatre. This theatre was situated in Exeter Change, Strand, on a portion of the site of Burleigh House, the town house of the great Lord Treasurer, which was afterwards known as Exeter House. It is very doubtful if the theatre existed as such later than 1779.

There is an amusing reference to _The Emperor of the Moon_ in _The Spectator_, No. 22 (Steele), Monday, 26 March, 1711. '_Your most humble servant_, William Serene' writes to Mr. Spectator bewailing the fact that n.o.body on the stage rises according to merit. Although grown old in the playhouse service, and having often appeared on the boards, he has never had a line given him to speak. None the less 'I have acted', he a.s.serts, 'several Parts of Household-stuff with great Applause for many years: I am one of the Men in the Hangings in the _Emperour of the Moon_.' [The allusion is of course to Act ii, III.] Ralph Simple, Serene's friend, in a subsequent letter begs that upon the gentleman's promotion to speaking parts 'I may succeed him in the Hangings, with my Hand in the Orange-trees'. These humorous allusions are ample evidence of the popularity of Mrs. Behn's pantomime and the frequency with which it was performed.

TO THE LORD MARQUESS OF WORCESTER, &.

My Lord

It is a common Notion, that gathers as it goes, and is almost become a vulgar Error, That Dedications in our Age, are only the effects of Flattery, a form of Complement, and no more; so that the Great, to whom they are only due, decline those n.o.ble Patronages that were so generally allow'd the Ancient Poets; since the Awful Custom has been so scandaliz'd by mistaken Addresses, and many a worthy piece is lost for want of some Honourable Protection, and sometimes many indifferent ones traverse the World with that advantagious Pasport only.

This humble Offering, which I presume to lay at your Lords.h.i.+p's Feet, is of that Critical Nature, that it does not only require the Patronage of a great t.i.tle, but a great Man too, and there is often times a vast difference between these two great things; and amongst all the most Elevated, there are but very few in whom an ill.u.s.trious Birth and equal Parts compleat the Hero; but among these, your Lords.h.i.+p bears the first Rank, from a just Claim, both of the glories of your Race and Vertues.

Nor need we look back into long past Ages, to bring down to ours the Magnanimous deeds of your Ancestors: We need no more than to behold (what we have so often done with wonder) those of the Great Duke of _Beauford_, your Ill.u.s.trious Father, whose every single Action is a glorious and lasting President to all the future Great; whose unshaken Loyalty, and all other eminent Vertues, have rendred him to us, something more than Man, and which alone, deserving a whole Volume, wou'd be here but to lessen his Fame, to mix his Grandeurs with those of any other; and while I am addressing to the Son, who is only worthy of that n.o.ble Blood he boasts, and who gives the World a Prospect of those coming Gallantries that will Equal those of his Glorious Father; already, My Lord, all you say and do is admir'd, and every touch of your Pen reverenc'd; the Excellency and Quickness of your Wit, is the Subject that fits the World most agreeably. For my own part, I never presume to contemplate your Lords.h.i.+p, but my Soul bows with a perfect Veneration to your Mighty Mind; and while I have ador'd the delicate Effects of your uncommon Wit, I have wish'd for nothing more than an Opportunity of expressing my infinite Sense of it; and this Ambition, my Lord, was one Motive of my present Presumption in Dedicating this Farce to your Lords.h.i.+p.

I am sensible, my Lord, how far the Word Farce might have offended some, whose t.i.tles of Honour, a Knack in dressing, or his Art in writing a Billet Doux, had been his chiefest Talent, and who, without considering the Intent, Character, or Nature of the thing, wou'd have cry'd out upon the Language, and have d.a.m.n'd it (because the Persons in it did not all talk like Heros) as too debas'd and vulgar as to entertain a Man of Quality; but I am secure from this Censure, when your Lords.h.i.+p shall be its Judge, whose refin'd Sence, and Delicacy of Judgment, will, thro'

all the humble Actions and trivialness of Business, find Nature there, and that Diversion which was not meant for the Numbers, who comprehend nothing beyond the Show and Buffoonry.

A very barren and thin hint of the Plot I had from the Italian, and which, even as it was, was acted in _France_ eighty odd times without intermission. 'Tis now much alter'd, and adapted to our English Theatre and Genius, who cannot find an Entertainment at so cheap a Rate as the French will, who are content with almost any Incoherences, howsoever shuffled together under the Name of a Farce; which I have endeavour'd as much as the thing wou'd bear, to bring within the compa.s.s of Possibility and Nature, that I might as little impose upon the Audience as I cou'd; all the Words are wholly new, without one from the Original. 'Twas calculated for His late Majesty of Sacred Memory, that Great Patron of n.o.ble Poetry, and the Stage, for whom the Muses must for ever mourn, and whose Loss, only the Blessing of so Ill.u.s.trious a Successor can ever repair; and 'tis a great Pity to see that best and most useful Diversion of Mankind, whose Magnificence of old, was the most certain sign of a flouris.h.i.+ng State, now quite undone by the Misapprehension of the Ignorant, and Mis-representing of the Envious, which evidently shows the World is improv'd in nothing but Pride, Ill Nature, and affected Nicety; and the only Diversion of the Town now, is high Dispute, and publick Controversies in Taverns, Coffee-houses, &. and those things which ought to be the greatest Mysteries in Religion, and so rarely the Business of Discourse, are turn'd into Ridicule, and look but like so many fanatical Stratagems to ruine the Pulpit as well as the Stage. The Defence of the first is left to the Reverend Gown, but the departing Stage can be no otherwise restor'd, but by some leading Spirits, so Generous, so Publick, and so Indefatigable as that of your Lords.h.i.+p, whose Patronages are sufficient to support it, whose Wit and Judgment to defend it, and whose Goodness and Quality to justifie it; such Encouragement wou'd inspire the Poets with new Arts to please, and the Actors with Industry. 'Twas this that occasion'd so many Admirable Plays heretofore, as Shakespear's, Fletcher's_, and _Johnson's_, and 'twas this alone that made the Town able to keep so many Play-houses alive, who now cannot supply one.

However, My Lord, I, for my part, will no longer complain, if this Piece find but favour in your Lords.h.i.+p's Eyes, and that it can be so happy to give your Lords.h.i.+p one hour's Diversion, which is the only Honour and Fame is wish'd to crown the Endeavours of,

My Lord, Your Lords.h.i.+p's Most Humble, and Most Obedient Servant, A. BEHN.

THE EMPEROR OF THE MOON.

PROLOGUE,

Spoken by Mr. _Jevern_.

_Long, and at vast Expence, th'industrious Stage Has strove to please a dull ungrateful Age: With Heroes and with G.o.ds we first began, And thunder'd to you in heroick Strain: Some dying Love-sick Queen each Night you injoy'd, And with Magnificence at last were cloy'd: Our Drums and Trumpets frighted all the Women; Our Fighting scar'd the Beaux and Billet-Doux Men.