The Busie Body | Page 2

in The Busie
Body than in Jonson's play, perhaps because the characters, especially
Sir Francis Gripe and Miranda, are more credible and more fully
portrayed. From the second source for The Busie Body, Molière's
_L'Etourdi_, I believe Mrs. Centlivre borrowed the framework for her
parallel plots, the theme of Marplot's blundering, and the name and
general character of Marplot. But she has improved what she borrowed.
She places in Molière's framework more credible women characters
than his, especially in the charming Miranda and the crafty Patch; she
constructs a more skillful intrigue plot for the stage than his subplot and
emphasizes Spanish customs in the lively Charles-Isabinda-Traffick
plot. Mrs. Centlivre concentrates on Marplot's blundering, whereas
Molière concentrates on the servant Mascarille's schemes. Marplot's
funniest blunder, in the "monkey" scene, is entirely original as far as I
know (IV, iv). But her greatest change is in the character of Marplot,
who in her hands becomes not so much stupid as human and irresistibly
ludicrous. Mrs. Centlivre's style is of course inferior to that of Molière.
In the preface to _Love's Contrivance_ (1703), in speaking of
borrowings from Molière, she said that borrowers "must take care to
touch the Colors with an English Pencil, and form the Piece according
to our Manners." Of course her touching the "Colors with an English
Pencil" meant changing the style of Molière to suit the less delicate
taste of the middle-class English audience.
A third source for The Busie Body is Dryden's _Sir Martin Mar-all_
(1667). Since Dryden followed Molière with considerable exactness, it
would be difficult to prove beyond doubt that Mrs. Centlivre borrowed
from Molière rather than from Dryden. Yet I believe, after a careful
analysis of the plays, that she borrowed from Molière. She made of The
Busie Body a comedy of intrigue based on the theme and plot used by
both Molière and Dryden, but she omitted the scandalous Restoration

third plot which Dryden had added to Molière. Her characters are
English in speech and action, but they lack the coarseness apparent in
Dryden's _Sir Martin Mar-all_. Though it is impossible to prove the
exact sources of Mrs. Centlivre's borrowings, there is no doubt that she
has improved what she borrowed.
Whatever the truth may be about Mrs. Centlivre's use of her sources,
her play remained in the repertory of acting plays long after
_L'Etourdi_ and _Sir Martin Mar-all_ had disappeared. The Busie Body
opened at the Drury Lane Theater on May 12, 1709. Steele, who listed
the play in The Tatler for May 14, 1709, does not mention the length of
the run. Thomas Whincop says that the play ran thirteen nights
(Scanderbeg, London, 1747, p. 190), but Genest says the play had an
opening run of seven nights (_Some Account of the English Stage from
the Restoration in 1660 to 1830_, II, 419). The play remained popular
throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Genest lists it as
being presented in twenty-three seasons from 1709 to 1800. It was
certainly presented much more frequently than this record shows, for
Dougald MacMillan in The Drury Lane Calendar lists fifty-three
performances from 1747-1776, whereas Genest records two
performances in this period. The greatest number of performances in
any season was fourteen in 1758-59, the year David Garrick appeared
in the play. From the records available The Busie Body seems to have
reached its greatest popularity in England in the middle and late
eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century. William
Hazlitt, in the "Prefatory Remarks" to the Oxberry acting edition of
1819, says The Busie Body has been acted a "thousand times in town
and country, giving delight to the old, the young, and the middle-aged."
The Busie Body enjoyed a similar place of importance in the stage
history of America but achieved its greatest popularity, in New York at
least, in the nineteenth century. First performed in Williamsburg on
September 10, 1736, the play was presented fifteen times in New York
in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century forty-five
performances were given in New York in sixteen seasons from 1803 to
1885 (George Odell, _Annals of the New York Stage_). The Busie
Body is frequently cited with The Rivals and The School for Scandal for

opening seasons and for long runs by great actors.
The text here reproduced is from a copy of the first edition now in the
library of the University of Michigan.
Jess Byrd Salem College
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE BUSIE BODY:
A COMEDY.
As it is Acted at the THEATRE-ROYAL in _DRURY-LANE_,
By Her Majesty's Servants.
Written by Mrs. SUSANNA CENTLIVRE.
Quem tulit ad scenam ventoso Gloria curru, Exanimat lentus Spectator,
sedulus inflat. Sic Leve, sic parvum est, animum quod laudis avarum
Subruit aut reficit--