The Contrast | Page 4

the

result of deep reflection and much reading.<3>
Tyler adopted the legal profession, married, settled
in Vermont,
became celebrated as a successful advocate,
was elected a Judge, and
later, Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of Vermont, and died at
Brattleboro,
in that State, August 16, 1826.
The success of the 'Contrast' was one of the powerful
influences
which aided in bringing about in this
country a complete revolution
of sentiment with respect
to the drama and theatrical amusements. Up
to
the time it first appeared, the drama here had met with
few

friends, and but little favor.
A single company of English players, the so-called
first "American
Company," after a long and bitter
struggle with the intolerance and
prejudices of the Puritan
and Quakers, had attained some slight favor
in NewYork,
Philadelphia, and some of the Southern cities;
but in
New England the prohibitory laws against all theatrical
amusements
were still in force and were rigidly
executed. The Continental
Congress, while not absolutely
suppressing,<4> had set its seal of
condemnation
against the theater, so that the most reputable and
lawabiding
of our people were kept away from all theatrical

amusements, if not from inclination, at least by the fear
of deviating
from the plain path of their duty. But
immediately after the
production of the 'Contrast,' a
radical change of opinion in respect to
the drama is
apparent.
Plays by American authors followed in rapid succession,
the stigma
against the theater gradually and completely
faded away; and when
the first citizen of the
United States, the immortal Washington,
attended in
state as President to witness a first-night performance
of
an American play, the revolution was complete. At
Boston a number
of the most prominent, intelligent,
and influential citizens assembled
in town meetings, and
passed resolutions instructing their
representatives to
demand of the Legislature an immediate repeal of
the
laws against theatrical amusements, and upon such
repeal being
refused, they subscribed the necessary
funds to erect a theater and
invited the American Company
to visit Boston to give a series of
performances
there, which invitation was accepted. There was some

interference on the part of the authorities, but the new
theater was
erected and performances publicly given
there, while the prohibitory
law became a dead letter.
It will be noticed that the frontispiece is from a
drawing by Dunlap,
which must have been done by
him shortly after his return from

England, where he
had been studying art as a pupil under Benjamin
West.
It was evidently intended to represent the portraits of
Mr. and
Mrs. Morris, Mr. Henry, Mr. Wignell, and
Mr. Harper, in their
respective characters in this play,
with the scenery as given in the last
act at the John
Street Theater, the first season, but the inferior work

of the engraver had made it of little value as likenesses.
The illustration to the song of Alknomook is from
music published
contemporaneously with the play.
This song had long the popularity
of a national air and
was familiar in every drawing-room in the early
part
of the century. Its authorship has been accredited
both to Philip
Freneau and to Mrs. Hunter, the wife
of the celebrated English
physician, John Hunter. It
was published as by Freneau in the
American Museum,
where it appears (with slight changes from the
version
in the 'Contrast') in vol. I., page 77. But Freneau
never
claimed to have written it, and never placed it
among his own
collections of his poems, several editions
of which he made long after
the 'Contrast' was published.
Mrs. Hunter's poems were not printed
till
1806, and the version of the song there printed is an
exact copy
as given in the play. This song also appeared
in a play, entitled, 'New
Spain, or Love in
Mexico,' published at Dublin in 1740. After
considerable
research, I have become convinced that Alknomook
is
the offspring of Tyler's genius.
THOMAS J. MCKEE
THE
CONTRAST
A COMEDY;
IN FIVE ACTS:
WRITTEN BY A
CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES;
Primus ego in patriam
Aonio--deduxi vertice Musas.
VIRGIL

(Imitated)
First on our shores I try THALIA'S powers,
And bid the laughing,
useful Maid be ours.
THE CONTRAST
(BEING THE FIRST ESSAY OF *AMERICAN* GENIUS IN
DRAMATIC ART)
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
TO
THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE
Dramatic Association,
BY
THEIR MOST OBLIGED
AND
MOST GRATEFUL SERVANT,
THOMAS WIGNELL
PHILADELPHIA,
1 January, 1790
PROLOGUE
WRITTEN BY A YOUNG GENTLEMAN OF NEW-YORK,

AND SPOKEN BY MR. WIGNELL
EXULT, each patriot heart!--this night is shewn
A piece, which we
may fairly call our own;
Where the proud titles of "My Lord! Your
Grace!"
To humble Mr. and plain Sir give place.
Our Author

pictures not from foreign climes
The fashions or the follies of the
times;
But has confin'd the subject of his work
To the gay
scenes--the circles of New-York.
On native themes his Muse displays
her pow'rs;
If ours the faults, the virtues too are ours.
Why should
our thoughts to distant countries roam,
When each refinement may be
found at home?
Who travels now to ape the rich or great,
To deck
an equipage and roll in state;
To court the graces, or to dance with
ease,
Or by hypocrisy to strive to please?
Our free-born ancestors
such arts despis'd;
Genuine sincerity alone they pris'd;
Their minds,
with honest emulation fir'd;
To solid good--not ornament--aspir'd;

Or, if ambition rous'd a bolder