INKLE AND YARICO
INKLE—BY HEAVENS! A WOMAN!
ACT I. SCENE III.
PAINTED BY HOWARD. PUBLISHD BY LONGMAN & CO. ENGRAVD BY HEATH.
INKLE AND YARICO;
AN OPERA,
IN THREE ACTS;
AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRES ROYAL
COVENT GARDEN, AND HAYMARKET.
BY
GEORGE COLMAN, the younger;
PRINTED, UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS,
FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.
WITH REMARKS
BY MRS. INCHBALD.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
T. Davison, Whitefriars,
London.
REMARKS.
This is a drama, which might remove from Mr. Wilberforce his aversionto theatrical exhibitions, and convince him, that the teaching of moralduty is not confined to particular spots of ground; for, in thoseplaces, of all others, the doctrine is most effectually inculcated,where exhortation is the most required—the resorts of the gay, theidle, and the dissipated.
This opera was written, when the author was very young; and, shouldhe live to be very old, he will have reason to be proud of it to hislatest day—for it is one of those plays which is independent of time,of place, or of circumstance, for its value. It was popular before thesubject of the abolition of the slave trade was popular. It has thepeculiar honour of preceding that great question. It was the brightforerunner of alleviation to the hardships of slavery.
The trivial faults of this opera are—too much play on words (as it iscalled) by Trudge; and some classical[4] allusions by other characters,in whose education such knowledge could not be an ingredient.
A fault more important, is—that the scene at the commencement of theopera, instead of Africa, is placed in America. It would undoubtedlyhave been a quick passage, to have crossed a fourth part of thewestern globe, during the interval between the first and second acts;still, as the hero and heroine of the drama were compelled to go tosea—imagination, with but little more exertion, might have given thema fair wind as well from the coast whence slaves are really brought,as from a shore where no such traffic is held 1.
As an opera, Inkle and Yarico has the singular merit not to beprotected, though aided, by the power of music: the characters are soforcibly drawn, that even those performers who sing, and study thatart alone, can render every part effectual: and sing