Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/370

 364

NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. x. NOV. 7, IQU.

that his play came from Baron von Gem- mingen's ' Der Deutsche Hausvater,' but adds that

44 those who cannot read German may find a French translation of that piece in volume vi. of a work entitled ' Nouveau Theatre Allemand,' "

and there the piece is to be found with the title 'Le Pere de Famille,' 1783 (Biblio- theque Rationale Yh. 1657 pp. 185-368). owe something to the ' Clavigo ' of Goethe, and this had been pvit into French by 31. Friedel in 1784 ('Nouveau Theatre Allemand,' vol. 1: 1782, pp. 217-321). The great notoriety of Caron de Beaumarchais, whose ' Le Mariage de Figaro ' was played that year, and concerning an event in whose life the ' Clavigo ' was written, would seem to indicate that the French translation was probably brought to Hoi- croft's attention during his first journey to Paris in 1784. 'The Inquisitor' (1798) comes from ' Diego et Leonor ' in vol. v. of the 'Nouveau Theatre Allemand,' 1783 <pp. 4-191). The 'Nouveau Theatre Allemand ' is expressly given as the source of Holcroft's " translation " of ' The Affec- tionate Son,' from the German of J. J. Engel (it is in French in the Bonneville - Friedel book, vol. 12: pp. 245-304, 1785), and of the ' Short Account of the Rise and Progress of the German Stage,' both appearing in The Theatrical Recorder, 1805. ' Emilia Galotti ' is in the 'Nouveau Theatre Allemand,' 1782 (vol. 1: pp. 55-216), as is also 'Nathan le Sage,' 1783 (7: 1-254); and it may be that Holcroft used the collections for these translations " from the German " when he inserted them in The Theatrical Recorder. Then we turn over a few pages, and find a version of Brandes's ' Der Gasthof ' in the sixth volume of the same ' Nouveau Theatre Allemand ' under the title of ' L'Hotel Garni ' (1783), pp. 5-184. Thus Holcroft did not know German ; but he did not have to know German to secure the Brandes play for " translation." So when we find a source of ' The German Hotel ' included in a book upon which he drew so continuously for material, and when we see him making use of anonymous authorship at other times, even utilizing the services of this same Mr. Marshall as a dummy, we must, it seems, attribute ' The German Hotel ' unquestion- ably to Thomas Holcroft.
 * He 's Much to Blame ' (1798) is stated to

" The German Hotel ; a Comedy, as performed at the Theatre Royal, Cpvent Garden. Second Edition. London: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Row. M.DCC.XC." Octavo, x+2 + 1-72 pp.

This " second edition," with the sam< date as the first, printed from the sam< type, survives the broken - letter test fo: similarity in every copy scrutinized. I havi noticed only one variation: " Mr. Willson' in the dramatis persona; is corrected in th< second edition to Mr. " Wilson." This hold for every copy I have seen.

There was an Irish edition :

" The German Hotel ; a Comedy, as performec at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Dublin Printed by John Pasley, For J. Jones, No. Ill Grafton-street. M.DCC.XCI." Duodecimo, x-f 1-59+3 pp.

The Epilogue was reprinted in The Uni versal Magazine for November, 1790 (87 259).

1791. " The School for Arrogance : a comedj as it is acted at the Theatre Royal, Coven" Garden. By Thomas Holcroft. London Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Paternostei Row. M.DCC.XCI." Octavo, p.l.+2 (title)-j- viii+ 1-103 pp.

This play appeared 4 Feb., 1791, and the Preface is dated 17 Feb., 1791. There are copies of what is indicated as a " second edition " of the same year. But pagiiiatioB and details of printing are the same, and the broken-letter test indicates a printing from the same type, if the impression is really s " second edition." A broken letter y to " sorry " (p. 34) appears in only one copj of the first edition of all those I have seen, and does not appear in any second edition copies. The change was possibly made during the process of printing. In every other respect by which I have tested the " editions " they appear identical, and we have only the publishers' word that there was a bona fide second edition.

A notice of publication in book-form was printed in The Universal Magazine for February, 1791 (88: 159), and a criticism fa The Monthly Review for June, 1791 (5: 224). The Prologue and Epilogue were reprinted in the February issue of The Universal Magazine (88: 148-9), and were also reprinted in the 1791 ' Annual Register ' (pp. 414, 415).

There were reprints as follows : Mrs. E. Inchbald, 'The Modern Theatre,' 1811; 'The London Stage,' 1824; 'The Anting Drama,' 1834; 'The British Drama. Illus" trated,' 1864; and in Dicks's 'Standard Plays,' No. 247, 1883.

There is :

" The School for Arrogance, a comedy in five acts. By Thomas Holcroft. As performed at the theatres, Covent-Garden and New- York. From the prompt-book by permission.

'