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IV. The Phillips Prologue and Epilogue
The prologue and epilogue written by Samuel Phillips or Philips has been a source of great confusion. Stonehill discovered the prologue and epilogue in Du 1775 and dubbed it a "mystery." Lawrence believed he had solved the mystery when he realized "Thomas Wilkes," the editor of the 1775 Dublin edition, had printed the text of the ballad opera made from the farce by "John Chetwood" (probably William Rufus Chetwood, the prompter) in 1730 and acted at Drury Lane for his benefit. Phillips' prologue and epilogue, Lawrence concluded, were written for this occasion and benefitted Chetwood rather than Farquhar.
In fact, the new prologue and epilogue were printed long before 1775; they appeared in 1718, Du 1719, Du 1728, and Du 1761. The new prologue was, as the text says, "Spoken upon the Revival of this Comedy, at the Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields, some Years since, when acted for the Benefit of the Author," not in 1730 but probably in 1704.
Samuel Phillips, a few years Farquhar's junior, probably came to London in 1704. He had matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, on 30 June 1703, at the age of eighteen; within a year, he had managed to get himself expelled from his fellowship and his university.[24] He must have returned to London very soon thereafter. It seems likely, in fact, that he is the Phillips who briefly turned actor in the summer of 1704. On 7 July Drury Lane gave a performance of The Orphan, "The men's roles by young Gentlemen for their Diversion." A Phillips played Chamont "amongst the Oxford gentlemen" in that production and on 16 August played Bellamour in The Miser. The latter was a benefit for this Phillips from Oxford, who also spoke a new prologue to the town (Avery, I, 70, 72). By January 1705 Phillips had become a regular contributor to the Diverting Post,[25] Bragg's periodical. Phillips also
The conjunction of facts would suggest that Phillips arrived in London in the summer of 1704, performed Chamont at Drury Lane that summer, and wrote the prologue for Lincoln's Inn Fields perhaps for 16 October 1704 or for an unrecorded performance. Although the prologue is captioned "Spoken upon the Revival of this Comedy, at the Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields some Years since, when acted for the Benefit of the Author," there is no evidence in The London Stage that Farquhar received a benefit on 16 October or any other night; however, his military chronology allows for the fact that he may well have been in London on that date. It is possible, on the other hand, that when the prologue was published fourteen years later, the printer assumed it was a benefit because Phillips asked the audience to "spare | The halfstarv'd poet, tho' you damn the player."
This paper is entitled "The Mystery of Farquhar's Stage-Coach Reconsidered" rather than "Solved" because the solution of old mysteries in fact introduces new ones that will probably never be solved. The most intriguing of the new enigmas is why the production and publication of the farce in London was anonymous, hints strewn hither and yon but no open admissions of authorship anywhere. There is no evidence that Farquhar or anyone else had a contract to write for a single house; why then should Lincoln's Inn Fields and Bragg not have taken full advantage of their popular author? Why did Farquhar fail to give the farce to Lintot? Another puzzle is how Curll
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