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Notes
Emmett L. Avery says it probably had its premiere in January 1704 (The London Stage, 1660-1800. Part II: 1700-1729 [1960], I, 55). Leo Hughes argues for a performance shortly before 2 February 1704 (A Century of English Farce [1956], pp. 81-82, n. 20). Robert D. Hume concurs (The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century [1976], p. 472, n. 2). Eric Rothstein speculates that it was written in summer 1703 for production the following fall (George Farquhar [1967], p. 24).
Prologue, Mary Pix, The Different Widows (London, 1703). The prologue was reprinted in The Works of Rochester and Roscommon (London, 1703) as "Prologue to Different Widows, supposedly by Capt. B-----n."
The London Stage lists only one performance of The Committee in the few years previous to Pix's premiere, at Lincoln's Inn Fields 6 March 1701; however, records are exceedingly sparse for this period. Farquhar's The Twin Rivals (1702) also has a Teague, played by Bowen, as was Howard's Teague in 1701 and Macahone at least on 17 and 24 May 1709 and conceivably on earlier occasions for which cast lists do not exist. Teague was, of course, then as now a stock name for a stage Irishman, the stock part popularized by The Committee, which opened at least by 27 November 1662.
Rothstein, p. 20. J. P. W. Rogers, "The Dramatist vs. The Dunce: George Farquhar and John Oldmixon," Restoration and 18th Century Theatre Research, 10 (1971), 53-58.
The prologue printed in the first edition is headed, "The Prologue that was spoke the first night receiv'd such additions from Mr ---- who spoke it, that they are best if bury'd and forgot. But the following Prologue is literally the same that was intended for the Play, and written by Mr Motteux."
Love and Business, in The Complete Works of George Farquhar, ed. Charles Stonehill (1930, repr. 1967), II, 302.
Tattnel and Mrs. Hunt were not in the company in 1700-1701; Dogget, Leigh, Tattnel, Trout, and Mrs. Hunt were not in 1701-1702; Trout, Tattnel, and Mrs. Hunt were not in 1702-1703; and Dogget, Tattnel, and Mrs. Prince were not in 1704-1705 (Avery, I, 4, 16, 26, 76).
The Daily Courant for 4 May 1705 advertised the play, "This day is publish'd. . . ." The Post-Man for 3-5 May 1705 advertised "On Thursday last was published," i.e. 3 May.
The title-page of 1735b reads like that of 1735a, but the ornament is different, and there is no frontispiece in the British library copy. The volume is a duodecimo with the collational formula A6B6 (pp. i-iii iv-vi 7 8-24; $3 signed). The Memoirs and Dramatis Personae are reduced from eight pages in 1735a to four in 1735b. Edition 1735a has the collational formula A12(±Al)B8 (pp. [5] vi-xi xii 13 14-34 35-39; $A6, B3 signed). Alv is a frontispiece, and pp. 35-39 contain a catalogue of plays published. There are seven substantive variants:
| 1735a | 1735b | ||
| 19.14 | whom | 12.6 | who |
| 22.20 | who | 14.25 | whom |
| 26.24 | now | 18.2 | [omitted] |
| 28.8 | again | 19.10 | [omitted] |
| 30.16 | Exit. | 21.4 | [omitted] |
| 32.7 | [omitted] | 22.22 | Dol. [correct] |
| 32.22 | [omitted] | 22. penultimate | and |
Robert John Jordan, "George Farquhar's Military Career," The Huntington Library Quarterly, 37 (1974), 253-258.
The half-sheet broadside of Farquhar's "Prologue Spoken by Mr. Wilks, At the Opening of the Theatre in the Hay-Market, October the 15th, 1706" was printed by Bragg in 1706. See Shirley Strum Kenny, "A Broadside Prologue by Farquhar," Studies in Bibliography, 25 (1972), 179.
A Compleat List of all the English Dramatic Poets. Appended to Thomas Whincop's Scanderbeg: or, Love and Liberty (1747), p. 231.
Biographia Dramatica (1812), III, 298. The author feels, however, that the farce "is nothing more than a plagiarism" from Les Carrosses d'Orléans.
Rothstein, p. 24. Motteux was eighteen years old in 1681; he lived in Rouen (Cunningham, pp. 1-4).
"Time of Action from Noon till Night," Love's a Jest (1696); "The Time of Action from 5 to 8 in the Evening," Beauty in Distress (1698); "The Time of Action, the same with that of the Representation," The Temple of Love (1706); "The Time of Action about Three Days," Thomyris (1707); "The Time of Action three Hours," Love's Triumph (1708).
Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714 (repr. 1968), III, 1159. Charles J. Robinson, Register of the Scholars admitted into Merchant Taylors' School (1882-83), I, 331.
His contributions included "A Bacchanalian Song," 6-13 January 1705; "On Time," 3-10 February; "Advice to Corinna," 10-17 February; "To the Undertakers of the Diverting Post," 17-24 February; "Upon Mrs. Tofts," 24 February-3 March; "A Riddle," 3-10 March; "Upon Mrs. Du Ruel," 10-17 March; "To Pretty, Celinda's Lap-Dog," 17-24 March; "Upon a Bleeding Heart set in Gold, which Celinda wore at her Neck-lace," 7-14 April; "To Flavia," 14-21 April; "The Inconstant," 21-28 April; "The Country Maid," 23-30 June. His bylines variously read "By Mr Sam. P-----ps," "By Mr. Sam. Phillips," and "By Mr. Sam. Ph-----ps," the complete name appearing most frequently.
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