A Literary Mystery
In 1798, ‘Plays on the Passions’ appeared in London bookstores, but no one seemed to know who had written them.
1798
King George III 1760-1820
In 1798, ‘Plays on the Passions’ appeared in London bookstores, but no one seemed to know who had written them.
1798
King George III 1760-1820
In 1798, a volume of three dramas appeared in the English press, under the title of ‘Plays on the Passions.’ The passions were love and hatred, and the dramas were ‘Basil’, ‘The Trial’ and ‘De Monfort.’ They were warmly received but they were also anonymous, and the country’s literary men and women were beside themselves to know who had written them.
SOON after the publication of the plays, the author sent a copy incognito to Miss Berry,* who describes her delight over them. She found them on her table on her return from a ball, and kneeled on a chair at the table to see what the book was like, and was found there — feathers and satin shoes and all — by the servant who came to let in the winter light.
Mrs Piozzi wrote in her commonplace book:* ‘I remember a knot of Literary Characters met at Miss Lee’s House in Bath,* deciding — contrary to my own judgment — that a learned man must have been the author; and I, chiefly to put the Company in good humour, maintained it was a woman. Merely, said I, because both the heroines are Dames Passées, and a man has no notion of mentioning a female after she is five and twenty.’
During that winter Miss Berry’s enthusiasm led her to discuss the dramas in public. In 1799 she says:— “The author still refuses to come forward.
Mary Berry (1763-1852), a Yorkshirewoman known for her ‘Social Life in England and France from the French Revolution’ (1831) and her ‘Journals and Correspondence’ (1865).
Hester Lynch Salusbury (1741-1821) was a Welsh diarist who married wealthy brewer Henry Thrale, and through him entered London’s literary circle, befriending among others Samuel Johnson, Fanny Burney and Oliver Goldsmith. Henry Thrale died in 1741, and Hester remarried three years later: her second husband was her daughter’s Italian music teacher, Gabriel Mario Piozzi.
Sophia Lee (1750-1824) and Harriet Lee (1757-1851) were both daughters of actor and theatre manager John Lee (1725–1781), and were also writers. Harriet lived with Sophia in Bath, where Sophia had established a school.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did so much debate surround the publication of ‘Plays on the Passions’ in 1798?
Because nobody knew who had written them.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
A collection of plays was published in 1798. Everyone wondered who the author was.
See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.
ISolve. IISpeculation. IIIWrite.