victories of the war of 1812-1814, which became very popular.

FRANCIS COURTNEY WEMYSS (1797-1859) was a successful actor and popular manager, and author of "Chronology of the American Stage," and "Twenty-six Years of the Life of an Actor and Manager." He edited the "Minor Drama," consisting of seven volumes with introductory articles. He also wrote Red Rover, played at Pittsburg; Captain Kidd; Norman Leslie; The Jewess; and the Tragedy of Cataline, which was adapted from Croly, and produced at the Walnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, with great success.

ROBERT T. CONRAD (1710-1858), successful as a lawyer, politician, and journalist, also achieved distinction as a popular dramatist. His first production that attracted attention was a tragedy entitled Conrad, King of Naples, first performed at the Arch Street Theater, Philadelphia. While attending to his duties on the bench, he wrote the tragedy of Aylmere, which was intended for Mr. Edwin Forrest, and was presented by that tragedian with eminent success, both on the American stage and in the theaters of Great Britain. Its hero is Jack Cade, who takes the name of "Aylmere" | while in exile in Italy, and is represented as a democratic patriot. We believe that he wrote another tragedy for Mr. Forrest, entitled Heretic, but there is no record of its ever having been produced. In 1852 he published a volume under the title "Aylmere; or, The Bondman of Kent," and other

poems.

J. S. JONES was in early life an actor and manager at Boston. He afterwards retired from the profession and commenced the practice of surgery. He devoted his leisure hours, however, to the writing of plays for the stage, which were acted in various cities of the United States, and generally proved successful. The entire list of his pieces number about sixty, the best known of which are: Eugene Aram; The Green Mountain Boy; Tam o'Shanter; Custom; Diamond Cut Diamond; Witches of New England. The Wheelwright, produced in Boston in 1845, was a prize drama for which he was awarded three hundred dollars.

THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH, born in Philadelphia in 1819, is the author of numerous dramas. His operatic burlesque, The Battle of the Frogs, was produced at the National Theater of Philadelphia in

1844. At the same theater was produced The Doom of the Drunkard, a melodrama founded upon one of his own stories. His play, Handy Andy, was founded on Lover's popular work of that name, and was acted at the Chatham Theater, New York, with great success. The farce by Mr. English, entitled Gammon and Galvanism, was acted at the National Theater, Philadelphia. He was a poet of considerable merit, and his song, "Ben Bolt," written for the "N. Y. Mirror," in 1842, won great popularity. He died in 1882.

F. HAYNES made a number of adaptations from the French, which were all played successfully at New Orleans. Among these were The Tour de Nesle, The Iron Mask, and Lucretia Borgia, which was first produced in 1836.

GEORGE WASHINGTON HARBY wrote a number of plays that achieved popularity, and were acted throughout the United States. Of these we may mention Minka, or The Russian Daughter; Mahommed; The Robber Girl; Azzo; Abou Hasson; The Gentleman in Black; Nick of the Woods, etc.

JOHN BLAIR LINN (1777-1804), author of a once popular poem, "The Power of Genius," wrote, while studying law in the office of Alexander Hamilton, a play called Bourville Castle, which was acted in New York, and proved successful.

GEORGE LIPPARD (1822-1854), who wrote many popular novels in his day, also produced Coro, the Priest Robber, which was favorably criticised as a drama of romantic incidents.

JAMES H. CALDWELL (1793-1863), better known as an actor, wrote a play entitled Eugene Aram, which was dramatized from Bulwer's novel of that name, and played in the Southern States with much

success.

ator, a tragedy, written for Edwin Forrest, scored a great popular success on its first production at the Arch Street Theater, Philadelphia, in 1831. This tragedy was speedily followed by another, entitled Oralloosa, which was played in 1832. It was founded on the cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, but never acquired the popularity of its predecessor. His next production, The Broker of Bogota, considered by many his most finished drama, was also written for Edwin Forrest, but, like his only other tragedy, Pelopidas, never created the enthusiasm of The Gladiator.

JAMES REES, born in Philadelphia in 1802, compiled a book containing much valuable information on the early American dramatists. He was also a prolific playwright, and the most successful of his plays was Anthony Wayne, a national drama, enacted at the National Theater of Philadelphia, in 1845, for forty consecutive nights. The best known of his other pieces were The Headsman; Charlotte Temple; The Squatter; The Unknown; Marie Tudor; and

The Invisible Man.

MRS. ANNA CORA MOWATT achieved distinction as an actress, novelist, and dramatist. She was the daughter of S. G. Ogden, a merchant of New York, and was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1819. While at school in America she attracted the attention of James Mowatt, a New York lawyer, with whom she made a runaway match before she was seventeen years old. Her first dramatic production was Gulzarra, or The Persian Slave, which was published in 1841.

Her next attempt in this line was the comedy of Fashion, which was produced at the Park Theater, New York, in March, 1845, and drew crowded houses for three successive weeks. It was also acted with similar success at the Walnut Street Theater of Philadelphia. It was afterward brought out in London, at the Olympic Theater, and met with a very flattering reception from the English critics. One of the London journals commented on the play as follows: 'Rough and ranting melodramas had formed the staple of what America had hitherto sent us; but last night this reproach was wiped out, and there was represented at the Olympic Theater, with the most deserved success, an original American five-act comedy, which, as regards plot, construction, character, or dialogue, is worthy to take its place by the side of the best English comedies." She made her début as an actress at the Park Theater, New

York, in 1845, and afterward acted with Mr. E. L. Davenport, in England. After her return to America, in 1851, she starred in all the leading cities, and took leave of the stage in 1851, on her marriage to W. T. Ritchie, editor of the Richmond "Enquirer. She died in 1870. Among her writings were Armand, a drama, 1845; two novels, "Evelyn" and "The Fortune Hunter;" "Autobiography of an Actress," 1854; "Mimic Life," 1856; "Twin Roses," 1857; "Fairy Fingers; " "The Clergyman's Wife and Other Sketches ;" and "The Mute Singer."

EPES SARGENT (1812-1881) won distinction as a poet, journalist, and dramatist. His first play, The Bride of Genoa, was written in 1836. His greatest dramatic success, however, was Velasco, a tragedy in five acts, which was first produced at the Tremont Theater, Boston, in 1837, the character of Isidora being acted by Miss Ellen Tree. The play is founded on an incident in the life of the Spaniard Don Roderigo Diaz de Bivar, from which Corneille wrote his famous tragedy, The Cid. Mr. Sargent wrote a comedy, Change makes Change, and another tragedy, The Priestess. He also edited a publication called "The Modern Standard Drama," and devoted most of his time to other literary labor.

NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS (1807-1867), well known as a popular American poet and gifted journalist, must also be classed among contributors to dramatic literature. In 1839 he published, in London, two plays-Bianca Visconti, and Tortesa the Usurer, with the joint title, Two Ways of Dying for a Husband. Bianca Visconti was favorably received on its representation in America; but a comedy which he wrote afterward, entitled The Western Heiress, proved a total failure. In 1828 he founded "The American Monthly Magazine," which was subsequently merged in the "New York Mirror." Mr. Willis became, in 1846, associated with George P. Morris as editor of the "Home Journal," acting in that capacity till his death, in 1867.