f the
time.

The reader who follows the effect open hostility with England had
upon the American theatre, will find most interesting material
relating to the dramatic activities of the soldiers under the
leadership of Generals Burgoyne and Howe. In fact, no account of
dramatic writings in this country can ignore the fact that General
Burgoyne, apart from the farce which incited Mrs. Mercy Warren, was
himself a serious dramatist, who took his work seriously, and whose
dramas may be obtained at any large reference library. The
Red-Coats, as actors, amused their Tory public with such plays as
"Tamerlane," "The Busybody," and "Zara;" and when they invaded the
Southwark Theatre, around 1777, Major Andre, the presiding genius of
the English soldier-actors, turned to good account his ability as a
scene-painter, and painted a backdrop which was preserved in
Philadelphia until 1821, when it was destroyed by fire. We have,
however, a description of the scene, taken from Durang's "History of
the Philadelphia Stage."

"It was a landscape," he writes, "presenting a distant _champagne_
country, and a winding rivulet, extending from the front of the
picture to the extreme distance. In the foreground and centre was a
gentle cascade--the water exquisitely executed--overshadowed by a
group of majestic forest trees. The perspective was excellently
preserved; the foliage, verdure, and general colouring artistically
toned and glazed. It was a drop scene, and Andre's name was
inscribed on the back of it in large black letters."

The early American theatre was nothing more than the theatre of
England transplanted to a more provincial atmosphere. We have a record
of dramatic performances being given at Williams and Mary College
before the Royal Governor, in 1702, and, in 1736, the students were
presenting Addison's "Cato." In 1714, in Massachusetts, Chief Justice
Samuel Sewall, famed for his witchcraft injunctions, protested against
acting in Boston, and warned the people in this fashion: "Let not
Christian Boston goe beyond Heathen Rome in the practice of Shameful
Vanities."

Evidently the actors who had appeared in New York from the West
Indies, in 1702, were, by an ill wind, blown into the sharp-prejudiced
atmosphere of New England. Some authorities are inclined to believe
that Thomas Kean's appearance on March 5, 1750, in New York, when, as
noted by the _Weekly Postboy_, he gave a performance of "Richard III,"
with permission of Gov