ancestors, the Bochers, who had come thither from
France, and had then sent a branch into England, from which
the American family sprang), was courtly, polished, slightly
reserved. His English forefathers had belonged to the
Society of Friends, as had also Taylor's family in
Pennsylvania,--another point in common. But Taylor's
appearance, as his friends will remember, was somewhat bluff
and rugged; his manner was hearty and open.

Launched in the literary life, therefore, Boker began to write
assiduously. "Calaynos," the tragedy referred to by Taylor, went into
two editions during 1848, and the following year was played by Samuel
Phelps at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, May 10. From the New York
_Tribune_ office, on May 29, 1849, Taylor wrote:

Your welcome letter came this morning, and from the bottom of
my heart was I rejoiced by it. I can well imagine your feeling
of triumph at this earnest of fame.... I instantly hunted
up the London "Times" and found "Calaynos" advertised for
performance,--second night. I showed it to Griswold, who was
nearly as much surprised and delighted as myself. Of course
he will make good mention of it in his book. It will _sell_
immensely for you, and especially just now, when you are
coming out with "Anne Bullen" [sic.]. I shall not fail to have
a notice of it in to-morrow morning's "Tribune."

Some authorities state that it was given by Phelps without Boker's
consent. Another, who examined Boker's manuscripts, in possession of
the poet's daughter-in-law, Mrs. George Boker, records that Barrett
made cuts in the play, preparatory to giving it, Boker, even, revising
it in part. The American premiere was reserved for James E. Murdoch,
at the Philadelphia Walnut Street Theater, January 20, 1851, and it
was revived at the same playhouse in April, 1855, by E.L. Davenport.
As Stoddard says of it, one "should know something--the more the
better--about the plays that Dr. Bird and Judge Conrad wrote for
Forrest and his successors, about Poe's 'Politian', Sargent's
'Velasco', Longfellow's 'Spanish Student'."

His choice of subject, in this, his first drama, indicated the
romantic aloofness of Boker's mind, for he was always anxious to
escape what Leland describes him as saying was a "practical, soulless,
Gradgrind age." In fact, Boker had not as yet found himself; he was
more the book-lover than the student of men he afterward