# Representative American Plays/Charles the Second

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CHARLES THE SECOND BY John Howard Payne
CHARLES THE SECOND
Charles the Second illustrates the Comedy of Manners and represents the influence of the French stage upon ours. It is the brightest and the most finished of Payne's comedies.
John Howard Payne was born in New York City, June 9, 1791. He was brought up in Boston, and was carefully educated under the direction of his father, the head of a school. By the age of thirteen he had decided to go upon the stage and was sent into a mercantile house in New York City by his parents to cure him of the desire. He found time, however, to publish the Thespian Mirror, from December 28, 1805, to May 31, 1806, which contained dramatic criticism of a fair character. He also wrote his first play, Julia or The Wanderer, performed at the Park Theatre on February 7, 1806, and printed in the same year. He seems to have been a charming as well as a precocious youth, and through the interest of friends, especially John E. Seaman, he was sent to Union College, where he remained from July, 1806, to November, 1808, as a private pupil preparing to enter the Sophomore Class, under President Nott's instruction. Owing to a misunderstanding with his patron but also prompted by his continued desire to act, Payne made his debut on February 24, 1809, as "Young Norval" in Home's play of Douglas, at the old Park Theatre in New York. He acted also in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington and other cities in 1809 and in 1811 and 1812. He had not been, however, as successful as he desired and in 1813 he welcomed an opportunity to go abroad for a year's study and travel. He did not return to this country till 1832, when his activities among the Indians and later his consulship at Tunis from 1842 to 1845 lie outside of our special interest. He died April 9, 1852, at Tunis.
Payne wrote or adapted over sixty plays. Much of his work consisted in translation from the French drama of his own time, or in the adaptation of English plays. His historical tragedy of Brutus, for example, played first at Drury Lane, London, December 3, 1818, is, according to his own statement, a compound of seven earlier plays on the same theme.
In domestic tragedy, his play of Richelieu or the Broken Heart is of considerable merit, although it is not original, being based on La Jeunesse de Richelieu, of Alexandre Duval. It was played first at Drury Lane, February, 1826, and was performed frequently in this country as The Bankrupt's Wife. In comedy, Charles II is representative. Payne wrote most frequently, however, a form of melodrama, such as Thérèse, or the Orphan of Geneva, produced first ​at Drury Lane, February 2, 1821. Forrest frequently acted "Carwin" in this play. Clari, or the Maid of Milan, an opera, derives its interest chiefly from the fact that it contains the song of "Home, Sweet Home." It was first played at Covent Garden, May 8, 1823, and at the Park Theatre, New York, November 12, 1823.
Charles the Second or The Merry Monarch was first played at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, May 27, 1824. It was acted at the Park Theatre, New York, October 25, 1824.
The comedy is of especial interest on account of Washington Irving's joint authorship in it. Irving collaborated more than once with Payne but insisted on his share being concealed. In The Life and Letters of Washington Irving by Pierre Irving (1883), an account is given of Irving's sending the manuscript to Payne, in November, 1823, after having revised it and added to it some new ideas. The idea of "Captain Copp" constantly trying to sing a song, and never being able to complete it, was conceived by Irving to meet the English taste for broad fun. In the introduction by Payne in the edition of 1824 he refers to the literary friend to whom he is "indebted for invaluable touches."
The work of both authors had as a model, a French play, La Jeunesse de Henri V, by Alexandre Duval (1760-1838), one of the leading dramatists of France at the time. Duval's play, performed at the Theatre-Frangais, June 9, 1806, which was one of his most successful efforts, was in its turn based on another, Charles II en certain lieu, by Mercier, and, according to Duval, even this was based on an earlier English play. Duval was forced by the censor to change his hero from Charles II to Henry V of England, with consequent anachronisms. Payne restored the rightful king to his own, but took the main plot from Duval and even the names of the principal characters are the same, with the exception of that of the heroine, who is "Betty" in the original. The dialogue at times follows the original though never slavishly and at times it differs radically, especially in the first and last Acts.
John Howard Payne, Dramatist, Poet, Actor and Author of "Home Sweet Home!" by Gabriel Harrison, revised ed. Philadelphia, 1885, is the standard life of Payne. The Early Life of John Howard Payne, by W. T. Hanson, Boston, 1913, is valuable for the first period of Payne's life. His important plays have frequently been reprinted. Charles II, Brutus, Thérèse, Love in Humble Life, Peter Smink, The Two Galley Slaves, Mrs. Smith, or the Wife and the Widow, 'T was I, or the Truth a Lie, can still be obtained in the Samuel French series. For a complete Bibliography by the present editor, see the Cambridge History of American Literature. La Jeunesse de Henri V can be found in Œuvres Completes d' Alexandre Duval, Paris, 1822, Vol. 6.
The present edition of Charles II is a reprint of the rare London edition of 1824, which differs from the American reprints and is a better text.
CHARLES THE SECOND; OR, THE MERRY MONARCH. A COMEDY, IN THREE ACTS, (WITH SOME SONGS): FIRST PERFORMED AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 27, 1824. ———————————— BY JOHN HOWARD PAYNE, Author of Brutus, Clari, Therese, Accusation, Adeline, Ali Pacha, The Two Galley Slaves, Love in Humble Life, Mrs. Smith, and various other Pieces. ———————————— LONDON: PRINTED FOR Longman, hurst, bees, orme, brown, and green, PATERNOSTER-ROW. —— 1824
CHARACTERS
Two pages. Servants
CHARLES THE SECOND
ACT FIRST.
Scene 1. The Royal Palace.
(Enter Rochester and Lady Clara.)
(Enter Edward, languidly.)
(Enter Charles.)
END OF ACT THE FIRST.
ACT TWO.
Scene 1. Outside of Copp's Tavern, the Grand Admiral. A view of the Thames and Wapping.
(Enter Mary from the House.)
Song. Oh! not when other eyes may read My heart upon my cheek, Oh! not when other ears can hear Dare I of love to speak— But when the stars rise from the sea. Oh then I think of thee, dear love! Oh then I think of thee.
When o'er the olives of the dell The silent moonlight falls, And when upon the rose, the dew Hangs scented coronals, And buds close on the chestnut tree, Oh then I think of thee, dear love! Oh then I think of thee.
(Enter Copp.)
In the time of the Rump, As old Admiral Trump, With his broom swept the chops of the Channel: And his crew of Tenbreeches, Those Dutch sons of ——
Scene 2. A Room in Copp's House.
(Enter Mary.)
(Enter Edward, as Georgini.)
Duetto.
Love one day essayed to gain
Entrance into Beauty's bower,
Many a toil, and many a chain,
Guarded round the precious flower.
But Love laid aside his bow.
Veiled his wing, hid his dart,
Entered more than Beauty's bower,
Entered also Beauty's heart.
Hence was the sweet lesson learnt.
Fond hearts never should despair,
Kept with truth, and led by hope.
What is there Love may not dare?
(Enter Copp, a little gay, singing.)
             "In the time of the Rump," &c.
(Enter Rochester.)
(Enter Charles.)
(Enter Mary and Servant with Tea.)
Enter Copp.)
In the time of the Rump,
As old Admiral Trump—
In the time of the Rump,
As old Admiral Trump—
(Enter Edward and Mary. Several Servants quaintly dressed, and armed, appear at the door.)
(Enter Copp, with a double-barrelled gun, followed by two Servants.)
END OF ACT SECOND.
ACT THIRD.
Scene. The Royal Palace.
(Enter Edward, in his habit, as a Page.)
(Enter Charles, his dress in disorder.)
(Enter Lady Clara, goes to Edward.)
(Enter Copp and Mary.)
Recitative—Mary. Thrice beautiful! Alas! that here
Should ever come a frown or tear;
But not beneath the gilded dome
Hath happiness its only home.
Not in the pictured halls,
Not amid marble walls
Will young Love dwell.
Love's home's the heart alone,
That heart, too, all his own.
Else, Love, farewell!
(Enter Copp, pulling in Edward, who tries to hide his face.)
(Enter Charles in his riding dress.)
(Enter Rochester and Lady Clara.)
(Enter Copp and Mary.)