The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-11
ORIGIN OF "SHE sTooPS
To CONOuER'

=
when Goldsmith was a sprig of lad,
scarce fifteen summers, says the
Theater Magazine. 1t was during his
schooling and at the close of his very
last vacation that the trouble began.
Someone had given him a guinea, a
bounty which made his spirits rise to
the pitch of wild extravaganza. On
the journey back to school he deter
mined to stay over night at an inn:
and so, lOunging in the carriage which
bounded along the way. he gave him
self up to planning what he should
have for supper and how he should
smile upon the barmaid. BY dark
only half of the distance had been
covered. so Goldsmith turned to a
man in the village of Ardagh to ask
of him the whereabouts of a gOOdly
place to lodge. Fate ied him to accost
one of the famous wags of the COM
munity, and if credit must be given
that genius is at the bottom of She
Stoops to Conquer He it was who
sent Goldsmith TO the mansion of q
local squire. and in turn if tradition
is to be believed at all, this worthy
gentleman, soon recognizing by the
naughty airs and loud commands of
the youth that the ancestral home
stead had thus become an inn. was
possessed of sufficient humor to carry
whether the squire. as report had it,
knew the Goldsmith family: what we
can appreciate is that all the actors
played their parts well. the boy not
being told of his mistake of a night
till the next morning. Thirty years
afterward the drama was produced.
Goidsmith's Appeal.
1t matters little whether or not. as
he was told the plot of she Stops
to Conquer" soon after it was COM
pleted. In those days men gathered
at inns and coffee houses. Maybe at
the shop of Tom Davies. who had given
up acting to make more success as a
bookseller, he did outline the story to
the frequenters of the place, Boswell
or johnson, Foote or Garrick, Colman
or Hugh Kelly. We do not know for
| certain that Colman received the
manuscript early in 1872, and that the
| spring and summer passed without
GOldsmith's receiving d word of en-
couragement. Then when the fall ap-
preached Goldsmith, weakened by
much illness, hoped for a production.
| None coming by January, 1873, he
| penned a note to COlman, with the
appeal For Gods sake, take the
play" Do not, he further entreated
place upon me the indignity of Gar
rick's method, for the latter had pre-
vioUsly placed The Good Natur'd
Man in the hands Of Mr.. Whitehead
poet laureate and special reader for
Drury Lane
The result of this inquiry was that
| the manuscript was returned, marked
over with pencil suggestions. TT will
be given was the substance of the
reply, despite its blemishes." Gold
smith never knew how to keen his
temper; in much perturbation of mind
he FASTENED the play over to Garrisk
and then went around to tell Johnson
| about it. The old doctor, potentate
of gruffness and frankness, acted
with wisdom. Get it back, Colby"
was the command, and so Garrick
soon received another note: Upon
more mature elaboration and the adj
vice of a sensible friend. I began to
think it indicate of me-" etc.
Naming the Play.
When Colman accepted the play ne
did so with many misgivings. Senti-
mental comedy was then the vogue:
how. therefore, could one expect d
natural drama to appeal to a London
audience? Colman then went about his
preparations, proclaiming aloud that
the dialogue was coarse, because it
did not contain the high-flown and
over-colored talk of those plays so de-
lightfully lampooned by Goldsmith in
his essay THE Theater; or a Compare
son Between Sentimental and Laugh
ing Comedy" And so. when Mrs.
Abingdon was told that she would have
to play Mrs. Hardcastle, La" ex-
claimed that ipperious lady, wrinkling
her snub nose, fife upon the ungenteel
language" In like manner did Gen
tleman" Smith and Woodward decline.
and in their places Mrs. Buckley and
Shuster, as Mr.. and Mrs. HardcastIe;
Lewis, an actor who had previously
graced Harlequin, as Young NARROW
and Quick as Tony were gathered to-
gether.
There followed lax rehearsals and
Gispirited remarks. COlman, more and
more ungracious, rugged up some old
stock scenes and some discarded
| dresses. Goldsmith, covering no end
of gloom beneath a brave exterior
| exclaimed: Il should rather that my
play were damned by bad players
than merely saved by good acting ."
1t is not unlikely that while rehearsals
were in progress Johnson, Reynolds
and Edmund Burke were in the dark
ened pit looking on.
At the last moment a name must
needs be found for the piece John
son wrote: I'VE are all in labor for a
name for Goldy's play" What do
you think of The Bellies Strategem? p =
suggested Joshua Reynolds, but that
was thrown aside, to be used later by
Mrs. Crowley. Another urged The
Old House a New Inn" In the end,
to Goldsmith's 1.-THE Mistakes of
Night" was added she Stops to