page_title: Joanna Baillie
section_title: Plays
hierarchical_section_title: Joanna Baillie / Literary and dramatic works / Plays
caption_attribution_description: Playbill for Joanna Baillie's The Last of the Caesars; or, Constantine Palaeologus at the Theatre Royal Edinburgh, 29 May, 1820
context_page_description: Joanna Baillie was a Scottish poet and dramatist, known for such works as Plays on the Passions and Fugitive Verses. She shows her interest in moral philosophy and the Gothic. She was critically acclaimed in her lifetime, and while living in Hampstead, associated with literary contemporaries such as Anna Barbauld, Lucy Aikin, and Walter Scott. She died at the age of 88.
context_section_description: 1790 A tragedy, Arnold, which was never published
  "A serious comedy", which was later burnt
  Rayner was heavily revised before it was published in Miscellaneous Plays (1804).
  1791 Plays on the Passions first conceived
  1798 The first volume of Plays on the Passions was published anonymously as A Series of Plays. Volume 1 consisted of Count Basil, a tragedy on love, The Tryal, a comedy on love, and De Monfort, a tragedy on hatred.
  In a long introductory discourse, the author defended and explained her ambitious design to illustrate each of the deepest and strongest passions of the human mind. The plays, the author explained, were part of a still larger design and completely original concept, arising from a particular view of human nature, in which sympathetic curiosity and observation of the movement of feeling in others were paramount. Real passion, "genuine and true to nature", was to be the subject; each play was to focus on the growth of one master passion. This unusually analytical and arguably artificial approach generated much discussion and controversy, and in "a week or two Plays on the Passions was a main topic... in the best literary circles" (Carswell 273). The whole of London was excited to figure out who the author could be. Authorship was attributed to a male until someone pointed out that all of the protagonists were middle-aged women, rarely the muses of male authors (Carswell 274). Baillie finally revealed herself as the author in 1800, in the title-page of the third edition.
  1800 De Monfort was produced at Drury Lane with John Kemble and Sarah Siddons in the leading roles. Splendidly staged, the play ran for eight nights, but was not a theatrical success. Henriquez and The Separation were coldly received.
  1802 The second volume of Plays on the Passions was published under Joanna Baillie's name, with a preface acknowledging the reception given to volume one: "praise mixed with a considerable portion of censure". Volume 2 consisted of The Election, a comedy on hatred, Ethwald, a tragedy in two parts on ambition, and The Second Marriage, a comedy on ambition. Baillie saw these plays, especially Ethwald, as exemplifying her best writing.
  1804 A volume entitled Miscellaneous Plays; the tragedies Rayner and Constantine Paleologus, and a comedy, The Country Inn
  1810 The Scottish-themed Family Legend, produced at Edinburgh under the enthusiastic patronage of Sir Walter Scott, had a brief though brilliant success. It included a prologue by Scott and an epilogue by Henry Mackenzie. Its success encouraged the managers of the Edinburgh theatre to revive De Monfort, which was also well received.
  1812 A third and final volume of Plays on the Passions consisted of two gothic tragedies, Orra and The Dream, a comedy, The Siege, and a serious musical drama, The Beacon. The tragedies and comedy represented the passion of Fear, while the musical drama represented Hope. Introducing what she called "probably the last volume of plays I shall ever publish," she explained that she intended to complete her project by writing further dramas on the passions of Remorse, Jealousy and Revenge, but did not intend to publish them, as publication had discouraged stage production.
  1815 The Family Legend, produced at Drury Lane, London
  1821 De Monfort [sic] was produced at Drury Lane, London, with Edmund Kean in the title role. Constantine Paleologus, though written with John Kemble and Sarah Siddons in mind, was declined by Drury Lane. It was produced at the Surrey Theatre as a melodrama, Constantine and Valeria, and in its original form at Liverpool, Dublin and Edinburgh.
  1836 Three volumes of Miscellaneous Plays were published. They included nine new plays, and the continuation of Plays on the Passions promised earlier: a tragedy and comedy on jealousy and a tragedy on remorse. Their publication created a stir, and critics were almost all enthusiastic and welcoming. Fraser's Magazine declared, "Had we heard that a MS play of Shakespeare's, or an early, but missing, novel of Scott's, had been discovered, and was already in the press, the 
caption: Playbill for Joanna Baillie's The Last of the Caesars; or, Constantine Palaeologus at the Theatre Royal Edinburgh, 29 May 1820
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