The Prince of Parthia.
by Thomas G.o.dfrey.
THOMAS G.o.dFREY, JR. (1736-1763)
Thomas G.o.dfrey, Jr., was born in Philadelphia, on December 4, 1736, the son of a man who himself won fame as an inventor of the Quadrant.
G.o.dfrey, Senior, was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, the two probably having been drawn together by their common interest in science. When G.o.dfrey, Senior, died, December, 1749, it was Franklin who wrote his obituary notice.[1]
Young G.o.dfrey was a student at the College or Academy of Philadelphia, and when his education was completed, he became apprenticed to a watch-maker, remaining in that profession until 1758. As a student at the Academy, he came under the special influence of Dr. William Smith, the first Princ.i.p.al or Provost of that inst.i.tution,[2] and it was Dr.
Smith who not only obtained for G.o.dfrey a lieutenancy with the Pennsylvania troops in 1758, which sent him in the expedition against Fort Duquesne, but who, likewise, as the Editor of _The American Magazine_, was only too glad to accept and publish some of G.o.dfrey"s poetical effusions.
That the young man was popular, and that he a.s.sociated with some of the most promising figures of the time, will be seen from the fact that, although he was only twenty-seven when he died, he was counted among the friends of Benjamin West and John Green, both portrait painters, of Francis Hopkinson, who was a student at the College of Philadelphia, and of Nathaniel Evans, a young minister whose loyalty found outlet after G.o.dfrey"s death in the Memorial Edition of G.o.dfrey"s works. Evans himself wrote poems and dialogues. In his confirmation of the fact that, as a poet, G.o.dfrey was regarded favourably by the Philadelphians of the time, he quotes from the diary of one Miss Sarah Eve, who referred to him as "our poet."
G.o.dfrey"s reputation, as a young man with musical talents and a decided taste for painting, has come down to us. Certain it is that, during all of this time of varied occupation as a watch-maker and a soldier, he must have been courting the poetic Muse. There are some who speculate, without authority, on his having been a theatre-goer, and having become inspired as a playwright by the work of the American Company, in Philadelphia; especially by the good work of Dougla.s.s.
Because of insufficient evidence, that is a question which remains unproven. Nevertheless, it is certain, from an extant letter written by G.o.dfrey on November 17, 1759, and quoted by Seilhamer, that he must have had his attention turned to playwriting as a special art. He says to his correspondent, writing from North Carolina:
By the last vessel from this place, I sent you the copy of a tragedy I finished here, and desired your interest in bringing it on the stage; I have not yet heard of the vessel"s safe arrival, and believe if she is safe it will be too late for the company now in Philadelphia. [Meaning, of course, Dougla.s.s"s company.]
There are two facts to be noted in this communication: first, that it was written from North Carolina, where, in 1759, G.o.dfrey had gone on some plantation business--probably as factor; and second, that it must have been penned with the idea of immediate production by the actors in Philadelphia. According to Seilhamer, G.o.dfrey remained in North Carolina for three years. He did not write the entire ma.n.u.script of "The Prince of Parthia" while living in the South but, as he definitely states in his letter, finished it soon after his arrival.
There is no evidence as to why G.o.dfrey sailed to the Island of New Providence in the last year of his life, and then returned to Wilmington, N.C. There is no definite statement as to whether he contracted fever and had a sunstroke on that expedition, or after his return home. But, nevertheless, he did contract the fever and have a sunstroke; with the result that he succ.u.mbed to his illness, and died near Wilmington, North Carolina, on August 3, 1763.[3]
After his death, G.o.dfrey"s friends decided among themselves that the young man was too much of a genius for them to allow his productions to remain scattered and unrecognized. Evidently, correspondence regarding this must have taken place between Dr. Smith, Nathaniel Evans, the young minister, and John Green, the portrait painter. For, in 1765, a book was published, ent.i.tled "Juvenile Poems on Various Subjects, with the Prince of Parthia," printed in Philadelphia by one Henry Miller.[4] The volume contained a life written by Evans, a critical estimate written by Dr. Smith, of the College of Philadelphia, and an Elegy from the pen of John Green, who had been previously complimented by G.o.dfrey in a poem ent.i.tled "A Night Piece."
The whole spirit of the publication was one of friendly devotion and of firm belief in the permanency of G.o.dfrey"s position in the literary world. As was the custom of the time, the Edition was issued under the patronage of subscribers, a list being included. We know, for example, that Benjamin Franklin subscribed for twelve copies, his own private, autographed copy having been put on sale a few years ago.
As yet, no concerted effort had been made for the production of G.o.dfrey"s "The Prince of Parthia." We do not know if, during this time, the American Company had any claim on the ma.n.u.script, or whether, after G.o.dfrey"s death, it was again submitted to the theatrical people. But this much we do know, that, very hastily, the American Company, headed by David Dougla.s.s, who was playing at the Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia, decided that they would put on "The Prince of Parthia" in place of "The Disappointment; or, the Force of Credulity," a comic opera which will be noted in my introduction to John Leac.o.c.k"s "The Fall of British Tyranny." This musical piece had actually been put into rehearsal in 1767, when it was withdrawn.
Immediately, the _Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser_ for April 23, 1767, contained an advertis.e.m.e.nt of the forthcoming production; it ran as follows:
By Authority./Never Performed before./By the American Company,/at the New Theatre, in Southwark,/On Friday, the Twenty-fourth of April, will be/presented, A Tragedy written by the late ingenious/Mr. _Thomas G.o.dfrey_, of this city, called the/Prince of Parthia./The Princ.i.p.al Characters by Mr.
Hallam,/Mr. Dougla.s.s, Mr. Wall, Mr. Morris,/Mr. Allyn, Mr.
Tomlinson, Mr. Broad/belt, Mr. Greville, Mrs. Dougla.s.s,/Mrs.
Morris, Miss Wainwight, and/Miss Cheer./To which will be added, A Ballad Opera called/The Contrivances./To begin exactly at _Seven o"clock_.--_Vivant Rex & Regina._/
In the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, for the same date, appears an advertis.e.m.e.nt, without the cast of characters.
The production occurred on April 24, 1767.
Seilhamer gives a probable cast of characters, although only the list of actors is given in the advertis.e.m.e.nt. Apart from this, little is known of the production: whether or not it pleased the theatre-goers of the time. We can judge, however, from the reading of the play itself, that there was little of extreme dramatic excellence in the situations, the chief claim, from the actor"s point of view, being the opportunity to deliver certain very highly coloured, poetical lines modelled after the manner of the Elizabethan drama.
In the publication of "The Prince of Parthia," we have the first printed American tragedy in existence, and in its production we have one of only two plays, written by Americans, and presented on the stage before the Revolution. The other play is George c.o.c.kings"s "The Conquest of Canada; or, The Siege of Quebec," printed for the author in 1766, and presented in Philadelphia in 1773. We note, in Dr. F. W.
Atkinson"s estimable Bibliography of American Plays in his possession, that c.o.c.kings later described himself as "Camillo Querno, Poet Laureate to Congress."
The interest in the early history of the American drama, which has become evident within recent years, and nowhere more evident than among the student body in our American colleges, induced the Zelosophic Literary Society, encouraged by the University of Pennsylvania, to revive "The Prince of Parthia," which was written by one of their alumni. The production was consummated on March 26, 1915.
Even though we have no statement as to the actual manner in which the Dougla.s.s Company presented the play originally, we are given every evidence, by those who witnessed the revival, that the play, while containing many excellences, was not of a dramatic character according to modern ideas of stage effectiveness.
The only portrait of G.o.dfrey known to have been in existence was that painted by Benjamin West, in his earlier years. It is interesting to note that in commemoration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the original production of this play, Dr. Archibald Henderson, of the University of North Carolina, issued an _edition de luxe_ of "The Prince of Parthia," with an extended introduction, historical, biographical and critical (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1917).
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A notice appeared in the Pennsylvania _Gazette_, December 19, 1749. See Scharf and Westcott"s "History of Philadelphia" for references to G.o.dfrey, Sr. Therein is given a picture of his house in Germantown, Pa. Barlow mentions him in his "Columbiad." A monument to his memory was erected in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, 1843.
Note that David Rittenhouse, an American dramatist who translated, from the German, "Lucy Sampson; or, The Unhappy Heiress" (1789), was likewise a mathematical genius.
[2] Accounts of Dr. Smith are to be found in Henry Simpson"s "Eminent Philadelphians"; Scharf & Westcott"s "History of Philadelphia," ii, 1126. Dr. Smith"s "Life and Correspondence," by Horace Wemyss Smith, was issued in 2 vols., 1879.
[3] Visitors to Wilmington, N.C., will be taken to Old St. James"s Church-yard, where G.o.dfrey lies buried.
[4] Juvenile Poems/on/Various Subjects./With the/Prince of Parthia,/A/Tragedy,/By the Late/Mr. Thomas G.o.dfrey, Junr./of Philadelphia./To which is prefixed,/Some Account of the Author and his Writings./Poeta nascitur non fit. Hor./Philadelphia,/Printed by Henry Miller, in Second-Street./M DCC LXV.
[Ill.u.s.tration: JUVENILE POEMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. WITH THE PRINCE OF PARTHIA, A TRAGEDY.
FAC-SIMILE OF ORIGINAL t.i.tLE-PAGE TO FIRST EDITION]
ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT
Our Author has made Use of the _licentia poetica_ in the Management of this Dramatic Piece; and deviates, in a particular or two, from what is agreed on by Historians: The Queen _Thermusa_ being not the Wife of King _Artaba.n.u.s_, but (according to _Tacitus_, _Strabo_ and _Josephus_) of _Phraates_; _Artaba.n.u.s_ being the fourth King of _Parthia_ after him. Such Lapses are not unprecedented among the Poets; and will the more readily admit of an Excuse, when the Voice of History is followed in the Description of Characters.
DRAMATIS PERSONae
MEN.
ARTABa.n.u.s, King of Parthia.
ARSACES, } VARDANES, } his Sons.
GOTARZES, }
BARZAPHERNES, Lieutenant-Generales, under Arsac.
LYSIAS, } Officers at Court.
PHRAATES, }
BETHAS, a n.o.ble Captive.
WOMEN.
THERMUSA, the Queen.