han is a thoroughly original conception; nothing
of the typical Yankee, since so familiar and popular, had as yet
appeared, either on the stage or in print.

The 'Contrast' was first performed[2] at the John Street Theater,
New-York City, on the 16th of April, 1787, and undoubtedly met with the
approval of the public, as it was repeated on the 18th of April, the 2d
and 12th of May the same season, and was reproduced with success later
at Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. It was, as far as can be
learned, the first literary effort of its author, a most remarkable
genius, and one of the pioneers in several branches of our literature,
who, up to within a few weeks of its production, had never attended a
theatrical performance.

Royall Tyler, the author of the 'Contrast,' was born at Boston, Mass.,
July 18, 1758, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most
influential families of New England. He received his early education
at the Latin School, in his native city, graduated at Harvard, and
during the Revolutionary War, and afterward in Shay's Rebellion, acted
as aid-de-camp with the rank of Major on the staff of General Benjamin
Lincoln. It was owing to the latter event that he came to New-York,
being sent here by Governor Bowdoin on a diplomatic mission with
reference to the capture of Shay, who had crossed the border line from
Massachusetts into this State. This was the first time that Tyler had
left his native New England, and the first time he could have seen the
inside of a regular theater, thus confirming the statements made in the
preface of the play as to the author's inexperience in the rules of the
drama, and as to the short time within which it was written, as his
arrival in New-York was within but a few weeks of its first performance.

Tyler was apparently immediately attracted to the theater, for he
became a constant visitor before and behind the curtain, and rapidly
gained the friendship of all the performers, particularly that of
Wignell, the low comedian of the company. He gave Wignell the
manuscript of the 'Contrast,' and on the 19th of May, the same year,
produced for that actor's benefit his second play, 'May-day in Town, or
New-York in an Uproar,' a comic opera in two acts. He shortly
afterward returned to his home at Boston, where, several years later
(1797) another play from his pen, called 'A Good Spec, or Land in the
Moon,' was produced. I have been unable to ascertain whether either