The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fall of British Tyranny, by John Leacock

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Title: The Fall of British Tyranny
American Liberty Triumphant

Author: John Leacock

Editor: Montrose J. Moses

Release Date: June 26, 2009 [EBook #29226]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES

This e-book contains the text of _The Fall of British Tyranny_,
extracted from Representative Plays by American Dramatists: Vol 1,
1765-1819. Comments and background to all the plays and the other plays
are available at Project Gutenberg.

Spelling as in the original has been preserved.

THE FALL

OF

BRITISH TYRANNY

_By_ JOHN LEACOCK

JOHN LEACOCK

Among the elusive figures of early American Drama stands John Leacock,
author of "The Fall of British Tyranny,"[1] published in 1776, in
Philadelphia. Even more elusive is the identification, inasmuch as his
name has been spelled variously Leacock, Lacock, and Laycock. To add to
the confusion, Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia," on the reminiscent
word of an old resident of that town, declares that Joseph Leacock
penned "The Medley."[2] "He wrote also a play, with good humour," says
this authority, "called 'British Tyranny.'" On careful search of the
files, no definite information in regard to Leacock has been
forthcoming. The dedication to "The Fall of British Tyranny" was signed
"Dick Rifle," but there is no information to be traced from this
pseudonym.

Searching the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, I discovered no less
than three John Leacocks mentioned, all of whom were Coroners, as well
as a Joseph Leacock, who occupied the same position. Examining the
Records of the Pennsylvania Soldiers of the Revolution, I found several
John Leacocks in the ranks as privates, and also one John Laycock.

Professor Moses Coit Tyler, in his "Literary History of the American
Revolution" (ii, 198), giving a list of the characters in the play and
the names of those supposed to be lampooned, analyzes t