The Project Gutenberg EBook of Andre, by William Dunlap

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Title: Andre

Author: William Dunlap

Editor: Montrose J. Moses

Release Date: June 26, 2009 [EBook #29229]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES

This e-book contains the text of _Andre_, 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.

ANDRE

_By_

WILLIAM DUNLAP

[Illustration: WILLIAM DUNLAP]

WILLIAM DUNLAP:

FATHER OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE

(1766-1839)

The life of William Dunlap is full of colour and variety. Upon his
shoulders very largely rests the responsibility for whatever knowledge we
have of the atmosphere of the early theatre in America, and of the
personalities of the players. For, as a boy, his father being a Loyalist,
there is no doubt that young William used to frequent the play-house of
the Red Coats, and we would like to believe actually saw some of the
performances with which Major Andre was connected.

He was born at Perth Amboy, then the seat of government for the Province
of New Jersey, on February 19, 1766 (where he died September 28, 1839),
and, therefore, as an historian of the theatre, he was able to glean his
information from first hand sources. Yet, his monumental work on the
"History of the American Theatre" was written in late years, when memory
was beginning to be overclouded, and, in recent times, it has been shown
that Dunlap was not always careful in his dates or in his statements.
George Seilhamer, whose three volumes, dealing with the American Theatre
before the year 1800, are invaluable, is particularly acrimonious in his
strictures against Dunlap. Nevertheless, he has to confess his
indebtedness to the Father of the American Theatre.

Dunlap was many-sided in his tastes and activities. There is small reason
to doubt that from his earliest years the theatre prov