PREFACE. IN placing before the public the first volume of the "NEW YORK DRAMA," the publishers deem it advisable to follow the time-honored custom of briefly setting forth the objects of their enterprise. This they were led to undertake in consequence of the poor style in which dramatic literature had hitherto been gotten up, and the high price charged for those indifferently printed and often incorrect editions. At the outset of our enterprise, we were told by many that there was no demand for anything but literature of the lightest order, and that the prejudice against the stage in this country was still so strong that dramatic compositions would find but few readers. Having marked well, however, the advanced and advancing condition of theatrical affairs in this country, we were confident of success, and the result has, we are happy to say, fully justified that confidence. The "NEW YORK DRAMA" is published in numbers, each number containing one standard Play, and two pieces of a lighter character. All are carefully printed from the best obtainable authorities, and have the stage business, directions and explanations complete. They are also preceded by lists of some of the important casts which have appeared therein, and these records of theatrical history are valuable and entertaining. Of the type, printing and quality of paper the publishers do not think it necessary to speak, believing that they will command general approval. This volume introduces our readers, in the plays of "The Lady of Lyons,” “London Assurance," ," "The Stranger," "Richelieu," "Brutus," "Julius Cæsar," "Money," "Ion," "Caste," "The School for Scandal,” “She Stoops to Conquer," and "The Rent Day,” to some of the best authors who have written for the English-speaking stage, and in the case of "The Stranger," to the work of one of the first of German dramatists. The Comediettas and Farces have been carefully selected, and will be found to furnish admirable material for private theatricals or school exhibitions, for which purposes the clearness and fullness of the stage instructions will be found specially valuable. English literature is particularly strong in dramatic works; yet, singularly enough, many comparatively well-read persons are strangely ignorant about any Plays but Shakspeare's, and those which they are accustomed to see performed. One great reason of this, we believe, has been the difficulty of obtaining at a moderate price copies which could be read with any degree of satisfaction. The publication of the "NEW YORK DRAMA" will, we hope, mark the commencement of an era of wider study and more general appreciation of dramatic literature, and particularly of that portion of it which has now become classical. During nearly two centuries of English history, the stage was almost the sole medium of communication between authors and the public. Newspapers were unknown, and books were only for the very rich. The stage was in those days the journal, the novel, the history, the lecture-room. What a wealth of intellect must, under these circumstances, have been lavished upon it by the great writers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, can be imagined. It will be our aim to cull the choicest of their works, and to vary these with such of the best modern Plays as may be obtainable for publication. Great care will be taken that every Play published shall be of high literary value, and pure in tone. With these aims and intentions, we launch our venture, firm in the determination to carry them out to the letter, and confident that by doing so we shall deserve and obtain the support of the public, and be enabled to fulfill our aspiration of making the "NEW YORK DRAMA" the "STANDARD DRAMATIC WORK OF AMERICA." THE NEW YORK DRAMA TRAGEDIES,/ A CHOICE COLLECTION OF COMEDIES, WITH FARCES ETC., CASTS OF CHARACTERS, STAGE BUSINESS, COSTUMES, RELATIVE POSITIONS, &c., ADAPTED TO THE HOME CIRCLE, PRIVATE THEATRICALS, AND THE AMERICAN STAge. NO. 1. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by GEORGE W. WHEAT, in the Office of the THE LADY OF LYONS: OR, LOVE AND PRIDE. A Play, in Five Acts. BY SIR EDWARD LYTTON BULWER. Glavis. Robert Puteman. S. W. Glenn. Landlord Anderson. Servant. Monsieur Beauseant, madame. Madame Deschap. Let him enter. Pauline, this is another offer!-I know it is!-Your father should engage an additional clerk to keep the account-book of your conquests. Enter BEAUSEANT, L. C. Beauseant. Ah! ladies, how fortunate I am to Charles Rosene. find you at home. [Aside.] How lovely she looks! It is a great sacrifice I make, marrying into a family in trade!-they will be eternally grateful! [Aloud.] Madame, you will permit me a word with your charming daughter. [Approaches PAULINE, who rises disdainfully.] Mademoiselle, I have ventured to wait upon you, in a hope that you must long since have divined. Last night, when you outshone all the beauty of Lyons, you completed your conquest over me! You know that my fortune is not exceeded by any estate in the province,-you know that, but for the Revolution, which has defrauded me of my titles, I should be noble. May I, then, trust that you will not reject my alliance? I offer you my hand and heart. Miss Clara Whitlock. Madame Deschappelles. Marian, put that rose a little more to the left.-[MARIAN alters the position of a rose in PAULINE'S hair.] Ah, so!-that improves the air,-the tournure, the je ne scais quoi!-You are certainly very handsome, child! -quite my style!-I don't wonder that you make such a sensation!-old, young, rich and poor, do homage to the Beauty of Lyons!-Ah! we live again in our children, especially when they have our eyes and complexion. Pauline [languidly.] Dear mother, you spoil your Pauline! [Aside.] I wish I knew who sent me these flowers! Pauline [aside.] He has the air of a man who confers a favor. [Aloud.] Sir, you are very condescending I thank you, humbly; but being duly sensible of my own demerits, you must allow me to decline the honor you propose. [Courtesies and turns away. Beauseant. Decline! impossible!-you are not serious! Madame, suffer me to appeal to you. I am a suitor for your daughter's hand-the settlements shall be worthy her beauty and my station. May I wait on M. Deschappelles? Madame Deschap. M. Deschappelles never interferes in the domestic arrangements,-you are very obliging. If you were still a Marquis, or if my daughter were intended to marry a commoner,-why, perhaps we might give you the preference. Beauseant. A commoner,-we are all commoners in France now. Madame Deschap. No, child!-if I praise you, Madame Deschap. In France, yes; but there it is only to inspire you with a proper ambition. is a nobility still left in the other countries in You are born to make a great marriage. Beauty Europe. We are quite aware of your good quali |