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of Arts of Cambridge', and 'a Poet in the Loll and Trot of
Spencer', 'a very Elf in Philosophie'.

NOTE 25.-PICKERING AS THE SUPPOSED SCENE OF DR. PRIMROSE'S
IMPRISONMENT. Page 353.

Visitors to Pickering, which has been suggested as the site
of the prison which was the scene of the Vicar's sufferings and
final triumph over his enemies, may be safely advised to read The
Evolution of an English Town, by Gordon Home (Methuen & Co.).
This book contains much information as to the peculiarly rich folk-
lore of the district and the history of the Castle and Vale of
Pickering, together with many other interesting details, including
a sketch-map of the district. A sketch of the Black Hole of
Thornton-le-Dale shows an underground cell beneath some
cottages which was formerly the village prison, and has been
supposed to have sheltered the Vicar and his family. See an
article by Mr. Edward Ford in the National Review for May, 1883.

NOTE 26.-DUELLING. Pages 378, 391.

The statement of George Primrose, that by sending a challenge
to 'Squire Thornhill he had laid himself open to the extreme
punishment of the law, has no real warrant in fact. Curiously,
a similar statement is made by Sheridan in The Rivals (Act v,
sc. 1), where Faulkner exclaims to Julia, 'You see before you
a wretch, whose life is forfeited. . . I left you fretful and passionate
-an untoward event drew me into a quarrel—the event is, that
I must fly this kingdom instantly.' The law on the subject at
that time is thus stated in Burn's Law Dictionary (ed. 1792):-
:-
Although upon the single combat no death ensue, nor blood
be drawn, yet the very combat for revenge is an affray, and a
great breach of the king's peace; an affright and terror to the
king's subjects; and is to be punished by fine and imprisonment,
and to find sureties for the good behaviour. 3 Inst. 157,

6

And where one party kills the other it comes within the notion of murder, as being committed by malice aforethought; where the parties meet avowedly with an intent to murder, thinking it their duty, as gentlemen, and claiming it as their right, to wanton with their own lives, and the lives of others, without any warrant for it, either human and divine; and

4

therefore the law hath justly fixed on them the crime and punishment of murder. 4 Black. 199.

'But if two persons fall out upon a sudden occasion, and agree to fight in such a field, and each of them goeth to fetch his weapon, and they go into the field, and therein fight, and the one killeth the other, this is no malice prepensed; for the fetching of the weapon, and going into the field, is but a continuance of the sudden falling out, and the blood was never cooled: but if there were deliberation, as that they meet the next day, nay, though it were the same day, if there were such a competent distance of time, that in common presumption they had time of deliberation, then it is murder. 1 Hale's Hist. 453.'

Goldsmith has evidently tried to put himself right, for the first edition contained certain passages which he afterwards changed. See Note on Suppressed Passages (Chapter XXVIII), p. 510.

NOTE 27.-EARLY DRAMA IN AMERICA.

In view of Goldsmith's admiration for Otway, it may be of interest to note that this dramatist was one of the first to be represented on the American stage.

The New York Nation of January 28, 1909, contained a highly interesting article on The First Play in America '. It is there decided, on very strong evidence, that the first playhouse in America dates from circa 1750, when a performance of Otway's Orphan was given in a Boston Coffee House. In 1866, Ireland wrote a circumstantial account of a company of actors that reached New York in February, 1750, under the management of a certain Kean and Murray'. The Philadelphia records of the Murray and Kean Company have been brought to light. An entry in John Smith's Journal gives the name of what was probably the first play acted by them :

'Sixth Month (August 22d, 1749). Joseph Morris and I happened in at Peacock Bigger's, and drunk tea there, and his daughter, being one of the company who were going to hear the tragedy of Cato acted, it occasioned some conversation, in which I expressed my sorrow that anything of the kind was encouraged.'