THE WHITEFRIARS LIBRARY
OF WIT AND HUMOUR.
Edited by W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.
"Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum."
Horace.
"We shall spare no pains to make instruction agreeable to our readersand their diversion useful. For which reasons we shall endeavour toenliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality, that ourreaders may, if possible, both ways find their account in the speculationof the day."
Addison (adapted).
A
BOOK OF BURLESQUE
OF
ENGLISH STAGE TRAVESTIE
AND PARODY
BY
WILLIAM DAVENPORT ADAMS
Author of "A Dictionary of English Literature," "Rambles in Book-Land"etc., etc.
WITH PORTRAITS OF F. C. BURNAND, W. S. GILBERT,AND G. R. SIMS
LONDON
HENRY AND CO., BOUVERIE STREET, E.C.
1891
The Whitefriars Library of Wit and Humour.
Vol. I.
ESSAYS IN LITTLE. By Andrew Lang. [Seventh Thousand.
Vol. II.
SAWN OFF: A Tale of a Family Tree. By G. Manville Fenn. [Fourth Thousand.
Vol. III.
A LITTLE IRISH GIRL. By the Author of "Molly Bawn." [Ready.
Vol. IV.
THREE WEEKS AT MOPETOWN. By Percy Fitzgerald. [Ready.
Vol. V.
A BOOK OF BURLESQUE. By William Davenport Adams. [Ready.
Vol. VI.
IN A CANADIAN CANOE. By Barry O. E. Pain, B.A. [July.
PREFACE.
In the pages that follow, I make no attempt to supplya consecutive and comprehensive history of Englishstage travestie. This would have been impossible withinthe limits assigned to me. My object has been simplyto furnish an introduction to such a history, supplementedby sketches of the various groups into which English stageburlesques naturally fall, with such extracts as might serveto exhibit the respective methods of individual travestie-writers.My business has been with the literary ratherthan the histrionic side of burlesque—with the witty andhumorous, rather than the purely theatrical, features ofthe subject with which I had to deal. At the sametime, I hope that the details I have been able to giveconcerning dates, and "casts," and so on, may be usefulto at least a large section of my readers.
I ought to say that, while I have endeavoured tomention all the most representative burlesques of whichour stage history keeps record, I have intentionally leftoutside of my scheme all "extrav