Royall Tyler's Other Plays

Abstract

IN the literature of the American Republic Royall Tyler is remembered for his early efforts as a playwright, despite the fact he went on to enjoy a laudable career as poet, essayist, and novelist. Tyler is notable, however, chiefly as the author of The Contrast, the first comedy written by an American to be produced in this country by a professional company. The Contrast is important for several reasons. Besides its historical value, it was the first American drama to introduce to the stage the character of Jonathan, the prototype for all stock characterizations of the Yankee. The play also marked the first recorded singing of Yankee Doodle on the stage, and it was the first native drama to be reviewed by the press.2 My purpose is not to re-examine the dramatic, sociological, and linguistic merits of The Contrast.3 This has been done adequately by numerous critics of American drama. Rather this essay will consider Tyler's other dramatic works: four manuscript plays, three manuscript fragments which have just come to light, and six other plays, most of which were probably produced during Tyler's lifetime but are now totally lost. Tyler, a Major in the Massachusetts militia, had come to New York City on March 12, 1787, as an emissary of Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin to discuss matters relating to Shays' Rebellion with Governor DeWitt Clinton. Some scholars believe he came with the manuscript of The Con-