RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 186 who evidently had no 'tender cares' to occupy them, manfully maintained their seats in front, and remained so spellbound as to forget entirely the courtesies of gallantry and good breeding. We are of opinion that a perusal of Lord Chesterfield's 'Hints' might be a useful exercise for such as have no innate impulses to enable them to understand and practice what is conveyed in the phrase 'Place aux Dames' when those fair patronesses choose to honour public entertainments with their presence". 129 Once front seats were shunned by ladies, but that was not the case in mid-century Shanghai. In the Regulations to be Observed on the Evenings of Performances at the Shanghae Theatre printed in the North China Herald of February 14, 1857, it was even stipulated that, "after the front row had been set apart for the exclusive accommodation of H.B.M. Consul and the French and American Consuls, the seats numbered 2 to 6 will be reserved for ladies, and the gentlemen who escort them." VII. The Plays From the references above, and even more from the Calendar of Performances, it will be clear that the dramatic fare in Shanghai consisted for the greater part, nay for nearly one hundred percent, of pieces that could easily amuse the people. That is to say: farces, comediettas, burlesques, melodramas, burlettas, musical comedies or whatever name may be invented for the genre. There is no space here, nor is it within the scope of this Survey, to give an analysis of these plays, so I shall keep myself to some general remarks. Most pieces that were performed dated from the 19th century, but there were some from the previous one, like Henry Carey's The Dragon of Wantley (1737), a short three-act opera with music by John Frederick Lampe which burlesqued the Handel style works which were then in vogue (but hardly a century later); and James Townley's (or was it David Garrick's?) High Life below Stairs which one rather antiquarian critic thought "worth whole bales of farces of the 'Box and Cox' pattern". Sheridan's The Rivals (1775) was also on the programme several times (although not on that of the local amateurs) but it is remarkable (and, considering the travesties that were common, maybe just as well) that a classic comedy like Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer was not tackled. 130 Of contemporary authors the most prolific was John Maddison Morton and it should cause no surprise that his plays took top of the bill: no ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 236 P: 12.11.-18.11.1864 "No | Round the Corner" (12.3.1854). P: 23.1.1856 **Perdita the Royal Milkmaid or The Winter's Tale** (15.9.1856). P: 8.4.1865 BUCKINGHAM, Leicester Silk (1825-1867) "Take That Girl Away (5.3.1855). P: 15.2.1860; 3.12.1864 BUCKSTONE, John Baldwin (1802-1879) **A Dead Shot** (22.1.1827). P: 11.4.1865 "The Flowers of the Forest. A gipsy story" (11.3.1847), P 28.3.-5.4.1865 "Isabella or Woman's Life" (27.1.1834). P: 28.3-5.4.1865 "A Kiss in the Dark" (13.6.1840). P: 26.3.1857 "A Lesson for the Ladies" (5.9.1838), P: 8.4.1865 "Married Life" (20.8.1834). P: 12.11-18.11.1864 "A Rough Diamond" (8.11.1847). P: 13.4.1865 BUTLER, Richard (1794-1858) **The Irish Tutor** (12.7.1822). P: 5.5.1853 BYRON, Henry James (1834-1884) **Aladdin or the Wonderful Scamp** (1.4.1861), P: 2-.9.1864; 19.11.1864; 26.11.1864; 29.4.1865 "The Babes in the Wood! and the Good Little Fairy Birds!" (18.7.1859), P: 17.4.1865 **The Bride of Abydos or the Prince, the Pirate and the Pearl** (31.5.1858). P: 22.10-28.10.1864; 13.4.1865 "Cinderella or the Lover, the Lacky and the Little Glass Slippers" (26.12.1860). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864 "Fra Diavolo! or the Beauty and the Brigands" (5.4.1858). P: 15.10-21.10.1864 **The 'Green' Bushes or Missis Brown of the "Mississippi"** (26.12.1864), P: 30.9.1865 **Ill Treated Il Trovatore or the Mother, the Maiden and the Musician** (21.5.1863). P: 22.6.1864; 29.6.1864 **The Maid and the Magpie or the Fatal Spoon** (11.10.1858). P: 8.10-14.10.1864; 15.10-21.10.1864; 15.4.1865 "Princess Springtime or The Envoy who stole the King's Daughter" (26.12.1864). P: 10.11.1865; 20.11.1865 CAREY, Henry (1687?-1743) "The Dragon of Wantley" (1737; music by John Frederick Lampe). P: 26.1.1852 "A Wonder or an Honest Yorkshireman" (1735). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864 CENTLIVRE, Susannah (1667?-1723) "The Wonder. A Woman Keeps A Secret" (April 1714). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864 CHELTNAM, Charles Smith (1823-?) "Aurora Floyd or the Deed in the Wood" (11.3.1863), P: 26.11.1864; 17.4.1865 "A Lucky Escape" (9.9.1861). P: 25.4.1864 COLMAN, George, the younger (1762-1836) "The Heir at Law" (15.7.1797). P: 21.4.1851 **Love Laughs at Locksmiths** (25.7.1803). P: 9.5.1864 **The Review or The Wags of Windsor** (2.9.1800), P: 24.3.1852 COURTNEY, John (1813-1865) **Time Tries All** (4.9.1848). P: 5.5.1860; 21.3.1865 ================================================================================