George Farquhar (1677 – 29 April 1707) was an Irish dramatist. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Constant Couple (1699), The Recruiting Officer (1706) and The Beaux' Stratagem (1707).

Early life

thumb|Engraving of a performance of George Farquhar by [[Michiel van der Gucht after unknown artist, published 1711]]

Born in Derry, Farquhar was one of seven children born to William Farquhar, a clergyman of modest means. The author of "Memoirs of Mr. George Farquhar", a biographical sketch prefixed to certain 18th-century editions of his works, claims that Farquhar

He was educated at Foyle College and later entered Trinity College Dublin at age 17 as a sizar under the patronage of the Bishop of Dromore, who may have been related to Farquhar's mother. but was "unhappy and rebellious as a student" and left college after two years to become an actor. According to an 18th-century biographer, Farquhar's "gay and volatile Disposition could not long relish the Gravity and Retirement of a College-life,"

Acting career

Farquhar joined a company performing on the Dublin stage, probably through his acquaintance with the well-known actor Robert Wilks. However, he was well received by audiences and thought to continue in this career "till something better should offer."

Writing career

Farquhar then left for London, "possibly with a draft of his first play in his portmanteau." and Wilks is also credited with encouraging Farquhar's efforts at writing plays.

Farquhar's first comedy, Love and a Bottle, was premiered in 1698; "for its sprightly Dialogue and busy Scenes," it is said to have been "well received by the Audience." The general character of the play can be evaluated by considering that in the opening scene, Roebuck tells his friend Lovewell that he has left Ireland due to getting a woman pregnant with twins (a boy and a girl) and to Roebuck's father trying to force Roebuck to marry the woman; however, Roebuck remarks, "Heav'n was pleas'd to lessen my Affliction, by taking away the She-brat."

After the favourable reception of Love and a Bottle, Farquhar decided to devote himself to playwriting. He also at this point received a commission in the regiment of the Earl of Orrery, so his time for the next few years was divided between the vocations of soldier and dramatist.

In 1700, Farquhar's The Constant Couple was acted at Drury Lane and proved a great success, helped considerably by his friend Wilks' portrayal of the character of Sir Henry Wildair The playwright followed up with a sequel, Sir Harry Wildair, the following year, and in 1702 wrote the comedies The Inconstant and The Twin Rivals. Also in 1702, Farquhar published Love and Business, a collection that included letters, verse, and A Discourse Upon Comedy.

The next year, he married Margaret Pemell, "a widow with three children, ten years his senior," who reportedly tricked him into the marriage by pretending to have a great fortune. His 18th century biographer records that "though

he found himself deceived, his Circumstances embarrassed, and his Family increasing, he never upbraided her for the Cheat, but behaved to her with all the Delicacy and Tenderness of an indulgent Husband." He was engaged in recruiting for the army, due to the War of the Spanish Succession, for the next three years, writing little except The Stage Coach in collaboration with Peter Motteux; this was an adaptation of a French play. He drew on his recruiting experience for his next comedy, The Recruiting Officer (1706).

Early in 1707, Farquhar's friend Wilks visited him; Farquhar was ill and in distress, and Wilks is said to have "cheered him with a substantial present, and urged him to write another comedy."

Farquhar died on 29 April 1707, not quite two months after the opening of this last play. He was buried in the Church of St. Martin in the Fields, London, on 3 May.

  • Bertolt Brecht set his adaptation of The Recruiting Officer, called Pauken und Trompeten, in America during the Civil War.
  • Alexander Pope famously refers to the playwright in "The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated," where he comments (line 288), "What pert low Dialogue has Farqu'ar writ!" (It has been argued that this is not an attack by Pope on Farquhar, but an illustration of "how seldom ev'n the best succeed" two lines earlier.)
  • In his essay "On Actors and Acting," essayist William Hazlitt praises the reformative power of the last act of Farquar's play The Inconstant, calling it "[t]he most striking lesson ever read to levity and licentiousness...where young Mirabel is preserved by the fidelity of his mistress, Orinda, in the disguise of a page, from the hands of assassins, into whose power he has been allured by the temptations of vice and beauty. There never was a rake who did not become in imagination a reformed man during the representation of the last trying scenes of this admirable comedy."

See also

  • List of Northern Irish writers
  • Timberlake Wertenbaker

References

Sources

  • Shirley Strum Kenny, editor (1988). The Works of George Farquhar. Oxford University Press, two volumes.
  • Barry Sales (2014). "The Landlord's Tale" (1708). Eighteenth Century Studies, volume 47, no. 3. An anonymous poem, probably written by George Farquhar.
  • The Dramatic Works of George Farquhar, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
  • Farquhar's A Discourse Upon Comedy.
  • Project Gutenberg's text of The Beaux' Stratagem.
  • Love and Business by George Farquhar – multiple formats at the Ex-Classics Web Site