at Drury Lane, February 2, 1821. Forrest frequently acted "Carwin" in this play. Clari, or the Maid of Milan, an opera, derives its interest chiefly from the fact that it contains the song of "Home, Sweet Home." It was first played at Covent Garden, May 8, 1823, and at the Park Theatre, New York, November 12, 1823.
Charles the Second or The Merry Monarch was first played at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, May 27, 1824. It was acted at the Park Theatre, New York, October 25, 1824.
The comedy is of especial interest on account of Washington Irving's joint authorship in it. Irving collaborated more than once with Payne but insisted on his share being concealed. In The Life and Letters of Washington Irving by Pierre Irving (1883), an account is given of Irving's sending the manuscript to Payne, in November, 1823, after having revised it and added to it some new ideas. The idea of "Captain Copp" constantly trying to sing a song, and never being able to complete it, was conceived by Irving to meet the English taste for broad fun. In the introduction by Payne in the edition of 1824 he refers to the literary friend to whom he is "indebted for invaluable touches."
The work of both authors had as a model, a French play, La Jeunesse de Henri V, by Alexandre Duval (1760-1838), one of the leading dramatists of France at the time. Duval's play, performed at the Theatre-Frangais, June 9, 1806, which was one of his most successful efforts, was in its turn based on another, Charles II en certain lieu, by Mercier, and, according to Duval, even this was based on an earlier English play. Duval was forced by the censor to change his hero from Charles II to Henry V of England, with consequent anachronisms. Payne restored the rightful king to his own, but took the main plot from Duval and even the names of the principal characters are the same, with the exception of that of the heroine, who is "Betty" in the original. The dialogue at times follows the original though never slavishly and at times it differs radically, especially in the first and last Acts.
John Howard Payne, Dramatist, Poet, Actor and Author of "Home Sweet Home!" by Gabriel Harrison, revised ed. Philadelphia, 1885, is the standard life of Payne. The Early Life of John Howard Payne, by W. T. Hanson, Boston, 1913, is valuable for the first period of Payne's life. His important plays have frequently been reprinted. Charles II, Brutus, Thérèse, Love in Humble Life, Peter Smink, The Two Galley Slaves, Mrs. Smith, or the Wife and the Widow, 'T was I, or the Truth a Lie, can still be obtained in the Samuel French series. For a complete Bibliography by the present editor, see the Cambridge History of American Literature. La Jeunesse de Henri V can be found in Œuvres Completes d' Alexandre Duval, Paris, 1822, Vol. 6.
The present edition of Charles II is a reprint of the rare London edition of 1824, which differs from the American reprints and is a better text.
