Transcriber's Note:
This e-book contains the text of The Indian Princess, extracted fromRepresentative Plays by American Dramatists: Vol 1, 1765-1819. Comments andbackground to all the plays, and links to the other plays are availablehere.
For your convenience, the transcribers have provided the following links:
JAMES NELSON BARKER
PREFACE
ADVERTISEMENT
ACT I.
ACT II.
ACT III.
Spelling as in the original has been preserved.
In a letter written to William Dunlap, from Philadelphia, onJune 10, 1832, James Nelson Barker very naïvely and very fullyoutlined his career, inasmuch as he had been informed byManager Wood that Mr. Dunlap wished such an account for his"History of the American Stage."
From this account, we learn that whatever dramatic abilityMr. Barker possessed came from the enthusiasm created withinhim as a reader of wide range. For example, in 1804, he becamethe author of a one-act piece, entitled "Spanish Rover," furnishedin plot by Cervantes. In 1805, he wrote what he describesas a Masque, entitled "America," in which poetic dialogueafforded America, Science and Liberty the opportunity of singingin unison. He confesses that this Masque was "to close a dramaI had projected on the adventures of Smith in Virginia, in theolden time." Then followed a tragedy suggested by Gibbon,entitled "Attila," but Mr. Barker had advanced only two actswhen news came to him that John Augustus Stone was at workon a play of the same kind.
In his letter to Dunlap, Mr. Barker deplored this coincidence,which put a stop to "Attila." "But have you never yourselfbeen the victim of these odd coincidences, and, just as you hadfixed upon a subject or a title, found yourself superseded—athing next in atrocity to the ancients' stealing all one's finethoughts. My comedy of 'Tears and Smiles' was to be called'Name it Yourself,' when out comes a 'Name it Yourself,' inEngland, and out comes too a 'Smiles and Tears,' with a widow,an Irishman, and almost all my dramat. pers. I wrote the 'IndianPrincess,' and an 'Indian Princess' appears in England. Lookingover the old English dramatists, I am struck with the 'Damonand Pythias' of Edwards as a subject, but am scarcely set downto it, when lo, the modern play in London; and what is worse,with the fine part of Pythias absolutely transformed into asnivelling fellow, who bellows like a calf at the prospect of dying[Pg 568]for his friend. 'Wallace' was purloined from me in like manner,and several other heroes: at length I fix upon 'Epaminondas', asa 'learned Theban' of so philosophical a cast of character, thateven the French had not thought of him for the boards. I formmy plot, and begin con amore, when I am told that Dr. Bird haswritten a 'Pelopidas' and an 'Epaminondas,' comprehending thewhole life of the latter."
Then, having finished with his diatribe against coincidence—adiatribe which excellently well shows the channels in whichBarker's literary mind ran, and