Author Description

Finally available to modern scholars, this book is the first critical edition of these two plays by Edward Moore. The success of the initial run of Moore's sentimental comedy The Foundling (1748) was due in part to its cast, which included Susannah Maria Cibber and David Garrick, and the play continued to enjoy moderate success on the London stage. It remained popular among critics throughout the eighteenth century and was reprinted and performed regularly in the nineteenth. In the twentieth century, as the most important and the best sentimental comedy of the mid-eighteenth century, it has been generally accepted by literary historians as the bridge between the comedies of Colley Cibber and Richard Steele in the first part of the century and those of Hugh Kelly and Richard Cumberland in the last. The initial run of Moore's domestic tragedy The Gamester(1753), with Garrick in the title role, was also largely successful. From its first revival in 1771 to its last in 1871, the play was performed by Britain's finest actors and actresses - and performed more frequently on the London stage than any other Restoration or eighteenth-century tragedy. Anthony Amberg's introduction discusses the sources and composition, production, publication and reception, and final revision of both plays. The text of The Foundling is based on Moore's holograph manuscript, that of The Gamester on the first edition. In both the author's spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and italicization have been retained, and both have been provided with full textual and explanatory notes.