Editing George Farquhar (section)

==Writing career==

Farquhar then left for London, "possibly with a draft of his first play in his portmanteau."<ref name="myers"/> Some writers tie his move to that of his friend Wilks, who had received an offer from the manager of [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]] to come to London and join that theatre,<ref name=alex4>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Ewald
 | editor-first = Alex. Charles
 | title = The Dramatic Works of George Farquhar
 | publisher = John C. Nimmo
 | year = 1892
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. vii
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oIQ4AAAAIAAJ
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref> and Wilks is also credited with encouraging Farquhar's efforts at writing plays.<ref name=ingenious2>{{cite book
 | last = Anonymous
 | title = "Memoirs of Mr. George Farquhar," in The Works of the Late Ingenious Mr. George Farquhar... ("The Tenth Edition")
 | publisher = John Rivington et al.
 | year = 1772
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. iv
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kDTUMPTssgsC
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref><ref name=strauss2>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Strauss
 | editor-first = Louis A.
 | title = A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
 | publisher = D.C. Heath & Co.
 | year = 1914
 | location = Boston
 | pages = vii
 | isbn = 9780598588494
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mB1MAAAAMAAJ
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref>

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."<ref name="ingenious2"/> Called a "licentious piece" by one scholar,<ref name="myers"/> and cited as proof that Farquhar had "absorbed the stock topics, character-types, and situations of Restoration comedy" by another,<ref name="ross"/> the play deals with Roebuck, "An ''Irish'' Gentleman of a wild roving Temper" who is "newly come to ''London.''"<ref name=ingeniousplay>{{cite book
 | last = Farquhar
 | first = George
 | title = "Love and a Bottle," in The Works of the Late Ingenious Mr. George Farquhar... ("The Tenth Edition")
 | publisher = John Rivington et al.
 | year = 1772
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. 114 (Dramatis Personae)
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kDTUMPTssgsC
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref> 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."<ref name=ingeniousplay2>{{cite book
 | last = Farquhar
 | first = George
 | title = "Love and a Bottle," in The Works of the Late Ingenious Mr. George Farquhar... ("The Tenth Edition")
 | publisher = John Rivington et al.
 | year = 1772
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. 121
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kDTUMPTssgsC
 | no-pp = true  }} Most of these plot details are pointed out by William Myers, ''op. cit.,'' p. vii.</ref>

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.<ref name="alex4"/> It was also at about this time that Farquhar discovered [[Anne Oldfield]], who was reading aloud a scene from ''[[The Scornful Lady]]'' at her aunt's tavern. Impressed, he brought her to the notice of [[John Vanbrugh|Sir John Vanbrugh]], and this led to her theatrical career, during which she was the first performer of major female roles in Farquhar's last comedies.<ref name=strauss3>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Strauss
 | editor-first = Louis A.
 | title = A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
 | publisher = D.C. Heath & Co.
 | year = 1914
 | location = Boston
 | pages = viii
 | isbn = 9780598588494
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mB1MAAAAMAAJ
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref>

In 1700, Farquhar's ''[[The Constant Couple]]'' was acted at Drury Lane and proved a great success,<ref name=alex5>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Ewald
 | editor-first = Alex. Charles
 | title = The Dramatic Works of George Farquhar
 | publisher = John C. Nimmo
 | year = 1892
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. viii
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oIQ4AAAAIAAJ
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref> helped considerably by his friend Wilks' portrayal of the character of Sir Henry Wildair<ref name="ingenious2"/> (a performance that Farquhar himself praised generously in his "Preface to the Reader" when the play was published).<ref name=alexf1>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Ewald
 | editor-first = Alex. Charles
 | title = The Dramatic Works of George Farquhar
 | publisher = John C. Nimmo
 | year = 1892
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. 123
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oIQ4AAAAIAAJ
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref> 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.''<ref name=strauss4>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Strauss
 | editor-first = Louis A.
 | title = A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
 | publisher = D.C. Heath & Co.
 | year = 1914
 | location = Boston
 | pages = ix
 | isbn = 9780598588494
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mB1MAAAAMAAJ
 }}</ref>

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.<ref name=myers2>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Myers
 | editor-first = William
 | title = George Farquhar: The Recruiting Officer and Other Plays
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | year = 1995
 | location = Oxford
 | pages = viii
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=B_efAAAACAAJ
 | isbn = 0-19-282249-7
 | no-pp = true }}</ref> 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."<ref name=ingenious3>{{cite book
 | last = Anonymous
 | title = "Memoirs of Mr. George Farquhar," in The Works of the Late Ingenious Mr. George Farquhar... ("The Tenth Edition")
 | publisher = John Rivington et al.
 | year = 1772
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. vi
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kDTUMPTssgsC
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref> 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 [[Pierre Antoine Motteux|Peter Motteux]]; this was an adaptation of a French play.<ref name=strauss5>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Strauss
 | editor-first = Louis A.
 | title = A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
 | publisher = D.C. Heath & Co.
 | year = 1914
 | location = Boston
 | pages = x
 | isbn = 9780598588494
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mB1MAAAAMAAJ
 }}</ref> He drew on his recruiting experience for his next comedy, ''[[The Recruiting Officer]]'' (1706).<ref name="ingenious3"/> However, Farquhar had to sell his army commission to pay debts, reportedly after the [[James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde|Duke of Ormonde]] advised him to do so, promising him another but failing to keep his promise.<ref name=strauss6>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Strauss
 | editor-first = Louis A.
 | title = A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
 | publisher = D.C. Heath & Co.
 | year = 1914
 | location = Boston
 | pages = xi
 | isbn = 9780598588494
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mB1MAAAAMAAJ
 }}</ref>

Early in 1707, Farquhar's friend Wilks visited him;<ref name=myers3>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Myers
 | editor-first = William
 | title = George Farquhar: The Recruiting Officer and Other Plays
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | year = 1995
 | location = Oxford
 | pages = ix
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=B_efAAAACAAJ
 | isbn = 0-19-282249-7 }}</ref> 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."<ref name="strauss6"/> This comedy, ''[[The Beaux' Stratagem]],'' was given its première on 8 March 1707;<ref name="myers3"/> we know from Farquhar's own statement prefacing the published version of the play that he wrote it during his sickness:

{{cquote|The reader may find some faults in this play, which my illness prevented the amending of; but there is great amends made in the representation,
which cannot be match'd, no more than the friendly and indefatigable care of Mr. Wilks, to whom I chiefly owe the success of the play.<ref name=advert>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Strauss
 | editor-first = Louis A.
 | title = A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
 | publisher = D.C. Heath & Co.
 | year = 1914
 | location = Boston
 | pages = 198
 | isbn = 9780598588494
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mB1MAAAAMAAJ
 }}</ref> }}

Farquhar died on 29 April 1707, not quite two months after the opening of this last play.<ref name=alex6>{{cite book
 | editor-last = Ewald
 | editor-first = Alex. Charles
 | title = The Dramatic Works of George Farquhar
 | publisher = John C. Nimmo
 | year = 1892
 | location = London
 | pages = Vol. I, p. xii
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oIQ4AAAAIAAJ
 | no-pp = true  }}</ref> He was buried in the Church of [[St. Martin in the Fields]], London, on 3 May.<ref name="strauss6"/>