Isaac Bickerstaffe

Life
1733-?1812 [var. Bickerstaff]; b. [?26 Sept.] prob. Dublin; son of deputy groom porter; became page to Lord Chesterfield and thereby an ensign in Northumberland Fusiliers at aetat. 12, 1745; served as 2nd Lieut., 1746-55 and 1758-63; produced successful plays between 1756 and 1771 based on Marivaux and other French playwrights; incl. Love in a Village (1762), with music by Thomas Arne, performed 37 times within six months and went into eight edns. in 1763 alone, and frequently restaged thereafter; Maid of the Mill (1765), drawn from Richardson’s Pamela with further indebtedness to Beaumont and Fletcher (acc. Genest) and with music by Samuel Arnold et al.;

served to bring comic opera back to popularity after The Beggar’s Opera fell out of fashion; Love in the City (1767), his only unsuccessful play, the others being played in London and at theatres throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, and the colonies; Lionel and Clarissa (1768), suffered by competition with Goldsmith’s The Good-Natured Man and Kelly’s False Delicacy; preferred to use Italian music and considered the appetite for English and Scottish melody cultivated by Thomas Arne to be vulgar; The Padlock (1768), based on “The Jealous Husband” in Cervantes’s Novelas, a favourite character with audiences being Mungo, a negro servant played by Dibdin, one of the earliest comic black roles in English drama; and premiered at Drury Lane and produced 54 times in 1768-9 with editions in Dublin and Belfast as well as London;

poss. author of The Life of Ambrose Guinet (1770); fled to France to avoid prosecution for homosexuality, 1771; appealed unsuccessfully to David Garrick for help, 1805; said by Stephen Jones to be still living in France (Biographia Dramatica, 1812); presum. d. in poverty; praised him by Hugh Kelly in Thespis, Bk. II (1767); a modern edition of his works was edited by Peter A. Tasch (1981); the resemblance of the playwright’s name to a pseudonym employed by Jonathan Swift in 1703 and reputedly derived from a locksmith’s shop-sign appears to be entirely concidental; the British Library holds 107 editions of his works, incl. 26 printed in Dublin and one 1 in Cork [see variant dates of death under Notes - infra]. RR CAB ODNB PI JMC NCBE RAF OCEL ODQ OCIL

[ top ]

Works
First Performances, Love in a Village (CG, 8 Dec. 1762); The Maid of the Hill (CG, 31 Jan. 1765), Love in the City (CG, 21 Feb. 1767); Lionel and Clarissa (CG, 25 February 1768); The Padlock (DL, 3 Oct. 1768).

Modern Editions, Peter A. Tasch, ed., The Plays of Isaac Bickerstaff, 3 vols (New York: Garland 1981).

[ top ]

Criticism
William Smith, Early Irish Stage (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1955), p.287 [infra]; Peter A. Tasch, The Dramatic Cobbler: The Life and Works of Isaac Bickerstaff (Lewisburg: Bucknell UP [1971]); W. B. Stanford, Ireland and the Classical Tradition (IAP 1976; 1984), p.110 [infra]. See also Peter Kavanagh, Irish Theatre: Being a History of the Drama in Ireland from the Earliest Period up to the Present Day (Tralee: Kerryman 1946).

[ top ]

Commentary
Irish Book Lover (Jan. 1931), recounts that ‘The story is told that one evening Bickerstaffe had some friends, incl. Hiffernan and Goldsmith, to listen to him reading his new play ‘Tis well ’tis no more ...; Hiffernan falling asleep, Goldsmith remarked ‘so he would have served Homer’, whereupon Hiffernan apologised saying ‘It is my usual practice. I can never resist sleeping at a pantomime.’

William Smith, Early Irish Stage (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1955), remarks that ‘Bickerstaffe reigned pre-eminent in comic opera with Lionel and Clarissa, Love in a Village, Maid of the Hill, and The Padlock.’ (See also Smith, Irish Stage in the County Towns, p.287).

Denis Johnston noted that ‘[t]he fanciful has a way of coming to life as in the case of Isaac Bickerstaffe, who began as an imaginary astrologer, invented by the Dean to annoy an Almanack maker, and who now appears to have a place in the ODNB as the author of several plays’. (Johnston, In Search of Swift, 1959; cited in Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English 1789-1850, Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980, Vol. 2, p.60f.)

W. B. Stanford, Ireland and the Classical Tradition (IAP 1976; 1984), lists Irish Classical Plays including I[saac] Bickerstaff [sic], Leucothea (1756), Daphne and Amintor (1766), and The Ephesian Matron (1769), p.110.

[ top ]

References
Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica: Irish Worthies (London 1819), Vol. I [of 2], p.99. See full copy in RICORSO > Library > Criticism > History > Legacy - via index, or as attached.

Dictionary of National Biography remarks that Bickerstaffe fled the country ‘on suspicion of capital crime’ in 1772 and ‘died degraded’.

D. J. O’Donoghue, Poets of Ireland: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of Irish Writers of English Verse (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co.1912), cites Thomas Mooney’s History of Dublin as stating that he was b. Dublin 1732. Lists works incl. Stephen’s Green, a rhapsody, prose (1763); The Maid of the Mill, comic opera (1765), Daphne and Amintor, com. op. (1756 [sic]), The Plain Dealer (1766), Love in the City (1767); The Absent Man (1768); ’Tis Well it’s No Worse (1770); and prob. The Spoiled Child (1805).

Peter Kavanagh, Irish Theatre (Tralee: The Kerryman 1946), cites comic operas, Love in a Village (CG, 8 Dec. 1762), printed 1763; The Maid of the Mill (CG, 31 Jan 1765), printed 1765; Lionel and Clarissa (CG, 25 Feb. 1768), printed 1768. Others, Lencothoe, dram. poem (1756); Thomas and Sally, or the Sailor’s Return, mus. ent., with Dr Arne (CG, 28 Nov. 1760), printed 1761; Daphne and Amintor, com. op. (DL 8 Oct. 1765), printed 1766, ran 23 nights, and based on Centlivre’s Oracle, with mus. from Piccinni, Vente, Cocchi et al.; The Plain Dealer, com. (DL, 7 Dec. 1765), printed 1766, altered from Wycherley play of that title; Love in the City, com. op. (CG, 21 Feb. 1761), printed 1761, condemned on sixth night, mus. by author and Charles Dibdin, later made short as a farce, The Romp; The Absent Man (DL, 21 Mar 1768), printed 1768, farce, char. taken from Menalcas in La Bruyère, trans. by the Spectator (No.77); The Padlock, com. op. (DL, 3 Oct. 1768), printed 1768, fifty-three nights, performed first as afterpiece to Hamlet before King Christian VIII in London; The Royal Garland (CG, 10 OCT 1768), printed 1768, interlude, before ‘his Danish Majesty’; The Hypocrite, com. (17 Dec. 1768), printed 1769, alt. Cibber’s Non-Juror, introducing one new char, Maw-Worm, a fanatic; Doctor Last in his Chariot, com. (21 June 1769), printed 1769, based on Molière’s La Maladie Imaginaire, with a scene by Samuel Foote; The Captive, com. op. (21 Hay 1769), printed 1769, based on scenes in Dryden’s Don Sebastian, mus. by Dibdin; ’Tis Well it’s No Worse, com. (DL, 24 Nov. 1770), printed 1770, adapted from Calderòn’s El Escondido y la Tapada, eleven nights, and later shortened as farce by John Kemble as The Panel (1788); The Recruiting Sargeant, interlude with Dibdin (Ranelagh Hs., DL, 1770), printed 1700; He Would if He Could or An Old Fool Worse than Any, burl., mus. Dibdin (DL, 12 Apr. 1771), printed 1771, from Federico’s La Serva Padrona; The Sultan or A Peep into the Seraglio, op. farce (DL, 12 Dec. 1775), printed 1787, trans. of Favart’s Solomon II or Les Trois Sultanes; The Spoilt Child (DL, 23 Mar 1790), 1799, last work, often ascribed to other authors. Love in a Village comparable for success with Beggar’s Opera; it was revived successfully in London in 1924; a compilation borrowed from Charles Johnson’s Village Opera, Wycherley’s Gentleman Dancing Master, and Marivaux’s Jeu de l’Amour and de l’Hazard; it contains, ‘There was a jolly miller once / Lived on the River Dee ... I care for nobody not I / If no one cares for me.’ Lionel and Clarissa, original, excepting the line from Dryden’s Alexandre’s Feast, ‘None but the brave deserve the fair’ (end Act 1). Altered and revived as The School of the Fathers (DL, Feb. 1770). The Maid on the Mill, based on Richardson’s Pamela, divested of coarse scenes, ran 35 nights. Kavanagh compares him with present-day script writers. The biographical information is mostly drawn from Biog. Dram., but makes no mention of his flight, its cause, or his subsequent distress.

Margaret Drabble, ed., Oxford Companion to English Literature (OUP 1986); cites The Dramatic Cobbler (1971), and mentions the song “The Miller of Dee” [‘There was jolly miller once’]; also Love in a Village (1762), music by Arne; also The Maid of the Mill (1765), music by Samuel Arnold and others, acknowledges Richardson’s Pamela as source; The Padlock (1768), music by Dibden; also Lionel and Clarissa (1768), which reappeared as The School for Fathers (1772); The Hypocrite (1768), after Molière and Cibber’s Non-Juror, contains hypocrite Maw-maw; adaptations of Wycherley and Calderon; fled to France suspected of homosexual offence and lived in obscurity; Garrick implicated in scandal of lampoon by W Kenrick d.1729), Love in the Suds, subtitled ‘the lamentations of Rocius for the loss of his Nyky’ [1772]; Dibdin defended from charges of plagiarising his songs; nothing known of Bickerstaffe’s death.

Michael Arnott, English Theatrical Literature (London: Society for Theatre Research, 1970), gives details of Kenrick’s dispute with Garrick, 1772; Love in the Suds ... a most vile attack on Garrick by that contemptible hound Dr [William] Kendrick; Nyky is Isaac Bickerstaffe, who had to quit this country to escape trial for an unnatural crime; Kenrick, in this poem, insinuates that Garrick was participator in the crime (Lowe); further, Kenrick made public apology in the Publick Advertiser, 23rd Nov. 1772 and promised to withdraw and suppress the sale of the pamphlet (Lowe). Kenrick, Love in the Suds, A Town Eclogue .. Lamentation &, with annotations by the editor. J. Wheble (1772), 25pp.; 2nd & 3rd eds. [and another ‘3rd ed.’]. (Wheble 1772); 4th ed (1772); 5th ed, with verses appearing in the Morning Chronicle on the subject, those defending Garrick being signed Benedick (1772); also Kenrick, A Letter to David Garrick, Esq., Occasioned by His Having Moved the Court of King’s Bench Against the Publisher of Love &c. (Wheble 1772), 34pp. Note also a vehement attack on Kenrick, signed ‘Ariel’ at end-page The Kenrickad, A Poem (W.Griffin 1772), 16pp.; also The Recantation and Confession of Doctor Kenrick, L.L.D. (London: Allen 1772), 12pp., a mock recantation prefaced by coarse dialogue between Kenrick and his publisher Wheble, attributed by Kenrick to ‘that filthy yahoo, Paul Hiffernan’ (Lowe and Arnott).

Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington: Catholic University of America 1904), gives extracts from The Hypocrite, Love in a Village, and Thomas and Sally along with short pieces. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations selects from An Expostulation [‘Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love / But - why did you kick me downstairs?’]; Love in a Village [‘There was a jolly miller once, / Lived on the Dee;/He worked and sang from morn till night/No lark more blithe than he [...] And this the burden of his song / “For ever us’d to be/I care for nobody, not I / And no one cares for me”’; I. v.]; also “We all love a pretty girl - under the rose!; II.ii.]; and Thomas and Sally [‘In every port he finds a wife’].

Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English 1789-1850 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980), Vol. 2, loosely narrates that Bickerstaffe was expelled from the Navy [sic] for ‘ignominious conduct’, and later from England for a ‘capital crime’; his letter to Garrick from St-Malo reads, ‘Ayant perdu mes amis, mes espérance, tombé, exilé et livré au désespoir comme je suis, la vie est un fardeau presque insupportable’; Garrick did not reply. Bibl., Love in a Village (CG 8.12.1762), inspired by Charles Johnson’s Village Opera, Wycherley’s The Dancing Master, and Marivaux’s Le Jeu de l’Amour et du Hasard; The Maid of the Hill (CG, 31.1.1765), inspired by Richardson’s Pamela; Lionel and Clarissa (25.2.1768); also The Farce of the Spoil’d Child, 2 Acts (DL 22.3.1790); printed copy as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Smock-Alley (1792), 31pp. [‘for the bookseller’; author’s name does not appear; included in A Volume of Farces as they are performed at the Theatre Smock Alley, Dublin, of doubtful authorship. (Rafroidi, pp.60-61.)

British Library holds [1] A School for Fathers. A comic opera ... A new edition. [The advertisement signed: J. B., i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe. Altered from ‘Lionel and Clarissa.’]. pp. 77. W. Griffin: London 1773. 8o. [2] Dr. Last in his Chariot ... Translated from Moliere’s Malade imaginaire, by I. Bickerstaffe; and some new scenes by Mr. Samuel Foote - He wou’d if he cou’d: or, an old fool worse than any. A burletta, &c. - Daphne and Amintor. A comic opera. Altered from the Oracle of Monsieur St. Foix and Mrs. Cibber.. 1788. [3] Judith. A sacred drama, &c. [By I. Bickerstaffe.] As performed in the Church of Stratford upon Avon, on occasion of the jubilee held there, September 6, 1769, in honour of the memory of Shakespeare, &c. [Another edition]. pp. 22. 1761. 4o. pp. 24. [1764.] 4o. pp. ii. 16. W. Griffin: London [1769.] 4o. pp. 18. 1773. 4o. [4] Le Cadenas, opéra comique en deux actes. [Translated by A. Pichot]. 1822. [5] Lionel and Clarissa ... As performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Printed ... from the prompt book. With remarks by Mrs. Inchbald. With remarks by Mrs. Inchbald. Correctly given ... by Thomas Dibdin. pp. 69. Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme: London [1807.] 12o. pp. 69. Longman & Co.: London [1808.] 12o. pp. 64. Whittingham & Arliss: London 1815. 16o. [6] Lionel and Clarissa. A comic opera. As it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. Dublin: printed for J. Hoey, Sen. P. and W. Wilson, J. Exshaw, H. Saunders, B. Grierson, J. Potts, D. Chamberlaine, W. Sleater, L. Flin, J. Sheppard, J. Williams, and W. Colles, 1768. [4],68p. (12o); 18cm. [7] Lionel and Clarissa, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] Lionel and Clarissa: or, the School for fathers, &c. The School for Fathers; or, Lionel & Clarissa, &c.. Dublin: Thomas Walker, 1774. pp. 68. 12o. pp. 72. W. Lowndes: London 1786. 12o. pp. 104. London 1791. 8o. [8] Lionel and Clarissa: or, a School for fathers: a comic opera, &c. - Love in a Village: a comic opera, &c.. 1826. [9] Love in a Village ... As performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Printed ... from the prompt book. With remarks by Mrs. Inchbald. With remarks by Mrs. Inchbald. With additional songs, &c. Correctly given ... by Thomas Dibdin. pp. 68. Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme: London [1806.] 12o. pp. 68. Longman & Co.: London [1808.] 12o. pp. 60. R. Smith: Dublin 1808. 12o. pp. 60. W. Lowndes: London 1814. 8o. pp. 60. Whittingham & Arliss: London 1814. 16o. [10] Love in a village ... The fourth edition. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. London: printed, and sold by the booksellers in town and country, 1766. pp. 75. 12o. [11] Love in a village ... The fourth edition. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] The sixth edition. The seventh edition. The tenth edition. The tenth edition. The eleventh edition. London: J. Newbery, &c., 1763. pp. 74. 8o. pp. ii. 73. London 1763. 8o. pp. ii. 73. London 1763. 8o. pp. ii. 73. J. Newberry, &c: London 1764. 8o. pp. 64. J. Newberry, &c.: London 1765. 12o. pp. ii. 73. London 1765. 8o. [12] Love in a village ... The sixth edition. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] A new edition. Love in a Village; a comic opera [by Isaac Bickerstaffe] as it is performed at the Theatres Royal in Drury Lane and Covent Garden. [Another edition]. London: printed for and sold by the Booksellers in Town and Country [ca. 1767]. pp. 59. 12o. pp. ii. 8-78. London 1767. 8o. pp. 76. London 1776. 8o. pp. 56. London [1780?] 12o. pp. 48. R. Randall: London 1787. 12o. pp. 48. T. Sabine & Son: London [1790?] 12o. pp. 90. London 1791. 8o. [13] Love in a village: a comic opera ... [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] The fifth edition. London: J. Newbery, &c., 1763. pp. 74. 8o. [14] Love in a Village. A comic opera ... as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden, &c. [With a titlepage dated 1791]. pp. 84. [15] Love in a village; a comic opera ... The eighth edition. [By I. Bickerstaffe]. London: J. Newbery, &c., 1763. pp. ii, 73. 8o. [16] Love in a village: a comic opera. As it is performed at the theatres in London and Dublin. The third edition. Dublin: printed for W. and W. Smith, A. Leathley, J. Exshaw, H. Saunders, E. Watts, W. Sleator, W. Whitestone, T. and J. Whitehouse, J. Potts, and S. Watson, 1764. [8],64p. (12o); 18cm. [17] Love in a Village, &c. pp. 60. [18] Love in a Village, &c. [A reissue.] [Another edition]. pp. 53. London 1824. 12o. pp. 51. London [1825.] 12o. pp. 53. London [1829?] 12o. pp. 16. London [?1877] 8o. pp. 73. Martin Secker: London 1928. 8o. [19] Love in a Village - The Maid of the Mill - The Padlock - The Sultan, or, a Peep into the Seraglio. [20] Songs, &c. in the musical entertainment of The romp [adapted from Isaac Bickerstaffe’s ‘Love in the city’ by - Lloyd], &c. pp. 15. London 1785. 8o. 1785. [21] The Comic Opera, of Lionel & Clarissa, &c. [With a titlepage bearing the imprint: C. Cooke: London.] [edited by W. Oxberry.] Lionel and Clarissa, &c. [A reissue.] [Another edition]. pp. 72. pp. v. 65. W. Simpkin & R. Marshall: London 1818. 8o. London 1818. 8o. 1871. London [1877?] 8o. pp. 88. Martin Secker: London 1925. 8o. [22] The Comic Opera, of the Maid of the Mill, &c. [With a titlepage bearing the imprint: C. Cooke: London.] With prefatory remarks ... By W. Oxberry. pp. 72. pp. ii. 62 W. Simpkin & R. Marshall: London 1818. 8o. pp. 59. London [1829?] 12o. 1871. London [1875?] 8o. [23] The Comic Opera of Love in a Village, &c. [With a titlepage bearing the imprint: C. Cooke: London.] With prefatory remarks ... By W. Oxberry. The only correct edition, containing the alterations and songs, now first introduced, &c. [With a preface signed: R. W. E]. pp. 70. pp. iv. 55. W. Simpkin & R. Marshall: London 1819. 8o. pp. 60. Theatre Royal, Drury Lane: London 1821. 12o. [24] The Ephesian Matron, a comic serenata, &c. - The Absent Man, &c. - The Romp. A comic opera ... Altered from Love in the City [by - Lloyd] - The Recruiting Serjeant. A musical entertainment.. 1788. [25] The Hypocrite ... Taken from Moliere and Cibber ... by the author of the alterations of the Plain-Dealer [i.e. I. Bickerstaffe]. Altered from C. Cibber, by I. Bickerstaffe, &c. pp. 71. 1789. 12o. pp. 82. 1792. 8o. [26] The Maid of the Mill ... As performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden, &c. With remarks by Mrs. Inchbald. Correctly given ... by Thomas Dibdin. pp. 54. Oliver & Boyd: Edinburgh [1814.] 12o. pp. 75. Longman & Co.: London [1816.] 12o. pp. 71. Whittingham & Arliss: London 1815. 16o. [27] The Maid of the Mill ... As performed at the Theatres Royal, Drury Lane and Covent Garden. Printed ... from the prompt book. With remarks by Mrs. Inchbald. pp. 75. Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme: London [1807?] 12o. [28] The Maid of the Mill. A comic opera ... as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden, &c. [With a titlepage dated 1791.] With the variations of the manager’s book at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. [Another edition]. pp. 98. pp. 62. T. Lowndes: London [1798?] 12o. pp. 83. London 1791. 8o. [29] The maid of the mill. A comic opera. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. The music compiled, and the words written, by the author of Love in a village [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. Dublin: printed for A. Leathley, P. Wilson, J. Exshaw, H. Saunders, H. Bradley, E. Watts, J. Mitchell, and J. Shepheard, 1765. 72p. (12o); 18cm. [30] The maid of the mill. A comic opera. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden ... By the author of Love in a village [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. Dublin: A. Leathley, &c., 1765. pp. 72. 12o. [31] The padlock: a comic opera, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] A new edition. Cork, 1770. pp. 32. 12o. 1786. pp. 36. W. Lowndes; S. Bladon & W. Nicoll: London [1789.] 12o. [32] The Padlock; a comic opera, &c. - Love in a Village; an opera, &c. - Lionel and Clarissa; an opera, &c. - The Hypocrite; a comedy, &c. - Thomas and Sally; or, the Sailor’s return: a musical entertainment, &c. [By I. Bickerstaffe.] [33] The Padlock; a comic opera, &c. - The Hypocrite; a comedy, &c. - The Maid of the Mill; an opera, &c. - Love in a Village; an opera, &c. - Lionel and Clarissa; an opera, &c. [34] The Padlock, &c. Correctly given ... by Thomas Dibdin. pp. 28. pp. 43. London 1806. 8o. pp. 32. Whittingham & Arliss: London 1815. 16o. pp. 34. Charles Wiley: New York, 1825. 16o. pp. 28. London [1829.] 12o. 1871. London [1877?] 8o. [35] The Recruiting Sergeant: a musical entertainment, &c. - The Padlock: a comic opera, &c. - The Hypocrite: a comedy, &c. [adapted from Colley Cibber’s ‘Nonjuror,’ itself adapted from Molière’s ‘Tartuffe.’] [36] The Recruiting Serjeant, a musical entertainment. Correctly given ... by Thomas Dibdin. pp. 28. 1770. 8o. pp. 19. 1787. 8o. pp. 18. Whittingham & Arliss: London 1816. 16o. pp. 14. C. Wiley: New York, 1824. 16o. 1872. London [1879] 8o. [37] The Romp; a comic opera ... altered from ‘Love in the City.’-The Panel; a comedy ... altered from Bickerstaff’s comedy of ‘Tis Well its no Worse,’ by J. P. Kemble - Thomas and Sally; or, the Sailor’s return: a musical entertainment, &c. [By I. Bickerstaffe]. [1827.] [38] The Romp. A musical entertainment ... Altered from Love in the City, by Mr. Bickerstaff, &c. [By - Lloyd.] A new edition. pp. 32. W. Lowndes & J. Barker: London 1786. 8o. pp. 38. Gilbert: Dublin 1788. 12o. 1789. 8o. pp. 28. London [1835?] 12o. 1871. London [1877?] 8o. [39] The School for Fathers: or, Lionel and Clarissa. A comic opera ... as performed at the Theatres-Royal, Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden, &c. [With a titlepage dated 1791]. pp. 103. [40] The school for fathers; or, Lionel and Clarissa. A comic opera. By Isaac Bickerstaff. Adapted for theatrical representation, as performed at the Theatres-Royal, Drury-Lane, and Covent-Garden .. London: printed for the proprietors, 1794. 88p. (8o); 19cm [41] The Sultan, &c. Correctly given ... by Thomas Dibdin. [Another edition]. pp. 23. pp. 34. London 1806. 8o. pp. 24. Whittingham & Arliss: London 1817. 16o. 1872. [42] The sultan: or, A peep into the seraglio ... Taken from the manager’s book, at the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane. The second edition. London: H. D. Symonds [ca. 1785]. pp. 16. 12o. pp. 21. C. Dilly: [London] 1787. 8o. pp. 22. C. Dilly: [London] 1787. 8o. [43] The Sultan; or, a Peep into the Seraglio: a farce, &c. - The Recruiting Sergeant; a musical entertainment.. [1826?] [44] Thomas and Sally: or, The sailor’s return, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] Belfast: printed by James Magee, 1767. pp. 24. 12o. 1786. London [1879?] 8o. [45] ‘Tis Well it’s no Worse: a comedy, &c. [Adapted by Bickerstaffe from Calderón’s ‘El Escondído y la Tapada’.] The second edition. The third edition. pp. xii. 104. W. Griffin: London 1770. 8o. pp. xii. 104. W. Griffin: London 1770. 8o. pp. xii. 104. W. Griffin: London 1770. 8o. [46] Dr. Last in his Chariot. By Bickerstaff and Foote [or rather, by I. Bickerstaffe with additions by S. Foote]. [47] The Captive. A comic opera, as it is perform’d at the Theatre-Royal in the Hay-market. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. vi. 23. W. Griffin: London 1769. 8o. [48] The Farce of The Spoiled Child; in two acts, &c. [Ascribed to isaac Bickerstaffe.] The Spoil’d Child; in two acts. pp. 31. Printed for the Booksellers: [Dublin] 1792. 12o. pp. 36. Printed for the Booksellers: Dublin 1792. 12o. [49] The Spoil’d Child, &c. [Ascribed to Isaac Bickerstaffe.] [With a plate.] [Another edition]. pp. 24. Thomas Burnside: Dublin 1799. 12o. pp. 23. G. Folingsby: Dublin 1801. 12o. pp. ii. 22. [1823]. pp. 12. [1827]. pp. 33. [1828]. pp. 33. London [1870.] 12o. [50] The Hypocrite ... Altered from C. Cibber by Isaac Bickerstaff. The Hypocrite ... Altered from C. Cibber by Isaac Bickerstaff. Correctly given ... by Thomas Dibdin. [Another edition]. pp. 82. 1792. 8o. pp. 69. pp. 64. Whittingham & Arliss: London 1814. 16o. pp. 71. [51] The hypocrite, a comedy; in five acts. By Isaac Bickerstaff, &c. [A reissue.] The hypocrite: a comedy, in five acts. By Isaac Bickerstaff, &c. [Another edition]. London: T. Dolby, 1823. pp. 62: plate. 12o. London: John Cumberland [1829]. pp. 61.. 1865. pp. 69. London [1867.] 8o. London [1877?] 8o. [52] The Ephesian Matron. A comic serenata, after the manner of the Italian. [In one act and in verse. By I. Bickerstaffe.] London 1769. 8o. [53] The Royal Garland; a new occasional interlude [in verse. By J. Bickerstaffe]. London 1768. 8o. [54] The Life and ... Adventures of A. G., formerly well known to the public as the Lame Beggar man ... written by himself [or rather by I. Bickerstaffe?] The second edition. Fourth edition. [Another edition]. London 1770. 8o. London [1771?] 12o. Newcastle [1775?] 12o. London [1780?] 12o. London [1780?] 8o. Newcastle [1800?] 12o. [55] He wou’d if he cou’d: or, an old Fool worse than any: a burletta, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe. Adapted from G. A. Federico’s ‘La Serva Padrone.’]. pp. 27. W. Griffin: London 1771. 8o. [56] Judith, a sacred drama [in three acts and in verse]. ... The music composed by Dr. Arne. [The words only.] [Another edition]. London 1761. 4o. London 1773. 4o. [57] Judith, an Oratorio, as perform’d at the Lock Hospital Chapel ... 1764. [The words only]. London [1764.] 4o. [58] The Panel. A comedy, in three acts. [Altered from ‘‘Tis well it’s no worse,’ an adaptation of Calderón’s ‘El Escondido y la Tapada’ by I. Bickerstaffe.] [A reissue.] The Panel, &c.. 1871. London [1875?] 8o. [59] The Pannel. An entertainment of three acts. Altered [by J. P. Kemble] from the comedy of ‘Tis Well it’s no Worse [an adaptation by Bickerstaffe of Calderón’s ‘El Escondido y la Tapada’], &c. The second edition. [Another edition]. pp. 47. C. Stalkerd, &c.: London 1789. 8o. pp. iv. 47. C. Stalkerd, &c.: London 1789. 8o. [60] A letter to D. Garrick. ... The second edition. (Love in the Suds; a town eclogue. Being the lamentation of Roscius for the loss of his Nyky. ... With annotations by the editor [or rather Author, W. K.,]; and an Appendix, containing queries and answers relative to the personal satisfaction pretended to have been required of the Author of the above Eclogue, by ... Roscius.) [A satire upon David Garrick and Isaac Bickerstaffe.] Third edition. (Love in the Suds; a Town Eclogue. Being the lamentation of Roscius [i.e. D. Garrick] for the loss of his Nyky [i.e. I. Bickerstaffe]. With annotations by the Editor [or rather Author, W. K.] and an Appendix, &c.) London 1772. 4o. London 1772. 4o.[61] A Letter to David Garrick, Esq. from William Kenrick. (Love in the Suds;a town eclogue. Being the lamentation of Roscius for the loss of his Nyky ... With annotations by the editor [or rather author, W. Kenrick].) [A satire upon David Garrick and Isaac Bickerstaffe.] [Another copy. A Letter to David Garrick, Esq., &c.]. pp. 25. J. Wheble: London 1772. fol. London 1772. fol. [62] Love in the suds ... The fourth edition. London: J. Wheble, 1772. pp. iv, 31. 4o. [63] Leucothoe, a dramatic poem [in three acts. By I. Bickerstaffe].. Iondon, 1756. 8o. [64] The life and unparallelled voyages & adventures of Ambrose Gwinett, formerly well known to the public, as the Lame Beggar. Written by himself [or rather, by Isaac Bickerstaffe?] Also the interesting history of Renee Corbeau, translated from the French. London: printed by R. Robarts [for] J. M. Langham [ca. 1825]. pp. 36: plate. 12o. [65] Lionel and Clarissa ... [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] The third edition. Lionel and Clarissa: or, a school for fathers, &c. [The advertisement signed: J. B., i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe.] The third edition, &c. pp. 76. W. Griffin: London 1768. 8o. pp. 76. William Griffin: London 1770. 8o. pp. 68. J. Exshaw, &c.: Dublin 1771. 8o. 1771. [66] Lionel and Clarissa. A comic opera [in three acts. By I. Bickerstaffe]. London 1748 [1768]. 8o. London 1768. 8o. [67] Lionel and Clarissa, &c. By I. Bickerstaffe]. pp. 68. Smith & Son: Dublin 1804. 12o. [68] Love in a Village ... [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] The second edition. Love in a Village, &c. pp. 64. W. Smith & Son, &c.: Dublin 1763. 12o. Dublin 1763. 12o. [69] Love in a Village ... The third edition. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. 74. Printed by W. Griffin for J. Newbery, &c.: London 1763. 8o. [70] Love in a village ; a comic opera. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden. The ninth edition. London: printed for J. Newbery, G. Kearsley, W. Griffin and W. Nicoll, 1764. [8],73,[3]p. (8o); 20cm. [71] Love in a Village; a comic opera [by Isaac Bickerstaffe] as it is performed at the Theatres Royal in Drury Lane and Covent Garden. pp. 48. T. Sabine & Son: London [1790?] 12o. [72] Love in a Village; a comic opera [in three acts and in prose, with songs. By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. ... The second edition. London 1763. 8o. [73] Love in the City ... By the author of Love in a Village [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. Second edition. pp. 70. W. & W. Smith, &c.: Dublin 1767. 12o. London 1767. 8o. [74] Love in the City; a comic opera [in three acts and in prose, with songs. By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. London 1767. 8o. [75] The Songs of Love in a Village, with additional songs: as they were performed at the fancy ball in the castle of Dublin &c. [A political satire in the form of parodies of the songs in the opera ‘Love in a Village’ by Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. 15. Dublin 1789. 8o. [76] The Village Féte, a new burletta ... founded on the plot, incidents and diction, of the comic opera of Love in a Village [by I. Bickerstaffe], &c. pp. 39. Lowndes & Hobbs: London [1810.] 8o. [77] Airs, duets, chorusses, &c., &c., in the revived comick opera, called ‘The Maid of the Mill.’ London 1814. 8o. [78] The Maid of the Mill ... By the author of Love in a Village [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. The eighth edition. [Another edition]. pp. vii. 64. London 1771. 12o. London 1787. 12o. [79] The Maid of the Mill ... By the author of Love in a Village [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. The seventh edition. A new edition. pp. vii. 64. London 1766. 12o. London 1767. 8o. [80] The Maid of the Mill ... By the author of Love in a Village [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. The fourth edition. pp. iv. ii. 75. J. Newbery, &c.: London 1765. 8o. [81] The Maid of the Mill. A comic opera [in three acts; the dialogue in prose]. By the author of Love in a Village [Isaac Bickerstaffe]. Fifth edition. Sixth edition. London 1765. 8o. London 1765. 8o. London 1765. 8o. [82] The Absent Man: a Farce [in two acts. By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. Lond. 1768. 8o. [83] The Absent Man, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. 36. J. Hoey, &c.: Dublin 1768. 12o. [84] Doctor Last in his Chariot; a comedy [in three acts, by J. Bickerstaffe]. (A translation of Le Malade Imaginaire.) Third edition. [Another edition]. pp. iv. 70. W. Griffin: London 1769. 8o. pp. iv. 70. W. Grffin: London 1773. 8o. [85] Dr. Last in his Chariot ... Translated by Isaac Bickerstaffe (from Molière’s Malade Imaginaire), and some new scenes by Mr. Samuel Foote, &c. pp. 76. J. Parsons: London 1794. 12o. [86] The Hypocrite ... Taken from Moliere and Cibber ... by the author of the alterations of the Plain-Dealer [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. 71. H. Chamberlaine, &c.: Dublin 1789. 12o. [87] The Hypocrite. A comedy ... Taken from Molière [i.e. from ‘Tartuffe’] and Cibber [i.e. from ‘The Nonjuror’], by the author of the alterations of the Plain-Dealer [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. The second edition. pp. 92. W. Griffin: London 1769. 8o. pp. 92. W. Griffin: London 1769. 8o. [88] Judith. A sacred drama .. Libretto by Isaac Bickerstaffe. [The programme, with the libretto, for a performance by the Oxford Harmonic Society]. pp. 18. Oxford, 1950. 4o. [89] The Padlock: a comic opera, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe. Founded upon ‘The Jealous Husband’ in Cervantes’ ‘Novelas’]. pp. 27. W. Smith, &c.: Dublin 1775. 12o. [90] The Padlock: a comic opera [in three acts, and in prose, with songs. By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. The second edition. Third edition. New edition. London 1768. 8o. London 1768. 8o. London [1768?] 12o. [91] The Padlock, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. 36. James Magee: Belfast, 1787. 12o. [92] The Padlock, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. 32. W. & W. Smith, &c.: Dublin [1768?] 12o. [93] The Tatler. By Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. [i.e. Sir Richard Steele, Joseph Addison and others]. no. 1-272. The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff Esq;. Revised and corrected by the author. no. 1-114.. Sold by John Morphew: London 1709-11. fol.. 271 no. London 1709-10. fol.. 2 vol. no. 1-271. J. Morphew: London 1710, 11. fol.. 2 vol. John Morphew: London 1710, 11. fol.. 2 vol. Charles Lillie; John Morphew: London 1710. 12o. [94] Daphne and Amintor. A comic opera in one act, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe. Adapted from ‘L’Oracle’ of G. F. Poullain de Saint-Foix.] Translated from the French [i.e. ‘L’Oracle’ of G. F. Poullain de Saint-Foix], with some additional songs, by the author of Love in a Village [i.e. Isaac Bickerstaffe]. A new edition. pp. iii. 24. J. Newbery: London 1765. 8o. pp. iii. 26. J. Hoey: Dublin 1765. 8o. pp. iii. 24. J. Newbery: London 1766. 8o. [95] Songs, &c. of the burletta, called the Recruiting Sergeant, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. pp. 1-4. [London c. 1805.] 8o. [96] Shakespear’s garland: being a collection of new songs, ballads ... &c. Performed at the jubilee, at Stratford-upon-Avon. Written by Mr. Garrick, Mr. Bickerstaff, and others, &c.. Dublin: printed by John Mitchell [1769?] pp. 27. 12o. [97] The S.; or, a Peep into the Seraglio [a farce in two acts and in prose, by I. Bickerstaffe]. [98] The Sultan, &c. [By I. Bickerstaffe.] [99] The dramatic cobbler. The life and works of Isaac Bickerstaff. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press [1971]. pp. 322: plates. 24 cm. [100] Thomas and Sally, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] [Another edition]. pp. 23. James Williams: Dublin 1773. 12o. [101] Thomas and Sally: or, the Sailor’s Return. A musical entertainment ... The music composed by Doctor Arne. [Words of songs only. By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] The second edition. Third edition. pp. 23. For G. Kearsly, J. Coote, and W. Griffin: London 1763. 8o. pp. 22. W. Griffin: London 1765. 8o. [102] Thomas and Sally; or, the sailor’s return. A musical entertainment, in two acts. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. 1871. [103] Thomas and Sally; or, the Sailor’s Return. A musical entertainment [in two acts and in verse]. A new edition. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe.] A new edition. pp. 19. W. Griffin, &c.: London [1770?] 8o. pp. 19. W. Griffin, &c.: London [1770?] 8o. [104] Thomas and Sally: or, The sailor’s return, &c. [By Isaac Bickerstaffe]. London 1761. 8o. [105] The Plain Dealer ... Altered from William Wycherley ... by Isaac Bickerstaff. As performed at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane, &c.. George Cawthorn: London 1796. 12o. [106] The Plain Dealer. A comedy ... altered ... by I. Bickerstaff. With alterations by J. P. Kemble. [Another edition]. 1796. London 1796. 8o. 1811. London 1815. 8o. [107] The Plain Dealer: a comedy [in five acts and in prose]. ... With alterations [by I. Bickerstaffe]. New edition. London 1766. 8o. London 1767. 8o. London 1786. 8o.

[ top ]

Notes
Variant dates in reference works incl. d.1812 (ODNB); ?1735-?1812 (PI); c.1735-c.1812 (DIB); c.1733-1808/12 (ANJ); 1733-1812 (DIW).

Swiftiana?: The resemblance of the playwright’s name to a pseudonym employed by Jonathan Swift in 1703 and reputedly derived from a locksmith’s shop-sign appears to be entirely concidental.

[ top ]