''The Generous Conqueror'' is a 1701

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

by the English writer

Bevil Higgons Bevil Higgons (1670–1735) was an English historian and poet, He was born at Kezo. Life Higgons was the third son of Sir Thomas Higgons, by his second wife, Bridget, who was herself the daughter of Sir Bevil Grenville, and widow of Sir Simon Lea ...

. It was published in January the following year, and is sometimes dated 1702 by this. Higgons was a well-known

Jacobite Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...

who had been implicated in the 1696 Jacobite assassination plot against William III. In this play he effectively called for the peaceful succession of the pretender to the throne as James III. The Drury Lane cast included

Robert Wilks Robert Wilks (''c.'' 1665 – 27 September 1732) was a British actor and theatrical manager who was one of the leading managers of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in its heyday of the 1710s. He was, with Colley Cibber and Thomas Doggett, one of the ...

as Almerick,

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

as Rodomond,

Philip Griffin Philip Griffin was an English stage actor of the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century. He joined the King's Company at Drury Lane during the 1670s, and was later a member of the merged United Company from 1685. He was named as a mana ...

as Gonzalvo,

Colley Cibber Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling ...

as Malespine,

Thomas Simpson Thomas Simpson FRS (20 August 1710 – 14 May 1761) was a British mathematician and inventor known for the eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathematics, can be debated: this rule had been ...

as Meroan, Jane Rogers as Armida,

Mary Kent Mary Kent (before 1692 – after 1718) was an English actress, whose career lasted from 1692 to 1718, and the wife of Drury Lane actor Thomas Kent. Her dates of birth and death are not known. Mary Kent appeared in many playbills from 1692 onward ...

as Irene and

Anne Oldfield Anne Oldfield (168323 October 1730) was an English actress and one of the highest paid actresses of her time. Early life and discovery She was born in London in 1683. Her father was a soldier, James Oldfield. Her mother was either Anne or Eli ...

as Cimene. It was not a success, partly because audiences and critics objected to its Jacobite arguments portrayed in the characters and plot. The

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

was by the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

politician and writer George Granville, who shared the Jacobite sympathies of Higgons. The printed version play was dedicated to the

Marquess of Normanby Marquess of Normanby is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in 1694 in the Peerage of England in favour of John Sheffield, 3rd Earl of Mu ...

, who had attended the play several times, and was another Tory with Jacobite leanings.Hone p.33 A contemporary play ''

Tamerlane Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

'' by Nicholas Rowe, took the very opposite view to Higgons, presenting another historical tragedy that depicts William of Orange as a heroic figure in Whig eyes.

References

Bibliography

* Braverman, Richard. ''Plots and Counterplots: Sexual Politics and the Body Politic in English Literature, 1660-1730''. Cambridge University Press, 1993. * Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Hone, Joseph. ''Literature and Party Politics at the Accession of Queen Anne''. Oxford University Press, 2017. * Lowerre, Kathryn. ''Music and Musicians on the London Stage, 1695-1705''. Routledge, 2017. 1701 plays English plays West End plays Tragedy plays {{18thC-play-stub