William Powell Frith Mr Honeywell introduces the bailiffs 1850

''The Good-Natur'd Man'' is a play written by Oliver Goldsmith in 1768. The play was written in the form of a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

and premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1768, with

Mary Bulkley Mary Bulkley, née Wilford (1747/8 – 1792), known professionally as Mrs Bulkley, Miss Bulkley, and later Mrs Barresford, was an English eighteenth-century dancer and comedy stage actress. She performed at various theatres, especially Covent G ...

as Miss Richland.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Bulkley née Wilford; other married name Barresford, Mary, by John Levitt
/ref> It was a middling success for Goldsmith, and the printed version of the play became popular with the reading public. It was released at the same time as Hugh Kelly's ''

False Delicacy ''False Delicacy'' is a 1768 comic play by the Irish playwright Hugh Kelly, with some assistance by David Garrick. It premiered at the Drury Lane Theatre on 23 January. The play was a major success for Kelly, being performed over twenty times ...

'', staged at

Drury Lane Theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...

. The two plays went head to head, with Kelly's proving the more popular.

Garrick Garrick may refer to: * Garrick (name), for the name's origin and people with either the surname or given name, the most famous being: ** David Garrick (1717–1779), English actor * Garrick Club, a London gentlemen's club named in honour of David ...

rejected ''The Good-Natur'd Man'', possibly because the story is an antidote of ''False Delicasy''.Thomson p.139

References

Bibliography

* Sherburne, George and Bond, Donald F. ''A Literary History of England, Volume III: The Restoration and Eighteenth Century''. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967. * Thomson, Peter. ''The Cambridge Introduction to English Theatre, 1660-1900''. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

External links

* * Script, with remarks by

Elizabeth Inchbald Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson, 15 October 1753 – 1 August 1821) was an English novelist, actress, dramatist, and translator. Her two novels, '' A Simple Story'' and '' Nature and Art'', have received particular critical attention. Life Bo ...

. Printed some years after 1768. 1768 plays British plays Irish plays Works by Oliver Goldsmith Comedy plays {{18thC-play-stub