(Excerpt from The Bard of Mary Redcliffe Mrs. Angell, tne...)
Excerpt from The Bard of Mary Redcliffe Mrs. Angell, tne keeper of a lodging-house. Harry angell, leer son, ten years of age. Bertha angell, leer dangleter, six years of age. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(This compelling one-act tragedy in blank verse is based o...)
This compelling one-act tragedy in blank verse is based on the final hours of the life of poet Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770). Lacy skillfully wove what factual strands he could discover about Chatterton's life with creations of his own mind to construct this seamless romantic tragedy. One of the highlights of the play is a sonnet of Lacy's creation, rather than Chatterton's. A Boston critic wrote, "Finding nothing in the works of Chatterton that would be suited to give as it were, the whole secret of that fate-riven, yearning soul in so few lines, Mr. Lacy was moved to write the sonnet himself. It is an achievement that deserves more than passing notice.... It tastes of genius." This illustrated edition includes an etching of actress Julia Marlowe as Chatterton. Michele Mollo provides an introduction summarizing Lacy's life and work as well as a commentary on the play.
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Ernest Lacy was born at Warren, Pennsylvania, the son of Barnet W. and Martha M. (Maclean) Lacy, of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. The father, a well-known Pennsylvania attorney, suffered financial reverses and at his death left the family in straitened circumstances that early threw the boy on his own resources.
Ernest and his older brother, William, attended Hastings Academy and studied law in the office of a Philadelphia attorney.
Ernest was qualified for the bar before he was twenty-one. William's An Examination of the Philosophy of the Unknowable as Expounded by Herbert Spencer (1883), set up and printed by the two brothers in the garret of their home because they could not find a publisher, attracted international attention and was reprinted by Ernest in 1912 after the author's death.
Earning his livelihood by preparing students for the bar examinations, and with his brother working on a revision of Kent's Commentaries, published under William's name in four volumes (1891 - 1892), Lacy revealed the true bent of his genius in his Rinaldo, a romantic five-act tragedy in blank verse written while he was still in his teens. In order to get into touch with actors who wanted plays he gave up the law for the theatre.
After considerable work as a theatrical press-agent he became manager of the old Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Nearly all of the leading plays came to this house, and through William B. Gross he was introduced to Joseph Haworth, Robert B. Mantell, Julia Marlowe, Richard Mansfield, and other well-known actors. After several years spent as a reviser of plays at the Walnut, he became business-manager of the Park Theatre.
When the Paris Winter Circus came to Philadelphia, Lacy became manager, and it is characteristic of his versatility that he thoroughly enjoyed his job. In 1894 Julia Marlowe produced, in Chicago, Lacy's Chatterton, a one-act play, and it immediately won the public and the critics by the poetic beauty of its blank verse and the dramatic effectiveness of its close. Rinaldo was produced by Joseph Haworth in 1895. It is in the tradition of the older romantic drama with a strong Elizabethan flavor. Though a juvenile production, it has passages of gripping power, and its blank verse often rises to a high level. The last scene "represents the virtues and defects of the romantic tragedy" (Quinn, post, I, 208).
Unfinished plays on which Lacy was at work at his death are Earl George, suggested by a note in Blackstone on an ancient penance, and Montezuma, a romantic tragedy dealing with the Aztec civilization.
He devoted years to the study of Chatterton, and spent his summer vacations in England studying in the archives of Bristol and absorbing the atmosphere of the place and the surrounding country. Chatterton became his patron saint. Furthermore, his chivalric devotion to his brother, his memories of their common struggles for recognition, and his consciousness of his own power and genius are poured into this play.
In 1893, Lacy, who was then in London reading at the British Museum and doing dramatic coaching, was invited to join the faculty of the old Philadelphia Central High School, chiefly for the purpose of developing the courses in public speaking. In 1896 he became assistant professor, in 1900 full professor, and in 1907 he succeeded Albert H. Smyth as head of the English department. He was a pioneer in developing debating in the public schools, his legal training standing him in good stead, and in transforming the older formal work in "elocution" into vital training in self-expression. His profound knowledge of Shakespeare and his firsthand acquaintance with dramatic technique made his Shakespeare courses unique.
Because of his poetic sensibility and his rich emotional nature he was a rare interpreter of the Romantic poets. Two of his best sonnets are those to Wordsworth and Byron. He considered Shelley's Cenci the greatest English drama of the nineteenth century. His strength as a teacher of literature did not lie in the presentation of facts, but in critical insight into the poetic mind and in the relating of poetry to life. Lacy was of medium height and powerful build, with finely chiseled features and a well-poised head, his sensitiveness hidden behind a challenging air. He had a rich musical voice and his reading of Shakespeare was for generations of high school students the best part of their education in English literature.
The failure of his muse in his later years was partly due to the drain upon his vitality caused by the drudgery of teaching, and partly to his growing sense of alienation from the realistic trends of the drama. His Plays and Sonnets (1900) contained Rinaldo, Chatterton, and sixty-one sonnets, marked by depth of feeling and mastery of form. This volume was reprinted in 1910, and another added, which contained The Bard of Mary Redcliffe; both volumes were reprinted by N. S. Brown in 1916. In 1917 appeared a one-volume memorial edition.
"The Bard of Mary Redcliffe", written for E. H. Sothern, was his best work and in the judgment of competent critics was the foremost poetic drama written in America. Lacy also had a knack for writing Irish comedy. His "Crom-a-Boo" and "Black-Thorn Sceptre" were never produced but he won a popular success with "The Ragged Earl", in which Andrew Mack appeared in 1899, and which was later turned into a popular screen play. "Japhet in Search of a Father", a dramatization of Marryat's novel, was written for Richard Mansfield, but not produced by him.
(This compelling one-act tragedy in blank verse is based o...)
(Excerpt from The Bard of Mary Redcliffe Mrs. Angell, tne...)
On June 18, 1885, Lacy married Hattie C. Dugan.
