March 1810: ‘The Family Legend’, The First Night of Miss Baillie’s New Tragedy at the Theatre Royal, Queen Street

The Family Legend: A Tragedy tells the story of a fifteenth-century feud between the Lord of Argyll and the Chieftain of Maclean, on the Isle of Mull. It had its first performances at the Edinburgh Theatre in 1810.

 

An advertisement in the Glasgow Herald, Monday 19th March 1810, page 3, informed readers that “on account of the great preparation necessary for the production of the New Tragedy the Theatre will not be open on Monday, but On TUESDAY, March 20th, 1810.”

 

“The Prologue (written by Walter Scott, Esq.) to be spoken by Mr. BARTLEY. The epilogue (written by Henry Mackenzie, Esq.) to be spoken by Mrs. Glover.”

 

“Previous to the Play, and between the Acts, will be performed, Several Old and appropriate Scotch Marches”.

 

 

For further information, please see: James Hogg and the Literary Marketplace: Scottish Romanticism and the Working-Class Author, edited by Sharon Alker and Holly Faith Nelson, 2009; and Judith Bailey Slagle, Joanna Baillie: A Literary Life, 2002.

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, January 2020.