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A comedy called the 'Mercenary Match,' by one
Barnabas Bidwell, is said to have been performed by
the students at Yale College, under the auspices of the
Rev. Dr. Ezra Styles, President of the College. Dun-
lap speaks of having heard it read, but does not men-
tion whether it was from a manuscript or printed
copy. It was printed at New Haven in 1785.
The 'Contrast,' however, was the first to meet suc-
cessfully the critical judgment and approval of a pro-
fessional manager. This fact alone should redeem it
from the neglect and inattention it has heretofore met
with. Besides, it possesses considerable intrinsic merit,
and as an acting play will compare favorably with
many of the English comedies of the period; and
though, perhaps, meager in plot and incident, it is
bright, humorous, and natural; the dialogue is sparkling
with genuine wit; and its satire aimed at the evils and
follies of the time is keen and incisive. The contrast
between the plain and simple honesty of purpose and
breeding of our American home life and the tinseled
though polished hypocrisy and knavery of foreign
fashionable society is finely delineated, and no doubt
suggested the name of the play. Thoroughly natural
in its plan and characters, it was a bold venture of a
young writer in a new literary domain.
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