A Thumping Legacy

A farce by John Maddison Morton (1811–1891)[1]

The original text

Often subtitled, or alternatively titled, in various ways, e.g. The Cockney's Trip to Corsica, The Cockney in Corsica, A Cockney in Corsica. These titles have also been used as main titles, at times with A Thumping Legacy as the subtitle. This flexible usage is found not only in England, but also in America and the colonies during the 19th century, notably so in New Zealand and South Africa.

First performed in London as A Thumping Legacy in 1843 (and in Leeds with the subtitle The Cockney's Trip to Corsica on 16 June of the same year) and published in 1843 by T.H. Lacy (London), G. Berger (London) as well as Samuel French (London and New York) - all as "A Thumping Legacy; an original farce, in one act".

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1852: Performed on Tuesday 13 April and again on 21 April by the Amateur Company (possibly in association with Captain Hall's Company) under the title The Thumping Legacy in the Garrison Theatre, as one of three fundraisers for the survivors of the troop ship Birkenhead. It played as afterpiece to Don Caesar de Bazan, or Love and Honour (Webster and Boucicault).

1854: Performed under the title The Thumping Legacy by the Amateur Theatrical Society Port Elizabeth in the new Port Elizabeth Theatre on Fridy 7 July, with The Road to Ruin (Holcroft).

1855: Performed under the title The Cockney in Corsica in the Drawing Room Theatre, Cape Town, on Friday 13 July 1855 by Sefton Parry, as a benefit performance for the Patriotic Fund, along with A Capital Match (J.M. Morton) and Monsieur Jacques (Barnett). (Bosman, 1928[2]: p432, seems to have been unaware flexible sub-titling for Morton's play, and suggests that it may have been a play called Cockneys in California by an author he calls "French" , actually a one-act play by that name written by his contemporary, J. Stirling Coyne, and published by Samuel French.)