John Galt loved the theatre. He wrote several works intended for the stage but perhaps the best known was actually a non-starter - he was too afraid of his mother's reaction to have it presented on stage! It was a version of Lingo's Wedding. The original Lingo's Wedding (1784), was a follow up to the Agreeable Surprise, a comic opera written by Irish playwright John O’Keffe (1747-1833). The music for the work was written by composer and organist Samuel Arnold (1740-1802). The Agreeable Surprise was written in 1781 and was a great success. Lingo, a Latin teacher and parish clerk, was one of the characters in the comedy. He was played, with great acclaim by William Henry Moss (1748-1817), actor and theatre manager.
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| William Henry Moss by John Kay |
Galt writes in his Literary Life -
“Moss, so famous in London as Lingo, then an old man, came to Greenock with a company. I became intimate with him, and being then reading of the prolific Lopez de Vega, wrote a farce in one day for him, exhibiting Lingo as a lover. It was called Lingo’s Wedding, and he expressed himself much amused with it; but the fear of my mother came over me, and I prevented the performance, interdicting all mention of the subject in the most judicious filial manner.” (Lope de Vega (1562-1635) was a Spanish playwright and poet.)
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| From the Caledonian Mercury, April 1784 |
William H Moss came to Greenock in 1802 while Galt was still living at home. At that time theatrical productions were performed at the Assembly Hall at the eastern end of Cathcart Street in Greenock.
Galt continues to describe his version -
"Part of the original manuscript, since I commenced this work, has been recovered; and without any personal feeling on the subject at all, I do say that, as an effore to excite laughter at the expense of the understanding, it is not entirely a failure. The character of Lingo seems to have been well preserved; and he has a rival in a Mr Ipsy Dixy, a lawyer, who is conceived with some drollery, and whom he characteristically always speaks of as Manylaws. The charm of the piece, however, is a Miss Girzy, a Scotch cousin of Dominie Felix, to whom Lingo and the lawyer are paying their addresses. Lady Grippy in “The Entail”, is a sound and sober personage compared to Miss Girzy.” (Ipsy Dixy - from the Latin ipse dixit can be translated as a dogmatic or unproven statement.)
While his version of Lingo's Wedding was not produced on stage, Galt later went to to write several other works, some of which made it to various theatres, but with not much success.
