Richard Cumberland
born
Feb. 19, 1732, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.
died May 7, 1811, London
English dramatist whose plays were in tune with
the sentimental spirit that became an important
literary force during the latter half of the
18th century. He was a master of stagecraft, a
good observer of men and manners, but today
perhaps is chiefly famous as the model for the
character of Sir Fretful Plagiary in Richard
Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Critic; or a
Tragedy Rehearsed.
After
leaving Trinity College, Cambridge, Cumberland
in 1761 became private secretary to the Earl of
Halifax in the Duke of Newcastle’s ministry and
later held other government positions. His first
success as a dramatist came with The Brothers
(1769), a sentimental comedy whose plot is
reminiscent of Henry Fielding’s novel Tom Jones,
and he continued to write prolifically. The West
Indian (1771) was first produced by the great
actor-manager David Garrick and held the stage
throughout the 18th century. Despite its
fantastic plot and crude psychology, a great
deal of feeling is extracted from the
situations. The Fashionable Lover, another
sentimental comedy, achieved success in 1772.
Cumberland, however, hankered after the grand
style. He regarded an early tragedy, Tiberius in
Capreae, as his masterpiece but could persuade
no management to produce it. His serious works
(which included an adaptation of William
Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens) were not
successful, with the exception of The Jew (1794)
and The Wheel of Fortune (1795). Cumberland was
querulous in the face of criticism and quarreled
with many famous contemporaries, notably
Sheridan and Oliver Goldsmith, both of whom were
opposed to sentimentalism in the drama.
The
Memoirs of Richard Cumberland Written by Himself
(1806–07) is notable for Cumberland’s
reminiscences of Garrick and of the theatrical
manager Samuel Foote.
