The Recruiting Officer. A Comedy . . . (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott [Etc.], 1706), PP. 1–4, 8–9, 19–24, 26–9, 31–2, 40–3, 47–9, 57–60, 65–7.

The Recruiting Officer had enormous success for many decades after its author’s death and continues to captivate audiences today. It was performed more than 500 times in eighteenth-century London alone, and the script had already seen fifty editions by 1800. George Farquhar (1676/7–1707) actually served as a recruiting officer after securing a lieutenancy in 1704. In “The Epistle Dedicatory”, Farquhar claimed that he set the play in Shropshire because “the Kingdom cannot shew better Bodies of men, better Inclinations for the Service, more Generosity, more good Understanding, nor more Politeness than is to be found” there. The play also boasted the approval of his commanding officer. Its author’s army service record, along with its appeal to both military and civilian audiences, gave an air of authenticity to the images of soldier’s courtship and family identities. Further testament to its popularity can be found in George Bateman’s novel, Maria (1785). In the novel, a regiment quartered nearby requested the comedy and it was subsequently performed to a packed house.