A Will and No Will

In Short

This volume presents two 1740s comedic afterpieces by actor-playwright Charles Macklin: A Will and No Will, or A Bone for the Lawyers and The New Play Criticiz'd, or The Plague of Envy. In the first, a servant uses disguise and legal trickery to disinherit a miser’s parasitic relatives; in the second, a petty critic plots against a hit play only to be outwitted by high society. Preserved as unpublished stage manuscripts until modern facsimile printing, these works endure as lively, authentic artifacts of mid-eighteenth-century London theatre culture and satirical farce.

The Story

The volume brings together two distinct comic afterpieces that satirize different corners of 1740s London society. The first play, A Will and No Will, opens with a meta-theatrical prologue set in the pit of the theater, where fashionable theatergoers like Rattle, Smart, and Snarlewit debate the incoming farce and mock Macklin's writing abilities. The main action centers on Sir Isaac Skinflint, a wretchedly ill miser who refuses to spend money on medical care because his "tenement is not worth the repairs." Skinflint plans to marry Harriet, the young daughter of Lady Lovewealth, and make his nephew Bellair his sole heir. However, Skinflint's primary motivation is spite: he wants to disinherit his toxic family members, whom he compares to undertakers waiting for him to die.

Complications arise when rival relatives arrive to stake their claims. Shark, a cunning servant acting on behalf of Bellair's interests, arrives disguised first as Sir Roger Bumper—a boisterous, drunken fox hunter—and later as a grieving widow with fifteen children. When Skinflint suddenly collapses and dies offstage, Shark quickly seizes the opportunity. He puts on the dead miser's nightgown, cap, and slippers, takes to the armchair, and pretends to be the dying Skinflint. Calling in Doctor Leatherhead and the proctor Mr. Littlewit, Shark dictates a fake will that bestows the entire estate and financial bonds upon Bellair while leaving nothing to the greedy relatives. After the legal paperwork is signed and sealed, Shark sheds the costume to celebrate his triumph, leaving the real authorities and relatives outmaneuvered.

The second play, The New Play Criticiz'd, shifts focus to the gossipy, envious atmosphere of London's literary scene. Canker, a pedantic critic, is desperate for a newly staged comedy to fail because he cannot tolerate any author's success. He sends his footman to monitor the pit and report on hisses, but to Canker's utter fury, the audience loves the production. A parade of characters enters, including the scatterbrained chatterbox Mrs. Chatter, the high-society figure Lady Critick, the absurdly confused baronet Sir Patrick, and rival writers Plagiary and Grub. Plagiary admits that despite his best efforts to ruin the show by coughing, hawking, and blowing his nose into his handkerchief during key scenes, the audience demanded silence and applauded the performance. Seeing Canker's irrational bitterness, Heartly and Lady Critick devise a plan to write a satirical farce based on Canker's own envious behavior, naming their meta-play The New Play Criticiz'd.

How It Unfolds

The pit meta-prologue Fashionable theatergoers gather on stage, which is dressed to mimic the theater's pit, where they gossip, ogle women in the boxes, and mock Macklin’s literary ambitions before the farce even begins.

The miser's spiteful scheme Sir Isaac Skinflint, an infirm old miser who resists paying doctor fees, resolves to settle his affairs by marrying young Harriet and disinheriting his vulture-like relatives.

The servant's disguise Shark infiltrates the house using absurd disguises—first as a rowdy fox-hunting nephew and then as a weeping widow claiming fifteen children—to destabilize Skinflint's plans.

The forged will When Skinflint drops dead, Shark dons the old man's robe and slippers, impersonates him from an armchair, and tricks a doctor and proctor into signing over the estate to Bellair.

The critic's rage In the second play, the spiteful critic Canker anxiously awaits news from the theater, only to learn that his servant and the general public thoroughly enjoyed the new comedy.

The pit plotters defeated The bitter writer Plagiary confesses that despite trying to disrupt the show with loud coughing and nose-blowing, the audience insisted on listening and gave the play a resounding success.

The meta-farce conceived Observing Canker’s unhinged jealousy, Heartly and Lady Critick decide to turn Canker's exact behavior into the plot of a new satire, delivering comedic justice to the arrogant critic.

The People

• Sir Isaac Skinflint wants to keep his wealth to himself and spite his greedy relatives, whom he views as vultures; he stands in his own way through his extreme superstition and bodily decay, ultimately dying before he can secure his legacy.
• Bellair wants to marry Harriet and inherit his uncle's wealth; he relies on his servant's deceit to achieve his ends and ends up as the primary beneficiary of the forged will.
• Shark wants to secure Bellair's fortune and line his own pockets; hindered by intrusive lawyers and unexpected deaths, he uses chaotic impersonations to successfully forge the will.
• Canker wants the public to reject a new theater play to satisfy his ego; hindered by the play's genuine popularity and the audience's enthusiasm, he ends up mocked and exposed as the inspiration for a satirical comedy.
• Lady Critick wants to be seen as the ultimate arbiter of theatrical taste; she shifts her allegiances based on fashion and ends up backing a meta-play designed to parody Canker.
• Sir Patrick wants to pass for a cultured man of the world; hindered by his own nonsensical logic and memory lapses, he remains a comical figure of absurd commentary.

In Its Own Voice

"I am like an old House that is ready to drop--the first high Wind, down I shall go--the next fit will carry me off."

Sir Isaac Skinflint evaluates his frail health while arguing against paying expensive fees to physicians and surgeons.

"I tell you it was clapt very much and was ten times comicaller than your Tragedy, and made the People laugh more."

A footman delivers unwanted news to his master, the bitter critic Canker, confirming that the new theater production was a resounding success.

"I pulled out my Handkerchief and blowed--and coughed--and hawked--and spit, a hundred times I believe... but was constantly interrupted with 'Silence--pray, Sir, be silent--let us hear.'"

Plagiary describes his failed attempt to rally the theater pit into ruining an author's opening night performance.

What It's Really About

Underneath their quick-paced comedic setups, these plays interrogate the mercenary nature of family relations and the toxic jealousy inherent in public commentary. A Will and No Will targets the obsession with inheritance, portraying family bonds as transactional arrangements where relatives hover around dying elders like scavengers. The play exposes how extreme greed turns both the miser and his heirs into deceptive operators who view the legal system merely as a tool for financial theft. The New Play Criticiz'd examines how critical commentary often stems from personal malice rather than objective aesthetic judgment. Macklin presents the theater pit as a battleground between public enjoyment and petty elite gatekeeping, arguing that genuine theatrical merit will ultimately triumph over coordinated smear campaigns.

Why Read It Today

This double-bill appeals directly to fans of 18th-century English literature, theater history, and classic farce. Reading these scripts offers an authentic glance into the informal, chaotic atmosphere of mid-Georgian London theater, where the audience in the pit was just as much a part of the show as the actors on stage. The dialogue moves at a rapid clip, packed with sharp banter, absurd pretension, and creative trickery.

readers should be prepared for period-specific difficulties. The formatting retains the raw structure of stage manuscripts, complete with stage directions, fast-paced entrance cues, and broad character archetypes. Additionally, modern readers will encounter 18th-century cultural references, legal jargon, and stylized dialect spelling (such as a servant's phonetic rendering of a regional accent). What stays with you is Macklin's biting theatrical meta-commentary: the realization that the pettiness of internet review-bombing and family inheritance disputes was just as alive, rowdy, and ridiculous in 1740s London as it is today.

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