Indian Princess, the; or, La Belle Sauvage

Indian Princess, the; or, La Belle Sauvage (1808), an “operatic melo‐drama” by James Nelson Barker, John Bray (music). [Chestnut Street Theatre (Philadelphia), in repertory.] The English land in Virginia to establish a settlement at Jamestown. Some of the men sing of their sweethearts back home, but one lovesick traveler attacks the wife of another settler. Captain Smith ( Mr. Rutherford) leads an expedition into the hinterlands, where he is captured by the Indians. Lieutenant Rolfe ( William Wood) and his comrades set out to find their leader and, when he comes to the Indian encampment, Pocahontas ( Mrs. Wilmot) falls in love with Rolfe, to the fury of the Indian Prince Miami ( Mr. Mills). When the Englishmen return to their settlement, Miami plans an attack, but Pocahontas alerts the settlers. Originally conceived simply as a blank‐verse drama by Barker, the music helped make the piece a huge success. The love scene in Act III between Pocahontas and Rolfe was especially well done. When the play was offered in New York two months after its Philadelphia premiere, the Evening Post called it “in point of dramatic composition, one of the most chaste and elegant plays ever written in the United States.” It was the first American play to be done in London, where it was performed at the Drury Lane in 1820 under the title Pocahontas; or, The Indian Princess.