Note 4 — The Meschianza

“We all know of Burgoyne’s surrender, but hardly one knows Burgoyne’s comedies, and yet there are few cleverer or more brilliant, of a second order, than ‘The Heiress,’ and ‘Maid of Oaks.’ In a letter, dated New York, June 2, 1777, he says, ‘You cannot imagine anything half so beautiful as this country. It is impossible to conceive anything so delightful. Lady Holland, in spite of her politics, would, I am sure, feel for it, if she could see the ruin and desolation we have introduced into the most beautiful and, I verily believe, happiest part of the universe.’”—World Essays: William B. Reed, pp. 176, 177.