Author: Pearce, William
Biography:
PEARCE, William (fl 1778-95)
The Haunts of Shakespeare (1778), dedicated to David Garrick (q.v.), is the first known publication of this author, who went on to write abundantly and successfully for the London stage between 1785 and 1795. He produced six so-called “comic operas” or “operatic farces” of which the libretti and sometimes selected songs and choruses were separately published; according to Barker, he also prepared for the stage a “dramatic romance” entitled The Fall of Harold which was never performed. Several of the operas were produced at Covent Garden with scores by the theatre’s principal composer, William Shield (1748/9-1829). Barker sums Pearce up as “a pretty successful dramatic writer, but of whose life we have not been able to learn any particulars.” That was in 1812; in 1816 Watkins said the same; and it is still the case. While it is surprising that an established writer should abruptly stop publishing, it is possible that Pearce turned to something else and lived on after 1795. Genealogical records include too many men of that name to identify him with confidence. (David Erskine Barker, Biographia Dramatica [1812] 1:2, 564; Watkins; ancestry.com 4 Sept. 2023; findmypast.com 4 Sept. 2023)