[1][2][3][4] The play is based in part on Le Forcat by Charles de Bernard.
The New York Herald called it "improbable and absurd in its plot, without any merit in its language, it belongs to the lowest order of sensational plays, and is altogether unworthy of the fine company by whom it is performed.
"[6] But when Phillips' published the play in England he dedicated it "with feelings of deep disgust to the thief or thieves who ... caused a mutilated copy of the work to be circulated in America, to the detriment of its author."
He also asserted that "nearly one-third of the Piece being omitted, and the remainder garbled into nonsense by introductions of the plunderer's own.
"[7] Phillips' dismay was no doubt a result of the lax United States copyright laws of the time, which permitted widespread piracy of foreign works.