forced him to return to military service. In 1760, while still serving in the marine corps, Bickerstaff collaborated with Thomas Arne, the leading British composer, on a light opera Thomas and Sally which was an enormous success. It is possible that Bickerstaff simply wrote the play and approached Arne with it or sent it to the Covent Garden Theatre where he was working. It had its opening night at Covent Garden on 28 November 1760. The play was performed repeatedly in London and soon spread around Britain and across the British Empire. It was also performed in Dublin, Philadelphia and Kingston, Jamaica. They subsequently worked together on Judith, an oratorio first performed at Drury Lane in February 1760. He went on to produce many successful comedies based on Marivaux and other French playwrights and opera librettos. In 1762 he and Arne wrote Love in a Village considered the first English comic opera. His The Maide of the Mill (1765), with music by Samuel Arnold and others, was also very successful. Bickerstaffe also wrote bowdlerised versions of plays by William Wycherley and Pedro Calderon de la Barca. His Love in the City (1767), The Padlock (1768), based on "The Jealous Husband" in Cervantes' Novelas (this included the character Mungo, a negro servant played by Dibdin, one of the earliest comic black roles in English drama). He also wrote The Life of Ambrose Guinet (1770). Exile In 1770, a newspaper published a false report that in a fit of despair, he had thrown himself into the sea in the south of France, and perished. In 1772, Bickerstaffe fled to the Continent, suspected of homosexuality. The actor-producer David Garrick was implicated in the scandal by the lampoon Love in the Suds by William Kenrick. The remainder of his life seems to have been passed in penury and misery, but little is known. However, in March 1772, it was reported that he was writing a small piece, which was to be called the Coterie, and would be performed at the Haymarket theatre that summer. In early August 1772, it was reported that "Bickerstaff...who lately absconded for a detestable crime, died miserably a few days ago in Sussex". However this again appears to have been a false report, as records indicate he was still receiving his army half pay in 1808. "It seems he may have died soon after this." Long after Bickerstaffe's disappearance, his