Cirrus@Austlit

Adapted from Henry Bellingham and William Best's burlesque Princess Primrose and the Four Pretty Princes, which had been staged in London for the first time in January the same year. The Argus records that The Four Champions had 'local subjects plentifully interspersed and liberally treated by everybody' (24 December 1866, p.8), while the Age critic writes that 'The local hits introduced, and their name was legion, were generally smart and pungent. Mr Greville's song is not, however, framed so as to hit the most polite taste' (24 December 1866, p.5).

The story concerns Princess Primrose, the daughter of King Ninnyhammer, who was abducted as an infant by the Fairy Queen, Beautee. Now seventeen, the princess is to be escorted back to her father on the Fairy Queen's orders, accompanied by four champions: Amrus (devoted to the fairer sex), Turfi (a sporting man), Hassard (a gambler), and Pecki (a gourmand). In the meantime, however, the ruffian Dubbuldeye conceives a plan to foist his daughter Redwig on the king and claim that she is his missing daughter. In order to carry out his plan, he entreats the aid of the Demon Uglee and his attendant spirits of the Demon Dell. Thus, Princess Primrose and her four champions are waylaid by Dubbuldeye and his supernatural associates. To further complicate matters, the champions are lured from their task during their sleep by other spirits. Left unprotected, the princess and the champions' valet Zimon are abducted by Uglee and sent to a distant land, where the young girl is to be offered for sale as a slave. With the real princess out of the way, Dudduldeye presents his daughter to the king. The champions, by this time, have escaped and arrive at the court to announce Redwig as a fake. The king demands they prove their allegation and holds two of the champions (Pecki and Hassard) as hostages. His command is that the other two must return within twelve months or their friends will lose their heads. The princess is saved from slavery through the Fairy Queen's inexhaustible purse and she arrives back at her father's palace just in time to save her friends.