"And I am told," adds Wilkinson, "the custom is
continued at Grantham to this day."
An early instance of the explanatory address, signed by the dramatist
or manager, which so frequently accompanies the modern playbill, is to
be found in the fly-sheet issued by Dryden in 1665. The poet thought
it expedient in this way to inform the audience that his tragedy of
"The Indian Emperor" was to be regarded as a sequel to a former work,
"The Indian Queen," which he had written in conjunction with his
brother-in-law, Sir Robert Howard. The handbill excited some
amusement, by reason of its novelty, for in itself it was but a simple
and useful intimation. In ridicule of this proceeding, Bayes, the hero
of the Duke of Buckingham's burlesque, "The Rehearsal," is made to
say: "I have printed above a hundred sheets of paper to insinuate the
plot into the boxes."
Chetwood, who had been twenty years prompter at Drury Lane, and in
1749 published a "History of the Stage," describes a difficulty that
had arisen in regard to printing the playbills. Of old the list of
characters had been set forth according to the books of the plays,
without regard to the merits of the performers.
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