"As, for example, in
'Macbeth,' Duncan, King of Scotland, appeared first in the bill,
though acted by an insignificant person, and so every other actor
appeared according to his dramatic dignity, all of the same-sized
letter. But latterly, I can assure my readers, I have found it a
difficult task to please some ladies as well as gentlemen, because I
could not find letters large enough to please them; and some were so
fond of elbow room that they would have shoved everybody out but
themselves, as if one person was to do all and have the merit of all,
like generals of an army." Garrick seems to have been the first actor
honoured by capital letters of extra size in the playbills. "The
Connoisseur," in 1754, says: "The writer of the playbills deals out
his capitals in so just a proportion that you may tell the salary of
each actor by the size of the letter in which his name is printed.
When the present manager of Drury Lane first came on the stage, a new
set of types, two inches long, were cast on purpose to do honour to
his extraordinary merit." These distinctions in the matter of printing
occasioned endless jealousies among the actors.
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