Moreover, in those days,
not merely by reason of its own merits, but because of the absence of
competing attractions and other sources of entertainment, the stage
was much more than at present an object of general regard. In Andrew's
"History of British Journalism" it is recorded on the authority of the
ledger of Henry Woodfall, the publisher of the _Public Advertiser_:
"The theatres are a great expense to the papers. Amongst the items of
payment are: Playhouses, L100. Drury Lane advertisements, L64 8s. 6d.;
Covent Garden ditto, L66 11s. The papers paid L200 a-year to each
theatre for the accounts of new plays, and would reward the messenger
with a shilling or half-a-crown who brought them the first copy of a
playbill." In 1721, the following announcement appeared in the _Daily
Post_: "The managers of Drury Lane think it proper to give notice that
advertisements of their plays, by their authority, are published only
in this paper and the _Daily Courant_, and that the publishers of all
other papers who insert advertisements of the same plays, can do it
only by some surreptitious intelligence or hearsay, which frequently
leads them to commit gross errors, as, mentioning one play for
another, falsely representing the parts, &c.
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