Much praise is awarded to the work, and then we find the
following paragraph:
[6] _The Athenaeum._
"The silly practice of calling for a favourite actor at the end of a
play was upon this occasion, for the first time, extended to a
composer; and Mr. E.J. Loder was produced upon the stage to make his
bow. As the chance portion of the audience could not possibly be aware
that a gentleman so little known in London was present, it would have
betrayed less of the secrets of the prison-house if this bit of
nonsense had not been preconcerted by injudicious and over-zealous
friends. The turn of successful authors will, we suppose, come next;
and, therefore, such of them as are not actors had better take a few
lessons in bowing over the lamps and be ready. We know some half-dozen
whom this process would cause to shake in their shoes more vehemently
than even the already accumulated anxieties of a first night."
The critic was, in some sort, a seer. The turn of the authors arrived
in due course, some years later, although history has not been careful
to record the name of the first English dramatist who appeared before
the curtain and bowed "over the lamps.
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