[In this essay, Avery lists performances of Buckingham's most famous play, contending that it was far more popular in the century after its debut than was originally believed.]

In his study of The Rehearsal and allied types of drama,¹ Mr. D. F. Smith has given in Appendix D a list of revivals in the eighteenth century of several plays which are discussed in the earlier chapters. Among these is The Rehearsal, Buckingham's play, which is treated at considerable length in Chapter II. In his demonstration of the popularity of The Rehearsal during the hundred years after its first performance, Mr. Smith has listed a total of 171 performances during the period from 1671 to 1777. In spite of the large number of performances there listed, the table represents a considerable understatement of the popularity of the play. The following list attempts to give all the performances of The Rehearsal during that period; in it I have starred the dates which Mr. Smith has overlooked. It will be seen that the performances here noted increase the total number of presentations of the piece during the period from 1671 to 1777 from 171 to 291, an increase of about seventy per cent.²

• 1671: T.R. December 7, 14.
• 1674: D.L. December 21, 28.
• 1686: D.L. May 6.
• 1687: D.L. January 20.
• 1704: D.L. November 18, 21. December 1.
• 1705: D.L. January 4. February 2. November 5.
• 1706: D.L. January 28. December 3.
• 1707: D.L. March 20. November 18.
• 1708: D.L. February 12.
• 1709: D.L. January 18. Queen's: November 18.
• 1710: D.L. December 18.
• 1711: D.L. January 29. October 26.
• 1712: D.L. February 25*.
• 1717: D.L. February 7, 8, 9, 20, 23. March 21, 28. October 17.
• 1718: D.L. February 3*. November 17.
• 1719: D.L. November 25.
• 1720: D.L. September 27. November 23*.
• 1721: D.L. January 18*. November 15.
• 1722: D.L. January 15*.
• 1723: D.L. January 28. November 29.
• 1724: D.L. March 7*. November 18. December 1*.
• 1725: D.L. January 29*. November 9.
• 1726: D.L. November 14*.
• 1727: D.L. January 2*, 26. December 1*.
• 1728: D.L. March 30*. November 1*. December 13.
• 1729: D.L. September 16*.
• 1730: D.L. January 23. October 29. November 19*.
• 1731: D.L. January 18*. October 26. December 15*.
• 1732: D.L. March 4*. April 25*. September 8. November 8*. December 15*.
• 1733: D.L. January 17. May 30.
• 1734: D.L. October 31.
• 1736: D.L. January 8*. February 6.
• 1739: C.G. October 10, 11*, 12*, 13*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 27*, 31,*. November 3*, 8*, 14*, 19*, 21*, 23*, 26*. December 1*, 3*, 7*, 14*, 18*, 28*.
• 1740: C.G. January 5*, 12*, 19*, 26*. February 2*, 4*, 9*. March 13*. April 10*, 15*, 24*. May 1*, 8*, 22*, 30*. June 5, 10, 13. September 19. October 18*. November 3*, 17*. December 3*, 18*.
• 1741: C.G. February 16*, 21*. March 3*, 14*, 21*, 31*. April 14, 24*, 29*. October 21*, 22*. D.L. November 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27*. December 4*, 26*.³
• 1742: D.L. January 25. G.F. February 3, 4, 5. D.L. February 6*. G.F. February 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 23. March 9. C.G. March 29. G.F. April 28. May 7, 26. D.L. October 7, 8, 20. November 2. L.I.F. December 6*. D.L. December 7. L.I.F. December 8*. D.L. December 16.
• 1743: D.L. January 7, 17, 29. February 3, 28. March 7. April 4, 30. May 6. December 6, 8, 9, 28*.
• 1744: D.L. March 15*. April 12*. May 28*. October 19. December 27*.
• 1745: G.F. January 7*, 8*, 10*, 14*. D.L. January 16*. G.F. February 7*, 8*. March 14*. D.L. December 13. C.G. December 13, 19, 26.
• 1746: D.L. January 24. C.G. May 2. November 6, 7. December 18.
• 1747: C.G. January 13. G.F. March 23*. C.G. November 23, 24.
• 1748: C.G. February 5.
• 1749: D.L. December 20, 21, 22.
• 1750: D.L. January 4*. February 14*.⁴
• 1752: D.L. December 8, 9, 12, 13, 16.
• 1753: D.L. February 3, 26*. May 21.⁵
• 1754: C.G. December 30, 31.
• 1755: C.G. January 1. February 11*, 25*. April 14, 21. Hay. September 11, 15. D.L. October 17, 18. November 5*, 27*. December 19*.
• 1756: D.L. February 9*. May 15*. November 18.
• 1757: D.L. September 29. October 22*. November 25.⁶
• 1759: D.L. May 25. October 30. November 23*.
• 1760:D.L. March 13*. May 2. October 3. December 12*.
• 1761: D.L. May 22*. September 14.
• 1762: D.L. March 2. November 10.⁷
• 1763: D.L. April 21*. Hay. August 1, 11, 20.
• 1765: D.L. April 13. May 6. Hay. August 30.
• 1766: D.L. December 4*.
• 1767: D.L. April 25. C.G. September 14, 15.
• 1768: Richmond. July 27*, 30*. Hay. September 19*.
• 1771: D.L. April 6.
• 1772: D.L. March 26, 31. Hay. August 10*, 24*, 31*. D.L. October 21. December 7.
• 1773: Hay. June 18*, 23*. July 19*.
• 1774: D.L. March 14. April 8. Hay. June 27*. July 11*. C.G. October 11.
• 1775: Hay. July 31*. August 7.
• 1776: D.L. May 11. Hay. August 2.
• 1777: Hay. August 25, 27. D.L. December 13*, 15*.

The following year, 1778, saw The Rehearsal condensed to a three-act play and the close of its greatest popularity.

The acting of the play may be most conveniently divided into five periods. Of the first, 1671-87, we know very little, except that there were at least six performances. After 1700 interest centers chiefly in the actor who performed Bayes. From 1700 to 1712 that person was Richard Estcourt, who probably acted in all the seventeen performances during those years, although the advertisements do not always name the actors playing the parts. From 1717 to 1736 Bayes was performed by Colley Cibber, perhaps on every occasion, although the cast was not always advertised; at the most he could have appeared in the part on forty-seven occasions. With the retirement of Cibber The Rehearsal was dropped from the repertories of the theaters for a short time, but in 1739 a genuine revival of interest in it began, a revival which lasted a number of years. In the short period from 1739 to 1747 two performers were rivals in acting Bayes: Theophilus Cibber and David Garrick. Once again one cannot be absolutely certain of the cast of all the performances, which totalled 135 in nine seasons, but it seems that Theophilus Cibber acted Bayes 74 times and Garrick 45 times. Six other performers attempted the rôle during the same period, but no one of them was nearly so popular as Cibber or Garrick. Dance, a minor performer, acted Bayes eight times⁸; Chapman acted it on three evenings; Foote played the rôle four times; Catherine Clive attempted it on one occasion; and an unknown actor appeared once. By 1748 the rivalry of Cibber and Garrick had lessened, for Garrick acted the part not at all that year and Cibber played it but once.

From 1748 to 1777 the play declined in popularity, there being only eighty-six performances in nearly thirty years. During this period the part of Bayes was chiefly Garrick's, for he acted it forty-three times. Theophilus Cibber appeared for eight performances before 1756, but Foote acted the part eleven times, chiefly in the Summer Theatre in the Haymarket. The other performers acted Bayes as follows: Shuter, five; Love, five⁹; Henderson, four; King, four; Lee, three; Wilkinson, three. With the retirement of Garrick in 1776, the last great performer of Bayes disappeared from the part, and the play lost a great deal of its popularity.

In the number of performances as well, Garrick leads the group. From 1742 to his retirement he played Bayes on eighty-eight occasions; Theophilus Cibber almost equals Garrick's record with a probable total of eighty-two appearances as Bayes. Colley Cibber is third, with forty-seven performances. Twelve other performers divide the remaining sixty performances in the eighteenth century, with Samuel Foote and Richard Estcourt as the only ones to stand very clearly above the others.

Notes

1. Plays about the Theatre in England from The Rehearsal in 1671 to the Licensing Act in 1737, Oxford University Press, 1936.

2. The performances here listed have been taken from the theatrical advertisements in the newspapers and playbills in the British Museum and the playbills in the Huntington Library; it is possible that an occasional projected performance did not actually take place. The abbreviations used are as follows: T. R.—Theatre Royal. D.L.—Drury Lane. Queen's—Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket. C.G.—Covent Garden. G.F.—Goodman's Fields. L.I.F.—Lincoln's lnn Fields. Hay—Little Theatre in the Haymarket (Summer Theatre).

3. The performances which Smith lists for C.G. May 19, 1741, and for D.L. May 26, 1741, apparently were not given; see Ad. Ms. 32,248-32,251. Smith lists a performance for November 22, 1741, but this date would be Sunday; instead there was a performance on November 27, with the revival totaling six consecutive performances.

4. The performances listed by Smith for April 26 and 27, 1750, and May 3, 1751, were not presentations of Buckingham's play but of Mrs. Clive's The Rehearsal; or Bayes in Petticoats.

5. The performance listed for May 4, 1753, was also Mrs. Clive's piece.

6. The performance listed for April 21, 1757, apparently was not given. 1758: C.G. January 24. D.L. May 19*. November 16. The performance on November 16 is misdated November 15 by Smith.

7. The performance listed for March 22, 1762, also was The Rehearsal; or Bayes in Petticoats.

8. It is not certain that Dance performed the part eight times, but in Goodman's Fields in the spring of 1741 a “Gentleman” was advertised for the part of Bayes. For the seventh performance the name of Dance appears in the bills; it seems likely that he had been the “Gentleman” earlier advertised. He acted it once more in Covent Garden in 1746.

9. Love is the name assumed by James Dance, who in earlier years had acted Bayes in Goodman's Fields.