Note 239 — BOOK THE FOURTH 1815-1821
Reading edition
He assured me, at the same time, that his treatment had created in his mind such an aversion for the stage, that he had never even seen a play when he wrote The Duenna; that he engaged in that work from absolute indigence; and that, throughout his life, he had never seen a representation from beginning to end, except of his own pieces at rehearsals. I did not think it worth while to repeat these incredible, or at least exaggerated, stories in the text.—V.H.