Note 3 — INTRODUCTION

Reprinted here in typescript form from a manuscript difficult to reproduce legibly. The work is anonymous. The typescript appeared as "Appendix I" of my unpublished New York University dissertation on William Hogarth with permission of the Trustees of the British Library. I have discussed it in "The Rake's Progress: A New Dramatic Version of William Hogarth's Prints," in Notes and Queries (October 1972), 381-383. The theatrical career of the author, Theophilus Cibber (1703-1758), has not been fully assessed. He did know Hogarth: they both belonged to John Rich's group, the "Sublime Society of Beef Steaks," which met in the scene-painting loft over the Covent Garden stage. Cibber joined the group in September 1739, and Hogarth was a charter member in 1735 (HGW, I, 188). Cibber himself played an active role in the creation of the position of stage manager or "under-manager" (LS, 3, I, xcvi).