San Antonio College Library

"London in the eighteenth century was a new city, risen from the ashes of the Great Fire of 1666 that had destroyed half its homes and great public buildings. The century that followed was an era of vigorous expansion and large-scale projects, of rapidly changing culture and commerce, as huge numbers of people arrived in the shining city, drawn by its immense wealth and power and its many diversions. Borrowing a phrase from Daniel Defoe, Jerry White...

The London fairs are important in the history of English drama, for play-acting was one of their main attractions. From Jonson's Bartholomew Fair we have a picture of the Elizabethan fair; it is however insufficiently known that the fairs were still held in the eighteenth century and that plays were still performed at them. Miss Rosenfeld has investigated these entertainments. She has been able to construct a chronological record of the performances...