*p1748 04 23 dl King Lear and His Three Daughters. ^As17480301^ but Regan-Mrs Yates.*a1748 04 23 dl The Double Disappointment. ^As17480412^.*d1748 04 23 dl Cooke, Anne Auretti, Matthews, Mrs Addison.*c1748 04 23 dl Gift for ye Sufferers by ye fire in <i>Cornhill</i> ($Cross=). [A column and a half "Letter to the Author" appeared in the <i>General Advertiser</i> this day, laying historical background for $Ford='s <i>Lover's Melancholy</i>]. The history of the stage before the Restoration is like a Foreign Land, in which no $Englishman= had ever travelled; we know there were such things as Playhouses, and one $Shakespear= a great writer, but the historical traces of them are so imperfect, that the manner in which they existed is less known to us, than that of $Eschylus= or the theatres of <i>Greece</i>. For this reason, 'tis hoped that the following Gleaning of Theatrical History will readily obtain a place in your paper. 'Tis taken from a Pamphlet written in the reign of <i>Charles I</i>, with this quaint title, "Old Ben's Light Heart made heavy by young John's <i>Melancholly Lover</i>"; and as it contains some historical anecdotes and altercations concerning $Ben Johnson=, $Ford=, $Shakespear=, and the <i>Lover's Melancholy</i> it is imagined that a few extracts from it at this juncture, will not be unentertaining to the Public. [The substance of the remainder retails $Jonson='s critical cantankerousness and his wounded pride at the failure of the <i>New Inn</i>, quoting some epigrams made at Jonson's expense on his allegation that Ford was a plagiary. This second "puff" for the play, presumably also written by $Macklin=, formed the basis for a $Steevens=-$Malone= controversy late in the century, centering on the existence or nonexistence of the pamphlet referred to by Macklin as "Old Ben's Light Heart made Heavy, &c." A summary account of the evidence appears in the <i>Dramatic Works of John Ford</i>, by $Henry Weber= (<i>Edinburgh</i>, 1811) I, Intro. XVI, XXXI.] Receipts: #210 ($Cross=); #208 1s. ($Powel=).