Event Comment: Mainpiece: In three
acts altered from
Shakespeare. Afterpiece, a New Pastoral Masque
and Pantomime interspersed. The Music composed by
Fisher. The scenes painted by Messrs
Dahl,
Richards and Carver. Nothing under Full Prices will be taken. Books of Songs, &c. sold in Theatre. The words of the Masque taken chiefly from
Ben Johnson (playbill). [
DNB s.v. "Jonson," suggests
The Haddington Masque, 1608, with the "Hue
and Cry after Cupid" material as the source. The reviewer for the
Westminster Magazine commented on the performance of 25 November, after outlining the story: "Such are the outlines of
The Druids, whick is a hetereogeneous jumble of monstrous absurdities;
and if considered merely as a vehicle for music, dances,
and decorations, is, in our opinion, far inferior to the dramatic monstrum horrendum of the other House [
The Maid of the Oaks]. Both pieces, however, are equally an insult on the underst
anding
and judgments of the Public,
and exhibit striking proofs of the miserably depraved state of the
English theatre, whose entertainments are at present conducted by Managers either destitute of taste
and abilities or
actuated by no other than the paltry, despicable motives of vanity, prejudice,
and avarice,"]