Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/609

n s. vi. DEO. 28, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 501

this book occupies a place in every dramatic library, it is of very little theatrical value, and its interest to collectors perhaps lies in the fact that it is not easy to obtain a perfect copy. It is intended to be a skit upon Edward Shuter, a comic actor of irregular habits, who, without reforming his life, became a follower of Whitefield. The book was written by George Alexander Stevens, a convivial songster and public entertainer, who is best known perhaps by his 'Lecture on Heads,' which went through several editions. At one time he was on terms of friendship with Shuter, and wrote songs and speeches for him; but these "Arcades ambo" subsequently fell out, and Shuter was subjected to the lash of his former comrade. Stevens was born in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, in 1710, and died at Baldock in Hertfordshire 6 Sept., 1784 (1 S. iv. 196). The lady who figures as "Miss Ann" on the title-page is often stated in booksellers' catalogues to represent Ann Catley, an actress of some talent, but of indifferent character. This is a mistake. In the biography of Stevens which is prefixed to the second edition of the book, the lady is expressly named as Nancy Dawson, a well-known dancer of those times, who had been on intimate terms with Shuter. Internal evidence bears out this attribution. On p. 138 it is stated that "this lady appeared first as a public performer at Sadler's Wells," which is true in regard to Nancy Dawson, but not true in regard to Ann Catley. This is an error of long standing, for in a copy of the book in my possession, which bears the book-plate of the elder Mathews, the back is lettered 'Hist, of Shuter Catley and others.'

From a bibliographical point of view the book is of some interest. The first edition was published in 1763, but by a printer's error (or possibly intentionally) the title-page is dated 1743. The late Mr. Lowe, in his 'Bibliographical Account of Theatrical Literature,' 1888, p. 305, says: "This first edition is so scarce that I never even suspected its existence, until I saw it at the British Museum." The title-page is as under:—

The second edition, "which," says Mr. Lowe, "I have not seen," did not appear till 1785. It was published by Mr. John Murray, and a very careful examination of the text of the two editions convinces me that the second was made up from the remainder sheets of the first, and that it was not a reprint. It is an unusual circumstance that the printed sheets of a book should remain unused for twenty-two years, but in this case it seems to be undoubtedly the fact.

The following is the title-page of the second edition:—