PENELOPE AND THE DANSOMANIE
[299]. ‘Like to see the unmerited fall,’ etc. Cf. Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Select Works, ed. Payne, II. 164). [300]. The Gentleman who is understood, etc. William Ayrton (1777–1858), who was musical director at the King’s Theatre in 1817 and again in 1821. Of the Dansomanie, etc. A comparison of this passage with a reference to the ‘Dansomanie’ in vol. VIII. p. 437 is conclusive as to Hazlitt’s authorship of this notice. ‘Such were the joys,’ etc. Bickerstaffe, Love in a Village, Act II. Sc. 1. ‘Roll on,’ etc. Ossian, The Songs of Selma. The notice concludes with a long quotation from Colley Cibber, introduced by the following paragraph: ‘As the present season may be considered as a sort of revival of the Opera, the following particulars of its first introduction into this country may not be unacceptable to the reader. They are taken from Colley Cibber’s Memoirs of himself, p. 316.’