The Harlot's Progress (1733), The Rake's Progress (Ms., ca. 1778-1780)

by Theophilus Cibber

ADVISORY EDITORS

James L. Clifford, Columbia University Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago Louis A. Landa, Princeton University Earl Miner, Princeton University Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library James Sutherland, University College, London H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Frances M. Reed, University of California, Los Angeles

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INTRODUCTION

The prints and engraved sequences of William Hogarth (1697-1764) inspired a wide range of dramatic entertainments throughout the eighteenth century. The types include comedy of manners (The Clandestine Marriage, 1766), burletta with tableau vivant (Ut Pictura Poesis! 1789), specialty act (A Modern Midnight Conversation, 1742), cantata (The Roast Beef of Old England, ca. 1759), ballad opera (The Decoy), [1] pantomime (The Jew Decoy'd and The Harlot's Progress, 1733), and a morality ballad opera (The Rake's Progress, ca. 1778-1780). Two of these are reprinted here. Theophilus Cibber's "Grotesque Pantomime Entertainment" of Hogarth's six-scene series "A Harlot's Progress" (1732), entitled THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS; or The Ridotto Al'Fresco," was first published 31 March 1733 for its Drury Lane debut as an afterpiece. [2] Less familiar is the anonymous "Dramatised Version" of Hogarth's eight-print sequence "A Rake's Progress" (1735), British Library Add. MS. 25997, entitled The Rake's Progress. [3]