t till the second day
Or third be passed.

After the Restoration it became a settled practice that what was then
called "the author's night" should be the third performance of his
play; and the dramatist in time received further profit from
subsequent representations.

Then grant 'em generous terms who dare to write,
Since now that seems as dangerous as to fight;
If we must yield yet ere the day be fixt,
Let us hold out the third, and, if we may, the sixth.

_Prologue, "The Twin Rivals," Farquhar, produced 1702._

"In Dryden's time," writes Dr. Johnson, explaining that with all his
diligence in play-writing the poet could not greatly improve his
fortune,[2] "the drama was very far from that universal approbation
which it has now obtained. The playhouse was abhorred by the Puritans,
and avoided by those who desired the character of seriousness or
decency. A grave lawyer would have debased his dignity, and a young
trader would have impaired his credit by appearing in those mansions
of dissolute licentiousness. The profits of the theatre, when so many
classes of the people were deducted from the audience, were not
great, and the poet had, for a long time, but a single night. The
first that had two nights was Southern; and the first that had three
was Rowe. There were, indeed, in those days, arts of improving a
poet's profit, which Dryden forbore to practise; but a play seldom
produced him more than a hundred pounds by the accumulated gain of the
third night, the dedication, and the copy."

[2] He had, it was alleged, entered into a contract to furnish
four plays in each year.

These "arts of improving a poet's profit" consisted in the canvassing
his friends and patrons, distributing tickets, and soliciting favour
in all quarters. By his address in these matters, Southern's tragedy,
"The Spartan Dame," produced him L500; indeed, he is said to have
profited more by his writings for the stage than any of his
contemporaries. Malone states that Addison was the first to abandon
the undignified custom of appealing personally to the public for
support. But it has been pointed out that this is an error. Addison
gave the profits of "Cato" to the managers, and was not required
therefore to appeal on his own behalf to the public. Goldsmith's
"Good-natured Man," it may be noted, was played ten consecutive
nights, and the third, sixth, and ninth performances were advertised
as "appropriated to