| Susanna Centlivre: "My Bookseller . . . told me, of a Spark that had seen my Gamester three or four times, and lik'd it extremely: Having bought one of the Books, ask'd who the Author was; and being told, a Woman, threw down the Book, and put up his Money, saying, he had spent too much after it already, and was sure if the Town had known that, it wou'd never have run ten days. No doubt this was a Wit in his own Eyes. It is such as these that rob us of that which inspires the Poet, Praise." Dedication, The Platonick Lady, 1706.
From 1700-1722, Centlivre wrote 19 plays. Before that she wrote epistolary narratives which were in vogue. She has three extremely popular plays: The Busie Bodie (1709), The Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret (1714), and A bold Stroke for a Wife (1718).
|
