s are English
in speech and action, but they lack the coarseness apparent in Dryden's
_Sir Martin Mar-all_. Though it is impossible to prove the exact sources
of Mrs. Centlivre's borrowings, there is no doubt that she has improved
what she borrowed.

Whatever the truth may be about Mrs. Centlivre's use of her sources, her
play remained in the repertory of acting plays long after _L'Etourdi_
and _Sir Martin Mar-all_ had disappeared. _The Busie Body_ opened at the
Drury Lane Theater on May 12, 1709. Steele, who listed the play in _The
Tatler_ for May 14, 1709, does not mention the length of the run. Thomas
Whincop says that the play ran thirteen nights (_Scanderbeg_, London,
1747, p. 190), but Genest says the play had an opening run of seven
nights (_Some Account of the English Stage from the Restoration in 1660
to 1830_, II, 419). The play remained popular throughout the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. Genest lists it as being presented in
twenty-three seasons from 1709 to 1800. It was certainly presented much
more frequently than this record shows, for Dougald MacMillan in _The
Drury Lane Calendar_ lists fifty-three performances from 1747-1776,
whereas Genest records two performances in this period. The greatest
number of performances in any season was fourteen in 1758-59, the year
David Garrick appeared in the play. From the records available _The
Busie Body_ seems to have reached its greatest popularity in England
in the middle and late eighteenth century and the early part of the
nineteenth century. William Hazlitt, in the "Prefatory Remarks" to the
Oxberry acting edition of 1819, says _The Busie Body_ has been acted a
"thousand times in town and country, giving delight to the old, the
young, and the middle-aged."

_The Busie Body_ enjoyed a similar place of importance in the stage
history of America but achieved its greatest popularity, in New York
at least, in the nineteenth century. First performed in Williamsburg
on September 10, 1736, the play was presented fifteen times in New
York in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century forty-five
performances were given in New York in sixteen seasons from 1803 to 1885
(George Odell, _Annals of the New York Stage_). _The Busie Body_ is
frequently cited with _The Rivals_ and _The School for Scandal_ for
opening seasons and for long runs by great actors.

The text here reproduced is from a copy of the first edition now in the
library of the University of Mic