AUTHOR:
Published anonymously, the text was attributed to Gentleman by the editors of the Cambridge Bibliography of English literature and by the Dictionary of National Biography.
Online text: Vol. I - Vol. II

The first volume is dedicated to David Garrick, the second to Samuel Foote.
The text includes critical essays on fourteen plays by Shakespeare interpreted by the leading actors of the second half of the eighteenth century, critical essays on the most important playwrights and dramas of the time, notes on acting and on theater management practices, and includes a A Short Dissertation on Theatrical Management (vol. 2, pp. 451-456), A Summary View of the Most Known Dramatic Writers (vol. 2, pp. 457-474), and Theatrical Representation and Performers (vol. 2, pp. 475-498).

RECENT EDITIONS:
Reprints of the first edition:
- Farnborough, Gregg International Publishers, 1969.
- New York, B. Blom, 1972.
- New York, AMS Press, 1975.