Reference
Note:
p. 166; "this medal imputes to Kemble avarice for raising the seat prices and caricatures him as Shylock ... Two of the three verse couplets are quotations relating to past acting performances of that play. The couplet surrounding the caricature ... was reported ... as the involuntary exclamation from a gentleman in the pit - thought to have been Alexander Pope, the satirical writer. The occasion was Macklin's performance as Shylock at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, on the 14th February 1741. The couplet about the drama's laws is an adaptation from the Prologue by Dr. Samuel Johnson on the occasion of the re-opening of the same theatre under new management in 1747, again presenting the Merchant of Venice."
Reference
Note:
p. 22-24; "VP" ostensibly engraver's initials, but for "Vox Populi"; "OP" for "Old Prices", "OB" for "Open Boxes", "DPO" for "Deference to Public Opinion"
