Macklin and Censorship

This chapter discusses the various interventions made by the Examiner of Plays on Macklin's plays before they were performed. It highlights various bawdy and political elements that were thought inappropriate for performance. The chapter argues that there is a persistent strain of personal satire that this censorship reveals and further that this is a marker of his commitment to Enlightenment principles of societal and self-improvement. The chapter discusses Macklin's nod to Elizabeth Chudleigh (1721-1788) in Covent Garden Theatre and argues that this piece anticipates the gendered realignment of the public sphere that unfurled over the subsequent decades. Moreover, Macklin adroitly underlines the failings of post-1745 London to fulfil the Enlightenment claims of the newly reaffirmed Hanoverian project in the play. The chapter also identifies Lawrence Dundas (d. 1781) as an inspiration for The Man of the World's Hector MacCrafty/ Pertinax MacSycophant.