It was first staged at the Lyceum Theatre on 9 September 1811 under the directorship of Samuel James Arnold.
Canvas becomes mixed up with a bluestocking named Lady Bab Blue and a series of mistaken identities follow.
He tried to alter this by adding some more populist additions, but he feared this sacrificed the integrity of the work.
[2] It was only the second work for the stage that Moore wrote after The Gypsy Prince, although he had performed in numerous amateur productions, and he decided it would be his last in spite of later tempting offers to write for the stage.
[3] In spite of Moore's misgivings the work received generally good reviews and had a respectable run of performances.