Even when comedy began to deal with
individuals rather than mere incarnations of a single "humour," the
practice of giving them obvious pseudonyms held its ground. Probably it
was reinforced by the analogous practice which obtained in journalism,
in which real persons were constantly alluded to (and libelled) under
fictitious designations, more or less transparent to the initiated. Thus
a label-name did not carry with it a sense of unreality, but rather,
perhaps, a vague suggestion of covert reference to a real person. I must
not here attempt to trace the stages by which the fashion went out. It
could doubtless be shown that the process of change ran parallel to the
shrinkage of the "apron" and the transformation of the platform-stage
into the picture-stage. That transformation was completed about the
middle of the nineteenth century; and it was about that time that
label-names made their latest appearances in works of any artistic
pretension--witness the Lady Gay Spanker of _London Assurance_, and the
Captain Dudley (or "Deadly") Smooth of _Money_.
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