The first mention of theatrical performances in America is found in the whimsical autobiography of the mercurial Tony Aston--'Gentleman, Lawyer, Poet, Actor, Soldier, Sailor, Exciseman, Publican; in England, Scotland, Ireland, New York, East and West Jersey, Maryland, Virginia (on both sides Cheesapeek), North and South Carolina, South Florida, Bahamas, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and often a Coaster by all the same.' In the 'beginning of Queen Anne's reign,' he tells us, he arrived at Port Royal Harbor where Governor Moore was about to start on an expedition against St. Augustine. This was in September, 1702. Tony accompanied Moore and returned with him to Charleston in January, 1703. 'Well,' he says, 'we arrived in Charles-Town, full of Lice, Shame, Poverty, Nakedness and Hunger:--I turned Player and Poet and wrote one Play on the Subject of the Country.' We may assume, therefore, that Charleston witnessed theatrical performances in 1703. In the same year the redoubtable Tony went to New York. 'There,' he says, 'I lighted of my old Acquaintance Jack Charlton, Fencing Master, ... after acting, writing, courting, fighting that Winter ... my kind Captain Davis ... gave me free passage for Virginia....' Apparently, then, there were theatrical performances in New York in the winter of 1703-04. Whether these and the performances in Charleston were the beginning of the theatre in America, we cannot say, nor do we know if they included operas. Quite probably they did. The autobiography from which we have quoted prefaced the published edition of Tony Aston's 'Fool's Opera' and it has been inferred that his work was played during Aston's visit to America. As it was published several years after his return to England there is not much reason to believe that New York or Charleston heard it, but Aston's evident interest in works of the kind would indicate that he exhibited his talent in such entertainments while he was in this country. It may, however, be pointed out that opera was not in high favor in England at that time. Beginning with 'The Siege of Rhodes' in 1656 opera was the chief form of theatrical entertainment until the end of the Commonwealth. For some peculiar reason--perhaps Cromwell's love of music--it was tolerated in spite of the ban on the theatres. But after the Restoration the drama came into its own again, and with Congreve, Wycherley, Vanburgh, and others catering brilliantly to the taste of the times, opera was temporarily neglected. Interest in it revived under Queen Anne, with the coming of Handel and the Italian opera, but, except for the temporary vogue of ballad-opera, following the production of 'The Beggar's Opera' in 1728, English opera failed to attract the popular favor. Indeed, it never reached a point where it deserved to attract favor. Except for a few weak efforts in the Italian recitative style English opera before the ballad opera was chiefly drama with incidental music. The idea was popular in Elizabethan