As a man of the theater, John Bernard was sufficiently well known to receive notice from such eminent historians of his day as William Dunlap and William Wood. Estimates of his acting vary: while some reputable critics disparage his ability as an actor, Dunlap praises him as the finest comedian in America, and there seems to be little doubt that he was popular among audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. As an author of two posthumously published works, Bernard is himself a theater historian of significance. His first book is one of the best of many actors' accounts of London and English provincial theater in the eighteenth century. His second work is a rare glimpse of many aspects of cultural life in America during the federal period.

Retrospections of the Stage (1830) begins with Bernard's birth in Portsmouth to Ann and John Bernard, a naval lieutenant, and his...