SOURCE: Elias, Richard. “‘Bayes’ in Buckingham's The Rehearsal.” English Language Notes 15, no. 3 (March 1978): 178-81.

In the following essay, Elias discusses similarities between Buckingham's characterization of the playwright Mr. Bayes and John Dryden.

Through the figure of Mr. Bayes, the obnoxious playwright in The Rehearsal (first acted December 1671), Buckingham and his collaborators extended their satiric attack on heroic drama to include the personal characteristics of the poets who wrote it. Since Dryden was foremost among the new dramatists of the Restoration, he took most of the drubbing, and despite his denials, the name “Bayes” stuck with him throughout his career. “Bayes,” of course, helps single out Dryden as The Rehearsal's principal target. As poet laureate since 1670, Dryden wore the official bays of English poetry, and according to the letter from “The Publisher to the Reader” printed with “A Key to The Rehearsal” in 1705, it was Dryden's public position...