On 6 July 1758
Theophilus Cibber produced, at Covent Garden, a burlesque tragedy by Reed, in five acts, called
Madrigal and Trulletta. It was humorous but critics regarded it as very long, although Reed blamed Cibber for its want of success.
Tobias Smollett denounced it, when published, in
The Critical Review, and Reed replied to his critic in a pungent pamphlet called
A Sop in the Pan for a Physical Critick, 1759.
Success with The Register Office Somewhat more successful was a boisterous and indelicate farce, entitled
The Register Office, which was produced at Drury Lane on 23 April 1761. Two of the best characters, Lady Wrinkle and Mrs. Snarewell, were suppressed by the stage censor, but the unexpurgated piece was published, and in an advertisement at the close Reed pointed out that the manuscript had been submitted to
Samuel Foote in August 1758, and that Foote had stolen his Mrs. Cole in
The Minor from the Mrs. Snarewell of
The Register Office. When the farce was revived at Drury Lane on 12 February 1768, Reed supplied a new character, Mrs. Doggerel. The play long held the stage, and was included in John Bell's, Cawthorn's, Mrs. Inchbald's, and other familiar collections.
Dido Reed next essayed a tragedy on the subject of
Dido, and obtained an introduction to
Samuel Johnson, with a view to submitting his labours to him. "I never did the man an injury," Dr. Johnson afterwards lamented, "yet he would read his tragedy to me."
Dido was acted at Drury Lane for Holland's benefit on 28 March 1767, with a prologue, written by Garrick and spoken by King, in which humorous reference was made to Reed's trade in halters. In 1787 Reed, in
The Retort Courteous, or a Candid Appeal, attacked
Thomas Linley, the manager of Drury Lane, for declining to revive
Dido. It was performed at Drury Lane, under the title of
The Queen of Carthage, for Palmer's benefit on 28 April 1797, when Mrs. Siddons played the heroine. Reed's friend,
Joseph Ritson, prepared it for the press in 1792; but, although it was at once printed, it was not announced for publication till 1808. Before the day of publication arrived, however, all the copies were burnt in the fire at Nichols's printing-office, and it was never reprinted.
Adaptation of Fielding's Tom Jones Reed was a friend of the author
Henry Fielding who had had great success with the novel,
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Reed worked on an adaption of the story as a
comic opera, a project that Fielding encouraged. The drama opened on 14 January 1769 at Covent Garden, with Shuter as Western and Mattocks as the hero, and was repeated thirteen times. Fielding praised Reed's version publicly.
Last performed play Reed's last acted play was
The Impostors, or a Cure for Credulity, which he adapted from
Gil Blas, and brought out at Covent Garden, for Woodward's benefit, on 17 March 1776. == Other works==