ABSTRACT
Favored as a site for suspense and surprise, the country inn was a frequent and prominent setting in British plays of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Inns possessed a natural appeal to audiences who recognized the particularly historical relevance of the venerable establishment in British travel. Three events in Britain were crucial to the reshaping of drama and performance in the eighteenth century and led to the peculiarities of Romantic drama. The first was the social and economic upheaval of the Industrial Revolution. The second and third events were exclusively British and came in consequence of two parliamentary acts: the Licensing Act of 1737 and the Theatrical Representations Act of 1788. Among the many British inns claiming supernatural residents, several were celebrated in Gothic melodrama and romance. The Industrial Revolution resulted in an increase in private and commercial travel and the establishment of more inns.
