{{Short description|1795 play}} {{Infobox play | name = The Bank Note | image =File:The Bank Note.jpg | image_size = | caption = | writer = William Macready the Elder | setting = | date of premiere = 1 May 1795 | original language = English | place = Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London | series = | subject = | genre = Comedy }} '''''The Bank Note: Or Lessons for Ladies''''' is a 1795 comedy play by the Irish writer and actor William Macready the Elder. Its plot draws inspiration from William Taverner's ''The Artful Husband'' as well as other earlier plays.<ref name=Nicoll>Nicoll p.170</ref>

Macready's play premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 1 May 1795.<ref name="Nicoll" /> The original cast included Macready as Lieutenant Selby, Joseph George Holman as Sir Charles Leslie, James Middleton as Bloomfield, Thomas Hull as Father, John Fawcett as Ned Dash, John Quick as Hale, John Henry Johnstone as Killeavy, Edward Townsend as Tim, Elizabeth Hopkins as Miss Emma Hale, Isabella Mattocks as Mrs Bloomfield, Mary Ann Davenport as Lady Supple and Tryphosa Jane Wallis as Miss Russel. The Irish premiere took at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 22 April 1796.<ref>Greene p.4502</ref>

The play is notable for including the first known printed use of the word 'smithereens':<ref>{{cite web | title = Smithereens, n. meanings, etymology and more | url = https://www.oed.com/dictionary/smithereens_n?tl=true | website = www.oed.com | date = 2018 | access-date = 26 August 2024}}</ref><blockquote>I join you with all my heart,—and wish he was hang'd, shot, cut in smithereens.</blockquote>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Greene, John C. ''Theatre in Dublin, 1745-1820: A Calendar of Performances, Volume 6''. Lexington Books, 2011. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of English Drama 1660–1900: Volume III''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. * Hogan, C.B (ed.) ''The London Stage, 1660–1800: Volume V''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1968.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bank Note}} Category:1795 plays Category:British comedy plays Category:Irish comedy plays Category:West End plays

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