James Love (poet)
James Love (1721–1774) was the pen name of James Dance, an English poet, playwright and actor. He is best known for Cricket: An Heroic Poem (1744), a humorous verse about cricket.
He was the son of George Dance the Elder, an architect and city surveyor, and his brother was George Dance the Younger. Love played cricket for Richmond Cricket Club, a top team in the 1740s; he may have played for Surrey, but details are lost.
Love probably started the Theatre Royal in Richmond upon Thames and ran it from 1766 to 1773.
As an actor, he performed at Drury Lane in London and played Falstaff in 1763, which made him well known on stage. He also acted in Falstaff's Wedding (1766) by William Kenrick and worked in Dublin and Edinburgh as a manager at times.
As a writer, he produced Rome-inspired pantomimes, such as The Witches; or, Harlequin Cherokee (1762), The Rites of Hecate; or, Harlequin from the Moon (1763), and The Hermit; or, Harlequin at Rhodes (1766), as well as Cricket. His first work was Pamela (1742).
There is some confusion about who designed the Richmond Theatre; some sources mention David Garrick, but the records are not clear.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 09:58 (CET).