The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume VIII. The Age of Dryden.
§ 22. Banks
Of the seven plays written by John Banks, the most successful were The Unhappy Favourite, or the Earl of Essex (1682) and Vertue Betray’d, or Anna Bullen, also acted in 1682. He seems to have been an admirer of Lee, and faithfully reproduced that author’s worst characteristics. Like Lee, he plundered the French romances, and, in 1696, brought out a play taken from Le Grand Cyrus. His forte, however, was melodrama based on English history, and, in this field, he enjoyed a great popular success.