At the opening night of Cibber's Love's Last Shift at Dury Lane Theater in January 1696 spectators experienced a new genre. They were genuinely surprised by the unexpected reconciliation and the joy of seeing this, "spread such an uncommon rapture of pleasure in the audience that never were spectators more happy in easing their minds by uncommon and repeated plaudits and honest tears." This enthusiasm was aroused by the virtues of the characters, creating a sense of astonishment in the audience because they allowed them to feel admiration for people like themselves. This feeling became the hallmark of sentimentalism. Richard Steele stated that sentimental comedies, "makes us approve ourselves more" and Denis Diderot advocated that sentimentalism helps spectators remember that all nature is inherently good. Sentimentalists met resistance with playwrights of true comedy, who also had a moral aim but strove to reach it by exhibiting characters from which the audience should take warning instead of emulate.
