*p1670 12 00 bridges The Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards. <i>Almanzor and Almahide; or, The Conquest of Granada. The Second Part</i>. Edition of 1672: Prologue to the First Part-Mrs Ellen Gwyn in a broad brim'd hat, and was belt; Mahomet Boabdelin-Kynaston; Prince Abdalla-Lydall; Abdelmelech-Mohun; Zulema-Harris; Abenamar-Cartwright; Selin-Wintershall; Ozmyn-Beeston; Hamet-Watson; Gomel-Powell; Almanzor-Hart; Ferdinand-Littlewood; Duke of Arcos-Bell; Almahide-Mrs Ellen Gwyn; Lyndaraxa-Mrs Marshall; Benzayda-Mrs Bowtell; Esperanza-Mrs Reeve; Halyma-Mrs Eastland; Isabella-Mrs James; Epilogue-Charles Hart?; Prologue to the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada-Michael Mohun?; Epilogue to the Second Part-.*c1670 12 00 bridges [The <i>King's Company</i>. The date of the first performance is not known, but a letter--see 2 Jan. 1670@1--indicates that the first part had been acted before that date and that Part II was to be shortly staged. The point of the Prologue spoken by $Ellen Gwyn= seems to have derived from an incident at <i>Dover</i> (see $Downes=, <i>Roscius Anglicanus</i>, p. 20) in May 1670, when $James Nokes= attired himself in a ridiculous fashion, including "Broad wast Belts." The speakers of the Epilogue and the Prologue to the Second Part are mentioned in <i>Sir William Haward's MS</i> (<i>Bodl. MS Don.</i> b., pp. 248-49); see <i>The Poems of John Dryden</i>, ed. $James Kinsley= (Oxford, 1958), IV, 1848-49. In Part I a song <i>Beneath a myrtle shade</i>, with music by $John Bannister=, is in <i>Choice Songs and Ayres</i>, First Book, 1673. Another, <i>Wherever I am</i>, with music by $Alphonso Marsh=, is in the same collection, as is also <i>How unhappy a lover am I</i>, the music by $Nicholas Staggins=. $Mrs John Evelyn= to $Mr Bohun=, ca. Jan. 1670@1: Since my last to you I have seen <i>The Siege of Grenada</i>, a play so full of ideas that the most refined romance I ever read is not to compare with it; love is made so pure, and valour so nice, that one would image it designed for an Utopia rather than our stage. I do not quarrel with the poet, but admire one born in the decline of morality should be able to feign such exact virtue; and as poetic fiction has been instructive in former ages, I wish this the same event in ours. As to the strict law of comedy I dare not pretend to judge: some think the division of the story is not so well if it could all have been comprehended in the day's actions (<i>The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn</i>, ed. $William Bray=, IV, 25). According to $John Evelyn=--see 9 Feb. 1670@1--$Robert Streeter= did some of the scenes for this play. In the Preface to <i>The Fatal Discovery</i>, ca. February 1697@8, $George Powell=, in discussing revivals of $Dryden='s plays, stated: In relation to our reviving his <i>Almanzor</i>...very hard crutching up what $Hart= and $Mohun= could not prop.