Event Comment: Betterton's Company. This performance is recorded in A Calendar of the Inner Temple Records, ed. Inderwick, III, 227. Post Boy, 30 Oct.-2 Nov. 1697: There was Yesterday a very great Feast in the Temple, there being present the High Honourable the Lord Chancellor, with Divers of the Judges; after Dinner there was a Play Acted. John Oldmixon, Reflections on the Stage (London, 1699), p. 69: The Bar-Gown has often been play'd with, and shewn in a more despicable Figure, yet the Lawyers don't think it worth their while to cry out against Comedy, as aiming at the ruin of the Courts in Westminster-hall, and the Judges themselves have desir'd Love for Love, with all the faults Mr Collier has laid to its charge, to be presented 'em, and were extreamly well pleas'd with their entertainment, tho' the Lawyer there makes a trivial appearance

Event Comment: London Gazette, No. 3366, 10-14 Feb. 1697@8: An Entertainment of New Musick composed on the Peace by Mr Van Richardson, Organist of Winchester Cathedral, will be performed on Wednesday next, at 8 at night, in York Buildings, being the 16th Instant. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, IV, 343, 12 Feb. 1697@8: The czar...on Wensday will be at a performance of musick in York Buildings

Event Comment: Post Man, 12-15 March 1697@8: Wednesday next, being the 16th of March, will be performed in York Buildings, a Consort of new Musick, for the benefit of Doctor Blow, and Mr Pacsible, and beginning at eight a Clock

Event Comment: Post Man, No. 453, 21-23 April 1698: In York Buildings, on Easter Monday, will be performed a Consort of Vocal and Instrumental Musick, for the Benefit of Mr Hodgson, beginning at the usual time

Event Comment: A Brief Relation, IV, 379, 12 May 1698: The justice of Middlesex did not only present the playhouses, but also Mr Congreve, for writing the Double Dealer; Durfey, for Don Quixot; and Tonson and Brisco, booksellers, for printing them: and that women frequenting the playhouses in masks tended much to debauchery and immorality

Event Comment: Post Boy, No. 476, 21-24 May 16 98: Wednesday next, the 25th of May, will be performed in York Buildings, a new Entertainment of Vocal and Instrumental Musick, with the Song which was Sung to her Royal Highness on her Birthday Compos'd by Mr Daniel Purcell, and is for his Benefit

Event Comment: London Gazette, No. 3396, 26-30 May 1698: This present Monday being the 30th of May, Mr Nichola's Consort of Vocal and Instrumental Musick, will be performed in York-Buildings. [This is, presumably, Nichola Matteis.

Event Comment: Post Boy, No. 613, 11-14 March 1698@9: At the Request of several Persons of Quality, in York Building, on Friday next the 17th Instant, will be a Consort of new Vocal and Instrumental Musick, for the Benefit of Mr Corbett, Beginning exactly at Eight of the Clock

Event Comment: John Dryden to Mrs Steward, 26 Nov. 1699: If you come up next Week, you will be entertaind with a New Tragedy; which the Author of it, one Mr Dennis, cryes up at an Excessive rate, & Colonel Codrington, who has seen it, prepares the world to give it loud Applauses. Tis calld Iphigenia, & Imitated from Eurypides, an old Greek poet. This is to be Acted at Betterton's House, & another play of the same name, is very shortly to come on the stage in Drury Lane (The Letters of John Dryden, p. 129)

Event Comment: A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), commenting upon Betterton's success with I Henry IV (see 9 Jan. 1699@1700) pictures Betterton entering his Closet and praying to Shakespeare for further assistance (p. 25), with the result that "tho' some of those Plays that Batterton Acted were Historical, and consequently highly irregular, yet they never fail'd to please" (p. 26). Sullen adds: Well, this lucky hit of Batterton's put D. Lane in a non-plus! Shakespear's Ghost was rais'd at the New-house, and he seem'd to inhabit it for ever: What's to be done then? Oh, says Rich I'll pray as well as he-What? Shall a Heathen Player have more Religion than a Lawyer? No, it shall never be said--with that Mr R@@ goes up to the Garret (a pair of Stairs higher than his own Apartment) and taking Ben Johnson's Picture with him, he implores. This work implies that Betterton presented Henry VIII in addition to I Henry IV and that Rich revived Volpone, The Alchymist, and The Silent Woman, which had, according to the author of this work, lain unacted for twenty years (p. 26)

Event Comment: Post Man, 16-19 March 1700: For the benefit of Mrs Hudson and Mr Williams, to morrow being Wednesday the 20th instant, in the Great Room in York Buildings, will be performed an extraordinary entertainment of Vocal and Instrumental Musick. At the desire of several Ladies of Quality, with a new Prologue to be performed by Jo. Haines

Event Comment: John Dryden to Mrs Steward, 11 April 1700: Within this Moneth there will be played for my Profit, an old play of Fletcher s, called the Pilgrim, corrected by my good friend Mr Vanbrook; to which I have added A New Masque, & am to write a New Prologue & Epilogue. Southern s tragedy, called the Revolt of Capoua, will be played At Bettertons House within this fortnight. I am out with that Company, & therefore if I can help it, will not read it before tis Acted; though the Authour much disires I shou'd (The Letters of John Dryden, p. 136)

Event Comment: Post Man, 20-23 April 1700: On Saturday last two Gentlemen [according to the Post Boy, 23-25 April 1700, they were Captain Francis and Mr Squibb, of the Exchequer] quarrelled at the Play-house, and one of them was mortally wounded

Event Comment: By Susanna Centlivre. Dat of premiere unknown. Published 22 Oct.] Preface: It wanted only the addition of good Actors, and a Full Town to have brought on a Sixth Night