Event Comment: The Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, 18 Jan. 1685@6: After dinner the Lord? Chancellor, having drunke smartly at table (which was his custome) called for one Monfort, a gentleman of his that had been a comedian, an excellent mimick, and to divert the company, as he called it, made him give us a caus, that is, plead before him in a feigned action, wher he acted all the principal lawyers of the age, in their tone of voice, and action or gesture of body; and thus ridiculed not only the lawyers, but the law itselfe. This, I confess, was very diverting, but not soe prudent as I thought for soe eminent a man in soe great a station of the lawe; since nothing could get a man more enemies than to deride thos whom they ought most to sopport (ed. Browning, pp. 408-9)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, and the play is one of a large group commonly assigned to September-December 1690. As the Prologue implies an autumn production, it has been placed at late September, although the premiere may have been October. It was advertised in the London Gazette, 18-22 Dec. 1690, and entered in the Term Catalogues, Feb. 1690@1. The music was composed by Henry Purcell. See Purcell, Works, Purcell Society, XXI (Dramatic Music, III, 1917), xii-xiv. Dedication: So visibly promoting my Interest on those days chiefly (the Third and the Sixth) when I had the tenderest relation to the welfare of my Play [i.e. Southerne had two benefits]. Langbaine (English Dramatick Poets, 1691, Appendix): This Play was acted with extraordinary Applause, the Part of Sir Anthony Love being most Masterly play'd by Mr Montfort: and certainly, who ever reads it, will find it fraught with true Wit and Humour. Gentleman's Journal, January 1691@2: [The Wives' Excuse, newly performed] was written by Mr Southern, who made that call'd Sir Anthony Love, which you and all the Town have lik'd so well

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but it followed The Gordian Knot Unty'd, which is mentioned in the Prologue. Edward III was advertised in the London Gazette, No. 2629, 19-22 Jan. 1690@1, and entered in the Term Catalogues, February 1690@1. The authorship is uncertain. The title page bears no author's name, but the Dedication is signed by Will. Mountfort. In addition, on 10 Oct. 1691 Mountfort received a grant of #10 when Edward III was played before the Queen (L. C. 5@150, p. 306, in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 357). On tne other hand, the Gentleman's Journal, October 1692, stated that it was written by the author of Henry the Second, which has been attributed to John Bancroft. See Nicoll, Restoration Drama, pp. 388-89, for a summation of the evidence on this problem. Alfred Harbage, Elizabethan-Restoration Palimpsest, Modern Language Review, XXXV (1940), 319, thinks that this is a revision of Robert Davenport's The Politic Queen

Event Comment: The Ode is in D'Urfey, Wit and Mirth, I, 70-71. Gentleman's Journal, January 1691-2, pp. 4-5: On that day [22 Nov.] or the next when it falls on a Sunday, as it did last time, most of the Lovers of Music, whereof many are persons of the first Rank, meet at Stationers-Hall in London, not thro' a Principle of Superstition, but to propagate the advancement of that divine Science. A splendid Entertainment is provided, and before it is always a performance of Music by the best Voices and Hands in Town; the Words, which are always in the Patronesses praise, are set by some of the greatest Masters in Town. This year Dr John Blow, that famous Musician, composed tne Music, and Mr Durfey, whose skill in things of that nature is well enough known, made the Words....Whilst the Company is at Table, the Hautboys and Trumpets play successively. Mr Showers hath taught the latter of late years to sound with all the softness imaginable, they plaid us some flat Tunes, made by Mr Finger, with a general applause, it being a thing formerly though impossible upon the Instrument design'd for a sharp Key

Event Comment: The United Company. The Gentleman's Journal, January 1691@2: The Indian Emperor hath been reviv'd and play'd many times. [In addition, a song, I look'd, I look'd, and saw within the Book of Fate, the music by Henry Purcell, is in The Banquet of Musick, 1692, pp. 14-15. See also Purcell, Works, Purcell Society, XX (1916), xiii-ix. The play was also reprinted in 1692.

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but the Gentleman's Journal, January 1691@2, suggests that it was first given in December 1691, although the tendency of this journal to be dated one month and appear in the next month makes the interpretation of its information difficult: We have had a new Comedy this last Month, call'd The Wives Execuse; or Cuckolds make themselves: It was written by Mr Southern, who made that call'd Sir Anthony Love, which you and all the Town lik'd so well. I will send you The Wives Excuse, as soon as it comes out in Print, which will be very speedily: And tho' the Town hath not been so kind to this last, as to the former, I do not doubt but you will own that it will bear a Reading; which some that meet with a better Fate too often do not; some that must be granted to be good Judges commend the Purity of its Language (pp. 51-52). Henry Purcell composed the music for this work. One song, Corinna I excuse thy face, the words (according to the Edition of 1692) by Tho. Cheek, the music by Henry Purcell, but without the singer's name, is in The Banquet of Musick, The Sixth and Last Book, 1692 (licensed 17 Feb. 1691@2). Say, cruel Amoret, sung by Mountfort; Hang this whining way, sung by Mrs Butler; and Ingrateful lover, the words by Major General Sackville, are in Joyful Cuckoldom, ca. 1695. See also Purcell, Works, Purcell Society, XXI (1917), xxvi-xxix

Event Comment: The United Company. Gentleman's Journal, p. 56, Jan. 1691@2: The Merry Wives of Windsor, an Old Play, hath been reviv'd, and was play'd the Last Day of the Year

Event Comment: The United Company. Gentleman's Journal, March 16@9@2 (licensed 9 March 1691@2): The History of Caius Marius is to be revived on Wednesday next. [The play was also reprinted in 1692, the cast in tne edition being that of the edition of 1679.

Event Comment: Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 413: By order of the queen, the lord chamberlain has sent an order to the playhouse prohibiting the acting Mr Dryden s play called the tragedy of Cleomenes, reflecting much on the government. Gentleman's Journal, April 1692 (licensed 13 April): I was in hopes to have given you in this Letter an account of the Acting of Mr Dryden's Cleomenes; it was to have appear'd upon the Stage on Saturday last, and you need not doubt but that the Town was big with Expectation of the performance; but Orders came from Her Majesty to hinder its being Acted; so that none can tell when it shall be play'd

Event Comment: Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 437: This being the queen s birth day, a new ode was sung before her upon the occasion: the nobility and gentry, with the lord mayor and aldermen of this citty, attended to compliment thereon. Gentleman's Journal, May 1692: The 30th of April, being Her Majesties Birth-day, was observ'd with all the usual Solemnity. I design'd to have sent you an Attempt of mine in Verse, on that noble Subject: But having happily obtain'd a Copy of those writ by Sir Charles Sidley, it would have been an unpardonable Crime, to have joyn'd my weak Essay to a Piece by so great a Master. [The Ode, Love's Goddess Sure, the music by Henry Purcell, is in Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XXIV (1926), i.

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not precisely known, but it was certainly before 17 June 1692, as the Gentleman's Journal, June 1692 (licensed 17 June) states: Regulus, with the Factions of Carthage, by Mr Crown, was acted the last week; that Tragedy is intermixed with a vein of Comedy. You have seen his Works in both. Terence tells us, Dubiam fortunam esse scenicam; and if that great Author had occasi on to complain, those of our Age may well comfort themselves if the Town deceives their expectation. A song, Ah me! to many deaths decreed, the music by Henry Purcell, and set by Mrs Ayliff, is in Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XXI (1917), vii. But see 24 Aug. 1692

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but the play was acted soon after Shadwell's death in November 1692. Gentleman's Journal, November 1692: We have lately lost Thomas Shadwell Esquire....The Comedy which, as I told you, he design'd for the Stage, was acted since his decease: 'Tis call'd the Volunteers; and though that Orphan wanted its Parent to support it, yet it came off with reasonable success. [When this play was revived at Drury Lane 27 July 1711, the bill bore the heading: Not acted these Twenty Years.

Event Comment: The United Company. As 9 Nov. 1692 is known to be the second day, it is assumed that 8 Nov. 1692 represents the first performance. (See entry for 9 Nov. 1692.) The authorship is uncertain; William Mountfort signed tne Dedication, but its authorship is linked with that of Edward III (November 1690), which may have been by Bancroft. Gentleman's Journal, October 1692 (not issued until November): Henry the Second, King of England, A new Play, by the Author of that call'd Edward the Third, which gave such universal satisfaction, hath been acted several times with applause. It is a Tragedy with a mixture of Comedy....Had you seen it acted, you would own that an Evening is pass'd very agreeably, when at a Representation of that pleasing Piece. [Alfred Harbage, Elizabethan-Restoration Palimpsest, Modern Language Review, XXXV (1940), 312-18, argues that this play is the Elizabethan Henry II once in the possession of Moseley. A song, In vain 'gainst Love I strove, composed by Henry Purcell and sung by Mrs Dyer, not in the printed play, is in Comes Amoris, 1693, and Joyful Cuckoldom 1695. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XX (1916), vii

Event Comment: The United Company. As the Gentleman's Journal states that the play was given several days and as it was certainly acted on 14 Nov. 1692, it was probably given continuously from 8 Nov. 1692

Event Comment: The United Company. Writing on 3 Jan. 1692@3, Anthony Wood states: A new comedie composed by Mr Tate, poet laureat, was acted before their majesties, M. 2 Jan. (Andrew Clark, The Life and Times of Anthony Wood [Oxford, 1894], III, 413). Since no new play by Tate is known to have been acted at this time, and since A Duke and No Duke was reprinted in 1693 (Term Catalogues, May 1693), and acted several times (Gentleman's Journal, January 1692@2, issued in March):A Duke and no Duke being often acted now, and scarce, is reprinted, with the addition of a curious Preface, by our Laureat, concerning Farce. [Possibly Wood was mistaken in thinking that A Duke and no Duke was a new play. It seems the one most likely to fit the circumstances of this period.

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but it had been acted by the time the January 1692@3 issue of the Gentleman's Journal appeared in March (on page 1 of that issue, the editor states that We are now in March): Mr Southerne's New Comedy, call'd, The Maid's last Prayer, or Any rather than fail, was acted the 3d time this evening, and is to be acted again to morrow. It discovers much knowledge of the Town in its Author; and its Wit and purity of Diction are particularly commended (p. 28). The first song in the play, Tho you make no return to my passion, composed by Henry Purcell, was sung, according to the printed play, by Mrs Hodgson; by Mrs Dyer, according to Thesaurus Musicus, First Book, 1693. The second song, composed by Samuel? Akeroyd, was sung by Mrs Ayliff (Thesaurus Musicus, The First Book, 1693). Another song, No, no, no, no, resistance is but vain, written by Anthony Henley, composed by Henry Purcell, and sung by Mrs Ayliff and Mrs Hodgson, Act IV, is in Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XX (1916), xiv-xv. A song, Tell me no more I am deceiv'd, written by William Congreve, set by Henry Purcell, and sung by Mrs Ayliff, is in Works, XX (1916), xv-xvi. According to the London Gazette, No. 2852, 9-13 March 1692@3, the play was published "this day" (13 March 1692@3)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first production is not known, but the Gentleman's Journal, February 1692@3 (issued in March) makes clear that it followed Congreve's play: We have had since a Comedy, call'd, The Wary Widow, or Sir Noisy Parrot, by Henry Higden Esq; I send by here the Prologue to it by Sir Charles Sedley, and you are too great an Admirer of Shakespeare, not to assent to the Praises given to the Fruits of his rare Genius (p. 61). The play was announced in the London Gazette, No. 2875, 29 May-June 1693. The music for one song, All hands up aloft, was by Berenclow, and the song appears in D'Urfey, Wit and Mirth, 1699. Dedication, edition of 1693: But now it is forced to beg for your Protection from the malice and severe usage it received from some of my Ill natured Friends, who with a Justice peculiar to themselves, passed sentence upon it unseen or heard and at the representation made it their business to persecute it with a barbarous variety of Noise and Tumult. Gildon, The Life of Mr Thomas Betterton (p. 20): The actors were completely drunk before the end of the third act, and being therefore unable to proceed with this "Pleasant Comedy," they very properly dismissed the audience

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not precisely known, but the Gentleman's Journal, April 1693 (issued in May) states that it followed D'Urfey's comedy: And since that [The Richmond Heiress] another by Mr George Powell, call'd, a very good Wife, which hath already been acted five times (p. 130). It is likely that Powell's comedy first appeared late in April or very early in May. Dedication, Edition of 1693: The unexpected Success of this Play. A Comparison between the Two Stages (p. 16): Ramble: The next? Sullen: A very good Wife. Ramble: That's almost a Solaecism: whose is't? Sullen: Oh an excellent Author's! one George Powell's, the Player. Ramble. What was it's Fate? Sullen: Damn'd, damn'd, as it deserv'd

Event Comment: The United Company. This play was probably revived in May or June 1693. Two songs for it-one sung by Mrs Ayliff, the composer not named; another, the music by Ackroyde, but no singer named-are in Gentleman's Journal, June 1693 (advertised in London Gazette, 13 July 1693). These songs presumably were a part of a revived version not long preceding their publication

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the premiere is not certain, but reference to it in the Gentleman's Journal, May 1693 (issued in June 1693), suggests that it appeared in May: We have had since my last a new Comedy called, The Female Vertuosos, something in it was borrowed from Moliere's Femmes Savantes, and as it hath Wit and Humour, it cannot but please in the perusal, as in the representation (p. 168). One song, Love thou art best of human joys, to words by Anne, Countess of Winchelsea, was set by Henry Purcell

Event Comment: London Gazette, No 2878, 8-12 June 1693: Next Saturday being the 17th of June will be perform'd in Villers-street in York-Building, for that time only, Mr Franks Consort, which will consist of English Dialogues and Songs (the Words by Mr Motteux) with Instrumental Musick proper to them, beginning exactly at 7 at Night. The Gentleman's Journal, May 1693 (issued in June 1693): We have had lately a Consort of Music, which as it hath pleased the most nice and judicious Lovers of that Art; would doubtless have had your Approbation; I only speak of the Notes which were by Mr Franck; As for the words I [Motteux] made them in haste (p. 148)