Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but the evidence points toward this day. On Thursday 19 Nov. 1696,
Robert Jennens reported that the two pieces had been acted four or five days together. If that day saw the fifth performance, the premiere probably occurred on 14 Nov. 1696. The
Single Songs and Dialogue in Mars and Venus, set by
John Eccles (Acts I and II) and
Godfrey Finger (Act III), was published separately in 1697. The pieces for whom a performer is indicated are as follows: Prologue. The first Song Sung by
Mrs Hudson, set by Finger:
Come all, with moving songs [it is reproduced opposite page 300 in
Wiley,
Rare Prologues and Epilogues].
Love alone can here alarm me, sung by
Mrs Ayloffe.
Scorn tho' Beauty frowns to tremble, sung by
Mrs Hudson.
To double the sports, sung by Mrs Ayloffe.
To treble the pleasures with regular measures, sung by Mrs Ayloffe.
To meet her, May, the Queen of Love comes here, set by John Eccles and sung by Mrs Hudson.
See Vulcan, Jealousie, Jealousie appears, set by Finger and sung by
Mrs Hudson.
Yield, no, no, sung by
Mrs Bracegirdle and
Bowman.
Gildon,
English Dramatick Poets, p. 115: This Play met with extraordinary Success having the Advantage of the excellent Musick of
The Loves of Mars and Venus perform'd with it.
Downes,
Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 44-45:
The Anatomist, or Sham Doctor, had prosperous Success, and remains a living Play to this Day; 'twas done by
Mr Ravenscroft.
A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 20: I remember the success of that was owing to the Musick