Event Comment: The
United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but
Luttrell dated his copy of the separately-printed
Prologue and
Epilogue 5 April 1684 (
J. W. Dodds,
Thomas Southerne, p. 48). Very probably the play first appeared during the week of 31 March-5 April, immediately following
Easter. The Prologue and Epilogue are reprinted in
Wiley,
Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 191-94. This may have been the last new role
William Smith undertook for some years; see
Cibber, Apology, ed.
Lowe, 1, 78-79, for the incident which prompted
Smith's leaving the stage for awhile. One song,
I never saw a face till now, with music by
Captain Pack, is in
The Theater of Music, the First Book, 1685; and another,
O why did e'er my thoughts aspire, the music by
R. King, is in the same collection. A third song,
See how fair Corinna lies, the music by Captain Pack, is in
A Collection of Twenty-Four Songs, 1685