Event Comment: Henry Purcell composed the music for a song performed at Mr Maidwell's School, on this day, the words by one of Maidwell's scholars. See Works of Henry Purcell, Purcell Society, XXVII (1957), XV

Event Comment: London Gazette, No 2503, 4-7 Nov. 1689: Whitehall, Nov. 5. Yesterday being His Majesties Birth-day was celebrated at Court, with an excellent Consort of Musick, Vocal and Instrumental

Event Comment: London Gazette, No 2500, 24-28 Oct. 1699: Whereas the Consort of Musick, lately in Bow-street, being remov'd to York Buildings, intended to have begun this present Munday, but upon an urgent occasion, are forc'd to defer it till the Monday after the King's Birth-day, being the 11th of November, and so continue every Munday for the future. [See also 17 Oct. 1689.

Event Comment: Luttrell (A Brief Relation, II, I): The same day [1 Jan.] the king and queen came to Whitehall, where many of the nobility and gentry came to wish them a happy new year; and there was a great consort of musick, vocal and instrumental, and a song composed by the poet laureat

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: London Gazette, No 2581, 4-7 Aug. 1690: These are to give Notice, That by Order of the Lord-Mayor and Court of Alderman of the City of London, the Fair, commonly called Lady-Fair, in the Borough of Southwark, will from henceforth be held on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of September only in every Year (according to the Grant thereof of the City) and that the Booths or Shedds will be permitted to stand in the streets there any longer than the said three days

Event Comment: London Gazette, No. 259, 22-25 Sept. 1690: The Consort of Vocal and Instrumental Musick, lately performed in Villers-street in York-Buildings, will begin again in the same place on Monday next, (being Michaelmas-day) at 7 of the Clock; and will be conducted there every Monday night all this ensuing Winter

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 369. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 352. In L. C. 5@150, p. 156, is an order to prepare the stage for the play, and, in L. C. 5@150, p. 164, is another order for new equipment. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 125: The 4th, being his majesties birth day...and at night was a consort of musick, and a play afterwards. Matthew Prior wrote A Pindarique Ode which was sung before Their Majesties at court on this day. See The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, ed. H. B. Wright and M. K. Spears (Oxford, 1959), I, 96-98; II, 858. Cibber, Apology, I, 128: The agreeable was so natural to [Mountfort], that even in that dissolute Character of the Rover he seem'd to wash off the Guilt from Vice, and gave it Charms and Merit. For tho' it may be a Reproach to the Poet to draw such Characters not only unpunish'd but rewarded, the Actor may still be allow'd his due Praise in his excellent Performance. And this is a Distinction which, when this Comedy was acted at Whitehall, King William's Queen Mary was pleas'd to make in favour of Monfort, notwithstanding her Disapprobation of the Play

Event Comment: On this date the Queen granted permission for the company to act at Oxford from 10 July 1691 for twelve days. See CSPD, 1690-91, p. 430; Sybil Rosenfeld, Some Notes on the Players in Oxford, 1661-1713, pp. 370-71; and A Long Prologue to a Short Play, Spoken by a Woman at Oxford Drest like a Sea Officer, in Poems on the Affairs of State, Part III, 1698, p. 581

Event Comment: Richard Lapthorne, 8 Aug. 1691: Bartholomew faire by order of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen is to bee kept but for 3 days this yeare because its a season of great debauchery and therefore they think a fortnight to bee too long a space and it seemes according to the originall Institution it was to continue no longer then three dayes (R. J. Kerr and I. C. Duncan, The Portledge Papers [London, 1928], p. 118.

Event Comment: According to Langhans, New Restoration Theatre Accounts, pp. 132-33, the company acted regularly from 19 Oct. 1691 through 3 Aug. 16@2, with only a few dark days other than the customary ones

Event Comment: A warrant, L. C. 5@150, p. 306, in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 357, dated this day calls for a payment of L10 to William Mountfort for King Edward the Third, acted on an unspecified date before the Queen

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: According to evidence given in litigation, the gross receipts of the theatres from 4 May 1682 to 3 Aug. 1692 were #103,988 5s. 7d.; the costs and charges came to #85,393 19s. 0d. The "Clear Profits" were #18,594 6s. 7d. See Hotson, Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, pp. 288-89, who estimates that the receipts averaged, roughly, #50 per acting day

Event Comment: Thomas Shadwell, the Poet Laureat, presented an Ode on the King's Birth-Day, which was published in 1692

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. This performance is known by one of the rare playbills extant from this period. It is in HMC, Verney MSS., 7th Report, p. 509, and reproduced opposite page 240 in Lawrence, Elizabethan Playhouse, 2d Series: Never Acted but once. At the Theatre Royal, in Drury-Lane, this present Wensday being the Nineth day of November, will be presented, A New Play called, Henry the Second King of England. No money to be return'd after the curtain is drawn. By their Majesties Servants. Vivant Rex & Regina. Lady Margaret Russell to Katherine Russell, 10 Nov. 1692: You will be surprised that Lady Cavendish has been hindered by a little sore throat from going yesterday to a new play of King Henry and Rosamond, which is much commended (HMC, 12th Report, Appendix, Part V, Rutland MSS., p. 124)

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. This performance is known from testimony in the trial of Charles Lord Mohun for the attack on William Mountfort on 9 Dec. 1692. The evidence given by Brereton at the trial stated: I had not seen my Lord Mohun for two or three days before this Fact was committed;...but the Friday before, the Play of Alexander the Great was Acted, and my Lord Mohun and I were talking of the Play, and he said it was a good Play, and he commended Mr Mountford's Acting extreamly (The Tryal of Charles Lord Mohun [London, 1693], p. 26)

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 played at Oxford in July. On 3 July the Queen recommended that permission be granted to the players to act there for twelve days beginning 7 July. See Rosenfeld, Some Notes on the Players in Oxford, p. 371. See also Luttrell, A Brief Relation, 4 July (III, 129)

Event Comment: London Gazette, No 2919, 30 Oct.-2 Nov. 1693. Whereas last Monday proving to be the Lord Mayors Day Signior Tosi could not play his Consort of Musick, but will do it this present Thursday the 2d instant, and the Thursday following; and afterwards on every Monday, in York-Buildings, during the Winter

Event Comment: Gentleman's Journal, November 1693: An Ode upon His Majesty's Birth-day, Set to Musick by Dr Staggins; and Perform'd before Their Majesties, Nov. 4. 1693. The Words by N. Tate, Servant to Their Majesties. [The Ode was published separately as a broadside in 1693. A song, Gallic force, in vain, set by Staggins and sung to the King on his birthday, is in Comes Amoris, The Fifth Book, 1694.

Event Comment: Gentleman's Journal, November 1693: A Song for St Cecilia's Day, By Mr Theo. Parsons. Set to Musick by Mr Finger