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

Event Comment: [The playbill assigns Mrs Page to Mrs Wilson, and Mrs Ford to Miss Younge, but on the Kemble playbill both these names are deleted. Mrs Whitfield's name is written above Mrs Wilson's, but the name of Miss Younge's substitute has been cut by the binder; she was almost certainly Mrs Mattocks (see 25 Jan. 1782).] Receipts: #155 1s. (149/18; 5/3)

Event Comment: Benefit for R. Palmer, Russell & Dowton. 1st piece [1st time; B 1, by Edward Henry Iliff. The title-page has "by Edmund Spenser, Ynger." On his copy, now in Huntington Library, J. P. Kemble has written, "Iliffe [sic] is the real Name of the Authour"; he has made a similar notation on the playbill]: Founded on the 17th Number of The Spectator. 3rd piece [1st time; MF 1. Larpent MS 1219; not published. The characters are all taken from previous plays by John O'Keeffe, as follows: Sadboy (The Young Quaker); Signor Arionelli and Bowkitt (The Son-in-Law); Motley (The Dead Alive); Tully (The London Hermit); Lingo and Cowslip (The Agreeable Surprise); Ephraim Smooth (Wild Oats); Nipperkin (Sprigs of Laurel); Jemmy Jumps and Betty Blackberry (The Farmer); Mrs Casey (Fontainbleau)]: Written by Mr O'Keeffe. Times, 4 June: Tickets to be had of R. Palmer, No. 2, Queen's-row, Pimlico; of Russell, No. 19, Martlet-court, Bow-street; of Dowton, No. 5, Strand-lane, Surry-street, Strand. Receipts: #413 11s. 6d. (76.17.6; 37.7.0; 1.0.0 tickets: 298.7.0) (charge: #215 10s. 5d.)

Event Comment: This play was reprinted in 1672, being entered in the Term Catalogues, 20 Nov. 1671. It probably was acted in the late summer of 1671. The title page states that it was acted at the Theatre Royal, Bridges Street

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@147, p. 361. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 351. The date of the first performance of this revision is not known. As it is somewhat unlikely that a play would have its premiere at court, the first production possibly appeared earlier in the month. See 6 Nov. 1668 for an earlier revision of this work. The title-page of the edition of 1687 states: As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal. Reviv'd with Alterations

Event Comment: The United Company. The Gentleman's Journal, January 1691@2, page 5, implies that King Arthur was revived in December 1691: And the last Opera called King Arthur, which hath been plaid several times the last Month. [Since the Gentleman's Journal was often published in the month following the date of an issue, it is possible that this revival occurred in January 1691@2, for there was a certain performance on 7 Jan. 1691@2.

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is known from a playbill: At tne Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane this present Wensday, being the last day of November, will be presented, a Play called, The Indian Emperour, Or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. No money to be return'd after the Curtain is drawn. By their Majesties Servants. Vivant Rex and Regina. [See HMC, 7th Report, Verney Papers, p. 509; and Lawrence, Elizabethan Playhouse, 2d Series, opposite page 241.