Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the premiere is not known. The Dedication to the play, written in Rome, is dated 20 Aug. 1695 N.S., and advertisement of the play in the London Gazette, No 3200, 9-13 July 1696, represent the limits on its production. In a letter, dated (probably) November 1695, Dryden refers to the forthcoming appearance of his son's play, and on 26 May 1696 he negotiates with Tonson for its publication (Letters of John Dryden, pp. 79, 82). Probably the play appeared early in 1696, and certainly not much later than April 1696. John Barnard, The Dates of Six Dryden Letters, Philological Quarterly, XLII (1963), 400-401, believes that Dryden's letter was written ca. 26 May 1695 and that the play was probably acted in late 1695

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: [Text by John Hughes. Music by John Galliard.] Never Performed before. Admission as 24 Nov. 1711, but Benches in the Pit rail'd in at the Price of the Boxes. At 6 p.m

Event Comment: [Dedication signed by John James Heidegger.] By Subscription. Never Perform'd before. Colman's Opera Register: Monr John James Heidegger managed both this & ye former Opera for ye Singers & ye Subscription was for Six Nights paying 10 Guin for 3 Tickets each Night, they not to give out above 400 Tickets a Night

Event Comment: [By John Hughes.] Never Acted before. The Orphan Reviv'd or Powell's Weekly Journal, 20 Feb.: On Wednesday last, the Ingenious Mr John Hughes, Author of the Tragedy call'd the Siege of Damascus, died without seeing it acted

Event Comment: [By Ebenezer Forrest.] By Command of His Royal Highness. After the Manner of the Beggar's Opera. All the Habits and Scenes entirely New. Receipts: #161 18s. 6d. [For a comment on this performance, see Thomas Edwards to John Clerke, "Unrecorded Comments on John Gay, Henry Travers, and Others", N & Q (August 1953), p. 338.