Event Comment: See also Luttrell, A Brief Relation, I, 362. The cost of the Pageants was #175; the total cost of the Lord Mayor's Show came to #473 4d. See Robert Withington, English Pageantry (Cambridge, Mass., 1920), II, 62

Event Comment: Newdigate newsletters (Folger Shakespeare Library), 22 Oct. 1687: There are to be 5 Pageants on the Ld Mayors day one representing Liberty by a Beautifull young Lady attended with Riches Plenty and ffreedom &c. (transcribed by Professor John Harold Wilson). Luttrell (A Brief Relation, I, 418): The 29th was the anniversary of the lord mayors show, the new one, sir John Shorter, now entring on his office; the shew was splendid and the entertainment great, according to custome: his majestie, with the prince of Denmark, did the citty the honour to dine with them at Guildhall, as also the nobility, foreign ministers, amongst which was the popes nuncio (who was invited particularly by some of the aldermen): the streets were new gravell'd all that morning on one side of the way, from Charing-crosse to the citty, for his majesties passage. His majestie was well satisfied with the whole entertainment. The Duke of Beaufort to the Duchess, 29 Oct. 1687 [a summary, apparently]: Has just come from the greatest entertainment he ever saw at a Lord Mayor's feast in the city, and the best ordered, though there was the greatest concourse there and in the streets that was ever known, and the greatest acclamations, all through the city as the King passed. The Queen did not dare venture, remembering that the Bristol entertainment had put her out of order, but all the nobility in town, and the foreign ministers were there. The Pope's Nuncio in particular was invited by the Lord Mayor and nobly entertained (HMC, 12th Report, Appendix, Beaufort MSS., Part IX, pp. 90-91)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but Luttrell's date of acquistion of the separately-printed Prologue and Epilogue is 6 Feb. 1687@8 (see A. S. Borgman, The Life and Death of William Mountford [Cambridge, Mass., 1935], p. 26n). Very probably the play had its premiere early in February. The Prologue and Epilogue are reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 256-58. A song, Lucinda close or veil those eyes, with music by J. B. Draghi, is in The Banquet of Musick, The Second Book, 1688. Charles Gildon, The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (London, 1698 (?), p. 102: [It] did not succeed as the Author wish'd

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@148, p. 145. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 351. By this time Henry Purcell had apparently composed the Act tunes for this play. See Purcell, Works, The Purcell Society, XVI (1906), xxxii. Luttrell [A Brief Relation, I, 431): The 6th was observed as a festival of joy for the king s comeing to the crown;...and at night was a play at court

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is uncertain, but the Prologue and Epilogue, printed separately, bear a licensing date of 20 Nov. 1689. Luttrell's copy of the Prologue and Epilogue (in the possession of Mr Louis Silver, Wilmette, Illinois, who kindly permits me to use his dating) bears his date of acquisition: 25 Nov. 1689. The Prologue and Epilogue are reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 283-85. Dedication, Edition of 1690: The Play had not that Success which it deserv'd....The main fault ought to lye on those who had the management of it. Had our Authour been alive she would have Committed it to Flames rather than suffer'd it to have been Acted with such Omissions as was made....And Lastly, many of the Parts being false Cast, and given to those whose Tallants and Genius's suited not our Authors Intention

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but Luttrell's copy (Huntington Library) of the play bears the date of acquisition 3 June [1690, apparently], and the play was advertised in the London Gazette, No 2566, 12-16 June 1690. See Fredson Bowers, A Bibliographical History of the Fletcher-Betterton Play, The Prophetess, 1690, The Library, 5th Series, XVI (1961), 169-75. It seems likely that the opera was first given early in June 1690. An edition of The Vocal and Instrumental Musick of The Prophetess appeared in 1691. See Works of Henry Purcell, Purcell Society, IX. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 42): The Prophetess, or Dioclesian an Opera, Wrote by Mr Betterton; being set out with Coastly Scenes, Machines and Cloaths: The Vocal and Instrumental Musick, done by Mr Purcel; and Dances by Mr Priest; it gratify'd the Expectation of Court and City; and got the Author great Reputation. [See also R. E. Moore, Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theater (Cambridge, Mass., 1961), Chapter V; and E. W. White, Early Theatrical Performances of Purcell's Operas, Theatre Notebook, XIII (1958-59), 44.] The Muses' Mercury (January 1707, pp. 4-5): This prologue was forbidden to be spoken the second Night of the Representation of the Prophetess. Mrs Shadwell was the occasion of its being taken notice of by the Ministry in the last Reign: He happen'd to be at the House on the first Night, and taking the beginning of the Prologue to have a double meaning, and that Meaning to reflect on the Revolution, he told a Gentleman, He would immediately Put a stop to it. When that Gentleman ask'd, Why he wou'd do the Author such a Disservice? He said, Because while Mr Dryden was Poet Laureat, he wou'd never let any Play of his be Acted. Mr Shadwell informed the Secretary of State of it, and representing it in its worst Colours, the Prologue was never Spoken afterwards, and is not printed in Mr Dryden's Works, or his Miscellanies. Cibber, Apology (ed. Lowe, II, 13-14): A Prologue (by Dryden) to the Prophetess was forbid by the Lord Dorset after the first War in Ireland. It must be confess'd that this Prologue had some familiar, metaphorical Sneers at the Revolution itself; and as the Poetry of it was good, the Offence of it was less pardonable

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: A prologue entitled Haynes His Reformation Prologue, Spoke in Black (beginning Thus Cloath'd with shame, which is one step to Grace) was printed in 1692. Luttrell's date of acquisition is dated 2 Jan. 1691@2. This copy is in the possession of Mr. Louis Silver of Wilmette, Illinois, who has graciously permitted me to list it and the date

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@151, p. 369: ye Q a Box & a Box for ye Maids Honr K Arthur. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 352. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 331: The queen and queen dowager went this evening to the play of Mr Dryden s opera. [See also the reference to this play under January 1691@2 above.

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is stated in Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 435, 28 April 1692: On Monday will be acted a new opera, call the Fairy Queen: exceeds former playes: the clothes, scenes, and musick cost 3000#. [According to Some Select Songs As they are Sung in the Fairy Queen (1692) tne singers were Mrs Ayliff, Mrs Dyer, Freeman, Mrs Butler, and Pate. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XII (1903), ii; E. W. White, Early Performances of Purcell's Operas, Theatre Notebook, XIII (1958-59 ), 45; and R. E. Moore, Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre, Chapter IV.] Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 42-43: The Fairy Queen, made into an Opera, from a Comedy of Mr Shakespeare s: This in Ornaments was Superior to the other Two [King Arthur and The Prophetess]; especially in Cloaths, for all the Singers and Dancers, Scenes, Machines and Decorations, all most profusely set off; and excellently perform'd, chiedly the Instrumental and Vocal part Compos'd by the said Mr Purcel, and Dances by Mr Priest. The Court and Town were wonderfully satisfy'd with it; but the Expences in setting it out being so great, the Company got very little by it. Gentleman's Journal, May 1692: The Opera of which I have spoke to you in my former hath at last appear'd, and continues to be represented daily: it is call'd, The Fairy Queen. The Drama is originally Shakespears, the Music and Decorations are extraordinary. I have heard the Dances commended, and without doubt the whole is very entertaining. [As the May issue of the Gentleman's Journal was licensed on 14 May, the statement that The Fairy Queen continued to be acted daily may indicate consecutive performances from 2 May to at le ast 14 May 1692.

Event Comment: The United Company. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 593, 15 Oct. 1692: On Thursday last was acted the tragedy of Oedipus king of Thebes at the theater, where Sandford and Powell acting their parts together, the former by mistake of a sharp dagger for one that runs the blade into the handle, stab'd the other 3 inches deep: said the wound is mortal

Event Comment: By Elkanah Settle. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, 29 Oct. 1692: This day the usuall show of lord mayors, where the king and queen dined, most of the nobility, &c., but the prince and princesse were not invited: the feast was at charge of lord mayor and court of alderman: the lord mayor subscribed 300#, each she rife, 150#, and the aldermen 50# apeice: the kings regiment of foot guards was all in new cloths, and the horse guards too: the militia of Middlesex were as a guard in the Strand, and the artillery, with silver and steell headpeices, lined tne streets where the mayor came

Event Comment: The United Company. On this evening William Mountfort, the actor, was killed by Lord Mohun and Captain Hill, but the name of the play given that night seems not to have been mentioned in the testimony at the trial. In a novel based on the event, The Player's Tragedy; or, Fatal Love (1693), Mrs Bracegirdle acted the Wife of Essex in The Unhappy Favourite, and the fiction may have been based on fact. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 637, 10 Dec. 1692: Last night lord Mohun, captain Hill of collonel Earles regiment, and others, pursued Mountfort the actor from the playhouse to his lodgings in Norfolk Street, where one kist him while Hill run him thro' the belly: they ran away, but his lordship was this morning seized and committed to prison. Mountfort died of nis wounds this afternoon. The quarrell was about Bracegirdle the actresse, whom they would have trapan'd away, but Mountfort prevented it, wherefore they murthered him thus. [See also HMC, 14th Report, Appendix, Portland MSS., III, 509; The Ladies Lamentation for their Adonis, 16@2, a poem on Mountfort's death; The Player's Tragedy; or, Fatal Love, 1693, a fictional treatment of the affair; and, particularly, Borgman, The Life and Death of William Mountfort, pp. 123-69. See also Cibber, Apology, I, 108, for an account of Betterton's taking the role of Alexander after Mountfort's death.

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known. The January issue of the Gentleman's Journal, wnich did not appear until some time in February, stated: Mr Congreve...hath written a Comedy, which will be acted in a little time, and is to be call'd, The Old Batchelor (p. 28). The Gentleman's Journal, February 1692@3 (issued in March 1693): The success of Mr Congreve's Old Batchelor has been so extraordinary, that I can tell you nothing new of that Comedy; you have doubtless read it before this, since it has been already printed thrice. And indeed the Wit which is diffus'd through it, makes it lose but few of those Charms in the Perusal, which yield such pleasure in the Representation. Mr Congreve will in some time give us another play; you may judge by this how acceptable it will be (p. 61). In addition, a reference in the Epilogue indicates that it was produced during Lent, ano since the third edition was advertized in the London Gazette, No. 2856, 23-27 March 1693, early March seems the most likely date for the premiere. According to The Female Wits (ca. 1696), The Old Batchelor was acted fourteen days successively. John Barnard of Yale University states that Narcissus Luttrell's copy of The Old Batchelor in the Newberry Library bears the notation: "10d Mar. 16 1692@3." BM Add. Mss. 4221 (341) Memoirs Relating to Mr Congreve Written by Mr Thomas Southern (in Macdonald, Bibliography of Dryden, p. 54n): When he began his Play the Old Batchelor haveing little Acquaintance with the traders in that way, his Cozens recommended him to a friend of theirs, who was very usefull to him in the whole course of his play, he engag'd Mr Dryden in its favour, who upon reading it sayd he never saw such a first play in his life, but the Author not being acquainted with the stage or the town, it woud be pity to have it miscarry for want of a little Assistance: the stuff was rich indeed, it wanted only the fashionable cutt of the town. To help that Mr Dryden, Mr Arthur Manwayring, and Mr Southern red it with great care, and Mr Dryden putt it in the order it was playd, Mr Southerne obtained of Mr Thos. Davenant who then governd the Playhouse, that Mr Congreve should have the privilege of the Playhouse half a year before his play was playd, wh. I never knew allowd any one before. The music for the play was composed by Henry Purcell. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XXI (1917), iii-v

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: Although the reports do not fully agree upon the date, apparently it was on this night that Hildebrand Horden, of Rich's Company, was killed in a duel. See Protestant Mercury, 18-20 May 1696, and Luttrell, A Brief Relation, IV, 81

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of this revival is not certain, but Luttrell's copy (Huntington Library) bears his date of 27 Oct. 1696 for his acquisition of a copy; hence, the revival must have occurred not later than October 1696. When this play was revived at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, 8 June 1705, the bill bore the heading: Not Acted by that Company these Nine Years

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that the play was advertised in the London Gazette, 18-21 Jan. 1696@7 (Luttrell acquired his copy, Huntington Library, 20 Jan. 1696@7) suggests that it was first given not later than December 1696. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), pp. 20-21, lists it among the "Masterpieces" on which Drury Lane "subsisted" in the early years after the separation of the theatres

Event Comment: Post Boy, 2-4 Feb. 1696@7: On Monday the King visited the Princess of Denmark and invited her to Whitehall on Saturday next, it being her Royal Highnesses Birth Day, and his Majesty has been pleased to give the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine Orders to have the Play called Love for Love, written by Mr Congreve, Acted there the better to Celebrate the Day. Post Boy, 6-9 Feb. 1696@7: Last Saturday being the Anniversary of her Royal Highness the Princess Ann of Denmark's birth...at night the King was pleased to Entertain her with a fine Comedy, call'd Love for Love, Written by Mr Congreve, Acted by his Majesty's servants at Whitehall, where the Court appeared very gay and splendid, suitable to the occasion. [Somewhat similar references appear also in Luttrell, A Brief Relation, IV, 180, and The Flying Post, 6-9 Feb. 1696@7.

Event Comment: Rich's Company. Lady Morley attended this performance. Hotson, Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, p. 377: Lady Morley and one in the Box att Sham Lawyer 8s. [There is no certainty that this performance was the premiere, but the fact that the play was advertised in the Post Boy, 26-28 June 1697 (Luttrell's copy, Huntington Library, bears his acquisition date of 24 June 1697) suggests that its premiere occured in late May.] Title Page, Edition of 1697: As it was Damnably Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury Lane

Event Comment: An order by Sunderland, the Lord Chamberlain, required the theatres to bring each new play before him (L. C. 5@152, in Krutch, Comedy and Conscience, p. 181). Luttrell, A Brief Relation, IV, 235-36, 5 June 1697: Several new playes having been lately acted, contrary to good manners, the lord chamberlain has given orders that nore be acted hereafter till his secretary has perused them

Event Comment: Rich's Company. There is no certainty as to just when this revival occurred, but the revival probably occurred not later than July 1697, as this edition was advertised in the Post Man, 28-31 Aug. 1697; and Luttrell's copy (Huntington Library) bears as his acquisition date, 10 Sept. 1697

Event Comment: Rich's Company. Post Boy, 13-15 Jan. 1697@8: 'Tis said that this day will be Acted, at the Theatre in Dorset Garden, the Opera called Prophetess or Dioclesian, at the request of a Nobleman; they will not tell us who, but we presume for the Entertainment of a very great Foreigner. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, III, 332: He [the Czar of Muscovy] is this night at the Playhouse incognito to see the Prophetesse acted

Event Comment: On this date the Czar of Muscovy attended an opera, but the title is not given. Lady Newton, Lyme Letter, 1660-1760, p. 209: On Saturday last the Czar of Muscovy, attended by the Marquis of Carmarthen, and some of his Bayers, was at the King's Playhouse in Drury Lane, and saw 3 acts of the Opera. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, IV, 343, 12 Feb. 1697@8: This evening the czar was at the playhouse in Drury Lane to see an opera

Event Comment: London Gazette, No. 3366, 10-14 Feb. 1697@8: An Entertainment of New Musick composed on the Peace by Mr Van Richardson, Organist of Winchester Cathedral, will be performed on Wednesday next, at 8 at night, in York Buildings, being the 16th Instant. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, IV, 343, 12 Feb. 1697@8: The czar...on Wensday will be at a performance of musick in York Buildings