Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: We met with Mr Salisbury, who took Mr Creed and me to the cockpitt to see The Moore of Venice, which was well done. Burt acted the Moore; by the same token, a very pretty lady that sat by me, called out, to see Desdemona smothered. Possibly Clun acted Iago. Pepys (6 Feb. 1668@9) refers to his playing that role, and a reference to Clun as Iago appears in A Most Execrable Murther in A Little Ark, ed. G. Thorn-Drury, pp. 30-31. See also entry of 14 Aug. 1660

Event Comment: For an account of the play, see John Wilson's The Cheats, ed. Milton C. Nahm (Oxford, 1935). It was licensed on 6 March (p. 124), acted, then forbade on 22 March in an order: Letter to Mr Tho. Killigrew: Signifying the Ks Pleasure that the New Play called the Cheates be no more represented till it be reuiewed by Sir Jo. Denham & Mr Waller. 22 March. 1662-3 (p. 130). Abraham Hill to John Brooke, 28 March 1663: P.S. The new play, called The Cheats, has been attempted on the Stage; but it is so scandalous, that it is forbidden (Familiar Letters of? Abraham Hill, [London, 1717], p. 103. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 16) concerning Lacy: @For his just Acting, all gave him due Praise,@His Part in the Cheats, Jony Thump, Teg and Bayes,@In these Four Excelling, The Court gave him the Bays.

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The play was licensed on 26 Dec. 1663, but the date of the premiere is uncertain. The Prologue and Epilogue refer to the end of the Long Vacation, and the beginning of Michaelmas Term on 9 Oct. 1663 suggests a performance in October

Event Comment: Flora's Figarys appears in Herbert, Dramatic Records, p. 148, under this date. As Flora's Vagaries, it had been acted at Christ Church, Oxford, on 8 Jan. 1663. The play was not published before 1670, and the entry in Herbert's list has sometimes been regarded as the date of licensing, sometimes as the date of a performance in London. Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 427, assigned it to ca. January 1662@3 at Vere St, presumably because "Mr Bird" in the cast in the quarto of 1670 referred to Theophilus Bird, who died before 3 Nov. 1663. But the cast in the edition of 1670 is presumably that for 5 Oct. 1667, when Pepys saw the play and referred to Nell Gwyn and Mrs Knepp as acting in it; they, too, are listed in the quarto of 1670 but could hardly have played in it in 1663. If the cast in the 1670 edition is not that for 3 Nov. 1663 and if the "Mr Bird" is Theophilus Bird Jr, then the obstacles to consiuering 3 Nov. 1663 as the date of a performance rather than of licensing are less formidable. [I am indebted to professor John Harold Wilson for much of this argument.

Event Comment: Charles II to Madame, 10 Dec. 1663: I am just now going to see a new play (C. H. Hartmann, Charles II and Madame[1934], p. 89). The Duke's Company. W. J. Lawrence, in a review of Boswell, The Restoration Court Stage, in Modern Language Review, XXVIII (1933), 103, suggests that it was The Step-Mother which was given on this occasion. The edition of 1664 lists: The Prologue to the King at the Cockpit at White-Hall. The Epilogue to the King

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of performance is uncertain. The play was entered in the Stationers' Register, 15 Feb. 1663@4, and its publication noted in The Newes, 3 March 1663@4. Katherine Philips, writing from Cardigan, Wales to Lady Temple in London, 24 Jan. 1663@4: I beleive er'e this you have seen the new Pompey either acted or written & then will repent your partiallity to ye other, but I wonder much what preparations for it could prejudice Will Davenant when I heare they acted in English habits, & yt so aprope yt Caesar was sent in with his feather & Muff, till he was hiss'd off ye Stage & for ye Scenes I see not where they could place any yt are very extra-ordinary, but if this play hath not diverted ye Cittizens wives enough Sr W: D: will make amends, for they say Harry ye 8th & some later ones are little better then Puppett-plays. I understand ye confederate-translators are now upon Heraclius, & I am contented yt Sr Tho. Clarges (who hath done that last yeare) should adorn their triumph in it, as I have done in Pompey (Harvard Theatre Collection)

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: With my wife to the King's house, but there found the bill torn down and no play acted.... Here [at lif; see below] met with Mr Rolt, who tells me the reason of no play to-day at the King's house. That Lacy had been committed to the porter's lodge for his acting his part in the late new play [see 15 April], and that being thence released he come to the King's house, there met with Ned Howard, the poet of the play, who congratulated his release; upon which Lacy cursed him as that it was the fault of his nonsensical play that was the cause of his ill usage. Mr Howard did give him some reply, to which Lacy [answered] him, that he was more a fool than a poet; upon which Howard did give him a blow on the face with his glove; on which Lacy, having a cane in his hand, did give him a blow over the pate. Here Rolt and others that discoursed of it in the pit this afternoon did wonder that Howard did not run him through, he being too mean a fellow to fight with. But Howard did not do any thing but complain to the King of it; so the whole house is silenced, and the gentry seem to rejoice much at it, the house being become too insolent

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Davenant's alterations were apparently not published. Pepys, Diary: To a play...at the Duke's house, where Tu Quoque was the first time acted, with some alterations of Sir W. Davenant's; but the play is a very silly play, methinks; for I, and others that sat by me, Mr Povy and Mr Progers, were weary of it; but it will please the citizens

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Langbaine, English Dramatick Poets, p. 509: [It] was alter'd (as I have heard by Mr Carthwright) by Mr Betterton. Downes, p. 30: [Done] by the same Author [Betterton]...and all the other Parts Exactly perform'd, it lasted Successively 8 Days, and very frequently Acted afterwards. Pepys, Diary: To the Duke of York's playhouse, and there, in the side balcony, over against the musick, did hear, but not see, a new play, the first day acted, The Roman Virgin, and old play, and but ordinary, I thought; but the trouble of my eyes with the light of the candles did almost kill me

Event Comment: The King's Company. Although the play was not licensed until 16 Oct. 1676 and not published until 1678, the Epilogue refers in detail to the burning of the King's Theatre in Bridges Street, Drury Lane, suggesting that the premiere came not long after that event

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This play is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 216. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. The date on the list seems to be "3," but as this is a Sunday, it is more likely "9." This performance may well be the one to which Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 31) refers: Note, Mr Cademan in this Play [The Man's the Master], not long after our Company began in Dorset-Garden; his Part being to Fight with Mr Harris, was Unfortunately, with a sharp Foil pierc'd near the Eye, which so Maim'd both the Hand and his Speech, that he can make little use of either; for which Mischance, he has receiv'd a Pension ever since 1673, being 35 Years a goe. [For a discussion of this accident, see William VanLennep, Henry Harris, Actor, Friend of Pepys, Studies in English Theatre History (London, 1952), p. 16, and the entry under 20 Aug. 1673.

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 116. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345. There is some uncertainty as to whether this is the premiere, but another performance on 15 Jan. 1674@5 and its entry in the Stationers' Register 13 Jan. 1674@5 suggest that this was probably the first performance

Event Comment: [The Duke's Company. Nell Gwyn attended this performance. See VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 407. There is no certainty that this performance is the premiere, btt an additional known performance on 15 June suggests that early June probably saw the initial run. The music for two songs, Thou joy of all hearts and When you dispense your influence, both set by Dr William Turner, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, Second Book, 1679. Preface, Edition of 1676: I have no reason to complain of the success of this Play, since it pleased those, whom, of all the World, I would please most: Nor was the Town unkind to it....[There] being no Act in it, which cost me above Five days writing: and the last Two (the Play-house having great occasion for a Play) were both written in Four Days. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 37): The Libertine and Virtuoso: Both Wrote by Mr Shadwell; they were both very well Acted, and got the Company great Reputation. The Libertine perform'd by Mr Betterton Crown'd the Play

Event Comment: The King's Company. The Prologue and Epilogue are in New Poems, Songs, Prologues and Epilogues. Written by Thomas Duffett, 1676. See also Langbaine, English Dramatick Poets, p. 291

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the premiere is uncertain. This play is on the L. C. list, 5@142, p. 81: King and Queene at Alcibiades and a box for the Mayds of Honor. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. The item on the L. C. list is ambiguously dated; it follows an entry for 28 Sept. 1675 and bears only the figure "22." It is possible that the play was given on 22 Sept. 1675, but the order of the L. C. listing, the sequence of known performance on 24, 25, and 28 Sept., and the fact that most of the cast are principals in the company suggest a late September or early October production rather than an early September one

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 359: Augustus Caesar. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 346. The music for a song in act I, scene I, was composed by Nicholas Staggins, and printed in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679. There is no certainty that this was the premiere, but it may well have been. The play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1676

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@142, p. 81: At the Man of Mode. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. Nell Gwyn also attended this performance. See VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 407. It is uncertain whether this is the premiere, but the licensing date of 3 June 1676 suggests that the first production may have occurred at this time. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 36): This Comedy being well Cloath'd and well Acted, got a great deal of Money. One song, As Amoret with Phyllis sat, the words by Sir Car Scroope and the music by Nicholas Staggins, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679; another, When first Amintas charmed my heart, the music by Staggins, is in the same collection, Fifth Book, 1684. John Dennis: I remember very well that upon the first acting this Comedy, it was generally believed to be an agreeable Representation of the Persons of Condition of both both Sexes, both in Court and Town; and that all the World was charm'd with Dorimont (A Defence of Sir Fopling Flutter, 1722, p. 18). For the full text of Dennis' discussion of this play, see The Critical Works of John Dennis, ed. E. N. Hooker (Baltimore, 1943), II, 241-50

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@142, p. 81: At the Virtuoso. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. Nell Gwyn also attended this performance; see VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 407. The Diary of Robert Hooke, 25 May 1676: Mr Abraham Hill gave J. Hoskins, Aubery and I an account of Vertuoso play. A song, How retched is the slave to love, the music by Francis Forcer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 37): The Libertine and Virtuoso: Both Wrote by Mr Shadwell; they were both very well Acted, and got the company great Reputation

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. There is no indication of the first date of performance, but a licensing date of 19 Feb. 1676@7 suggests a December 1676 or January 1677 production.Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 38): Titus and Berenice, Wrote by the same Author [Thomas Otway], consisting of 3 Acts: With the Farce of the Cheats of Scapin at the end: This Play, with the Farce, being perfectly well Acted; had good Success

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@145, p. 120. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 349. There is no certainty that this is the first performance, but a licensing date of 28 Jan. 1677@8 and Mrs Behn's statement in the Preface that she hurried the play into print suggest a premiere not far from this date. Edition of 1678: To the Reader: I Printed this Play with all the impatient haste one ought to do, who would be vindicated from the most unjust and silly aspersion, Woman could invent to cast on Woman; and which only my being a Woman has procured me, That it was Bawdy, the least and most Excusable fault in the Men Writers, to whose Plays they all crowd, as if they came to no other end then to hear what they condemn in this: but from a Woman it was unnaturall. One song, Sitting by yonder river side, with music by Thomas? Farmer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679