Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but the play was acted soon after Shadwell's death in November 1692. Gentleman's Journal, November 1692: We have lately lost Thomas Shadwell Esquire....The Comedy which, as I told you, he design'd for the Stage, was acted since his decease: 'Tis call'd the Volunteers; and though that Orphan wanted its Parent to support it, yet it came off with reasonable success. [When this play was revived at Drury Lane 27 July 1711, the bill bore the heading: Not acted these Twenty Years.

Event Comment: Not Acted these Seven Years. Written by Ben Johnson. Daily Advertiser, 1 Nov.: On Saturday Night a great Number of Wax Candles were lighted in the Windows of Mr Cibber's, Mr Booth's, and Mr Wilks's Houses...on account of his Majesty's Birthday

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [See 22 Oct. 1760.] Lord Townly by Mr Powell, 1st time great applause. Mr Castle hiss'd in Count Basset (Hopkins). Mr Powell's first appearance in Lord Townly-The last scene he felt greatly, and in a few times performing will play the part well (+Hopkins Diary-MacMillan). Receipts: #231 19s. (MacMillan)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A Comedy [by William Kenrick] never performed before. [The play failed to succeed. Kenrick accounts for the failure in his Preface to the 1773 edition by reference to the Macklin affair (See 23 Oct., 30 Oct. and 18 Nov.) He quotes from the Public Advertiser (22 Nov.): "On Saturday last a new comedy called the Duellist was performed, for the first time, at Covent Garden Theatre. Previous to the curtain being drawn up, the following written handbill was dispersed about the house. 'Mr Macklin has been pursued by a malicious party to such a pitch of rancour, that at last they have succeeded so far in their cursed designs, as to get him discharged this theatre, and thereby have deprived him of the means of a livelihood; therefore if the public have any spirit, they will not suffer the new play to begin till Mr Colman promises that Mr Macklin shall be engaged again.' This handbill found its way into the green-room, and had a very visible effect on the performers, as was plainly evident from their confusion. The piece was received with great marks of approbation, and given out again for Monday, which was attended with some hissing, but that was greatly overpowered by the general applause of the audience. The overture to Thomas and Sally being attended to with silence, the greatest part of the author's friends quitted the theatre; which being taken advantage of by a party in the gallery, a riot ensued, and the entertainment was not suffered to go on till another play was given out for Monday." Kenrick agrees with this account, then analyses several other objections which he dismisses, to wit, in the play (a) too lengthy a satire on lawyers, (b) an indelicate passage in Latin (omitted from the printed version); in the audience, a conspiracy of Garrick and Bickerstaffe against him; and lack of a claque of his own friends to carry through their suport of him. Macklin's name appears on the playroll this night, but only for a accumulated 4 days of pay #8 16s. (Account Book).] Receipts: #221 3s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Miles Peter Andrews and Frederick Reynolds; based on Le Dissipateur; ou, L'Honnete Friponne, by Philippe Nericault, dit Destouches. Prologue by the Duke of Leeds; Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. The Scenery designed and executed by Greenwood. Gazetteer, 18 Nov.: At the rehearsal of the new comedy on Tuesday the Duke of Leeds, Major Scott, Mr Angerstein [the banker] and Mr Boswell were in the boxes. Mr Boswell said an epigrammatic thought had struck him...and he brought the following Impromptu into life: Andrews, your play is safe enough; For noble Leeds endures it; Boswell and Scott are pledged to puff, And Angerstein ensures it. World, 13 Dec. 1790: To-morrow will be published Better Late than Never (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #240 14s. (206.7; 32.6; 2.1)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not precisely known, but a broadside copy of the Epilogue, in the Bodleian Library, has a licensing date of 20 Aug. 1685, a MS date of 24 Aug. 1685. The play was licensed on 11 Sept. 1685. These dates suggest a premiere in mid-to late-August 1685. For Anne Bracegirdle as Clita and speaker of the Epilogue, see Lucyle Hook, Anne Bracegirdle's First Appearance, Theatre Notebook, XIII (1959), 135. The Prologue and Epilogue, separately printed, are reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 239-41. The broadside Prologue has a more detailed heading than that in the edition of 1686: Prologue To A Commonwealth of Women, Spoke by Mr Haynes, Habited like a Whig, Captain of the Scyth-men in the West, a Scythe in his Hand. Two songs, set by Samuel Ackroyde, are in The Theater of Musick, The Third Book, 1686

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. The play was entered in the Stationers' Register, 13 Feb. 1689@90, and advertised in the London Gazette, 20-24 Feb. 1689@90; hence, it was probably first given in January 1690, certainly no later than early February 1690. Preface, Edition of 1690: The time was, upon the uniting of the two Theatres, that the reviveing of the old stock of Plays, so ingrost the study of the House, that the Poets lay dorment; and a New Play cou'd hardly get admittance, amongst the more precious pieces of Antiquity, that then waited to walk the Stage; and since the World runs all upon Extremes, as you had such a Scarcity of new ones then; 'tis justice you shou'd have as great a glut of them now; for this reason, this little Prig makes bold to thrust in with the Crowd

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known. For a discussion of the dating, see Baldwin Maxwell, Notes on Charles Hopkins' Boadicea, Review of English Studies, IV (1928), 79-83. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 44: Boadicea, the Brittish Queen, wrote by Mr Hopkins: 'twas a well Writ Play in an Ovidean Stile in Verse; it was lik'd and got the Company Money. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 20: This is Cha. Hopkins's and did very well

Event Comment: Written Originally by Shakespear. [By Lewis Theobald.] Theophilus Cibber: [Booth's] Illness...returned soon after his playing King Henry VIII. He was then studying the Part of Julio in the Double Falsehood; he rehearsed it several times,-when the Play begin ready for acting, he was prevented appearing in it, by a Relapse into his former Indisposition.-The Part was supplied a few Nights by Mr Charles Williams (a promising Player, who died young) to whom Mr Booth had given the Part to study, as doubting the Certainty of his being able to appear in it himself: But, at Mr Theobald's Entreaty (backed by many Gentlemen and Ladies) he good-naturedly (but fatally) disregarded his Indisposition, which was then an intermitting Fever, and acted that Part from the fifth to the twelfth Night; which was alas! the last time of his Appearance on tle Stage.-Lives and Characters, pp. 82-83

Event Comment: With proper scenes, Machines, &c. [This is the Dryden-Davenant version.] Paid G. Garrick balance of his bill #6 13s.; Christmas Box to ye Beadle 3s. 6d.; Mr Norton 5 chorus #1 5s.; Xmas Jury #1 1s.; Mr Madden for an Embroidered Coat and a velvet suit of Cloaths #12 (Treasurer's Book). [This month was published A Dissertation on Comedy (by John Hippisley, Jr) in which the Rise and Progress of that Species of the Drama is particularly considered and deduced from the earliest to the present age. By a Student of Oxford. Printed for T. Lowndes (Gentleman's Magazine, Register of Books). The "Student of Oxford" seems to have been a Garrick apologist in the extreme: "But whatever reason there may have been formerly for this complaint [the immorality of the stage] since Mr Garrick's management the Stage is become the school of manners and morality: Ribaldry and Profaneness are no longer tolerated, Sense and Nature exert their influence; Pantomime daily declines, Dancers are but little encouraged; the Burletta performs to empty benches, and the British can now vie with the Athenian Drama when in its severest state of purity" (p. 15). Also, from the same source, Reflections on that Species of Dramatic Writing which it improperly call'd Serious Comedy: from the French of M Maillet du Boulley.] Receipts: #120 (Cross); #126 3s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bennett and Legg. No Building on Stage; Tickets sold at Doors not admitted. Tickets and places to be had of Mr Bennett at the Antigallican Coffee-House behind the Change; of Mr Legg, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, and of Mr Sarjant at the Stage Door

Event Comment: DDesdemona-Mrs Havard">Mrs Davies. $Mrs Havard being ill Mr King play'd Iago (Hopkins). Mrs Yates ill...Mrs Davies Desdemona (Cross Diary). Benefit for Vernon. Tickets for The Roman Father will be taken. Both main and afterpiece, By Particular Desire. Mr King Iago. Mr Havard could not play Mrs Havard being dead (Hopkins Diary-MacMillan). A mistake in the Diary. Mrs Havard died Friday 27th (J. P. Kemble MS Notes-MacMillan). Music A La Mode deferr'd on account of Indisposition of a principal performer. Last time of performing till the Holidays. Charges: #64 4s. (MacMillan)

Event Comment: [Theatrical Review, 6 Dec.: re afterpiece: "Thomas is well supported by Mr Vernon who...is the best acting singer on the stage...Mr Davies appeared for the first time in the character of the squire, and discovered no inconsiderable degree of merit.--Dorcas by Mrs Love--This character is better played here by Mrs Dorman. [Both surpassed by Mrs Thomson at cg.] Mrs Scott does justice to the songs, being an accomplished singer, but as an actress she is insufferably insipid and inanimate."] Paid Mr Russell for men's cloaths #30; Paid Mr Follett on note #10 10s.; 2 Clarinets 6 nights (2nd incl.) #9 9s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #243 19s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Burton, Miss Heard, Miss Tidswell, & Mrs Bramwell. [2nd piece: With alterations by John Philip Kemble.] 3rd piece: Not acted these 6 years. "Of [Wroughton's] comedy something favourably must be said. His personations are usually natural, easy, and spirited; he is perhaps too locomotive: he cannot bear to stand still...To this peculiar bustle of his motion may be attributed much of his success in Sir John Restless [in All in the Wrong]...For the same reason, no man can play Ford with half the effect Wroughton does" (Monthly Mirror, Mar. 1796, p. 304). Morning Herald, 30 May: Tickets to be had of Miss Heard, No. 43, Haymarket [others not listed]. Receipts: #337 6s. 6d. (30.13.0; 40.16.6; 3.4.6; tickets: 260.10.0; odd money: 2.2.6) (charge: #202 11s.)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 81. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. There is no certainty as to whether this is the date of the first performance. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 35): Then the Conquest of China by the Tartars, by Mr Settle; in this Play Mr Jevon Acting a Chinese Prince and Commander in it, and being in the Battle, Vanquisht by the Tartars; he was by his Part to fall upon the point of his Sword and Kill himself, rather than be a Prisoner by the Tartars: Mr Jevon instead of falling on the point of his Sword, laid it in the Scabbard at length upon the Ground and fell upon't, saying, now I am Dead; which put the Author into such a Fret, it made him speak Treble instead of Double Jevons answer was; did not you bid me fall upon my Sword

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known. The edition of 1687 states on the title page: This may be printed, April 23. 1686. It was entered in the Stationers' Register, 8 May 1686, under the title: The Disappointed Marriage; or, Ye Generous Mistris. It was probably first given before mid-April 1686, with the publication delayed, a delay accounting for the fact that Mrs Percival, who did not marry Mountfort until 2 July 1686, appears in the cast as Mrs Mountford. A song, O love that stronger art than wine, the music by John Blow, the verse by Ousley, and sung by John Bowman, is in The Theater of Music, The Fourth Book, 1687

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that it was advertised in the Post Boy, 27-29 Feb. 1695@6 and entered in the Term Catalogues, February 1695@6, suggests that it was probably acted not later than January 1695@6. It may have appeared around the turn of the year. One song, While Phillis does drink, set by John Eccles and sung by Coper; and another, So well Corinna likes the joy, the composer not named but sung by Young Laroch, a Boy of seven, are in Deliciae Musicae, The First Book of the Second Volume, 1696. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 45: A Comedy, wrote by Mr George Greenvil, when he was very Young; Extraordinary Witty, and well Acted; but offending the Ears of some Ladies who set up for Chastity, it made its Exit. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 20: And a good Comedy, tho it had the Misfortune to be ill receiv'd

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that the play was advertised in the Post Boy, 9-12 May 1696, suggests that it was first acted not later than April 1696. It may, however, have been first performed sometime earlier, for two songs for it were set by Henry Purcell, who had died in November 1695. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XXI (1917), vi-vii. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 18: Pausanias, or Lover of his Country, Damn'd, tho writ by a person of Quality, and protected by Southern. One song, My dearest, my fairest, is a dialogue between Mr Cooke and Mrs Hodgson

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that the play was advertised in the Post Boy, 25-27 Aug. 1696, suggests that it was first acted not later than July 1696 and possibly in June 1696. In the edition of 1696 are two dialogues, set by Clarke, the words by Haynes, and sung by Bowen and Mrs Cross. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 18: Cornish Comedy: No matter whose, 'twas Damn'd

Event Comment: MMr Picq entered from Saturday last at 2 Guineas per week certain; Mr Matthews entered ditto at 30s. per week. Mr Granier for his Christmas performance #5 5s.; Mr Forrest, attorney, on account #100 (Account Books, Egerton 2268). We hear there is now in rehearsal a Farce of two acts call'd Miss in her Teens; and will be acted soon after the Holidays.-General Advertiser. Receipts: #77 1s

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A Tragedy [by Henry Brooke]. New dressed in the habits of the times. This tragedy was wrote by Mr Brooks and performed some years ago at Dublin. The first four Acts went off heavy, the last very well--Miss Mowat made her first appearance in this Piece at Drury Lane--Prologue by Mr Murphy heavy. Epilogue by Mr Garrick, great applause (Hopkins MS Notes)