Event Comment: Rich's Company.
The date of
the first production is not certain, but tradition states
that
Dryden died on
the third day (1 May 1700); if
this report is correct,
the first performance occurred on 29 April 1700. In
A Collection of New Songs...Compos'd by Mr Daniel Purcel, Perform'd in the Revis'd Comedy call'd the Pilgrim (1700) is a song,
Chronos, Chronos, mend thy pace, wi
th Janus sung by
Freeman,
Momus by
Pate,
Diana by
Mrs Erwin.
Gottfried Finger apparently composed
the passage sung by
Venus,
Calms appear when storms are past.
William Egerton,
Faithful Memoirs of...Mrs Anne Oldfield (1731):
The Pilgrim was indeed reviv'd for
the Benefit of Mr Dryden, Ann. 1700, but he dying on
third Night of its Representation, his Son attended
the Run of it, and
the Advantages accrued to his Family.
Cibber, Apology, I, 269-70:
This
Epilogue, and
the Prologue the same Play [
The Pilgrim], written by Dryden, I spoke myself, which not being usually done by
the same Person, I have a mind, while I
think of it, to let you know on what Occasion
they bo
th fell to my Share....
Sir John Vanbrugh, who had given some light touches of his Pen to
the Pilgrim to assist
the Benefit Day of Dryden, had
the Disposal of
the Parts, and I being
then as an Actor in some Favour wi
th him, he read
the Play first wi
th me alone, and was pleased to offer me my Choice of what I might like best for myself in it. But as
the chief Characters were not (according to my Taste)
the most shining, it was no great Self-denial in me
that I desir'd he would first take care of
those who were more difficult to be pleased; I
therefore only chose for myself two short incidental Parts,
that of
the stuttering
Cook and
the mad Englishman....Sir John, upon my being contented wi
th so little a Share in
the Entertainment, gave me
the Epilogue to make up my Mess; which being written so much above
the Strain of common Au
thors, I confess I was not a little pleased wi
th. And Dryden, upon his hearing me repeat it to him, made a far
ther Compliment of trusting me wi
th the Prologue.
Cibber, Apology, I, 305-6: In
theYear 1699,
Mrs Oldfield was first taken into
the House, where she remain'd about a Twelve-mon
th almost a Mute and unheeded, 'till Sir John Vanbrugh, who first recommended her, gave her
the Part of
Alinda in
the Pilgrim revis'd.
This gentle Character happily became
that want of Confidence which is inseparable from young Beginners, who, wi
thout it, seldom arrive to any Excellence: Notwi
thstanding, I own I was
then so far deceiv'd in my Opinion of her,
that I
thought she had little more
than her Person
that appear'd necessary to
the forming a good Actress; for she set out wi
th so extraordinary a Diffidence,
that it kept her too despondingly down to a formal, plain (not to say) flat manner of speaking. Nor could
the silver Tone of her Voice 'till after some time incline my Ear to any Hope in he favour.
A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 27: [After
Drury Lane and
Lincoln's Inn Fields had revived
Shakespeare and
Johnson] Nay
then, says
the whole party at
D. Lane, fai
th we'll e'en put
the Pilgrim upon him--ay fai
th, so we will, says Dryden, and if youll let my Son have
the Profits of
the Third Night, I'll give you a Secular Mask: Done, says
the House, and so
the Bargain was struck