Event Comment: Benefit for Johnston. [He had 1st acted Hamlet at Edinburgh, 9 July 1794: Egerton's 1st appearance at cg was on 5 June 1797.] 2nd piece [1st time at this theatre; M. PAST 1, author unknown. Larpent MS 1207; not published. 1st acted at Sadler's Wells, 28 May 1787, when the playbill gives the 2nd title as "The Highland Laddie", and adds "The Words of the Airs selected from Allan Ramsay"]. Times, 13 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Johnston, No. 31, King-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #230 19s. 6d. (110.2.6; 1.14.0; tickets: 119.3.0)

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: A historical note about the patent for May Fair by Edward Shepherd. Daily Advertiser, 1 May: Whereas a Patent was granted by King Charles the First, and confirm'd by King James II, to the Proprietor of Great and Little Brookfield, then in the Parish of St. Martin in the Fields, now in the Parish of St. George, Hanover Square, to hold a Fair during the Space of fifteen Days, to begin the 1st Day of May next, and every May Day forever: the present Proprietor thinks it proper to apprize the Publick thereof, that it may not be thought that he attempts to do any thing but by Virtue of the said Patent, and no Ways to disturb the Publick Peace, or act in Contradiction to the Laws of the Realm. [Alluded to in 2 May news of the Daily Advertiser, as being proclaimed by Edward Shepherd.

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@147, p. 361: The King at ye Mistress. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 351. There is no indication as to whether this performance was the premiere. As the play was licensed on 24 May 1687, the premiere may have been as late as 12 May, but possibly was earlier. Sir George Etherege to Will Richards, 19 May 1687: I have heard of the success of The Eunuch, and am very glad the town has so good a taste to give the same just applause to Sir Charles Sedley's writing, which his friends have always done to his conversation (Letterbook, ed. Rosenfeld, p. 212). Sir George Etherege to Middleton, 2O June 1687: I saw a play about ten years ago Called the Eunuch, so heavy a lump the players durst not charge themselves with the dead weight, but it seems Sir Charles Sedley has animated the mighty mass and now it treads the stage lightly (ibid., p. 227). [See also 26 March 1687 and season of 1676-77.] Thomas Shadwell, The Tenth Satyr of Juvenal (licensed, 25 May 1687.) Dedication to Sir Charles Sedley: Your late great obligation in giving me the advantage [presumably the third day's gain] of your comedy, call'd Bellamira, or the Mistress, has given me a fresh subject for my Thanks; and my Publishing this Translation affords me a new opportunity of owning to the world my grateful resentments to you. I am heartily glad that your Comedy (as I never doubted) found such success, that I never met with any Man of Sence but applauded it: And that there is abundance of Wit in it, your Enemies have been forced to confess....For the Judgment of some Ladies upon it that it is obscene, I must needs say they are Ladies of a very quick apprehension, and did not find their thoughts lye very much that way, they could not find more obscenity in that than there is in every other Comedy. A song, Thyrsis unjustly you complain, headed A Song in Bellamira, or, the Mistress. Set by Mr Tho. Shadwell, is in Vinculum Societatis, 1687 (licensed 8 June 1687)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the Dedication is dated 5 May 1690; the play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1690; and it was advertised in the London Gazette, No. 2557, 12-15 May 1690. Although the play may not have been first acted until mid-April, it may have been given in late March 1690. Dedication, Edition of 1690: I have no reason to complain of the reception of this Play. A song, The fire of love in youthful blood, the music composed by R. King, is in Apollo's Banquet, 1691

Event Comment: The death of the Duke of Gloucester on this day apparently closed the theatres for a short time. Andrew Newport, writing on 15 Sept. 1660 to Sir Richard Leveson, stated: The court is in deep mourning and will continue so for 6 weeks (Sutherland MSS., HMC, 5th Report, Appendix, 1876, p. 156), but it is not until 27 Sept. 1660 that Rugg reported: playes are for present forbiden because of the death of the Duke of Gloucester (BM Add. Mss. 10116, folio 90v). The theatres may have opened on Monday 8 Oct. 1660; certainly they were acting by 11 Oct. 1660

Event Comment: It is possible that Katherine Phillips' Pompey, which was given in Dublin in February 1662@3, may have been presented in London in the late spring of 1663. Sir William Davenant's The Playhouse To Be Let, which apparently appeared in London in the late summer of 1663, has in Act V some elements of travesty upon Pompey. It is unlikely that its appearances in Dublin would make satire upon it have much point to London audiences without a performance in London; the spring of 1663 would be the most likely time for a presentation in London

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Pepys, Diary: And seeing The Bondman upon the post, I consulted my oaths and find I may go safely this time without breaking it...There I saw it acted. It is true, for want of practice, they had many of them forgot their parts a little; but Betterton and my Poor Ianthe outdo all the world. There is nothing more taking in the world with me than that play

Event Comment: On this day and on Friday the 20th the Duke's players gave The Impertinents; or, The Sullen Lovers or Sir Salomon. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 29) lists these as the two plays presented by the Duke's Company, but no contemporary statement indicates for certain which play was given on each day. The Journal of Sir Richard Bulstrode: Yesterday [19] at five of ye clocke, the Court were entertained with a comedy acted by the Duke's player (The Bulstrode Papers, 1879, I, 139). Saturday 28 May 1670: The absence of the court which continues at Dover till Wensday next makes us very barren of news. There is the greatest gallantry and mirth imaginable. The Dukes players have beene there all the time past came up yesterday and the kings goe downe this day (Aston Papers, Vol. XVI, Add. Mss. 36916, folio 182)

Event Comment: The King's Company. This play is one of a series represented by Prologues and Epilogues in Covent Garden Drollery, 1672, all of which may have been acted by the actress only. Langbaine (English Dramatick Poets, p. 213) states: This Play was One of those that were represented at the old Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields, when the Women acted alone. The Prologue and Epilogue were spoken by Mrs Marshall, and printed in Covent-garden Drollery, pag. 18. About this Time there was a Prologue written on purpose for the Women by Mr Dryden, and is printed in his Miscellany Poems in octavo, p. 285

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. An unnamed play is the entry in A Calendar of the Middle Temple Records, ed. Hopwood, p. 175, but a Prologue to this play "Acted at the Middle Temple" is in A Collection of Poems Written upon several Occasions by several Persons (1673). It may have been acted at this time

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 2. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 347. This performance may well be the premiere. In the Preface the author states that the play was asked for on Shrove Tuesday and he wrote it within a week; a premiere, then, before this date would allow very little time for rehearsal. This play is certainly a "Lenten" performance, for it was acted on a Wednesday in Lent and was referred to in the Prologue as a "Lenten Play." See the discussion under The Spanish Rogue (March 1673) and Gray, pp. 785-86. See also J. G. McManaway, The Copy for The Careless Lovers," MLN, XLVI (1931), 406-9. Preface to the edition of 1673: [This play] was written at the Desire of the Young Men of the Stage, and given them for a Lenten-Play, they ask't it not above a Week before Shrove-Tuesday

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 215: The King & Queene. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345. The cast in the edition of 1681 may not, of course, be the one for this performance; but all the performers named in it could have performed at this time

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. The date of the premiere is not known, but the fact that play was licensed for printing on 23 Feb. 1676@7 suggests a first performance about this time. The play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1677. Langbaine (English Dramatick Poets, p. 36) refers to this play as altered from Richard Brome's The Mad Couple

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first production is not known, and it may have been acted before this season; hence, it is entered also in the preliminary list in the season of 1676-77. As the play was licensed for printing on 4 Oct. 1677, September 1677 is probably the latest time at which it could have been produced. The play is an alteration of Thomas Middleton's No Wit, No Help, Like a Woman's. It has been attributed to both Mrs Aphra Behn and Thomas Betterton

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the reference in the Prologue to "this good Godly time of Lent" would place it between 25 Feb. and 3 April 1680. It was entered in the Term Catalogues in May 1680

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not certain. This performance is known from an entry in the Newdigate newsletters, which also states that Rollo was to be acted on the following Monday. If this statement is accurate, the performance of The Loyal Brother on 4 Feb. 1681@2 may be the third night rather than the opening performance. Newdigate newsletters, 4 Feb. 1681@2: On Monday morn [the Moorish Ambassador] & ye Comers meet to conclude ye treaty and in ye afternoon goes to see Rollo D. of Normandy at ye Ks playhouse wre ye K was this afternoon to see ye new play calld ye Loyall brothr (Wilson, More Theater Notes from the Newdigate Newsletters, p. 59). The Prologue and Epilogue were printed separately and have been reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 70-72. Luttrell acquired his copies (Huntington Library) on 7 Feb. 1681@2. In The Life of John Dryden (Chapel Hill, 1961), Charles E. Ward believes (pp. 166, 355) that The Loyal Brother was first acted in the autumn of 1681; but the entry in the Newdigate newsletters seems to make February 1682 the more probable time

Event Comment: Lord Preston (in Paris) to the Duke of York, 22 Sept. 1683, N.S.: I should not have presumed to give your Highness the trouble of this if something of charity had not induced me to it. I do it at the instance of a poor servant of his Majesty's who some time since was obliged by a misfortune to leave England. It is Mr Grahme [Grabut?], sir, whom perhaps your Highness may remember. Mr Betterton coming hither some weeks since by his Majesty's command, to endeavour to carry over the Opera, and finding that impracticable, did treat with Monsr Grahme to go over with him to endeavour to represent something at least like an Opera in England for his Majesty's diversion. He hath also assured him of a pension from the House, and finds him very willing and ready to go over. He only desireth his Majesty's protection when he is there, and what encouragement his Majesty shall be pleased to give him if he finds that he deserves it (HMC, 7th Report, Part I, p. 290). W. J. Lawrence (Early French Players in England, p. 149) argued that Grahme should be Grabut, who had once been Master of the King's Music (to 1674) and who had settled in Paris. Grabut was certainly back in London in the spring of 1684

Event Comment: The United Company. As 9 Nov. 1692 is known to be the second day, it is assumed that 8 Nov. 1692 represents the first performance. (See entry for 9 Nov. 1692.) The authorship is uncertain; William Mountfort signed tne Dedication, but its authorship is linked with that of Edward III (November 1690), which may have been by Bancroft. Gentleman's Journal, October 1692 (not issued until November): Henry the Second, King of England, A new Play, by the Author of that call'd Edward the Third, which gave such universal satisfaction, hath been acted several times with applause. It is a Tragedy with a mixture of Comedy....Had you seen it acted, you would own that an Evening is pass'd very agreeably, when at a Representation of that pleasing Piece. [Alfred Harbage, Elizabethan-Restoration Palimpsest, Modern Language Review, XXXV (1940), 312-18, argues that this play is the Elizabethan Henry II once in the possession of Moseley. A song, In vain 'gainst Love I strove, composed by Henry Purcell and sung by Mrs Dyer, not in the printed play, is in Comes Amoris, 1693, and Joyful Cuckoldom 1695. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XX (1916), vii

Event Comment: London Gazette, No. 2869, 8-11 May 1693: On Saturday next, being the 13th of this Instant, at 8 of the Clock in the Evening, will be sung a new French Pastoral, in the Musick-Meeting in York-Buildings, where the Words printed will be distributed; It being to be sung but this one time

Event Comment: London Gazette, No 2878, 8-12 June 1693: Next Saturday being the 17th of June will be perform'd in Villers-street in York-Building, for that time only, Mr Franks Consort, which will consist of English Dialogues and Songs (the Words by Mr Motteux) with Instrumental Musick proper to them, beginning exactly at 7 at Night. The Gentleman's Journal, May 1693 (issued in June 1693): We have had lately a Consort of Music, which as it hath pleased the most nice and judicious Lovers of that Art; would doubtless have had your Approbation; I only speak of the Notes which were by Mr Franck; As for the words I [Motteux] made them in haste (p. 148)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of this production is determined by a letter (see below). For a discussion of the origin and development of this play, see Hotson, Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, pp. 274-76. A song, Why shou'd the world mistake, the music composed by John Eccles and sung by Mrs Hudson, is in Thesaurus Musicus, 1695. An unidentified letter, 22 March 1693@4: We had another new play yesterday, called The Ambitious Slave, or a Generous Revenge. Elkanah Settle is the author of it, and the success is answerable to his reputation. I never saw a piece so wretched, nor worse contrived. He pretends 'tis a Persian story, but not one body in the whole audience could make any thing of it; 'tis a mere babel, and will sink for ever. The poor poet, seeing the house would not act it for him, and give him the benefit of the third day, made a present of it to the women in tie house, who act it, but without profit or incouragement (Edmond Malone, An Historical Account of the Stage in Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare [London, 1821], III, 163-64). Gentleman's Journal, March 1694: 'Tis not altogether strange for a Play to be less kindly receiv'd, immediately after one that has deservedly ingross'd all the Applause which the Town can well bestow in some time on new Dramatic Entertainments. Perhaps Mr Settle may partly impute to this, the want of success of a new Tragedy of his which was lately acted, 'tis called, The Ambitious Slave; or, The Generous Revenge. [This play followed Southerne's The Fatal Marriage.