Event Comment: The
Duke's Company. The date of the first production is not certain, particularly since an entry in
L. C. 5@145, p. 120 (see also
Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 349) lists this play for 8 March, the year uncertain. Since the entry follows one for
The Souldier's Fortune which followed the premiere of
The Female Prelate, 31 May 1680, the
L. C. entry probably is one for 8 March 1680@1. That the premiere occurred near 1 Nov. 1680 is suggested by a letter of
Anne Montague to
Lady Hatton, 1 Nov. 1680: For I never see the towne fuller, for I was to see the new play,
The Spanish Frier, and there was all the world, but the
Court is a letell dull yet; the
Queen being sick, there is noe drawing room (
Hatton Correspondence,
Camden Society, XXII [1878], 240). A song,
Farewell ungratefull Traytor, with music by
Captain Pack and sung by
Mrs Crofts, is in Act V. For
Leigh's and
Nokes' acting, see
Cibber, Apology, ed.
Lowe, I, 143, 145-46.
Downes (
Roscius Anglicanus, p. 37): 'Twas Admirably Acted, and produc'd vast Profit to the Company