Event Comment: Benefit for Will Hill. Mainpiece: By Particular Desire of his friends. N.B. The Gentlemen are desired to meet Mr Hill after the Play at the Rose Tavern, Temple Bar. [He had advertised since 15 April that "Gentlemen and Ladies who intend to honour him with their presence," should take tickets at: the Thatched House, St. James's St; Jack Bridell's, the One Tun in the Strand; Half moon in Holborn; Rose, Temple Bar; King's Head, in the Poultry; Castle, Lombard St; Bell, East cheap; King's Head, Tower Hill, Rummer, Bishopsgate St; West India and Jerusalem Coffee Houses near the Royal Exchange; Chapman's, Swordcutler, in Exchange Alley; and at Will Hill's Lodgings, Mr Geves's in Abchurch Lane.

Event Comment: The United Company. On this evening William Mountfort, the actor, was killed by Lord Mohun and Captain Hill, but the name of the play given that night seems not to have been mentioned in the testimony at the trial. In a novel based on the event, The Player's Tragedy; or, Fatal Love (1693), Mrs Bracegirdle acted the Wife of Essex in The Unhappy Favourite, and the fiction may have been based on fact. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 637, 10 Dec. 1692: Last night lord Mohun, captain Hill of collonel Earles regiment, and others, pursued Mountfort the actor from the playhouse to his lodgings in Norfolk Street, where one kist him while Hill run him thro' the belly: they ran away, but his lordship was this morning seized and committed to prison. Mountfort died of nis wounds this afternoon. The quarrell was about Bracegirdle the actresse, whom they would have trapan'd away, but Mountfort prevented it, wherefore they murthered him thus. [See also HMC, 14th Report, Appendix, Portland MSS., III, 509; The Ladies Lamentation for their Adonis, 16@2, a poem on Mountfort's death; The Player's Tragedy; or, Fatal Love, 1693, a fictional treatment of the affair; and, particularly, Borgman, The Life and Death of William Mountfort, pp. 123-69. See also Cibber, Apology, I, 108, for an account of Betterton's taking the role of Alexander after Mountfort's death.

Event Comment: For a discussion of the Drury Lane problem, see a letter from Hill to Highmore, 5 July 1733, in Hill, Works, I, 188-92. For Hill's intention of bringing on a play in the summer of 1733, see the preface to his Filial Pity, 1760

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: For the correspondence between Aaron Hill and the Duke of Montagu concerning Hill's proposed occupancy of hay see Buccleuch and Queensberry MSS, I, 369-71

Event Comment: At a Booth on Windmill Hill. London Journal, 20 April: On Monday Night last one Mr Redshaw, one of the Actors belonging to the Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, being to be kill'd in Jest in the Play of Darius on Windmill Hill, was kill'd in Earnest, for he was accidentally run into the Eye, of which Wound he died the Day following. [In British Journal, 20 April, the name is Redstraw; in Freeholder's Journal, 20 April, it is Rackstraw.

Event Comment: See letter of Aaron Hill to Mallet, 23 Feb., in Hill, Works, I, 97-100

Event Comment: Formerly Compos'd by Mr Handel, and now again Revis'd by him. With several Additions, to be perform'd by a great Number of the best Voices and Instruments. There will be no Action on the Stage, but the Scenes will represent (in a Picturesque Manner) a Rural Prospect, with Rocks, Groves, Fountains, and Grottos, amongst which will be disposed a Chorus of Nymphs and Shepherds. The Habits and every other Decoration suited to the Subject. [Prince of Wales and Princess Royal present. See letter from Hill to Handel, in Hill, Works, I, 174-75, and in Deutsch, Handel, p. 299.

Event Comment: See Daily Courant, 25 Dec; for a letter discussing the decline of the drama, and see a letter from Hill to Booth on current theatrical affairs, in Hill, Works, I, 181-84

Event Comment: For a discussion of theatrical problems, see a letter from Hill to Booth, in Hill, Works, I, 176-78

Event Comment: For a discussion of Stephens as Othello, see letter by Aaron Hill, 23 Oct., in Hill, Works, I, 272-76

Event Comment: Benefit for ye Author put up by the Prince's Command but he did not come--ye Author [Aron Hill] dy'd on Wed last (Cross). Tickets to be had of Mr Miller over against Catherine St. in Strand. [For a short account of Hill, his death, his work, See Genest, IV, 295.] Payment this night to Norton #1 10s. for 2 chorus last night and 4 this. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #170 (Cross); charges, #63 (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: [L+Letter from Henry Woodward, Comedian, The Meanest of all Characters To Dr John Hill, Inspector-General of Great Britain, the greatest of all characters completely damns Hill as unsuccessful player, apothecary, doctor, scholar, writer, and gentleman. It ran to three editions in the year.] We hear great interest is being made to succeed Mr Serjeant Shore, deceased, as Serjeant Trumpet to his Majesty, which is in the gift of his Grace the Duke of Grafton as Lord Chamberlain; and that the contest lies chiefly between that excellent performer, Mr. Valentine Snow, Trumpet to the First Troop of Horseguards; Mr. Debourg, the violin; and Mr Beard, of the theatre Royal in Drury Lane (Public Advertiser). Receipts: #150 (Cross)

Event Comment: [Letter to Woodward from Samson Edwards, The Merry Cobler of Haymarket. Answer to Henry Woodward's reply on Hill's Letter, 6d. Ironical defense of Hill casting further opprobrium upon him.] Receipts: #200 (Cross)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2. but printed in 3, by John O'Keeffe]: Taken [by its author]. with various Alterations, from the Opera of The Lad of the Hills [see 9 Apr. 1796]. The Music partly compiled, and the Overture, new Music and the Accompaniments to the National Airs, composed by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. Account-Book. 3 Oct.: Paid O'Keeffe for the Alteration of the Lad of the Hills and the Golden Pippin [see 5 Nov.] #100. Receipts: #220 19s. 6d. (209.15.6; 11.4.0)

Event Comment: [The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: My wife and Mercer, and W. Hewer and Deb., to the King's playhouse, and I afterwards by water with them, and there we did hear the Eunuch (who, it seems, is a Frenchman, but long bred in Italy) sing, which I seemed to take as new to me, though I saw him on Saturday last [see 10 Oct. 1668], but said nothing of it; but such action and singing I could never have imagined to have heard, and do make good whatever Tom Hill used to tell me. [The Eunuch may be Baldassare Ferri.

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is most uncertain. The play was apparently finished in July 1671-see C. E. Ward, The Life of John Dryden (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1961), p. 83-and the play may have been acted before April 1672. For the possibilities see Macdonald, Bibliography of Dryden, p. 110, and Nicoll, Restoration Drama, pp. 404-5. The Prologue and Epilogue are in Covent Garden Drollery, 1672. The song, Whilst Alexas lay prest, the music by Nicholas Staggins, was printed in Westminster Drollery (entered in the Stationers' Register, 3 June 1672) and in Choice Songs and Ayres, The First Book, 1673. Another song, Why should a foolish Marriage Vow, set by Robert Smith, is also in Choice Songs and Ayres, 1673

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 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: Christopher Jeaffreson to Colonel Hill, 29 Oct. 1684: Sir James Hackett, lieutenant-colonell to the Lord Dunbarton's regiment, was wounded in the thigh by one Mr Potter in the Playhouse; of which woud he has since died. He is much lamented by his Majesty, and all that knew him (J. C. Jeaffreson, A Young Squire of the Seventeenth Century [London, 1878], II, 143-44)

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@149, p. 368: The Queene a Box, and a Box for the Maids Honor at Don Sebastian King of Portugal. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 352. There is no certainly that this is the first performance. The play was entered in the Stationers' Register, 15 Dec. 1689. See also Charles E. Ward, The Life of John Dryden (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1961), pp. 242-46. Preface, Edition of 1690: I am...to acknowledge, with all manner of gratitude, their civility; who were pleas'd to endure it with so much patience....Above twelve hundred lines have been cut off from this tragedy since it was first deliver'd to the actors. They were indeed so judiciously lopt by Mr Betterton, to whose care and excellent action I am equall y oblig'd, that the connexion of the story was not lost. Does a cryptic remark by Huygens, 3 Dec. 1689 OS, refer to this play: Dat dat geklap met de handen in comedie, onlanxgebeurt, als er gesproken wierd van een Coning, die wederom quam in sign rijck, van seer quade consequentie was. Dat voorseker de Con. too mercifull was, en dat er mosten exempelen gestatueert werden (Journal van Constantijn Huygens, Dutch Historical Society Transactions, New Series, XXIII [Utrecht, 18-212)

Event Comment: James Brydges, Diary: I went to Tom's Coffee house, where I met Mr Marshall, he told me of Capt. Hill being kill'd by Ld Mohun, from hence I went to Wills, where I met Dr Davenant, I staid here almost half an hour, & coming home by ye way stopt & just lookt in at ye Playhouse being about seven a clock (Huntington MS St 26)

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first production is not known, but the Songs were advertised in the Flying Post, 6-8 Dec. 1698, and the play in the London Gazette, 19-22 Dec. 1698; hence, the premiere was certainly not later than early December and was probably not later than November. In fact, on 5 Dec. 1698 Dr. William Aglionby wrote Matthew Prior, referring to Dennis, "a poor poet who has made us a fine entertainment of Rinaldo and Armida" (quoted in The Works of John Dennis, II, 489). In a dialogue written by John Oldmixon (Reflections on the Stage [London, 1699], p. 101) Savage, referring to Rinaldo and Armida, states: I have seen it 3 or 4 times already, but the Musick is so fine, and the Play pleases me so well, that I shall not think it a burthen [to see it again] (in The Works of John Dennis, I, 479). The Musical Entertainments in the Tragedy of Rinaldo and Armida (1699) is reprinted, with an introduction by Herbert Davis, in Theatre Miscellany (Luttrell Society Reprints, No 14, Oxford, 1953), pp. 103-15. One song, Ah queen, ah wretched queen, give o'er, sung by Gouge, is in Mercurius Musicus, 1699; and another, Jolly breeze that comes whistling, sung by Gouge, is in Twelve New Songs, 1699. A Comparison between the Two Stages (1702), p. 22: Critick: At last, (as you say) the old Stagers moulded a piece of Pastry work of their own, and made a kind of Lenten Feast with their Rinaldo and Armida; this surpriz'd not only Drury-lane, but indeed all the Town, no body ever dreaming of an Opera there; 'tis true they had heard of Homer's Illiads in a Nut-shel, and Jack in a Box, and what not?...Sullen: Well, with this Vagary they tug'd a while, and The Jolly-Jolly breeze-came whistling thro'-all the Town, and not a Fop but ran to see the Celebrated Virgin in a Machine; there she shin'd in a full Zodiack, the brightest Constellation there; 'twas a pleasant Reflection all this time to see her scituated among the Bulls, Capricorns, Sagittaries, and yet the Virgo still remain itacta....Critick: But this merry Time lasted not always; every thing has an end, and at length down goes Rinaldo's inchanted Mountain; it sunk as a Mole-hill seen on't: What a severity was this? that the Labour of such a gigantick Poet, nay Critick, shou'd give up the Ghost so soon: The renown'd Author thought himself immortal in that Work, and that the World was to last no longer than his Rinaldo; and tho' he stole every thing from the Italian, yet he said, what the Italian did was but Grub-street to his. See also 5 Jan. 1698@9 for a letter written by Mrs Barry, in part concerning Rinaldo and Armida