Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Greville and Williams. Mainpiece: Not acted these 5 years. Tickets delivered for the 17th of December will be admitted. Tickets and places to be had of Williams at Mr Spoke's, Tottenham Court; Mr White, Auctioneer, Queen street, Westminster; Messrs Ellis and Scott, Old Bond-street; Mr Hewitt, New Bond-street; Mr Cowcieroy, Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury; and at the Excise Office Coffee-House, Old Bond-street

Event Comment: Benefit for the Widows and Orphans of the Brave Men who perished, and for those who were wounded, in the Glorious Action on the 14th of February last [off Cape St. Vincent], under Admiral Sir John Jervis. Patrons: His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, His Royal Highness the Duke of York, His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence. Stewards: Duke of Leeds, Duke of Bedford, Earl of Chesterfield, Earl of Cardigan, Earl Spencer, Lord Kinnaird, Charles Grey Esq., Thomas Tyrwhitt Esq., William Lushington Esq., William Manning Esq., John Thomson Esq., John Julius Angerstein Esq.

Event Comment: The Lord Mayor's Show. By John Tatham. The author mentions as his assistants: Andrew Dakers and William Lightfoot, painters; Thomas Whiting, joyner; and Richard Clear, carver

Event Comment: See Herbert, Dramatic Records, p. 116. This was the King's Company (under Killigrew), split off from the United Company. According to Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 2) the roster included: Theophilus Bird, Hart, Mohun, Lacy, Burt, Cartwright, Clun, Baxter, Robert Shatterel, William Shatterrel, Duke [Marmaduke Watson], Hancock, Kynaston, Wintersel, Bateman, Blagden. (But see also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 295.) According to the articles of agreement, 5 Nov. 1660 (Herbert, Dramatic Records, pp. 96-100), the Duke's Company (under Davenant) included Thomas Batterton, Thomas Sheppey, Robert Noakes, James Noakes, Thomas Lovell, John Moseley, Cave Underhill, Robert Turner, Thomas Lilleston

Event Comment: Edition of 1661: By the Worshipful Company of Grocers. Evelyn, Diary: I saw the Lord Major passe in his Water Triumph to Westminster being the first solemnity of this nature after 20 years. Pepys, Diary: I was (after office was done) ready to go to my Lord Mayor's feast, as we are all invited; but the Sir Williams were both loth to go, because of the crowd, and so none of us went....This Lord Mayor, it seems, brings up again the custom of Lord Mayors going the day of their instalment to Paul's, and walking round about the Cross, and offering something at the altar

Event Comment: The King's Company. This play appears on Herbert's List, following the entry for 26 Oct. 1661. (See William VanLennep, "Thomas Killigrew prepares his Plays for Production," J. Q. Adams Memorial Studies (Washington, D. C., 1948, p. 803.) Pepys, Diary: W. Pen and I to the Theatre, but it was so full that we could hardly get any room, so he went up to one of the boxes, and I into the 18d. places, and there saw Love at first sight, a play of Mr Killigrew's and the first time that it hath been acted since before the troubles, and great expectation there was, but I found the play to be a poor thing, and so I perceive every body else do. BM Add. Mss. 34217, fol. 31b, in Hotson Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, p. 246: @First then to speake of his Majestys Theatre@Where one would imagine Playes should be better@Love att the first sight did lead the dance@But att second sight it had the mischance@To be so dash'd out of Countenance as@It never after durst shew itts face@All though its bashfullnesse as tis thought@Be far from being the Authors ffault.

Event Comment: This play was seen at the red bull by Jacques Thierry and Will Schellinks (Seaton, Literary Relationships, pp. 333, 335). Seaton speculates that the play may be: (1) Rowley's A Shoemaker a Gentleman; (2) a droll made out of the Christopher Sly prologue of The Taming of the Shrew; (3) Tourneur's lost The Nobleman or Great Man. William VanLennep ("The new-made Nobleman," Times Literary Supplement, 20 June 1936, p. 523) thinks that it may be Beaumont and Fletcher's Noble Gentleman. Nicoll (Restoration Drama, pp. 309-10) believes that this was Jolly's Company acting at the red bull

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: Pepys, Diary: Calling at Wotton's...he tells me...that Harris is come to the Duke's house again; and of a rare play to be acted this week of Sir William Davenant's; the story of Henry the Eighth with all his wives

Event Comment: A facsimile of a bill announcing A Trial of Skill at this playhouse, 30 May 1664, is in Rariora, ed. John Eliot Hodgkin (London, n.d.), III, 53-54. See also William VanLennep, The Death of the Red Bull, Theatre Notebook, XVI (1962), 133-34

Event Comment: [No notice of production exists. See William VanLennep, "Thomas Killigrew Prepares His Plays for Production," Joseph Quincy Adams; Memorial Studies, p. 805

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Pepys, Diary: With Creed, my wife, and Mercer to a play at the Duke's, of my Lord Orrery's, called Mustapha, which being not good, made Betterton's part and Ianthe's but ordinary too, so that we were not contented with it at all...All the pleasure of the play was, the King and my Lady Castlemayne wer there; and pretty witty Nell Gwin?, at the King's house, and the younger Rebecca? Marshall sat next us; which pleased me mightily. Downes (p. 26): All the Parts being new Cloath's with new Scenes, Sir William's great Care of having it perfect and exactly perform'd, it produc'd to himself and Company vast Profit

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: [Mrs Knipp] told us they begin at both houses to act on Monday [29] next. But I fear, after all this sorrow, their pains will be but little. Mrs Williams says, the Duke's house will now be much the better of the two, because of their women; which I am glad to hear

Event Comment: Killigrew contemplated a revival of Cicilia and Clarinda in 1667, a memorandum of 14 Feb. 1666@7 ordering the parts to be written out. See William VanLennep, Thomas Killigrew Prepares his Plays, p. 805

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This is on an L. C. list in the Harvard Theatre Collection. See William vanLennep, Plays on the English Stage 1669-1672, Theatre Notebook, XVI (1961), 13

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: So she [Mrs Pepys] and I to the King's playhouse, and there sat to avoid seeing Knepp in box above where Mrs Williams happened to be, and there saw The Usurper; a pretty good play, in all but what is designed to resemble Cromwell and Hugh Peters, which is mighty silly

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@12, p. 17: King here. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 344. See Noyes, Ben Jonson on the English Stage, p. 307, for a letter to Lady Sunderland on this performance, and, p. 308, for an anecdote from The Life of the Late Famous Comedian, Jo. Haynes, concerning Haynes and Hart in a scene. For another allusion to the action, see Henri Ferneron, Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth (London, 1807), p. 179n. Pepys, Diary: 15 Jan. 1668@9: It is about my Lady Harvy's being offended at Doll Common's [Mrs Corey's] acting of Sempronia, to imitate her; for which she got my Lord Chamberlain, her kinsman, to imprison Doll: when my Lady Castlemayne made the King to release her. Mrs John Evelyn to Mr Terryll, 10 Feb. 1668@9: There has not been any new lately revived and reformed, as Catiline, well set out with clothes and scenes (Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, ed. William Bray, IV, 14). See also 7 and 11 Dec. 1667

Event Comment: The King's Company. This play is on the L. C. list, 5@12, p. 17: The King here. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 344. Mrs John Evelyn to Mr Terryll, 10 Feb. 1668@9: Horace, with a farce and dances between every act, composed by Lacy and played by him and Nell, which takes (John Evelyn, Diary and Correspondence, ed. William Bray, IV, 14). See 19 Jan. 1668@9

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This date marks the opening of the new theatre in Dorset Garden. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 31): The new Theatre in Dorset-Garden being Finish'd, and our Company after Sir William's Death, being under the Rule and Dominion of his Widow the Lady Davenant, Mr Betterton and Mr Harris, (Mr Charles Davenant her Son Acting for her) they remov'd from Lincolns-Inn-Fields thither. And on the Ninth Day of November 1671, they open'd their new Theatre with Sir Martin Marral, which continu'd Acting 3 Days together, with a full Audience each Day; notwithstanding it had been Acted 30 Days before in Lincolns-Inn-Fields, and above 4 times at court. [This play is also on the L. C. lists at Harvard. See VanLennep, "Plays on the English Stage", p. 18: Sir Martin.

Event Comment: Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 8) gives a cast for Julius Caesar [by William Shakespeare] which includes Richard Bell, who died in the Drury Lane fire at the end of this month. It is not known when a performance of this play occurred, but a Prologue to Julius Caesar is in Covent Garden Drollery, 1672. Downes lists: Julius Caesar-$Bell; Cassius-$Major Mohun; Brutus-$Hart; Anthony-$Kynaston; Calphurnia-$Mrs Marshal. [Downes adds Portia-$Mrs Corbet, but this probably refers to a later performance.

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. It is uncertain whether this performance and those for 13 and 28 March belong to 1670@1 or 1671@2. They are on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 2 (see also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 347), but VanLennep's discovery of an L. C. list for the Duke's Company covering March 1670@1 but not including these plays led him to believe that they Pertain to March 1671@2. See VanLennep, Plays on the English Stage, p. 19. On 9 March 1670@1 or 1671@2 Henry Herbert qranted permission to the Duke's Company to act The Lady Errant. See The Plays and Poems of William Cartwright, ed. G. Blakemore Evans (Madison, Wisc., 1951), p. 85