Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The Prologue to the Queen of Arragon Acted before the Duke of York, Upon his Birthday, and Epilogue to the Same To the Duchess, by Samuel Butler, are in The Poetical Works of Samuel Butler, ed. R. B. Johnson (London, 1893), II, 175-77. Newsletter, 12 Oct. 1668: The Duke of York's birthday will be celebrated with the usual solemnities, a play being prepared for the entertainment of the ladies. The piece chosen is The Queen of Arragon. It will be acted in the Guard Chamber at St James's (HMC, Fleming MSS., 12th Report, Appendix, Part VII, p. 59). Pepys, Diary: But the Duke of York being gone out, and to-night being a play there, and a great festival, we would not stay

Event Comment: Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 31: Note, About the Year 1670, Mrs Aldridge, after Mrs Lee, after Lady Slingsby, also Mrs Leigh Wife of Mr Antony Leigh, Mr Crosby, Mrs Johnson, were entertain'd in the Duke's House

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is known through a document summarized in The Theatrical Inquisitor and Monthly Mirror, July 1816, p. 25, and summarized in Fitzgerald, A New History, I, 145. Although this performance is the first certainly known, it is probably not the premiere, for the attendance (see below) was too small for the premiere of a new work by John Dryden. Since the play was entered in the Stationers' Register, January 1678, the first production was probably not long before this performance. The document in The Theatrical Inquisitor gives this information: The King's Box, no receipts; Mr Hayles' boxes, #3 (probably 15 spectators); Mr Mohun's boxes, #1 12s. (probably 8 spectators); Mr Yeats' boxes, 12s. (probably 3 spectators); James' boxes, #2 (probably 10 spectators). Mr Kent's pitt, 82 spectators, and Mr Britan's pitt, 35 spectators, a total of 117, paying #14 12s. 6d. Mr Bracy's gallery, 42 spectators; and Mr Johnson's gallery, 21 spectators; a total of 63 spectators, who paid #4 14s. 6d. Mr Thomson's gallery, 33 spectators, paying #1 13s. The total attendance appears to have been 249; the receipts were #28 4s. The house rent came to #5 14s. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 11) gives a cast which is identical except for omissions

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is known from a document in The Theatrical Inquisitor and Monthly Mirror, July 1816, p. 26, and in Fitzgerald, A New History, I, 145. This document lists the receipts and attendance: The King's box, #1 10s., possibly six persons; Mr Hayles' boxes, #2 16s., possibly 14 persons; Mr Mohun's boxes, #3 16s., possibly 19 persons; Mr Yate's boxes, #1 15s. 6d., possibly 9 persons; James' boxes, #2 4s., possibly 11 persons. Mr Kent's pit, 112 persons; and Mr Britan's pit, 79 persons; a total of 191 persons paying #23 17s. 6d. Mr Bracy's gallery, 100 persons; Mr Johnson's gallery, 44 persons; a total of 144 persons, paying #10 16s. Upper Gallery, 119 persons, paying #5 19s. Mrs Kempton (upper gallery?), 5s. The house rent is listed as #5 14s. The attendance appears to total at least 513 persons. Compare these data with those for 12 Dec. 1677

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the premiere is not known, although a reference in the text to 1690 suggests that the play may have been produced in that year; but the fact that it was not advertised in the London Gazette until 6-9 April and not entered in the Term Catalogues until May 1691 suggest that it posaibly appeared early in 1691. This play was discussed in Wit for Money, or Poet Stutter; A Dialogue between Smith, Johnson, and Poet Stutter; containing Reflections on some late Plays, and particularly on Love for Money, or The Boarding School. The British Museum copy of this pamphlet has a manuscript date of 23 April 1691. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 42: The Boarding School; Wrote by Mr Durfy, it took well being justly Acted. Earl of Ailesbury, mid-January 1690@1: My Lady Fenwick was a great intriguer, and had always castles in the air in her imagination to that degree, that I was present at a play where she was brought in. If I mistake not it was The Boarding School, and the famous comic, Mr Lee, in woman's clothes represented her to the life, and so exactly had her features and complexion that one could hardly have distinguished one from the other (Memoirs, [London, 1890], II, 390-91)

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but the fact that the play was advertised in the London Gazette, 6-11 May 1696, suggests that it was first acted not later than April 1696. A song, Come, Hodge, come, Robin, set by John Eccles and sung by Wiltshire and Mrs Hudson, was printed in Deliciae Musicae, The Second Book of the Second Volume, 1696. Dedication, Edition of 1696: Which I wrote three Years ago....nor the Displeasure of the Judicious, who I hope will not condemn this Play from the appearance it had upon the Stage, where it suffer'd in the Acting....Tho. Dogget. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), pp. 16-17: Ramble: Oh that's Dogget's: The Players have all got the itching Leprosie of Scribling as Ben. Johnson calls it; twill in time descend to the Scene-keepers and Candle-snuffers: Come, what came on't? Sullen: Not then directly Damn'd, because he had a part in't himself, but it's now dead and buried