Event Comment: By Command of their Royal Highnesses the Duke, and the Princesses Amelia, Caroline, and Louisa. Rylands MS.: Garrick Play'd, Duke Attended. Died 31 July, aged 77, Ben Johnson (Winston MS. from Burney's Actors MSS). [See benefit for his daughter 15 Dec.] Receipts: #171

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of performance is uncertain. The play was entered in the Stationers' Register, 15 Feb. 1663@4, and its publication noted in The Newes, 3 March 1663@4. Katherine Philips, writing from Cardigan, Wales to Lady Temple in London, 24 Jan. 1663@4: I beleive er'e this you have seen the new Pompey either acted or written & then will repent your partiallity to ye other, but I wonder much what preparations for it could prejudice Will Davenant when I heare they acted in English habits, & yt so aprope yt Caesar was sent in with his feather & Muff, till he was hiss'd off ye Stage & for ye Scenes I see not where they could place any yt are very extra-ordinary, but if this play hath not diverted ye Cittizens wives enough Sr W: D: will make amends, for they say Harry ye 8th & some later ones are little better then Puppett-plays. I understand ye confederate-translators are now upon Heraclius, & I am contented yt Sr Tho. Clarges (who hath done that last yeare) should adorn their triumph in it, as I have done in Pompey (Harvard Theatre Collection)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Pepys, Diary: Against my judgment and conscience (which God forgive, for my very heart knows that I offend God in breaking my vows therein) to the Opera, which is now newly begun to act again, after some alteracion of their scene, which do make it very much worse; but the play, Love and Honour, being the first time of their acting it, is a very good plot, and well done. Downes (pp. 21-22): This Play was Richly Cloath'd; The King giving Mr Betterton his Coronation Suit;...The Duke of York giving Mr Harris his...and my Lord of Oxford gave Mr Joseph Price his...and all the other Parts being very well done: The Play having a great run, Produc'd to the Company great Gain and Estimation from the Town

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. It is not certain that this play was revived at this time, but Tom Essence, which was probably acted toward the end of August or in early September (it was licensed 4 Nov. 1676) contains a scene in "Malfey's Chamber," suggesting that a revival of The Duchess of Malfi had occurred not long before the production of Tom Essence. On the other hand, it should be noted that the cast in the edition of 1678 contains names which point to a much earlier production; for example, Cademan probably acted little after his injury in the summer of 1673 and Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 35) states that Cogan and Price died ca. 1673-74

Event Comment: Benefit for Farren. Public Advertiser, 8 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Farren, No. 13, York-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #208 4s. 6d. (63/19/0; 15/1J/6; 0/1/0; tickets: 128/9/0) (charge: #65 16s. 11d)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Henderson. Pit and Boxes will be laid together. Ladies and Gentlemen are most earnestly requested to come early, to prevent Inconvenience in getting to their Places, and to send their Servants to keep them by Four o'clock. [Prologue by Arthur Murphy {Works, 1786, VII, 369).] Morning Herald, 14 Feb.: Tickets to be had at the house of the late Mr Henderson [see 8 Nov. 1785], Buckingham-street, York Buildings. "The poetical address delivered by Mrs Siddons before the play was written by Murphy, and was so very dull that we will charitably suppose his feelings obstructed the operation of his fancy" (General Advertiser, 27 Feb.). Receipts: #141 9s. 6d. (140/15/0; 0/14/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Browne. [Miss Eccles, who was from the York theatre, is identified in European Magazine, July 1787, p. 64.] Public Advertiser, 16 July: Tickets to be had of Browne, No. 13, King-street, Covent Garden

Event Comment: Apparently The Man of Mode had an amateur revival in Brussels in the autumn, possibly before the Duke and Duchess of York, when they were away from London. Princess Anne to Frances Apsley, 3 Oct. 1679: The play is practisde to night Miss Watts is to be Lady townly which part I beleeve wont much become her. [See Benjamin Bathurst, Letters of Two Queens (London, 1924), pp. 111-12]

Event Comment: Benefit for Townsend and Mrs Johnson. 3rd piece [1st time in London; F 1, by William Dunlap]: Performed with distinguished Applause at the John St.? Theatre, New York [on 9 Jan. 1797]; compressed into one act [from two], and adapted for the English Stage by a Gentleman [perhaps the author]. "Commencing at half past eleven o'clock, and after a tiresome variety of other entertainments, the audience thought they had had enough for their money, and demanded the fall of the curtain before the conclusion of [Tell Truth and Shame the Devil]" (Monthly Mirror, June 1799, p. 367). Morning Chronicle, 8 May: Tickets to be had of Townsend, No. 9, Leicester-place. [Mrs Johnson not listed.] Receipts: #442 17s. 6d. (108.1.0; 1.11.0; tickets: 333.5.6, of which Townsend sold 218.2.0; Mrs Johnson 115.3.6)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Pepys does not indicate that this performance is the premiere, and Summers, The Playhouse of Pepys, p. 137, states, without offering his evidence, that the play first appeared on 11 Aug. 1664. The play also appears in Herbert, Dramatic Records, p. 138. If Pepys saw the premiere, the play was possibly given on 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24 Aug. Pepys, Diary: Mr Creed dining with me I got him to give my wife and me a play this afternoon, lending him money to do it, which is a fallacy that I have found now once, to avoyde my vowe with, but never to be more practised I swear, and to the new play, at the Duke's house, of Henry the Fifth; a most noule play, writ by my Lord Orrery; wherein Betterton, Harris, and Ianthe's parts are most incomparably wrote and done, and the whole play the most full of height and raptures of wit and sense, that ever I heard; having but one incongruity, or what did not please me in it, that is, that King Harry promises to plead for Tudor to their Mistresse, Princesse Katherine of France, more than when it comes to it he seems to do; and Tudor refused by her with some kind of indignity, not with a difficulty and honour that it ought to have been done in to him. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 27-28: This Play was Splendidly Cloath'd: The King, in the Duke of York's Coronation Suit; Owen Tudor, in King Charle's: Duke of Burgundy, in the Lord of Oxford's, and the rest all New. It was Excellently Perform'd, and Acted 10 Days Successively

Event Comment: [The playbill assigns the Dauphin to Barrymore but, "Benson performed the Dauphin instead of Barrymore" (Thespian Magazine, Nov. 1792, p. 125). It is not stated who acted Duke of Gloster; doubling these two parts is not likely.] Account-Book: Paid The Prince of Wales's Porter for Performances in Cymon [on 31 Dec. 1791, et seq.] #13 10s. Receipts: #169 9s. 6d. (118.6.6; 46.8.0; 4.15.0)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. On Thursday 10 Dec. 1663, Pepys reported that this play was to be acted the following week, but the date of the first performance is uncertain. But--except for the holidays--it was probably acted on consecutive days until 1 Jan. 1663@4, when Pepys saw it. The play is also in Herbert, Dramatic Records, p. 138, as a "Revived Play." Pepys, Diary: I perceive the King and Duke and the Court was going to the Duke's playhouse to see Henry VIII. acted, which is said to be an admirable play. But, Lord! to see now near I was to have broken my oathe, or run the hazard of 20s. losse, so much my nature was hot to have gone thither; but I did not go. Downes (p.24): King Henry the 8th, This Play, by Order of Sir William Davenant, was all new Cloath'd in proper Habits: The King's was new, all the Lords, the Cardinals, the Bishops, the Doctors, Proctors, Lawyers, Tip-staves, new Scenes: The part of the King was so right and justly done by Mr Betterton, he being Instructed in it by Sir William, who had it from Old Mr Lowen, that had his Instructions from Mr Shakespear himself, that I dare and will aver, none can, or will come near him in this Age, in the performance of that part: Mr Harris's performance of Cardinal Wolsey, was little Inferior to that, he doing it with such just State, Port, and Mein, that I dare affirm, none hitherto has Equall'd him:...Every part by the great Care of Sir William, being exactly perform'd; it being all new Scenes; it continu'd Acting 15 Days together with general Applause

Event Comment: Benefit for Redman, Casey, Dumai and Bates. Charges #64 12s. Deficit to beneficaries #25 10s. 6d. covered by individual incomes from tickets: Casey #14 4s. (Box 18; Pit 34; Gallery 46); Redman #25 6s. (Box 5; Pit 77; Gallery 125); Dumay #56 12s. (Box 106; Pit 182; Gallery 103); Bates #17 10s. (Pit 48; Gallery 103) (Account Book). Receiv'd of Fransdorf 1!2 value of his tickets 28th inst....#4 2s. 6d. Receipts: #39 1s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Hull and Macready. 1st piece: In Act I a Grand Banquet. With the Procession [in Act IV] from the Abbey at the Coronation of Anne Bullen . To conclude with the Ceremonial of a Royal Christening. [In 2nd piece the scenes, as listed on 10 May, are indicated.] Morning Herald, 20 May: Tickets to be had of Hull, No. 7, Duke's-court, Westminster; Diary, 21 May: of Macready, No. 3, Mary-street, Charles-street, Tottenham-Court-Road. Receipts: #282 14s

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. L. C. 5@139, p. 125, lists it for 3 March, but as this date falls on Sunday, it is probably an error in dating. The play was licensed on 22 May 1667. Pepys, Diary: To the Duke's playhouse...and I in and find my wife and Mrs Hewer, and sat by them and saw The English Princesse, or Richard the Third; a most sad, melancholy play, and pretty good; but nothing eminent in it, as some tragedys are; only little Mis. Davis did dance a jig after the end of the play, and there telling the next day's play; so that it come in by force only to please the company to see her dance in boy's clothes; and, the truth is, there is no comparison between Nell's dancing the other day at the King's house in boy's clothes and this, this being infinitely beyond the other. Downes (p. 27): Wrote by Mr Carrol, was Excellently well Acted in every Part;...Gain'd them an Additional Estimation, and the Applause from the Town, as well as profit to the whole Company

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is known by the separately printed Prologue and Epilogue: Prologue. By Mr Otway to his Play call'd Venice preserv'd or the Plot discover'd. Acted at His Royal Highness the Duke of Yorks Theatre, the 9th of February, 1681. [These have been reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 61-66.] Luttrell dated his copy of the Prologue and Epilogue 11 Feb. 1681@2 (Huntington Library). It is not certain that 9 Feb. 1681@2 represents the first performance, but it may well be. For a comment by Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, on Mrs Barry, see The Orphan, February 1679@80

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The Prologue and Epilogue, separately printed, bear Luttrell's date of acquisition, 21 April 1682 (Huntington Library), and have been reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 102-05. The Prologue and Epilogue were advertised in The Observator, 27 April 1682, with the statement: Recommended to All Men of Sense and Loyalty

Event Comment: Benefit Chetwood. By Their Royal Highnesses' Command. N.B. Tickets given out for The Merry Wives of Windsor will be taken at this Play. [See Daily Post, 3 Aug., for Penkethman's celebration at Richmond on 1 Aug., the anniversary of the Hanoverian succession to the throne, and British Journal, 8 Aug., for an account of William Marshall, of lif, as an anti-Hanoverian demonstrator on 1 Aug.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not Acted these Six Years. At the Desire of several Persons of Quality. Written by the late N. Tate, Esq; Poet Laureat, Author of the Tragedy of King Lear. With Scenes, Habits, Machines, and other proper Decorations