Event Comment: The King's Company.
The exact date of t
his performance is not known, but
the Prologue refers to "After a four Months Fast," suggesting that
the theatre did not reopen until
the end of
the Long Vacation (24 Oct. 1681 is
the beginning of
Michaelmas Term).
The Epilogue also seems to refer to events at
Bartholomew Fair, and
the Prologue to
the King's visit to
Newmarket, from which
the King did not return until 12 Oct. 1681. Fur
thermore,
The Impartial Protestant Mercury, No. 54, 28 Oct. 1681, reports: A Revised Play was some days since Acted on an Eminent Publick
Theatre, and
the Prologue is extreamly talked of. [
The periodical reprints some of
the lines (which are essentially those in
the printed version).]
The Loyal Protestant, No. 70, 29 Oct. 1681, refers to
the same performance and reprints part of
the Epilogue (which also is essentially that of
the separately printed Epilogue). All of
these elements point to a performance in mid-October. Both
the Prologue and
the Epilogue were printed separately, and have been reprinted by
Wiley,
Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 43-45. Broadside copies of
the Prologue and Epilogue in
the Huntington Library bear
Luttrell's manuscript notations that both were written by
Dryden. Luttrell's date of acquisition is 13 Feb. 1681@2, an instance in which Luttrell's date of purchase does not apparently correspond closely to a date of performance