Event Comment: Add. Mss. 36916, folio 128, 2 March 1668@9: The occasion of this [a challenge of the Duke of Buckingham to a duel by Lord Halifax or another friend of Sir William Coventry] there was a new play to be acted on Saturday last called the Country Gentleman, said to be made by the Duke & Sr Robt Howard, wherein tis said that the Earle of Clarendon, Sr Wm Coventry and some other Courtiers are plainly personated, but especially Sr William in the midst of his table of Writings; this he (or some of his relations) would not brooke, but whether he or the Ld Halifax was to fight the Duke is not knowne, but the King hath prevented all; and the play is not acted. [See also Pepys, 4 and 6 March]

Event Comment: See 27 Feb. and 4 March. Pepys, Diary: [Sir W. Coventry] told me the matter of the play [The Rehearsal] that was intended for his abuse, wherein they foolishly and sillily bring in two tables like that which he hath made, with a round hole in the middle, in his closet, to turn himself in; and he is to be in one of them as master, and Sir J. Duncomb in the other, as his man or imitator: and their discourse in those tables, about the disposing of their books and papers, very foolish. But that, that he is offended with, is his being made so contemptible, so that any should dare to make a gentleman a subject for the mirth of the world; and that therefore he had told Tom Killigrew that he should tell his actors, whoever they were, that did offer any thing like representing him, that he would not complain to my Lord Chamberlain, which was too weak, nor get him beaten, as Sir Charles Sidly is said to do, but that he would cause his nose to be cut

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance, apparently the premiere, is on the L. C. list at Harvard. See VanLennep, "Plays on the English Stage", p. 14. Downes (p. 28): After this my Lord Orrery, Writ Two Comedies: The first call'd Guzman...took very well

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Pepys, Diary: And my wife being gone abroad with W. Hewer, to see the new play to-day, at the Duke of York's house, Guzman, I dined alone.... I thence presently to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there, in the 18d. seat, did get room to see almost three acts of the play; but it seemed to me but very ordinary. After the play done, I into the pit, and there find my wife and W. Hewer...[and] here I did meet with Shadwell, the poet, who, to my great wonder, do tell me that my Lord of Orrery? did write this play, trying what he could do in comedy, since his heroique plays could do no more wonders. This do trouble me; for it is as mean a thing, and so he says, as hath been upon the stage a great while; and Harris, who hath no part in it, did come to me, and told me in discourse that he was glad of it, it being a play that will not take

Event Comment: On this day the Lord Chamberlain issued an order (L. C. 5@12, p. 252; in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 252) signifying the King's pleasure that: "ye french Comoedians haue liberty to Act and Play And that noe Persons pr[e]sume to molest or disturbe them in their Acting & playing.

Event Comment: As had been the case in recent years, the Lord Mayor's swearing-in lacked the formal pageantry which had been characteristic of the day in the early 1660's

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Although this performance is not certainly the premiere, it is the earliest known acting of the play. This performance is on the L. C. lists at Harvard. See VanLennep, "Plays on the English Stage", p. 14. John Boyle, Fifth Earl of Orrery: Master Anthony too the sequel of Guzman was after Lord Orrery's Death brought upon the Stage, but being disrelish'd by the Audience appear'd only one Night. It is probable The Author had not supervis'd and corrected It sufficiently before he died (The Dramatic Works of Roger Boyle, ed. W. S. Clark II, II, 950). If these private notes, written some fifty years after the premiere, are correct, this performance may have been the premiere and the only day of acting it

Event Comment: Once again, the ceremony of swearing in the Lord Mayor did not include a formal pageant

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is in a membrandum of Lord Cheyne, Huntington Library MS EL II, 145: for Coach to a play calld Tartuff

Event Comment: An order of the Lord Chamberlain (5@12, p. 202) dated 1 April 1671, states that the theatres are to be closed because of the death of the Duchess of York on 31 March 1671. See Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 322. It is uncertain how long the theatres were closed, but probably the closure extended for six weeks

Event Comment: The Diary of Robert Hooke, 1672-1678: at Scaramuches at york house. present: the King, Duke of York, Lord Ormond &c. (ed. H. W. Robinson and Walter Adams [London, 1935], p. 42). See slso Boswell, Restoration Court Stage, pp. 118-19, and John Harold Wilson, A Theatre in York House, Theatre Notebook, XVI (1962), 75-78

Event Comment: Preparations for the production of a play (Calisto) at court in midwinter had been underway by this time. On this day Margaret Blagge wrote to John Evelyn: the play goes on mightily, which I hoped would never have proceeded farther....Would you believe it, there are some that envy me the honour (as they esteeme it) of acting in this play (The Life of Mrs Godolphin, ed. Samuel Lord Bishop of Oxford [1847], p. 96. See also pp. 93-95.). Several orders for costumes, scenes, and properties dated through the winter offer valuable information concerning details of the preparations. See Nicoll, Restoration Drama, pp. 357-58, p. 43n; Boswell, Restoration Court Stage, pp. 178-227

Event Comment: [Evelyn, Diary: [I] was at the repetition of the Pastoral, on which [occasion] my friend Mrs Blagg, had about her neere 20.000 pounds worth of Jewells, of which one she lost, borrowed of the Countesse of Suffolck, worth about 80 pounds, which the Duke made good; & indeede the presse of people was so greate, that it was a wonder she lost no more. There is some doubt that this was a full performance of the work, for Evelyn refers to it as "the repetition" and other evidence points to 15 Feb. 1674@5 as the first complete production. See Boswell, Restoration Court Stage, pp. 180-81. It is probable that Mrs Blagge's loss of jewels occurred, not on this date, but on 15 Feb. 1674@5. For a more complete account of that incident, see The Life of Mrs Godolphin by John Evelyn of Wotton, ed. Samuel Lord Bishop of Oxford (London, 1874), pp. 97-101. See also 15 Feb. 1674@5

Event Comment: The date of the premiere is not known, but Robert Hooke, attended play on 27 Aug. 1675 which might well refer not to Psyche but to Duffett's travesty of it. In addition, John Harold Wilson has argued that the reference in the Prologue to "The new-come Elephant" probably concerns the elephant imported by Lord George Berkeley and sold by 12 Aug. 1675 (see The Diary of Robert Hooke, p. 174). The cast also contains a number of "young actors" who might well have had an opportunity to act in a play in the summer vacation

Event Comment: According to L. C. 7@1-see Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p.325n--a disagreement within the King's Company resulted in the Lord Chamberlain's directing Michaell Mohun, Charles Hart, Edward Kynnaston, and William Cartwright to manage the company under his supervision

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The play was not printed. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@145, p. 120. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 349. Andrew Marvell to Sir Edw. Harley, 17 Nov. 1677: To-day is acted the first time Sir Popular Wisdom or the Politician, where my Lord Shaftesbury and all his gang are sufficiently personated. I conceive the King will be there (HMC, 14th Report, Appendix, Part II, 1894, Portland MSS., Volume III, p. 357)

Event Comment: The Dowager Countess of Sunderland to Henry Sidney, 19 Feb. 1679@80: The players have been disturbed again by drunken people's jokes. They called my Lord Arran a rogue; and one Fitzpatrick pointed at Mr Thinne, and called him that petitioning fool, and swore a hundred oaths; he said that he deserved #20,000 a-year, but that fool deserved nothing (R. W. Blencowe, Diary of the Times of Charles the Second [London, 1843], I, 279-80). See also 2 and 9 Feb. 1679@80

Event Comment: Newdigate newsletters: On Tuesday night late there happened a difference between the Senior and Young men belonging to the King's play house which grew to such a height that they all drew their swords which occasioned the wounding of severall. But in the end the Seniors shut up the dores and sent word to his Matie in regard they were the builders of the house who received answer yesterday that the Law was open. Where upon they are to have a tryall this Weeke before the Lord Chancellor (Wilson, Theatre Notes from the Newdigate Newsletters, p. 80). See also Hotson, Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, pp. 268-70

Event Comment: Luttrell, A Brief Relation, I, 215: The 23d, being the eve of St Bartholomew, the Lord Mayor (according to custome), attended with the sheriffs, rode into Smithfield to proclaim that fair

Event Comment: Newdigate newsletters, 14 Aug. 1683: The Manager of ye Kings Theatre intend wth in short time to pforme an Opera in like manner of yt of ffrance. Mr Betterton wth other Actrs are gone over to fetch Ye designe [Wilson, Theatre Notes from the Newdigate Newsletters, p. 82). See also a letter from Lord Preston to the Earl of Sunderland, Paris, 25 Aug. 1683 N.S. concerning Betterton's visit to Paris (HMC, 7th Report, Appendix, p. 288)

Event Comment: Evelyn, Diary: I din'd at my Lord Falklands, Tressurer of the Navy, where after dinner we had rare Musique, there being amongst others Signor Pietro Reggio and Signor Jo. Battist bothe famous, the one for his Voice, & the other his playing on the Harpichord, few if any in Europe exceeding him

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: On this day Charles II died. Although the order to close the theatres was not issued until 20 Feb. 1684@5 (L. C. 5@145, p. 153), acting Probably ceased on Thursday 5 Feb. 1684@5. At this time John Crowne's Sir Courtly Nice was in rehearsal. John Dennis gives a dramatic account of the last day of rehearsing: The Play was now just ready to appear to the World; and as every one that had seen it rehears'd was highly pleas'd with it; every one who had heard of it was big with the Expectation of it; and Mr Crown was delighted with the flattering Hope of being made happy for the rest of his Life, by the Performance of the King's Promise; when, upon the very last Day of the Rehearsal, he met Cave Underhill coming from the Play-House as he himself was going towards it; Upon which the Poet reprimanding the Player for neglecting so considerable a Part as he had in the Comedy, and neglecting it on a Day of so much Consequence, as the very last Day of Rehearsal: Oh Lord, Sir, says Underhill, we are all undone. Wherefore, says Mr Crown, is the Play-House on Fire? The whole Nation, replys the Player, will quickly be so, for the King is dead. At the hearing which dismal Words, the Author was little better; for he who but the Moment before was ravish'd with the Thought of the Pleasure, which he was about to give to his King, and of the Favours which he was afterwards to receive from him, this Moment found, to his unspeakable Sorrow, that his Royal Patron was gone for ever, and with him all his Hopes. The King indeed reviv'd from his Apoplectick Fit, but three Days after dyed, and Mr Crown by his Death was replung'd in the deepest Melancholy (John Dennis, Original Letters, 1721, I, 53-54). [It is not clear whether the last sentence refers to the day on which Crowne had seen the King and had assurances from His Majesty, the King dying three days later, or whether there was a false rumor of the King's death on 3 Feb. 1684@5.

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@147, p. 68. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 350. This play was also reprinted in 1686. Memoirs of the Life of William Wycherley, Esq; With a Character of his Writings [by George, Lord Lansdowne, but part possibly by Charles Gildon (1718)], pp. 7-8: [After the death of Wycherley's wife, he was committed to Newgate for debt.] From hence he remov'd himself by a Habeas Corpus to the Fleet, where he continued seven Years in a close Imprisonment, almost forgot by his old Friends, till in the Reign of King James the Second, some of them bespeaking the Plain-Dealer, got the King to the Play, who declaring his Approbation of the Poet's Performance, they improv'd his liking so far as to get him to deliver him from his long Confinement. But here the Modesty of the Man did him a considerable Prejudice, for instead of giving in a full List of his Debts, he only mention'd those, the discharge of which wou'd set him at Liberty, which was done with this additional Bounty, that the same King allow'd him Two hundred Pounds a Years as long as he Reign'd; and this was the reason that made Mr Wycherley always a Jacobite

Event Comment: The Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, 18 Jan. 1685@6: After dinner the Lord? Chancellor, having drunke smartly at table (which was his custome) called for one Monfort, a gentleman of his that had been a comedian, an excellent mimick, and to divert the company, as he called it, made him give us a caus, that is, plead before him in a feigned action, wher he acted all the principal lawyers of the age, in their tone of voice, and action or gesture of body; and thus ridiculed not only the lawyers, but the law itselfe. This, I confess, was very diverting, but not soe prudent as I thought for soe eminent a man in soe great a station of the lawe; since nothing could get a man more enemies than to deride thos whom they ought most to sopport (ed. Browning, pp. 408-9)