Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the
first production is not known, but the fact that it was advertised in the
London Gazette, No. 3122, 10-14 Oct. 1695, indicates that it was probably acted not later than September 1695. Three songs were published separately:
O how you protest, possibly set by
Henry Purcell and sung by
Mrs Knight;
'Twas within a Furlong, the words by
Thomas D'Urfey, set by Henry Purcell, and sung by
the Girl [
Miss Cross]; and
Man is for the woman made, the words by
Pierre Motteux and set by Henry Purcell, are in
Deliciae Musicae, The Third Book, 1696. See also
Purcell's Works,
Purcell Society, XX (1916), xix-xx. Preface, Edition of 1696: Notwithstanding the many Accidents that concurr'd to the Ruin of this Play, it succeeded above my Expectations: And I must own my self infinitely oblig'd to the Town, in receiving so favourably, what I at
first never design'd
for the Stage.
Gildon,
English Dramatick Poets, p. 121: This particular Play met with pretty good Success,
for the Season of the Year, considering it the
first Essay by a Young Writer, unacquainted with the Town.
A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 18:
Sullen:
Mock-Marriage, a young Fellows of the Town, a Retainer, and kind of Pensioner to the Stage.
Ramble: What was it's Fate? Sullen: Damn'd, Damn'd