Event Comment: The King's Company. The Prologue and Epilogue are in New Poems, Songs, Prologues and Epilogues. Written by Thomas Duffett, 1676. See also Langbaine, English Dramatick Poets, p. 291

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the premiere is uncertain. This play is on the L. C. list, 5@142, p. 81: King and Queene at Alcibiades and a box for the Mayds of Honor. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. The item on the L. C. list is ambiguously dated; it follows an entry for 28 Sept. 1675 and bears only the figure "22." It is possible that the play was given on 22 Sept. 1675, but the order of the L. C. listing, the sequence of known performance on 24, 25, and 28 Sept., and the fact that most of the cast are principals in the company suggest a late September or early October production rather than an early September one

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 359: Augustus Caesar. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 346. The music for a song in act I, scene I, was composed by Nicholas Staggins, and printed in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679. There is no certainty that this was the premiere, but it may well have been. The play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1676

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@142, p. 81: At the Man of Mode. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. Nell Gwyn also attended this performance. See VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 407. It is uncertain whether this is the premiere, but the licensing date of 3 June 1676 suggests that the first production may have occurred at this time. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 36): This Comedy being well Cloath'd and well Acted, got a great deal of Money. One song, As Amoret with Phyllis sat, the words by Sir Car Scroope and the music by Nicholas Staggins, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679; another, When first Amintas charmed my heart, the music by Staggins, is in the same collection, Fifth Book, 1684. John Dennis: I remember very well that upon the first acting this Comedy, it was generally believed to be an agreeable Representation of the Persons of Condition of both both Sexes, both in Court and Town; and that all the World was charm'd with Dorimont (A Defence of Sir Fopling Flutter, 1722, p. 18). For the full text of Dennis' discussion of this play, see The Critical Works of John Dennis, ed. E. N. Hooker (Baltimore, 1943), II, 241-50

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@142, p. 81: At the Virtuoso. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. Nell Gwyn also attended this performance; see VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 407. The Diary of Robert Hooke, 25 May 1676: Mr Abraham Hill gave J. Hoskins, Aubery and I an account of Vertuoso play. A song, How retched is the slave to love, the music by Francis Forcer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 37): The Libertine and Virtuoso: Both Wrote by Mr Shadwell; they were both very well Acted, and got the company great Reputation

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Nell Gwyn attended this performance. See VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p.408. It is not certain that this was the premiere, but, as the play was licensed for publication on 20 Nov. 1676, the first performance may well have been on this day. A song, Away with the causes of riches and cares, with music by Matthew Lock, is in Catch that Catch Can, No. 64, 1685. Another, Beneath a shady willow, with music by William Turner, is in A New Collection of Songs and Poems...by Thomas D'Urfey, 1683. Edition of 1677: That its only good Fortune was, in being the Subject of the Courts Diversion, where their Noble Clemency and Good Nature were extremely requisite, in covering its defects from the too Censorious; His Majesty, according to His accustomed Royal and Excellent Temper, was pleas'd to descend so far, as to give it a particular Applause, which was seconded by your Grace [The Duke of Ormond]

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. There is no indication of the first date of performance, but a licensing date of 19 Feb. 1676@7 suggests a December 1676 or January 1677 production.Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 38): Titus and Berenice, Wrote by the same Author [Thomas Otway], consisting of 3 Acts: With the Farce of the Cheats of Scapin at the end: This Play, with the Farce, being perfectly well Acted; had good Success

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@145, p. 120. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 349. There is no certainty that this is the first performance, but a licensing date of 28 Jan. 1677@8 and Mrs Behn's statement in the Preface that she hurried the play into print suggest a premiere not far from this date. Edition of 1678: To the Reader: I Printed this Play with all the impatient haste one ought to do, who would be vindicated from the most unjust and silly aspersion, Woman could invent to cast on Woman; and which only my being a Woman has procured me, That it was Bawdy, the least and most Excusable fault in the Men Writers, to whose Plays they all crowd, as if they came to no other end then to hear what they condemn in this: but from a Woman it was unnaturall. One song, Sitting by yonder river side, with music by Thomas? Farmer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but a licensing date of 28 March 1678 suggests a first performance not later than February 1678. One song, One night while all the village slept, with music by Louis Grabu and words by Sir Car Scroop, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 17): Major Mohun...[in] Mithridates, &c. An Eminent Poet seeing him Act this last, vented suddenly this Saying: Oh Mohun, Mohun! Thou little Man of Mettle, if I should write a 100 Plays, I'd Write a Part for thy Mouth; in short, in all his Parts, he was most Accurate and Correct. [Downes, p. 12, gives an identical cast except for omissions.] Princess Anne apparently played Ziphares and Frances Apsley played Semandra in a production of this drama, probably at St James's Palace or at Sir Allen Apsley's house in St James's Square, between January 1677@8 and August 1679. See Benjamin Bathurst, Letters of Two Queens (London, 1924), p. 61

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date for this performance is based upon Lump's remark in Act I: "Upon the one and twentieth of March..." Since the dedication bears a date of 16 Feb. 1678@9, the assumption is that the play was first acted on 21 March 1677@8. References in the Prologue also fit the public events of March 1678. Dedication, Edition of 1679: This Play...met not with that Success from the generality of the Audience, which I hop'd for, and you thought, and still think, it deserved

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first production is not known, but as the play was licensed for printing on 27 March 1679, the premiere must have been no later than March 1679. It is possible that Midnight's Intrigue--see introductory note to the 1676-77 season-is an earlier version of this play. The Epilogue suggests that the players faced thin audiences during the spring and that Drury Lane had been closed for some time: So hard the Times are, and so thin the Town, @Though but one Playhouse, that must too lie down. It is possible that Mrs Behn's The Young King may have been acted at this time. See September 1679

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first performance is uncertain, but the fact that the play was entered in the Stationers' Register on 14 April 1679 suggests a premiere not later than April 1679. A song, Can life be a blessing, with music by Thomas Farmer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first production is uncertain. The fact that the Epilogue suggests that it followed Settle's The Female Prelate is not a factor in the dating, as the Newdigate newsletters--see Wilson, Theatre Notes from the Newdigate Newsletters, p. 80--show that Settle's play was first acted on 31 May 1680, whereas Caesar Borgia was entered in the Term Catalogues, November 1679. Although the reference in the Epilogue to burning the Pope's Effigies" has been argued as referring to the Pope-burning procession of 17 Nov. 1679, the references in the Epilogue to Father Lewis, who was tried and convicted at York, 28 March 1679, suggest that it was written before his execution, 27 Aug. 1679. Hence the play may have been acted first some time in the late spring or the summer. A song, Blush not redder than the Morning, with music by Thomas Farmer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. There is no certainty as to the date of the first production; but as this play was entered in the Term Catalogues November 1679, it was certainly first acted by October 1679, possibly in September 1679. A musical number, The Loyal Protestant, the music by Thomas Farmer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but its Prologue indicates that it follows The Woman Captain. Like that play and The Virtuous Wife, Caius Marius was entered in the Term Catalogues, November 1679, but the large number of plays apparently presented earlier in the autumn suggests that this one could hardly have been brought on the stage before October 1679

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but the fact that it was entered in the Term Catalogues in February 1679@80 suggests a first production in December 1679 or January 1680. A song, Tell my Strephon that I die, with music by John Blow, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Fourth Book, 1683

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. That this date is the premiere is conjectured from the order, dated 11 Dec. 1680, forbidding further acting of this play. See L. C. 5@144, p. 28, in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p.1 on: Whereas I am informed that there is Acted by you a Play called Lucius Junius Brutus..wherein are very Scandalous Expressions & Reflections upon ye Government these are to require you Not to Act ye said Play again. In the Preface to Charles Gildon's The Patriot (1703) it is stated that Lee's play was banned after the third day's Acting, by the Lord Chamberlain Arlington as an anti-monarchical play." As the order is dated 11 Dec. 1680, the drama was probably presented on 8, 9, and 10 Dec. 1680.

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first performance is not known. An entry in L. C. 5@145, p. 120 (see also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 349) lists a performance for 4 April, once thought to be 4 April 1680; but as this date falls on Sunday, it more likely represents a revival on 4 April 1681. As the Epilogue appears to appeal to Parliament (which existed from 15 Oct. 1680 to 18 Jan. 1680@1) to vote funds for King Charles, "Our King of Poets," it seems likely that the play was first performed before the close of Parliament. The play was not entered in the Term Catalogues until June 1681. A song, Phyllis whose heart was unconfined, set by Thomas? Farmer; and another, A pox upon this cursed life, set by Captain Pack, are in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Fourth Book, 1683

Event Comment: The King's Company. This play was acted at Oxford on 19 March 1680@1 before Charles II (see True Protestant Mercury, 19-23 March 1680@1; Wilson, Theatre Notes from the Newdigate Newsletters, p. 80; and Smith's Protestant Intelligence, 24-28 March 1681). The play may have been given first in London; if not, it probably was not acted there until after Easter, 3 April 1681. The company also performed The Plain Dealer in Oxford on 21 March 1680@1 (Smith's Protestant Intelligence, 24-28 March 1681)