Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: It being almost twelve o'clock, or a little more, and carried [Mercer, Mrs Horsfield, and Mrs Gayet] to the King's playhouse, where the doors were not then open; but presently they did open; and we in, and find many people already come in, by private ways, into the pit, it being the first day of Sir Charles Sidly's new play, so long expected, The Mulberry Garden, of whom, being so reputed a wit, all the world do expect great matters. I having sat here awhile, and eat nothing to-day, did slip out, getting a boy to keep my place...And so to the play again, where the King and Queen, by and by, come, and all the Court; and the house infinitely full. But the play, when it come, though there was, here and there, a pretty saying, and that not very many neither, yet the whole of the play had nothing extraordinary in it, at all, neither of language nor design; insomuch that the King I did not see laugh, nor pleased the whole play from the beginning to the end, nor the company; insomuch that I have not been less pleased at a new play in my life, I think. And which made it the worse was, that there never was worse musick played--that is, worse things composed, which made me and Captain Rolt, who happened to sit near me, mad. So away thence, very little satisfied with the play, but pleased with my company. [For Bannister's setting a song for Mrs Knepp for this play, see 7 May 1668.

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 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. The date of the first performance is uncertain, but the fact that Luttrell dated his separately printed copies of the Prologue and Epilogue 5 April 1682 (Huntington Library) sets a probability that the play first appeared within a week to ten days preceding that date. The Prologue and Epilogue, separately printed, have been reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 89-91. A Prologue Intended for Vertue Bertray'd, by Thomas Shadwell, is reprinted in Welbeck Niscellany 3, A Collection of Poems by Several Hands, ed. Francis Needham, 1934. Some details in it suggest the "Dead Time" preceding Easter, when the Court was gone, the Russian ambassador departed, the Moroccan Ambassador shortly to go. The Russian ambassador left on 15 Feb. 1681@2 OS (see Evelyn, Diary), and the Prologue refers to the execution of Colonel Vratz and his accomplices on 10 March 1681@2 (Evelyn, Diary)

Event Comment: John Dryden to Jacob Tonson, ca. August 1684: I desire to know whether the Dukes house are makeing cloaths & putting things in a readiness for the singing opera [The Tempest?], to be playd immediately after Michaelmasse: for the Actors in the two plays, which are to be acted of mine, this winter [All for Love and The Conquest of Granada], I had spoken with Mr Betterton by chance at the Coffee house the afternoon before I came away: & I believe that the persons were all agreed on, to be just the same you mentioned. Only Octavia was to be Mrs Buttler, in case Mrs Cooke were not on the Stage. And I know not whether Mrs Percivall who is a Comedian, will do so well for Benzayda (Letters of John Dryden, ed. Ward, pp. 23-24)

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@147, p. 361. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 351. The date of the first performance of this revision is not known. As it is somewhat unlikely that a play would have its premiere at court, the first production possibly appeared earlier in the month. See 6 Nov. 1668 for an earlier revision of this work. The title-page of the edition of 1687 states: As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal. Reviv'd with Alterations

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is stated in Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 435, 28 April 1692: On Monday will be acted a new opera, call the Fairy Queen: exceeds former playes: the clothes, scenes, and musick cost 3000#. [According to Some Select Songs As they are Sung in the Fairy Queen (1692) tne singers were Mrs Ayliff, Mrs Dyer, Freeman, Mrs Butler, and Pate. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XII (1903), ii; E. W. White, Early Performances of Purcell's Operas, Theatre Notebook, XIII (1958-59 ), 45; and R. E. Moore, Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre, Chapter IV.] Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 42-43: The Fairy Queen, made into an Opera, from a Comedy of Mr Shakespeare s: This in Ornaments was Superior to the other Two [King Arthur and The Prophetess]; especially in Cloaths, for all the Singers and Dancers, Scenes, Machines and Decorations, all most profusely set off; and excellently perform'd, chiedly the Instrumental and Vocal part Compos'd by the said Mr Purcel, and Dances by Mr Priest. The Court and Town were wonderfully satisfy'd with it; but the Expences in setting it out being so great, the Company got very little by it. Gentleman's Journal, May 1692: The Opera of which I have spoke to you in my former hath at last appear'd, and continues to be represented daily: it is call'd, The Fairy Queen. The Drama is originally Shakespears, the Music and Decorations are extraordinary. I have heard the Dances commended, and without doubt the whole is very entertaining. [As the May issue of the Gentleman's Journal was licensed on 14 May, the statement that The Fairy Queen continued to be acted daily may indicate consecutive performances from 2 May to at le ast 14 May 1692.

Event Comment: Rich's Company. There is no certainty as to the date of the first performance, and the play has been sometimes assigned to mid-summer 1697 because the Preface refers to a summer production and the play was printed in 1697. Nevertheless, the presence of Verbruggen in the cast suggests that the summer of 1696 is more likely, as Verbruggen left Drury Lane on 1 Jan. 1696@7 and thereafter appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Preface, Edition of 1697: Amongst a number of New Plays that of late have crowded the Stage.... As it is, it may bear up in the Winter, notwithstanding the little Encouragement it met with at its first Appearance from a thin Town, and the Scarcity of Money. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702): Sullen: Unhappy Kindness, the same Author's [as of Mock Marriage], but very word stole. Ramble: The success? Sullen: Damn'd

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of this production is not certain. The Dedication, signed by George Powell and John Verbruggen, is dated Monday, 16 Oct. 1696, but this date is in error, for the sixteenth fell on Friday in October; however, 16 Nov. 1696 fell on Monday. In addition, the Dedication implies that the two men hope to have visitors (i.e., spectators at performances) on "Wednesday, and Saturday next, the Visiting Days of, Your Friends and Servants, George Powell, John Verbruggen." It is possible that the text and the songs were printed in advance of performance and were available at the theatre, but it is still uncertain whether the opera first appeared in October or November 1696. The Single Songs, With the Dialogue, was published separately in 1696, with Daniel Purcel named as the composer. The songs to which performers' names are listed are as follows: Cease, Cynthia, cease your fruitless tears, sung by Mrs Cross. I courted and writ, the verse by Jo Hanes and sung by Church. How happy I am the fair sex can defy, the verse by Jo Hanes and sung by Leveridge. 'Tis in vain to tell me I am deceived, sung by Freeman. Great queen of Hymen's hallowed fires, sung by Mrs Willis. Why, Chloe, will you not perceive, the verse by John Robens and sung by Church. Why dost thou fly me, sung by Edwards and Mrs Cross. If mortals laugh and sing, sung by Freeman. The Songs were entered in the Term Catalogues, November 1696