Event Comment: Newsletter, 7 April: Last evening
their Majesties were diverted with a comedy acted at
St James's by the little young ladies of the
Court, who appeared extraordinarily glorious and covered with jewels (
HMC, Fleming MSS. 12th Report, VII, 70). This may have been a perfor
mance of
The Faithful Shepherdess which was entered by
Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington, in his diary, 2 April 1670 [error for 6 April (?)]: I saw
Lady Mary, daughter of
the Duke of York, and
many young ladies act
the Faithful Shepherdess very finely (
Diary, Volume V, in
Chatsworth. I owe this entry to
Professor Kathleen Lynch). In
Covent Garden Drollery, 1672 (ed.
G. Thorn-Drury), p. 68, is an Epilogue spoken by the
Lady Mary Mordaunt, before
the King and
Queen at court, to the Faithful Shepherdess. As Lady
Mary was then about twelve, this Epilogue seems to confirm the possibility that the play was The Faithful Shepherdess acted by amateurs