Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not precisely known, but by 9 May 1693 it had been acted four times (see Dryden's letter, below); on the other hand, the Gentleman's Journal, February 1692@3 (issued in March) had stated that D'Urfey's new farce would not appear until after Easter. Hence, it may well have been the first new play after Passion Week. A dialogue, Behold, the man with that gigantick might, the music by Henry Purcell and sung by Mr Reading and Mrs Ayliff, is in Orpheus Britannicus, 1690. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XXI (1917), viii-x. A dialogue, By these pigsnes eyes that stars do seem, the music by John Eccles and sung by Dogget and Mrs Bracegirdle, is in Joyful Cuckoldom, ca. 1695. Another, Stubborn church division, folly, and ambition, to a Ground of Mr Solomon Eccles, is in Thesaurus Musicus, 1694. And Maiden fresh as a rose, the verse by D'Urfey and sung by Pack, but not printed in the play, is in The Merry Musician, I (1716), 56-57. This last song may have been for a later revival. Gentleman's Journal, April 1693 (issued in May 1693): Since my last we have had a Comedy by Mr Durfey; 'tis called the Richmond Heiress or a Woman once in the right (p. 130). Dryden to Walsh, 9 May 1693: Durfey has brought another farce upon the Stage: but his luck has left him: it was sufferd but foure dayes; and then kickd off for ever. Yet his Second Act, was wonderfully diverting; where the scene was in Bedlam: & Mrs Bracegirdle and Solon [Dogget] were both mad: the Singing was wonderfully good, And the two whom I nam'd, sung better than Redding and Mrs Ayloff, whose trade it was: at least our partiality carryed it for them. The rest was woeful stuff, & concluded with Catcalls; for which the two noble Dukes of Richmond and St@Albans were chief managers (The Letters of John Dryden, pp. 52-53)

Event Comment: At Reynolds' Booth. Second Piece: [By Charles Coffey.] The Beggar's Wedding acted until 8 p.m. Southwark Fair acted from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. The Humours of Harlequin added to each. [On Thursday 18 the performance was a benefit for Mrs Nokes.

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bradshaw, Mrs Love, Mrs Booth & Miss Field. Mainpiece: With the Grand Triumphal Entryv. Afterpiece: View of the Grand Campv as 6 Nov. 1779. Tickets delivered by Collins will be taken. Public Advertiser, 4 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Bradshaw at Nichole's, baker, Bridges Street; of Mrs Love at Mrs Baker's, Gerrard-street; of Mrs Booth and Miss Field, No. 10, corner of Martlet Court, Bow-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #201 6s. (41.13.0; 15.8.6; 3.0.6; tickets: 141.4.0) (charge: #93 7s. 10d.)

Event Comment: [The King's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but a letter--see 2 Jan. 1670@1--indicates that the first part had been acted before that date and that Part II was to be shortly staged. The point of the Prologue spoken by Ellen Gwyn seems to have derived from an incident at Dover (see Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 20) in May 1670, when James Nokes attired himself in a ridiculous fashion, including "Broad wast Belts." The speakers of the Epilogue and the Prologue to the Second Part are mentioned in Sir William Haward's MS (Bodl. MS Don. b., pp. 248-49); see The Poems of John Dryden, ed. James Kinsley (Oxford, 1958), IV, 1848-49. In Part I a song Beneath a myrtle shade, with music by John Bannister, is in Choice Songs and Ayres, First Book, 1673. Another, Wherever I am, with music by Alphonso Marsh, is in the same collection, as is also How unhappy a lover am I, the music by Nicholas Staggins. Mrs John Evelyn to Mr Bohun, ca. Jan. 1670@1: Since my last to you I have seen The Siege of Grenada, a play so full of ideas that the most refined romance I ever read is not to compare with it; love is made so pure, and valour so nice, that one would image it designed for an Utopia rather than our stage. I do not quarrel with the poet, but admire one born in the decline of morality should be able to feign such exact virtue; and as poetic fiction has been instructive in former ages, I wish this the same event in ours. As to the strict law of comedy I dare not pretend to judge: some think the division of the story is not so well if it could all have been comprehended in the day's actions (The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, ed. William Bray, IV, 25). According to John Evelyn--see 9 Feb. 1670@1--Robert Streeter did some of the scenes for this play. In the Preface to The Fatal Discovery, ca. February 1697@8, George Powell, in discussing revivals of Dryden's plays, stated: In relation to our reviving his Almanzor...very hard crutching up what Hart and Mohun could not prop

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first production is not known, and it may have been acted before this season; hence, it is entered also in the preliminary list in the season of 1676-77. As the play was licensed for printing on 4 Oct. 1677, September 1677 is probably the latest time at which it could have been produced. The play is an alteration of Thomas Middleton's No Wit, No Help, Like a Woman's. It has been attributed to both Mrs Aphra Behn and Thomas Betterton

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first performance is not known. Luttrell, however, dated the copy he purchased 6 July 1680 (VanLennep, Two Restoration Comedies, pp. 57-58) and attributed it to Mrs Aphra Behn. If copies were available in early July, the play was most probably performed in June 1680. Langbaine (English Dramatick Poets, p. 547) had heard that Mrs Behn was the author, but A Comparison between the Two Stages (p. 11) attributed it to Thomas Betterton. For a discussion of the authorship, see also Ten English Farces, ed. Leo Hughes and A. H. Scouten (Austin, Texas, 1948), pp. 203-4

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 3, by Sarah Gardner. Prologue by the author (London Chronicle, 11 Aug.). Larpent MS 435; not published; synopsis of plot in London Magazine, Aug. 1777, p. 433. For a description of the difficulties attending the reception of this play, from a recently discovered MS by Mrs Gardner, see Theatre Notebook, VII, 76-81]

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 5 years [not acted since 26 Dec. 1776. Mrs Robinson, who was from the Portsmouth theatre, is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill]. Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, by Frances Brooke, based on Les Moissonneurs, by Charles Simon Favart]: The new Music and overture composed, and the Selected Airs compiled [from Paxton and Sacchini], by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Account-Book, 30 June 1784: Paid Shield for composing Rosina #100. Receipts: #158 18s. 6d. (154/5/6; 4/13/0)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; C 4, by Francis Godolphin Waldron, altered by the author from his IMITATION, 1st acted at DL, 1 2 May 1783. Prologue by the author. Epilogue by George Colman, the younger (see text). Mrs Harlowe was from CG.]

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Holcroft, adapted from Le Complaisant, by Antoine de Feriol comte de Pont-de-Veyle, and from Clavigo, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It has been attributed to John Fenwick (Genest, VII, 360-61; London Chronicle, 14 Feb. 1798). But for Holcroft's acknowledgment of authorship see his Life, ed. Elbridge Colby, 1925, II, 170. Author of Prologue unknown. Epilogue by the author (Knapp, p. 88)]. Times, 12 Apr. 1798: This Day will be published He's Much to Blame (2s.). "Mrs Mattocks has of late habituated herself to a constant titter, which destroys the effect of her best scenes" (Times, 14 Feb.). Receipts: #249 1s. (240.5; 8.16)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not precisely known, but it seems likely to have been in mid-January. See the discussion under 10 Jan. 1693@4 and Evelyn's remarks on 11 Jan. 1693@4. Part of the music for the play was composed by John Eccles: Young I am and yet unskill'd, sung by a girl, in Gentleman's Journal, January@February 1693@4, and Thesaurus Musicus, 1694: What state of life can be so blest, -Mrs Hudson, in Thesaurus Musicus, 1694. One song was set by Henry Purcell, How happy's the husband, the words by Congreve and sung by Mrs Ayliff, in Thesaurus Musicus, 1694: see also Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XX (1916), xiii-xiv

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Benefit for Mrs Abington. Part of Pit laid into boxes. House Charges #64 4s. [Profit to Mrs Abington #166 2s. 6d.] [The Farce-2 acts all from the comedy 'What we must all Come to' by Arthur Murphy, The airs by Hook.] Paid Blake (hosier) bill #3 15s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #230 6s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A Comedy by Mrs E. Griffith, acted for first time. New Scenes, Dresses, Decorations, etc. Neville MS Diary: While I stood at the Pit door of Drury Lane Playhouse, took occasion to say that now they (meaning the present venal House of Commons) had expelled Mr Wilkes they would proceed to do everything that is bad. For which one present (I suppose a friend of the Court) said they would proceed to send me to Newgate if it should come to their ears

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the premiere is not known. Pepys saw it on 6 March 1679@80, calling it a "New Play," and that may have been the first day. The Prologue alludes also to the Duke of York's triumphant return from Scotland on 24 Feb. 1679@80, and the play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1680. For Mrs Bracegirdle as the "little Girl," see Edmund Curll, History of the English Stage (1741), p. 26, and Lucyle Hook, Anne Bracegirdle's First Appearance, Theatre Notebook, XIII (1959), 134. For Betterton as Castalio and Mrs Barry as Monimia, probably as they performed in the next decade, see Cibber, Apology, ed. Lowe, I, 116, 160. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 37) gives the same cast except for omissions and except for Serina-Mrs Barry">Mrs Mountfort, who acted it later. Downes (pp. 37-38) adds: [Monimia, Belvidera in Venice Preserved, and Isabella in The Fatal Marriage] These three Parts, gain'd her the Name of Famous $Mrs Barry, both at court and City; for when ever She Acted any of these three Parts, she forc'd Tears from the Eyes of her Auditory, especially those who have any Sense of Pity for the Distress't. These 3 Plays, by their Excellent Performances, took above all the Modern Plays that succeeded. A song for this play, Come all the youths whose hearts have bled, the music by Forcer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Giffard. At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Simson Their Son & Daughter (Cross). Receipts: #220 (Cross )

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Pritchard

Event Comment: By Permission. Positively the last Night of Performing this Season. Benefit for Dancer, Mrs Fearon, and VanRymsdyck. Tickets delivered by Lloyd and Vowell will be taken

Event Comment: Benefit for Yates. Receipts: #148 11s. Charges: #67 3s. Profits to Mrs Yates: #81 8s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Cuyler. [Kean is identified on HAY playbill of 26 Aug. 1784.] 1st and 2nd pieces: Both written by George Colman, Esq. 3rd piece: Written by the late David Garrick. Not acted these 12 years. Tickets to be had of Mrs Cuyler, No. 7, St. Alban's-street; at the bar of George's Coffee-house; and of Rice, at the Theatre, where places for the boxes may be taken. Tickets delivered for the 15th will be admitted

Event Comment: Benefit W. Williams. At the particular Desire of several Gentlemen and Ladies. Afterpiece: Never perform'd before [but see 26 April 1728]