Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: To the King's playhouse, and there saw The English Monsieur; sitting for privacy sake in an upper box: the play hath much mirth in it as to that particular humour. After the play done, I down to Knipp, and did stay her undressing herself; and there saw the several players, men and women go by; and pretty to see how strange they are all, one to another, after the play is done. Here I saw a wonderful pretty maid of her own, that come to undress her, and one so pretty that she says she intends not to keep her, for fear of her being undone in her service, by coming to the playhouse. Here I hear Sir W. Davenant is just now dead; and so who will succeed him in the mastership of the house is not yet known. The eldest Davenport is, it seems, gone from this house to be kept by somebody; which I am glad of, she being a very bad actor.... [Mrs Knepp] tells me mighty news, that my Lady Castlemayne is mightily in love with Hart of their house; and he is much with her in private, and she goes to him, and do give him many Presents; and that the thing is most certain, and Becke Marshall only privy to it, and the means of bringing them together, which is a very odd thing; and by this means she is even with the King's love to Mrs Davis

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Pepys, Diary: [Creed] and I to the Duke of York's playhouse; and there coming late, he and I up to the balcony-box, where we find my Lady Castlemayne and several great ladies; and there we sat with them, and I saw The Impertinents once more, now three times, and the three only days it hath been acted. And to see the folly how the house do this day cry up the play more than yesterday! and I for that reason like it, I find, the better, too: by Sir Positive At-all, I understand, is meant Sir Robert Howard. My Lady [Castlemayne] pretty well pleased with it

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: But, Lord! to see how this play of Sir Positive At-all [The Sullen Lovers], in abuse of Sir Robert Howard, do take, all the Duke's and every body's talk being of that, and telling more stories of him, of the like nature, that it is now the town and country talk, and, they say, is most exactly true. The Duke of York himself said that of his playing at trap-ball is true, and told several other stories of him

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: [Mercer] and I to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw The Tempest, and between two acts, I went out to Mr Harris, and got him to repeat to me the words of the Echo, while I writ them down, having tried in the play to have wrote them; but, when I had done it, having done it, withour looking upon my paper, I find I could not read the blacklead. But now I have got the words clear, and, in going in thither, had the pleasure to see the actors in their several dresses, especially the seamen and monster, which were very droll. So into the play again. But there happened one thing which vexed me, which is, that the orange-woman did come in the pit, and challenge me for twelve oranges, which she delivered by my order at a late play, at night, to give to some ladies in a box, which was wholly untrue, but yet she swore it to be true. But, however, I did deny it, and did not pay her; but, for quiet, did buy 4s. worth of oranges of her, at 6d. a-piece. Here I first saw my Lord Ormond since his coming from Ireland, which is now about eight days

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: So the the Fair, and there saw several sights; among others, the mare that tells money, and many things to admiration; and, among others, come to me, when she was bid to go to him of the company that most loved a pretty wench in a corner. And this did cost me 12d. to the horse, which I had flung him before, and did give me occasion to baiser a mighty belle fille that was in the house that was exceeding plain, but fort belle

Event Comment: Newsletter, 5 Jan.: Copies of a malicious comedy called Pluto, reflecting on several persons of honour, have been taken. It was to have been acted within the prison of the King's Bench (HMC, 12th Report, Part VII, p. 61). The play was published in Amsterdam in 1669 with the title: Pluto furens & vinctus; or, The raging devil bound. The Dedication speaks of it as being suitable for performance by schoolboys during the holidays. The edition has a Prologue and an Epilogue but no actors' names

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: To the King's house, to see Horace; this the third day of its acting--a silly tragedy; but Lacy hath made a farce of several dances--between each act, one: but his words are but silly, and invention not extraordinary, as to the dances; only some Dutchmen come out of the mouth and tail of a Hamburgh sow. Thence, not much pleased with the play

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This play is on the L. C. lists at Harvard. See VanLennep, "Plays on the English Stage", p. 14. A song in this play, Thus all our Lives, with music by John Banister, is in Choice Songs and Ayres, 1673. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 31): [Concerning several plays] All which Expir'd the third Day, save the Royal Shepherdess, which liv'd Six. Pepys, Diary: To the Duke of York's house, and there before one, but the house infinite full, where, by and by, the King and Court come, it being a new play, or an old one new vamped, by Shadwell, called The Royal Shepherdesse!; but the silliest for words and design, and evepything, that ever I saw in my whole life, there being nothing in the world pleasing in it, but a good martial dance of pikemen, where Harris and another do handle their pikes in a dance to admiration; but never less satisfied with a play in my life

Event Comment: The Travels of Cosmo the Third (Thursday 25 April 1669 NS; Thursday 15 April OS): After dinner, he recommenced his visits to the ladies; going towards evening to the King's Theatre, to hear the comedy, in his majesty's box. This theatre is nearly of a circular form, surrounded, in the inside, by boxes separated from each other, and divided into several rows of seats, for the greater accommodation of the ladies and gentlemen, who, in conformity with the freedom of the country, sit together indiscriminately; a large space being left on the ground-flobr for the rest of the audience. The scenery is very light, capable of a great many changes, and embellished with beautiful landscapes. Before the comedy begins, that the audience may not be tired with waiting, the most delightful symphonies are played; on which account many persons come early to enjoy this agreeable amusement. The comedies which are acted, are in prose; but their plots are confused, neither unity nor regularity being observed; the authors having in view, rather than any thing else, to describe accurately the passions of the mind, the virtues and the vices; and they succeed the better, the more the players themselves, who are excellent, assist them with action, and with the enunciation of their language, which is very adapted for the purpose, as being a variation, but very much confined and curtailed, of the Teutonic idiom; and enriched with many phrases and words of the most beautiful and expressive description, taken both from ancient and modern languages (London, 1821, pp. 190-91)

Event Comment: The King's Company. For the identification of this play and details of its performance, see W. J. Lawrence, "Foreign Singers and Musicians at the Court of Charles II," Musical Quarterly, IX (1923), 217-25, and James G. McManaway, "Entertainment for the Grand Duke of Tuscany," Theatre Notebook, XVI (1961), 20-21. The Travels of Cosmo the Third [Monday 3 June 1669 NS; Monday 24 May 1669 OS]: In the afternoon his highness left home earlier than usual to make his visits, that he might be at the King's Theatre in time for the comedy, and a ballet set on foot and got up in honor of his highness by my Lord Stafford, uncle of the Duke of Norfolk. On arriving at the theatre, which was sufficiently lighted on the stage and on the walls to enable the spectators to see the scenes and the performances, his highness seated himself in a front box, where, besides enjoying the pleasure of the spectacle, he passed the evening in conversation with the Venetian ambassador, the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Stafford, and other noblemen. To the story of Psyche, the daughter of Apollo, which abounded with beautiful incidents, all of them adapted to the performers and calculated to express the force of love, was joined a well-arranged ballet, regulated by the sound of various instruments, with new and fanciful dances after the English manner, in which different actions were counterfeited, the performers passing gracefully from one to another, so as to render intelligible, by their movements, the acts they were representing. This spectacle was highly agreeable to his highness from its novelty and ingenuity; and all parts of it were likewise equally praised by the ladies and gentlemen, who crouded in great numbers to the theatre, to fill the boxes, with which it is entirely surrounded, and the pit, and to enjoy the performance, which was protracted to a late hour of the night (pp. 347-48). In BM Add. Mss. 10117, folio 230, Rugge's Diurnall states that towards the end of May 1669 Cosmo, Prince of Tuscany had several plays acted for him

Event Comment: The Prologue and Epilogue to Sir William Cartwright's The Ordinary were printed in A Collection of Poems Written Upon Several Occasions, 1673, and the play was licensed for a revival, the date of the license being 15 January 1671. See The Plays and Poems of Sir William Cartwright, ed. G. Blakemore Evans (Madison, Wisc., 1951), p. 262. The fact that this day falls on Sunday and the fact that the Prologue and Epilogue were printed in 1673, raise the possibility that this date should be regarded as 15 January 1671@2 rather than 15 January 1670@1

Event Comment: London Gazette, No 878, 8-12 Jan. 1673@4: At the Musick-school in White-Fryers, this present Monday, several new Ayres will be performed, beginning at seven of the clock in the evening; the usual publick room to be wholly abated, and the other rooms and boxes the one halfe; this is to continue till Michaelmasse next

Event Comment: London Gazette, No. 878, 16-20 April 1674: At the Musick-School in White-Fryers, this Present Monday, several new Ayrs will be performed, beginning at seven of the clock in the evening; the usual Publick Room to be wholly abated, and the other Rooms and Boxes the one half; this to continue till Michaelmas next

Event Comment: Preparations for the production of a play (Calisto) at court in midwinter had been underway by this time. On this day Margaret Blagge wrote to John Evelyn: the play goes on mightily, which I hoped would never have proceeded farther....Would you believe it, there are some that envy me the honour (as they esteeme it) of acting in this play (The Life of Mrs Godolphin, ed. Samuel Lord Bishop of Oxford [1847], p. 96. See also pp. 93-95.). Several orders for costumes, scenes, and properties dated through the winter offer valuable information concerning details of the preparations. See Nicoll, Restoration Drama, pp. 357-58, p. 43n; Boswell, Restoration Court Stage, pp. 178-227

Event Comment: London Gazette, No. 923, 21-24 Sept. 1674: At Mr John Banisters house in White-Fryers, called the Musick School, will be several Masters performing Vocal and Instrumental Musick, on Tuesday next, and every evening for the future. Beginning exactly at five of the clock

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This play may well have been performed regularly since 25 May. The Diary of Robert Hooke, 2 June 1676: with Godfrey and Tompion at Play. Met Oliver there. Damned Doggs. Vindica me Deus. People almost pointed. [Several entries in Hooke's Diary concern The Virtuoso. See his entries for 1 June, 3 June, 1 July.

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first production is not known. The play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1680, and advertised in the True News, 12-15 May 1680, suggesting a production not later than April 1680. Nevertheless, the fact that the Prologue refers to the attack on John Dryden in Rose Street (18 Dec. 1679) and to the petitions to Parliament--Luttrell, A Brief Relation, I, 31, on 13 Jan. 1679@80, refers to petitions subscribed by several thousands--suggests that the play appeared during January 1679@80

Event Comment: The True News; or, Mercurius Anglicus, 4-7 Feb. 1679@80: On Munday night last happened a great dispute in the Duke's Play-house, some Gentlemen in their Cupps entring into the Pitt, flinging Links at the Actors, and using several reproachfull speeches against the Dutchess of P. and other persons of Honour, which has occasioned a Prohibition from farther Acting, till his Majesties farther pleasyre. A letter written by the Dowager Countess of Sunderland to Henry Sidney, dated 6 Jan. 1679@80 [possibly misdated] refers to disorders which are similar to those recorded in The True News: You must needs hear of the abominable disorders amongst us, calling all the women whores and the men rogues in the playhouses--throwing candles and links--calling my Lord Sunderland traitor, but in good company; the Duke of York?, rascal; and all ended in "God bless his Highness, the Duke of Monmouth. We will be for him against the world." I am told they may be fined a great deal if they are prosecuted. Two of these are knights of shires, Sir Scroope How, and my Lord Wharton's@eldest son; the only sufferer yet is Porter. They are ashamed, I hear, and afraid (R. W. Blencowe, Diary of the Times of Charles the Second by the Honourable Henry Sidney [London, 1843], I, 237)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the first production is not known, but the entry of this play in the Term Catalogues for November 1680 suggests a first offering in September or October 1680. The music for the play was composed by Henry Purcell, his first (according to Downes composing for the stage. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 38) gives a shortened cast and adds: All the Parts in't being perfectly perform'd, with several Entertainments of Singing; Compos'd by the Famous Master Mr Henry Purcell, (being the first he e'er Compos'd for the Stage) made it a living and Gainful Play to the Company: The Court; especially the Ladies, by their daily charming presence, gave it great Encouragement. Dedication, Edition of 1680: The Reputation that this Play received on the Stage, some few Errors excepted, was more than I could well hope from so Censorious an Age....You [the Duchess of Richmond] brought her Royal Highness just at the exigent Time, whose single Presence on the Poet's day is a Subsistence for him all the Years after. A song, Hail to the myrtle shade, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book (dated 2 Nov. 1680)