Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Edward Morris. Prologue by Charles Morris; Epilogue by George Colman, ynger (see text)]: With new Dresses and Decorations. Morning Chronicle, 14 Mar. 1799: This Day is published The Secret (2s.). Receipts: #371 18s. 6d. (319.17.0; 49.14.6; 2.7.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years [not acted since 15 Apr. 1777]. Morning Chronicle, 3 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss Pope, No. 62, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Receipts: #318 (89.7.6; 50.1.6; 0.16.6; odd money: 0.18.6; tickets: 176.16.6) (charge: #234 7s. 6d.)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Margarita to Mrs Powell, and Clara to Miss Heard, but Mrs Powell "being suddenly indisposed, Miss Heard was her substitute" (Morning Chronicle, 30 Sept.). It is not stated who acted Clara.] Receipts: #245 2s. (150.3.6; 92.18.6; 2.0.0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; M. ENT 2, by William Linley. Larpent MS 1246; not published]: With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. The Overture and Musick entirely new, composed by William? Linley. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. [Notice on playbill of 20 Nov.: The Author of The Pavilion, submitting with deference to the decision of the Public, has withdrawn it for the present to make such alterations as he hopes may render it an Entertainment better entitled to their approbation. (On 21 Jan. 1800, altered, it was acted as The Ring.)] "Miss DeCamp need never wish to have a better foil to her exquisite style of acting, than the puny efforts of Kelly and Mrs Crouch. They may be singers, but never should attempt to perform" (Dramatic Censor, I, 9). Receipts: #291 4s. 6d. (157.3.0; 131.8.6; 2.13.0)

Event Comment: "The bombardment of the fortv, at the conclusion of the Opera, went off better than on the preceding night. Of course, the thunder of guns and mortars, with the suffocating smoke, stench and vapour which pervaded every part of the house rouzed the audience from a state of lethargy and torpor...and the curtain dropped with less opposition and reprobation than on the preceding night" (Dramatic Censor, I, 350). Receipts: #342 11s. (267.17.6; 74.4.6; 0.9.0)

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: We met with Mr Salisbury, who took Mr Creed and me to the cockpitt to see The Moore of Venice, which was well done. Burt acted the Moore; by the same token, a very pretty lady that sat by me, called out, to see Desdemona smothered. Possibly Clun acted Iago. Pepys (6 Feb. 1668@9) refers to his playing that role, and a reference to Clun as Iago appears in A Most Execrable Murther in A Little Ark, ed. G. Thorn-Drury, pp. 30-31. See also entry of 14 Aug. 1660

Event Comment: For an account of the play, see John Wilson's The Cheats, ed. Milton C. Nahm (Oxford, 1935). It was licensed on 6 March (p. 124), acted, then forbade on 22 March in an order: Letter to Mr Tho. Killigrew: Signifying the Ks Pleasure that the New Play called the Cheates be no more represented till it be reuiewed by Sir Jo. Denham & Mr Waller. 22 March. 1662-3 (p. 130). Abraham Hill to John Brooke, 28 March 1663: P.S. The new play, called The Cheats, has been attempted on the Stage; but it is so scandalous, that it is forbidden (Familiar Letters of? Abraham Hill, [London, 1717], p. 103. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 16) concerning Lacy: @For his just Acting, all gave him due Praise,@His Part in the Cheats, Jony Thump, Teg and Bayes,@In these Four Excelling, The Court gave him the Bays.

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The play was licensed on 26 Dec. 1663, but the date of the premiere is uncertain. The Prologue and Epilogue refer to the end of the Long Vacation, and the beginning of Michaelmas Term on 9 Oct. 1663 suggests a performance in October

Event Comment: Flora's Figarys appears in Herbert, Dramatic Records, p. 148, under this date. As Flora's Vagaries, it had been acted at Christ Church, Oxford, on 8 Jan. 1663. The play was not published before 1670, and the entry in Herbert's list has sometimes been regarded as the date of licensing, sometimes as the date of a performance in London. Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 427, assigned it to ca. January 1662@3 at Vere St, presumably because "Mr Bird" in the cast in the quarto of 1670 referred to Theophilus Bird, who died before 3 Nov. 1663. But the cast in the edition of 1670 is presumably that for 5 Oct. 1667, when Pepys saw the play and referred to Nell Gwyn and Mrs Knepp as acting in it; they, too, are listed in the quarto of 1670 but could hardly have played in it in 1663. If the cast in the 1670 edition is not that for 3 Nov. 1663 and if the "Mr Bird" is Theophilus Bird Jr, then the obstacles to consiuering 3 Nov. 1663 as the date of a performance rather than of licensing are less formidable. [I am indebted to professor John Harold Wilson for much of this argument.

Event Comment: Charles II to Madame, 10 Dec. 1663: I am just now going to see a new play (C. H. Hartmann, Charles II and Madame[1934], p. 89). The Duke's Company. W. J. Lawrence, in a review of Boswell, The Restoration Court Stage, in Modern Language Review, XXVIII (1933), 103, suggests that it was The Step-Mother which was given on this occasion. The edition of 1664 lists: The Prologue to the King at the Cockpit at White-Hall. The Epilogue to the King

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of performance is uncertain. The play was entered in the Stationers' Register, 15 Feb. 1663@4, and its publication noted in The Newes, 3 March 1663@4. Katherine Philips, writing from Cardigan, Wales to Lady Temple in London, 24 Jan. 1663@4: I beleive er'e this you have seen the new Pompey either acted or written & then will repent your partiallity to ye other, but I wonder much what preparations for it could prejudice Will Davenant when I heare they acted in English habits, & yt so aprope yt Caesar was sent in with his feather & Muff, till he was hiss'd off ye Stage & for ye Scenes I see not where they could place any yt are very extra-ordinary, but if this play hath not diverted ye Cittizens wives enough Sr W: D: will make amends, for they say Harry ye 8th & some later ones are little better then Puppett-plays. I understand ye confederate-translators are now upon Heraclius, & I am contented yt Sr Tho. Clarges (who hath done that last yeare) should adorn their triumph in it, as I have done in Pompey (Harvard Theatre Collection)

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: With my wife to the King's house, but there found the bill torn down and no play acted.... Here [at lif; see below] met with Mr Rolt, who tells me the reason of no play to-day at the King's house. That Lacy had been committed to the porter's lodge for his acting his part in the late new play [see 15 April], and that being thence released he come to the King's house, there met with Ned Howard, the poet of the play, who congratulated his release; upon which Lacy cursed him as that it was the fault of his nonsensical play that was the cause of his ill usage. Mr Howard did give him some reply, to which Lacy [answered] him, that he was more a fool than a poet; upon which Howard did give him a blow on the face with his glove; on which Lacy, having a cane in his hand, did give him a blow over the pate. Here Rolt and others that discoursed of it in the pit this afternoon did wonder that Howard did not run him through, he being too mean a fellow to fight with. But Howard did not do any thing but complain to the King of it; so the whole house is silenced, and the gentry seem to rejoice much at it, the house being become too insolent

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Davenant's alterations were apparently not published. Pepys, Diary: To a play...at the Duke's house, where Tu Quoque was the first time acted, with some alterations of Sir W. Davenant's; but the play is a very silly play, methinks; for I, and others that sat by me, Mr Povy and Mr Progers, were weary of it; but it will please the citizens

Event Comment: This performance was recorded by Count Dona of Sweden (Seaton, Literary Relationships, pp. 337-38). Evelyn, Diary: This Evening I saw the Trajedie of Horace (written by the virtuous Mrs Philips) acted before their Majesties: 'twixt each act a Masque & Antique: daunced: The excessive galantry of the Ladies was infinite, Those especially on that...Castlemaine esteemed at 40,000 pounds & more: & far out shining the Queene &c. BM Add. Mss. 36916, folio 62: This night there is a play Acted at court by the Dutchess of Monmouth Countess of Castlemain and others. The Countess is adorned with Jewells to the Value of #200,000 the Crowne Jewells being taken from the Tower for her. There are none but the Nobility admitted to see it. The play is Madam Phillips translation of Corneiles Horace, finished by Sr John Denham

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Langbaine, English Dramatick Poets, p. 509: [It] was alter'd (as I have heard by Mr Carthwright) by Mr Betterton. Downes, p. 30: [Done] by the same Author [Betterton]...and all the other Parts Exactly perform'd, it lasted Successively 8 Days, and very frequently Acted afterwards. Pepys, Diary: To the Duke of York's playhouse, and there, in the side balcony, over against the musick, did hear, but not see, a new play, the first day acted, The Roman Virgin, and old play, and but ordinary, I thought; but the trouble of my eyes with the light of the candles did almost kill me

Event Comment: Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 31: Note, About the Year 1670, Mrs Aldridge, after Mrs Lee, after Lady Slingsby, also Mrs Leigh Wife of Mr Antony Leigh, Mr Crosby, Mrs Johnson, were entertain'd in the Duke's House

Event Comment: The King's Company. Although the play was not licensed until 16 Oct. 1676 and not published until 1678, the Epilogue refers in detail to the burning of the King's Theatre in Bridges Street, Drury Lane, suggesting that the premiere came not long after that event

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This play is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 216. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. The date on the list seems to be "3," but as this is a Sunday, it is more likely "9." This performance may well be the one to which Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 31) refers: Note, Mr Cademan in this Play [The Man's the Master], not long after our Company began in Dorset-Garden; his Part being to Fight with Mr Harris, was Unfortunately, with a sharp Foil pierc'd near the Eye, which so Maim'd both the Hand and his Speech, that he can make little use of either; for which Mischance, he has receiv'd a Pension ever since 1673, being 35 Years a goe. [For a discussion of this accident, see William VanLennep, Henry Harris, Actor, Friend of Pepys, Studies in English Theatre History (London, 1952), p. 16, and the entry under 20 Aug. 1673.

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 116. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345. There is some uncertainty as to whether this is the premiere, but another performance on 15 Jan. 1674@5 and its entry in the Stationers' Register 13 Jan. 1674@5 suggest that this was probably the first performance

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 215. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345. There is no certainty that this is the premiere, but it or the preceding Saturday may well be, since Sophonisba seems to have dominated the preceding week

Event Comment: [The Duke's Company. Nell Gwyn attended this performance. See VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 407. There is no certainty that this performance is the premiere, btt an additional known performance on 15 June suggests that early June probably saw the initial run. The music for two songs, Thou joy of all hearts and When you dispense your influence, both set by Dr William Turner, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, Second Book, 1679. Preface, Edition of 1676: I have no reason to complain of the success of this Play, since it pleased those, whom, of all the World, I would please most: Nor was the Town unkind to it....[There] being no Act in it, which cost me above Five days writing: and the last Two (the Play-house having great occasion for a Play) were both written in Four Days. 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. The Libertine perform'd by Mr Betterton Crown'd the Play

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