Event Comment: Edition of 1662: Being a True Relation of the Honourable the City of Londons Entertaining Their Sacred Majesties Upon the River of Thames, and Welcoming them from Hampton-Court to White-Hall. Expressed and set forth in several Shews and Pageants, the 23 day of August 1662. According to the printed version, the management of the pageant was under the care of Peter Mills, Surveyor; Malin, Water Bayliff; Thomas Whiting, Joyner; Richard Cleere, Carver. The songs were set by John Gamble, one of His Majesty's Servants. Evelyn, Diary: I this day was spectator of the most magnificent Triumph that certainly ever floted on the thames, considering the innumerable number of boates & Vessels, dressed and adorned with all imaginable Pomp: but above all, the Thrones, Arches, Pageants, & other representations, stately barges of the Lord Major, & Companies, with various Inventions, musique, & Peales of Ordnance both from the vessels & shore, going to meete & Conduct the new Queene from Hampton Court to White-hall, at the first time of her Coming to Towne.... his Majestie & the Queene, came in an antique-shaped open Vessell, convered with a State or Canopy of Cloth of Gold, made in forme of a Cupola, supported with high Corinthian Pillars, wreathd with flowers, festoones & Gyrlands: Pepys, Diary: We got into White Hall garden, and so to the Bowling-green, and up to the top of the new Banqueting House there, over the thames, which was a most pleasant place as any I could have got; and all the show consisted chiefly in the number of boats and barges; and two pageants, one of a King, and another of a Queen, with her Maydes of Honour sitting at her feet very prettily; and they tell me the Queen is Sir Richard Ford's daughter. Anon come the King and Queen in a barge under a canopy with 10,000 barges and boats, I think, for we could see no water for them, nor discern the King nor Queen. And so they landed at White Hall Bridge, and the great guns on the other side went off

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: So I to White Hall, and there all the evening on the Queen's side; and it being a most summer-like day, and a fine warm evening, the Italians come in a barge under the leads, before the Queen's drawing-room; and so the Queen and ladies went out, and heard them, for almost an hour; and it was indeed very good together; but yet there was but one voice that alone did appear considerable, and that was Seignor Joanni [Giovanni Baptista Draghi?]

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@151, p. 369: ye Q a Box & a Box for ye Maids of Honr double dealer. [See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 352.] Cibber relates an incident which may pertain to this performance, Apology, I, 185-86: Queen Mary having commanded the Double Dealer to be acted, Kynaston happen'd to be so ill that he could not hope to be able next Day to perform his Part of the Lord Touchwood. In this Exigence, the Author, Mr Congreve, advis'd that it might be given to me, if at so short a Warning I would undertake it. The Flattery of being thus distinguish'd by so celebrated an Author, and the Honour to act before a Queen, you may be sure made me blind to whatever Difficulties might attend it. I accepted the Part, and was ready in it before I slept; next Day the Queen was presented at the Play, and was received with a new Prologue from the Author, spoken by Mrs Barry, humbly acknowledging the great Honour done to the Stage....After the Play, Mr Congreve made me the Compliment of saying, That I had not only answer'd, but had exceeded his Expectations, and that he would shew me he was sincere in his saying more of me to the Masters.--He was as good as his Word, and the next Pay-day I found my Sallary of fifteen was then advanced to twenty Shillings a Week

Event Comment: The date of the premiere is not known, but the fact that the opera was advertized in the Post Man, 14-16 Jan. 1696@7, suggests that it was first acted not later than December 1696. As the title page indicates, the work had been intended for presentation before the Court, but the death of Queen Mary prevented its appearance at Court. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 19: Sullen: But to go on, Cynthia and Endymion. Ramble: What a Pox is that? I never heard on't. Sullen: I believe not; 'tis one of Durfey's Toys. Ramble: Durfey's? what again? 'twas just now we parted with him. Sullen: Ay but Sir, you must know this is an Opera--and as he tells us in the Title-page, design'd t be perform'd at court before the late Queen--there's for you; Durfey in his Altitudes--but notwithstanding the vain and conceited Title-page, 'tis good for nothing within: He's the very Antipodes to all the Poets, Antient and Modern: Other Poets treat the Deities civilly, but Mr Durfey makes the Gods Bullies, and Jilts of the chastest Goddesses. Ramble: So, I suppose that was mawl'd, notwithstanding the Honour which he says the Queen intended it. Sullen: 'Twas well for Durfey her late Majesty never saw it; Gad if she had, People wou'd ha' said, it had first been the cause of her Illness, and then of her Death; for 'tis a mortifying Piece o' my Word; Yes, yes,--it was Damn'd

Event Comment: Not Acted these Eight Years. Written by Shakespear. Containing, the Death of the Duke of Buckingham. The Fall of Cardinal Wolsey. The Divorce, and Death of Queen Catherine. The Coronation of Queen Anne Bullen, and the Christning of Queen Elizabeth. With Decorations proper to the Play. [The Prince of Wales present.

Event Comment: Benefit for Staunton and Lamash. 2nd piece [1st time; INT I, by Charles Stuart. "A speaking Pantomime of ten minutes" (Public Advertiser, 15 May). 3rd piece: Not acted these 4 years. Public Advertiser, 12 May: Tickets to be had of Staunton, Gloucester-street, Queen-square; of Lamash, Queen-court, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Receipts: #271 11s. (37.0; 15.17; 0.14; tickets: 218.0) (charge: #108 7s.)

Event Comment: Edward Gower to Sir R. Leveson, 20 Nov. 1660: Yesternight the King, Queen, Princess, &c. supped at the Duke of Albemarle's, where they had the Silent Woman acted in the cockpit (HMC, 5th Report, 1876, p. 200). The King's Company. Pepys, Diary, 20 Nov. 1660: This morning I found my Lord in bed late, he having been with the King, Queen, and Princess, at the cockpit all night, where General Monk treated them; and after supper a play, where the King did put a great affront upon John? Singleton's musique, he bidding them stop and bade the French musique play, which, my Lord says, do much outdo all ours. The prologue was printed in 1660: The Prologue to His Majesty at the first Play presented at the cock-pit in Whitehall, Being part of that Noble Entertainment which Their Majesties received Novemb. 19. from his Grace the Duke of Albemarle. [The Prologue has been reprinted by Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 11-12. Bodleian Wood 398 has a MS note: By Sir Jo. Denham.

Event Comment: The play was entered in the Stationers' Register on 26 May 1665. In addition, the Prologue alludes to The Indian Queen (25 Jan. 1663@4): @The Scenes are old, the Habits are the same,@We wore last year, before the Spaniards came.@ Printed with The Indian Emperour was The Connexion of the Indian Emperour to the Indian Queen, which may have been distributed at the theatre, for Bayes, in The Rehearsal, remarks: Besides, Sir, I have printed above a hundred sheets of paper to insinuate the Plot into the Boxes

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@147, p. 125. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 350. Peregrine Bertie to the Countess of Rutland, 31 Dec. 1685: Yesterday was acted The Committee. The King and Queen were there and all the whole Court went to see it, but coming a little after it was begun [I] could not get any roome (HMC, 12th Report, Appendix, Rutland MSS., Part V, Vol. II, p. 100). Bridget Noel to the Countess of Rutland, ca. 6 Jan. 1685@6: [Last Wednesday] my Lady Exeter engaged us to goe to a play with her...which was a Commity. The King and Queen was at it, and the house as full as ever I saw it (ibid.)

Event Comment: The United Company. Peregrine Bertie to the Countess of Rutland. 6 Feb. 1685@6: Thursday was acted Mithridates? for the Queen and Goodman played (HMC, 12th Report, Appendix, Rutland MSS., Part V, Vol. II, p. 104). [In L. C. 5@147, is a warrant to pay Mrs Barry for two plays-Valentinian and Mithridates-acted before the King and Queen, #40. The date of the warrant is 8 May 1686. If this warrant represents payment for this performance of Mithridates, probably Valentinian was acted in 1686.

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of this Performance is stated as 16 Feb. (L. C. records) or 17 Feb. (Peregrine Bertie), but as Lent began on Wednesday 17 Feb., the performance probably occurred on Shrove Tuesday. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@147, P. 125. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 350. Peregrine Bertie to the Countess of Rutland, 17 Feb. 1685@6: To night will be the last play at court, they tell mee 'tis the Mocke Astrologer (HMC, 12th Report, Appendix, Rutland MSS., Part V, p. 105). John Povey to Sir Robert Southwell, 18 Feb. 1685@6: Sir, the enclosed had been sent last post, had it not been detained late by a play at Court which ended our Carnival. The night before the King and Queen were entertained by the Lord President at a ball or masque in Lady Portsmouth's lodgings. The Masquers were twelve couples whose habits were of several nations' and prescribed by a picture sent to each of them from the Queen, and the least habit cost !bove a hundred Pounds, and some above three hundred pounds, besides jewels of which Mrs Fox and some others had above thirty thousand pounds value each (Savile-Finch Correspondence, Add. Mss. 28,569; I owe this quotation to Professor John Harold Wilson)

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@151, p. 369. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 352. This appears to be a substitution for a previously scheduled performance of Amphitryon (Nicoll, p. 352). In L. C. 5@150, p. 74 (Nicoll, p. 357) is an order for a large looking glass to be provided for Sir Courtly Nice at this performance. In addition, there appears to have been a concert in honor of the Queen's birthday. See D'Urfey, Wit and Mirth, I, 62-64: An Ode on the Anniversary of the Queens-Birth. Set to Musick by Mr Henry Purcel, April 30th, 1690

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but it followed The Gordian Knot Unty'd, which is mentioned in the Prologue. Edward III was advertised in the London Gazette, No. 2629, 19-22 Jan. 1690@1, and entered in the Term Catalogues, February 1690@1. The authorship is uncertain. The title page bears no author's name, but the Dedication is signed by Will. Mountfort. In addition, on 10 Oct. 1691 Mountfort received a grant of #10 when Edward III was played before the Queen (L. C. 5@150, p. 306, in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 357). On tne other hand, the Gentleman's Journal, October 1692, stated that it was written by the author of Henry the Second, which has been attributed to John Bancroft. See Nicoll, Restoration Drama, pp. 388-89, for a summation of the evidence on this problem. Alfred Harbage, Elizabethan-Restoration Palimpsest, Modern Language Review, XXXV (1940), 319, thinks that this is a revision of Robert Davenport's The Politic Queen

Event Comment: The United Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@151, p. 369: ye Q a Box & a Box for ye Maids Honr K Arthur. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 352. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 331: The queen and queen dowager went this evening to the play of Mr Dryden s opera. [See also the reference to this play under January 1691@2 above.

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first production is not known, but the Songs were advertised in the Flying Post, 6-8 Dec. 1698, and the play in the London Gazette, 19-22 Dec. 1698; hence, the premiere was certainly not later than early December and was probably not later than November. In fact, on 5 Dec. 1698 Dr. William Aglionby wrote Matthew Prior, referring to Dennis, "a poor poet who has made us a fine entertainment of Rinaldo and Armida" (quoted in The Works of John Dennis, II, 489). In a dialogue written by John Oldmixon (Reflections on the Stage [London, 1699], p. 101) Savage, referring to Rinaldo and Armida, states: I have seen it 3 or 4 times already, but the Musick is so fine, and the Play pleases me so well, that I shall not think it a burthen [to see it again] (in The Works of John Dennis, I, 479). The Musical Entertainments in the Tragedy of Rinaldo and Armida (1699) is reprinted, with an introduction by Herbert Davis, in Theatre Miscellany (Luttrell Society Reprints, No 14, Oxford, 1953), pp. 103-15. One song, Ah queen, ah wretched queen, give o'er, sung by Gouge, is in Mercurius Musicus, 1699; and another, Jolly breeze that comes whistling, sung by Gouge, is in Twelve New Songs, 1699. A Comparison between the Two Stages (1702), p. 22: Critick: At last, (as you say) the old Stagers moulded a piece of Pastry work of their own, and made a kind of Lenten Feast with their Rinaldo and Armida; this surpriz'd not only Drury-lane, but indeed all the Town, no body ever dreaming of an Opera there; 'tis true they had heard of Homer's Illiads in a Nut-shel, and Jack in a Box, and what not?...Sullen: Well, with this Vagary they tug'd a while, and The Jolly-Jolly breeze-came whistling thro'-all the Town, and not a Fop but ran to see the Celebrated Virgin in a Machine; there she shin'd in a full Zodiack, the brightest Constellation there; 'twas a pleasant Reflection all this time to see her scituated among the Bulls, Capricorns, Sagittaries, and yet the Virgo still remain itacta....Critick: But this merry Time lasted not always; every thing has an end, and at length down goes Rinaldo's inchanted Mountain; it sunk as a Mole-hill seen on't: What a severity was this? that the Labour of such a gigantick Poet, nay Critick, shou'd give up the Ghost so soon: The renown'd Author thought himself immortal in that Work, and that the World was to last no longer than his Rinaldo; and tho' he stole every thing from the Italian, yet he said, what the Italian did was but Grub-street to his. See also 5 Jan. 1698@9 for a letter written by Mrs Barry, in part concerning Rinaldo and Armida