Event Comment: The United Company.
There is uncertainty concerning this date; it appears on
Luttrell's copy (
Huntington Library) of
the separately printed
Prologue and
Epilogue, and
the date may represent
the time of his purchase ra
ther than a date of performance.
The Prologue and Epilogue are reprinted in
Wiley,
Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 141-45.
Downes (
Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 39-40): All
the preceding Plays, being
the chief that were Acted in
Dorset-Garden, from November 1671, to
the Year 1682; at which time
the Patentees of each Company United Patents; and by so Incorporating
the Duke's Company were made
the King's Company, and immediately remov'd to
the Theatre Royal in
Drury-Lane. Upon this Union,
Mr Hart being
the Heart of
the Company under
Mr Killigrew's Patent never Acted more, by reason of his Malady; being Afflicted with
the Stone and Gravel, of which he Dy'd some time after: Having a Sallary of 40 Shillings a Week to
the Day of his Death. But
the Remnant of that Company; as,
Major Mohun,
Mr Cartwright,
Mr Kynaston,
Mr Griffin,
Mr Goodman,
Mr Duke Watson,
Mr Powel, Sr,
Mr Wiltshire,
Mrs Corey,
Mrs Bowtell,
Mrs Cook,
Mrs Montfort. [Joined
the new company]. Note, now Mr Monfort and
Mr Carlile, were grown to
the Maturity of good Actors.
The mixt Company
then Reviv'd
the several old and Modern Plays, that were
the Propriety of
Mr Killigrew, as
Rule a Wife, and have a Wife:
Mr Betterton Acting
Michael Perez;
Don Leon,
Mr Smith,
Cacofogo,
Mr Cartwright:
Margaretta,
Mrs Barry:
Estiphania,
Mrs Cook. Next, @
The Scornful Lady.@
The Plain Dealer.@
The Mock Astrologer.@
The Jovial Crew.@
The Beggars Bush.@
Bartholomew-Fair.@
The Moor of Venice.@
Rollo.@
The Humorous Lieutenant.@
The Double Marriage.@ With divers o
thers.
George Powell, Preface to
The Treacherous Brothers (1690):
The Time was, upon
the uniting of
the Two
Theatres, that
the Reviveing of
the old stock of Plays, so ingrost
the study of
the House, that
the Poets lay dorment; and a new Play cou'd hardly get admittance, amongst
the more precious pieces of Antiquity, that
then waited to walk
the Stage.
Cibber, Apology, ed.
Lowe, I, 95-96): I shall content myself with telling you that Mohun and Hart now growing old [for, above thirty Years before this Time,
they had severally born
the King's Commission of Major and
Captain in
the Civil Wars), and
the younger Actors, as
Goodman,
Clark, and o
thers, being impatient to get into
their Parts, and growing intractable,
the Audiences too of both Houses
then falling off,
the Patentees of each, by
the King's Advice, which perhaps amounted to a Command, united
their Interests and both Companies into one, exclusive of all o
thers in
the Year 1682. This Union was, however, so much in favour of
the Duke's Company, that Hart left
the Stage upon it, and Mohun survived not long after