University of Virginia Library

III. New Dating Evidence

Dating plays performed before the advent of regular newspaper advertisements is difficult and tricky. Two methods however, provide researchers with new possibilities. The first derives from the fact that plays were routinely published only after performance. As Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume have shown,[19] the time between premiere and publication during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuies was usually a month; thus, while we cannot be precise as to day, we can approximate the month. The second method, similar to Milhous and Hume's, is based on the publication of music from a play, rather than the play proper. During 1695-1720, for example, John Walsh, an established musical publisher, published songs typically within two to four weeks after the premiere.[20] Other musical publishers followed a similar pattern. Caution must be employed in deriving dates from collections, however, as they could be composites of songs from much earlier plays.

Xerxes (By Colley Cibber, March-April 1699, Lincoln's Inn Fields)

A small item of Colley Cibber material in the Folger Library (MS y.d. 23 [188a]) in a late-seventeenth hand states, "Xerxes, as it is acted at the New Theatre. Cibber publ. Tr. Apr. 28. 1699."[21] Therefore, extrapolating on the basis of Milhous and Hume's theory, the play probably received its first performance in late March or early April 1699 rather than in mid-February 1699, as currently conjectured in The London Stage (1.508), although a February premiere (or earlier) is not out of the question.

The Mad Lover (Anonymous, February-March 1701, Lincoln's Inn Fields)

No information was available to Curtis Price (1977) to suggest a firm date for the premiere of this unpublished, early eighteenth-century "operatic" adaptation (which is not listed in The London Stage) of Fletcher's original

(1617). Lucyle Hook's research reveals, however, that eight of the songs were published by Henry Playford in the January-February 1701 issue of Mercurius Musicus,[22] and I have seen them advertised for publication by John Walsh in the Post-Boy for 27-29 March 1701. These publications thus indicate a premiere of December 1700 or possibly earlier. One other piece of evidence supports such dating: Acis and Galatea, a masque within The Mad Lover, was published in 1701 (London: R. Parker and H. Newman).

A Cure for Jealousie (By John Corye, ca. April 1701, Lincoln's Inn Fields)

This play is listed in The London Stage (1.520) as having premiered in 1699, but publication (London: Richard Harrison, 1701) is now known to have taken place by at least 27 May 1701 as evidenced by a publication notice in the Post-Man of that date. Although a 1699 premiere is not entirely ruled out, the 1701 publication in that case would be unusually late; the more plausible date of premiere is usually closer to the date of publication.[23]

The Comical Gallant (By John Dennis, ca. late 1701, Drury Lane)

Dennis' play is assigned by The London Stage to May 1702 (2.i.19), but Paisible's airs for this comedy were advertised in the Post-Boy for 11-13 December 1701, pushing the date of premiere back at least to early December and possibly even earlier. The play was published (London: A Baldwin) by 19 May 1702 according to The London Stage entry.

Vestal Virgin (By Sir Robert Howard, ca. 1692-1702)

Not known to have been performed after 1664,[24] the play was republished as part of Sir Robert Howard's Five New Plays in 1692, and the music is listed in a Walsh catalogue for 1703 (Smith, p. 43), suggesting a revival sometime between 1692 and 1702 not currently known. This evidence is only suggestive; Walsh's catalogue was a compilation. Still, performance records for the 1690s and early 1700s are so meager that the possibility of a revival is not ruled out.

Edward III (By William Mountfort?, ca. 1702)

The last known performance is 1691,[25] but the airs in the play were published in Harmonia Anglicana for 1702 suggesting a revival during that year. Cf., Fiske, p. 592.

The Patriot (By Charles Gildon, ca. November 1702, Drury Lane)

Gildon's play is currently assigned by The London Stage (2.i.29) to December 1702, but the airs in the play were advertised in the Post-Man for 28 November-1 December 1702, indicating a premiere in late October or early November 1702. The LS entry states that the play was published (London: William Davis and George Strahan) by 18 December 1702.

Acis and Galatea (By John Eccles and P. A. Motteux, ca. 1703-05?, Drury Lane)

This musical afterpiece is a section of an early eighteenth-century adaptation of Fletcher's The Mad Lover (1617; see discussion above). The 1701 edition

of Acis and Galatea (London: R. Parker and H. Newman)[26] apparently led Winton Dean (p. 153) to conclude that the play had received separate performance that year; the first LS date, however, is 11 December 1702 (2.i.29). The confusion over the origins of this play is resolved by Hook's Introduction to her Augustan Reprint facsimile edition of Acis and Galatea; she establishes that earliest performance of the masque (within The Mad Lover) took place ca. November or December 1700 (p. v). When the afterpiece began to be played alone is currently not known, but performances may well have started not long after the newly adapted The Mad Lover was dropped from the repertory (after 1702?).

The Gamester (By Susanna Centlivre, ca. January 1705, Lincoln's Inn Fields)

The earliest verified date for Centlivre's comedy is for the twelfth performance: 22 February 1705 (LS 2.i.88). The music, however, was advertised in the Post-Man for 30 January-1 February 1705, and the play itself was published 9 February 1705, as announced in the Daily Courant for that date (London: William Turner and William Davis). Both publication dates suggest a premiere in late December 1704 or early January 1705.

The Siege of Troy (Anonymous, Fall 1707 or earlier?, Bartholomew Fair)

This play has been known previously only by a performance of 5 September 1715 (LS 2.i.365), but a copy of the printed text in the Huntington Library dated 1707 (London: B. Bragg) announces performance at "Mrs Mywn's Booth" at Bartholomew Fair. Further, printed comments in the 1707 copy state that it is reset from yet an earlier (currently unlocated) edition dating from 1703.

The ESTC attributes this play to Elkanah Settle, indicating that it is an adaptation of Settle's The Virgin Prophetess (Drury Lane, 12 May 1701). Comparison of the two plays, however, reveals no similarity.[27]

The Richmond Heiress (By Thomas Durfey, ca. 1708, Drury Lane)

Two related pieces of evidence suggest a 1708 revival of this Durfey comedy (1693). Songs from the play as sung by Pack and Mrs Hudson were published ca. 1708 (see BUCEM, II, 889-890); and The London Stage entry (2.i.317) for a revival of this play on 2 March 1714 records the advertisement as stating "Not Acted these Six Years." Thus the play very likely was revived sometime during 1708, probably either between January and May or in October or November, the two segments of the year during which new plays and revivals most often appeared.

The Disappointment (By Henry Carey, ca. 1732, Little Haymarket)

This play has hitherto been known only by a unique performance at the York Buildings, 8 July 1734 (LS 3.i.405). The title page of the printed edition (London: S. Slow, 1732, in the Readex collection), however, states that it was performed earlier at the Little Haymarket Theatre. (See below, Part IV, for discussion of attribution.)