[ [8] In Mr. Percy Fitzgerald's "New History of the English Stage" (ii. 436) he gives an interesting memorandum by the Hon. Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane regarding this point. It begins: "That the Chamberlain's authority proceeded from the Sovereign alone is clear, from the fact that no Act of Parliament, previous to the 10 Geo. II., c. 28 (passed in 1737), alludes to his licensing powers, though he was constantly exercising them."
[ [9] Langbaine, in his "Account of the English Dramatick Poets," 1691, says (p. 212): "Maids Tragedy, a Play which has always been acted with great Applause at the King's Theatre; and which had still continu'd on the English Stage, had not King Charles the Second, for some particular Reasons forbid its further Appearance during his Reign. It has since been reviv'd by Mr. Waller, the last Act having been wholly alter'd to please the Court."
I think there can be little doubt that the last reason suggested by Cibber was the real cause of the prohibition.
[ [10] Produced at Dorset Garden, 1681.
[ [11] Produced at Dorset Garden, 1690. See ante, vol. i. p. 187. I presume that the lines alluded to by Cibber are:—
"Never content with what you had before,
But true to change, and Englishmen all o'er."
[ [12] In the "Biographia Dramatica" (iii. 24) the following note appears: "Mary Queen of Scotland. A play under this title was advertised, among others, as sold by Wellington, in St. Paul's Churchyard, in 1703." But the work Cibber refers to is "The Island Queens; or, the Death of Mary Queen of Scots," a tragedy by John Banks, printed in 1684, but not produced till 6th March, 1704, when it was played at Drury Lane as "The Albion Queens."
[ [13] "The Unhappy Favourite; or, the Earl of Essex," produced at the Theatre Royal, 1682.
[ [14] "Virtue Betrayed; or, Anna Bullen," first acted at Dorset Garden, 1682.