[16] April (2d edition). The exact date is 8th April, as given by Downes.
[17] Killigrew died after, not before, the union of the two companies. Chalmers expressly says that he lived to see them united, and gives March 1683 as the time of his death.
[18] Davenant performed "The Siege of Rhodes" two years before Cromwell's death, namely, in 1656. [See Mr. Joseph Knight's Preface to his recent edition of the "Roscius Anglicanus.">[ Cromwell also permitted the entertainment named "The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru" to be represented, from political motives.
[19] Mr. Knight, in the Preface before mentioned, quotes some lines from the Prologue to this performance, showing that it was a public performance for money. This being so settles the question in the next paragraph as to the identity of the first professional actress.
[20] Very questionable. Langbaine (1691) says, "This play is still in vogue on the stage, and always presented with success."
[21] Dr. Doran misreads Pepys, who gives the date as 31st January 1669.
[22] I doubt whether James Nokes ever played the part. Genest evidently approves of Davies's suggestion that Robert Nokes was the actor of it.
[23] This should be grandson.
[24] Or Eleanor.
[25] She was absent only about six weeks; Pepys chronicles her departure under July 13, 1667, and her return under August 22, 1667.