of Caius Marius Coriolanus_; Settle's _The Heir of Morocco, with the
Death of Gayland_; Banks' _The Unhappy Favourite; or, the Earl of
Essex_; D'Urfey's _The Injur'd Princess; or, The Fatal Wager_. There
were also an unusual number of revivals of the older plays at this
house. At Dorset Garden the following were produced: Otway's _Venice
Preserved; or, A Plot Discovered_; Mrs. Behn's _The City Heiress; or,
Sir Timothy Treatall_; D'Urfey's _The Royalist_; Mrs. Behn's _The False
Count; or, A New Way to Play an Old Game_; Banks' _Virtue Betray'd; or,
Anna Bullen_; Mrs. Behn's _The Roundheads; or, The Good Old Cause_;
Ravenscroft's _The London Cuckolds_; and _Romulus and Hersilia; or, The
Sabine War_, an anonymous tragedy. There were also notable revivals of
Randolph's _The Jealous Lovers_, and Fletcher's _The Maid in the Mill_.
The two Companies amalgamated in the autumn, opening at the Theatre
Royal, 16 November, for which occasion a special Prologue and Epilogue
were written by Dryden. 4 December, Dryden and Lee's famous tragedy,
_The Duke of Guise_, had a triumphant first night. It will be remembered
that Mrs. Behn is writing of incidents which took place on 6 January,
1683, Twelfth Night, so 'the last new plays' must refer to the
productions of 1682. Of course, fresh songs, and probably musical
entertainments, would be inserted at the different revivals of the older
plays which were so frequent during that year.

p. 20 _Statira, . . . Roxana._ In allusion to the two rival princesses
for Alexander's love as they appear in Nat Lee's famous tragedy, _The
Rival Queens; or, Alexander the Great_, produced at Drury Lane, 1677. It
held the stage over a century and a half, longest of his plays, and is
indeed an excellent piece. Originally, Hart played Alexander; Mrs.
Marshall, the glowing Roxana; and Mrs. Boutell, Statira. Genest
chronicles a performance at Drury Lane, 23 June, 1823, with Kean as
Alexander; Mrs. W. West, Statira; Mrs. Glover, Roxana.

p. 24 _forty the Lurch_. 'Lurch' is a very common old term (now rare)
'used in various games to denote a certain concluding state of the game
in which one player is enormously ahead of the other; often a "maiden
set" or love-game'--_N.E.D._ cf. Urquhart's _Rabelais_ (1653), II, xii:
'By two of my table-men in the corner point I have gained the lurch.'
Gouldman's _Latin Dictionary_ (1674), gives: 'A lurch; _duplex palma,
facilis victoria_.'

p. 26 _to Locket's, where they din'd_