ABSTRACT
7i Prologue to the Duchess Date and publication. When James returned to London in April 1682 (see previous poem) his Duchess, who was pregnant, remained in Edinburgh. In May he returned to Scotland to escort her to London; they arrived on 27 May, and ‘at night were ringing of bells, and bonefires in severall places, and other publick expressions of jo y ’ (Luttrell i 189). On 31 May there was another special performance of Venice Preserv’d at the Duke’s Theatre (date noted on Luttrelľs copy of D .’s Prologue) for which D. again wrote a Prologue and Otway an Epilogue (Danchin no. 325). The Newdigate newsletters, however, report that the play was D ’Urfey’s The Royalist (L S 309). Lee similarly wrote a prologue for a performance at the King’s Theatre (Danchin no. 324); for other poems see P O A S iii 387-91. Prologue to The Dutchess, On Her Return from Scotland was published as a single folio half-sheet by Tonson in 1682 (MS date 1 June on Luttrelľs copy (Huntington)). It was reprinted without changes in EP. The present text follows the first edition.
