ABSTRACT
Date and publication. D.’s last play was performed by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, probably in mid-January 1694. On 11 January John Evelyn noted in his Diary: ‘sup’d at Mr. Ed Sheldons where was Mr Dryden the Poet, who now intending to Write no more plays (intent upon the Translation of Virgil) read to us his Prologue & Epilogue to his last Valedictory Play, now shortly to be Acted’. Love Triumphant, or, Nature will Prevail. A Tragi-Comedy was published by Tonson in 1694 (described as ‘printed long enough to have reach’d your hands’ by the Gentleman’s Journal January–February 1694; advertised in the London Gazette 12–15 March). It was dedicated to the Earl of Salisbury (cp. Appendix A in Volume III). The ‘Song of Jealousy’, with music by John Eccles, was printed in Thesaurus Musicus (1694) and Joyful Cuckoldom [1695], both giving the singer as Mrs Hudson; and the ‘Song for a Girl’, also with music by Eccles, in Thesaurus Musicus, the Gentleman’s Journal (January–February 1694), Wit and Mirth (1699), and (words only) in Wit’s Cabinet [1699/1700]. Facsimiles of Eccles’s settings are printed in Day 109, 111.
