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 the master of the revels, involved both managers in disputes and litigation with that functionary [see .] More pliable or amenable than D'Avenant, Killigrew came to terms with his opponent, and articles of agreement between them were signed 4 June 1662, by which ‘a firme amity’ was concluded, and Killigrew, who is described as ‘Thomas Killigrew of Covent Garden, Esq., agrees to pay before 4 Aug. next all monies due to Sir Henry Herbert from the King and Queenes company of players … for the new plays at forty shillings a play, and for the revived plays at twenty shillings a play.’ This agreement carried costs and a solatium of 50l. to Sir Henry for the damage he had suffered. Killigrew also formally abjured D'Avenant and all his works with ‘any of his pretended company of players,’ or any other company of players (, Ancient Doc.) On 15 Jan. 1662–3 a second patent was granted to Killigrew; it is identical with one given to D'Avenant at the same time (cf., Apology, ed. Lowe, preface).

Killigrew's actors were soon officially recognised as the king's servants, but the exact date is not clear. His company seems, according to Downes, who received the information at second hand, to have first ‘Acted at the [Red] Bull, and [to have] Built them a New House in Gibbon's Tennis Court in Clare Market, in which Two Places they continu'd Acting all 1660, 1661, 1662, and part of 1663.’ Malone gives a list of the stock plays of the king's company at the Red Bull, twenty in all. They include Shakespeare's ‘First Part of Henry IV,’ ‘Merry Wives,’ and ‘Othello,’ Killigrew's ‘Claracilla,’ and some pieces by Beaumont and Fletcher. On 4 July 1661 Pepys saw ‘Claracilla’ at ‘the theatre’ for the first time, and on 5 Jan. 1662–3 the same play at the Cockpit done by the king's players. Killigrew's company then consisted, according to Downes, of Theophilus Bird, Hart, Mohun, Lacy, Burt, Cartwright, Clun, Baxter, Robert and William Shatterel, Duke, Hancock, Wintersel, Bateman, and Blagden; Mrs. Corey, Mrs. Ann Marshall, Mrs. Eastland, Mrs. Weaver, Mrs. Uphill, Mrs. Knep, and Mrs. Hughs, besides Kynaston, whose feminine characters did something to popularise the king's company, and at least eleven other boys.

Meanwhile, Killigrew and the principal actors of his company obtained from the Earl of Bedford a lease for forty-one years of a piece of ground lying in the parishes of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. Paul's, Covent Garden, known by the name of the Riding Yard, the lessees engaging to pay a ground-rent of 50l. and to erect a theatre at an expense of 1,500l. On this site, which is now occupied by Drury Lane Theatre, Killigrew built a house 112 feet in length from east to west, and 59 feet in depth from north to south. It was known at first as the Theatre Royal, and subsequently as Drury Lane, and was opened 8 April 1663 with the ‘Humourous Lieutenant’ of Beaumont and Fletcher, which was acted twelve days consecutively. ‘Rule a Wife and Have a Wife,’ by Beaumont and Fletcher, was given during the same season, when the company was strengthened by the accession of Mrs. Boutel, Mrs. Ellen Gwin, Mrs. James, Mrs. Rebecca Marshall, Mrs. Rutter, Mrs. Verjuice, and Mrs. Knight; Hains, Griffin, Goodman, Lyddal, Charleton, Sherly, and Beeston.

Killigrew revived his ‘Parson's Wedding’ at the Theatre Royal or Drury Lane in October 1664, and again in 1672 or 1673 at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was then occupied by his company. On both occasions it was acted, presumably on account of its obscenity, only by women, Mrs. Marshall at each revival speaking the prologue and epilogue (included in ‘Covent Garden Drolleries’) in masculine attire. On 11 Oct. 1664 Luellin remarked to Pepys: ‘What an obscene loose play this “Parson's Wedding” is, that it is acted by nothing but women at the king's house!’

According to Malone, Killigrew drew from the profits of the theatre in 1666 two shares and three-quarters out of a total of twelve shares and three-quarters. Each share was supposed to produce 250l. Cibber declares that Killigrew's company was better than that of his rival D'Avenant until D'Avenant gained superior popularity by adding spectacle and music to his performances. But Killigrew also interested himself in the improvement of the scenery of the theatre, and in the introduction of good music. He told Pepys that he had been eight or ten times to Rome to hear good music (12 Feb. 1666–7), but had not been able to supply his English patrons with anything better than ballads. In August 1664 he announced his intention of building a theatre in Moorfields in order to have common plays acted. ‘Four operas were to be given in the year for six weeks each, with the best scenes, music, and everything as magnificent as is in Christendom, painters and singers to be brought from Italy’. On 12 Feb. 1666–7 Pepys was told that Killigrew was about to produce an opera by Giovanni Battista Draghi [q. v.], but nothing further is known of the intention. In January 1672 Drury Lane Theatre was burnt down, and Killigrew's company played at Lincoln's Inn Fields till Drury Lane was rebuilt and re-