"
If this Mrs. Coleman may be classed rather as a singer than an
actress, and if we may view Davenant's "Siege of Rhodes" more as a
musical entertainment than as a regular play, then no doubt the claim
of the Desdemona of Clare Market to be, as Mr. Thomas Jordan described
her, "the first woman that came to act on the stage," is much
improved. And here we may say something more relative to the Vere
Street Theatre. It was first opened in the month of November, 1660;
Thomas Killigrew, its manager, and one of the grooms of the king's
bedchamber, having received his patent in the previous August, when a
similar favour was accorded to Sir William Davenant, who, during
Charles I.'s reign, had been possessed of letters patent. King Charles
II., taking it into his "princely consideration" that it was not
necessary to suppress the use of theatres, but that if the evil and
scandal in the plays then acted were taken away, they might serve "as
innocent and harmless divertisement" for many of his subjects, and
having experience of the art and skill of his trusty and well-beloved
Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant, granted them full power to
elect two companies of players, and to purchase, build and erect, or
hire, two houses or theatres, with all convenient rooms and other
necessaries thereunto appertaining, for the representation of
tragedies, comedies, plays, operas, and all other entertainments of
that nature.
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