9 July, 1596 - The French Doctor

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: y^e 4 July 1596 ... R at frenshe dacter ... xiiij^s 

In modern English: [9^th] July, 1595 ... Received at French Doctor ... 14 shillings

A French Physician
by Matthew Darly, 1771

Today, the Admiral's Men revived The French Doctor, a lost play that you can read more about in the entry for 19 October, 1594.

Henslowe has somehow managed to give this entry the wrong date and from now until the end of the month the Diary will be five days out of sync with reality. Pay attention, Henslowe!

Anyway, today's performance was yet another bizarre reappearance of the reliably unpopular The French Doctor, which the company performances very infrequently these days. It has not been seen since September, yet here it is again, and once again drawing only a small crowd. The whole thing is very puzzling..

Henslowe links

• Transcript of this page of the Diary (from W.W. Greg's 1904 edition)
• Facsimile of this page of the Diary (from the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project)

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