[1] This is a mistake. Dunlap gives a quotation from Burke’s “History
of Virginia” as follows: “Under the presidency of Thomas Lee, the
New York Company of Comedians obtained permission to erect a theatre
in Williamsburg, _i. e._, in the year 1750, when no New York company
existed, or any other on the continent.” The last sentence, “when no
New York company existed, or any other on the continent,” is not by
Burke, but by Dunlap, which led me to suppose that Burke agreed with
Dunlap that the drama was first introduced in America by Hallam. Burke
refers to Kean & Murray’s company, who played in New York from the 6th
of March to the 30th of April, 1750, and in the subsequent part of the
year may have gone to Williamsburg, Virginia, and obtained permission
to erect a theater there as stated by Burke.[2] Dunlap afterward
acknowledged his error in a manuscript note to his copy of his history,
now in the possession of Thomas J. McKee, Esq., of the city of New York.
[2] Burke’s “History of Virginia,” Vols. i and ii. Harpers, 1832.