Love and Honour (play)

Love and Honour is a Restoration tragicomedy by English Renaissance theatre playwright Sir William Davenant which was produced at his playhouse Lisle's Tennis Court in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London for a 12-day run in October 1661 and which featured Thomas Betterton as Prince Alvaro and Hester Davenport as Evandra.

The work had previously been performed in 1633 as The Courage of Love (licensed 20 November 1634) by the King's Men at Blackfriars Theatre[1] and had been renamed The Nonpareilles, or The Matchless Maids (printed 1649)[2][3][4] by Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, at Davenant's request, who was unhappy with the original title.

Popular in its day, The Nonpareilles was revived by order of Queen Henrietta Maria, consort of Charles I, in a performance at Hampton Court during the plague of 1636-37 when the theatres were closed.

The work concerned the fictional Duke of Savoy and his son Prince Alvaro (the latter played by Thomas Betterton), who in the role was resplendent in the suit worn by Charles II at his Coronation earlier that year.

[5][6][7] Samuel Pepys in his famous Diary recorded seeing Love and Honour three times in four days in October 1661, observing on the latter visit "and a very good play it is".