Joseph Haines
Hayns, possibly written by fellow player Tobias Thomas, "must contain some grains of truth, but is so riddled with fancy that one can scarcely sort them out", according to the Biographical Dictionary of Actors (Highfill, et al. 1973–93).He joined a troupe of strolling players in Cambridge in 1667, joined a company of young performers at the Hatton Garden "nursery" in London in 1668, and there caught the eye of Thomas Killigrew and was invited to join Killigrew's patent company, the King's Company.He was persistently dogged by debt and money problems, and was several times fired from the company for "ill & scandalous language & insolent carriage" by leading actor Charles Hart.As a result, Haines returned to becoming a travelling performer, sometimes going abroad to Paris or Florence.He wrote several plays, none of which had notable artistic or commercial success, and gave several of his best interpretations (according to Anthony Aston) in the 1690s, including Serringe the doctor in John Vanbrugh's The Relapse (1696) and the original Tom Errand in George Farquhar's immensely popular The Constant Couple (1699).