Mountfort brought his first play, _The Injured Lovers_: or, _The Ambitious Father_, a tragedy, to be acted at Drury Lane early in February, 1688. The play was not a great success. Gildon mentions that it "did not succeed as the Author wish'd,"[4] although the play was brilliantly cast, with Betterton, Mrs. Bracegirdle, and Mrs. Barry in chief parts. Mountfort himself played second lead to Betterton, and the comedians Leigh, Jevon, and Underhill appeared in boisterous roles. But this rather extravagant account of passion and thwarted love did not take. Such lines as the heroine's "Thy _Antelina_, she shall be the Pile On which I'll burn, and as I burn I'll smile," reveals an uncertain poetic talent. In the prologue Mountfort manages more wit: JO. _Hayne's Fate is now become my Share, For I'm a Poet, Marry'd, and a Player: The greatest of these Curses is the First; As for the latter Two, I know the worst ..._ And of the play's fate: _Damn it who will, Damn me, I'll write again; Clap down each Thought, nay, more than I can think, Ruin my Family in Pen and Ink. And tho' my Heart should burst to see your Spite, True Talboy to the last, I'll Cry and Write...._ Unsuccessful at tragedy, Mountfort moved to surer ground, and if tragedy did not sell on the market of the 1680's, farce was surefire. Mountfort's _The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Made into a Farce ... with the Humours of Harlequin and Scaramouche_, is a most interesting example of Restoration farce. The Queen's Theater in Dorset Garden was well-fitted for stage spectacle and effect, and Mountfort took advantage of his knowledge of the stage and the contemporary audience to produce an amusing and popular hit. The play was revived in 1697, five years after Mountfort's death, and again in 1724, at a time when, as Borgman tells us (p. 39), _The Injured Lovers_ had been long forgotten. Mountfort continued his acting career with great success; he was one of twenty-two men and six women who, on 12 January 1688, were given the position of "Comoedians in Ordinary" to King James, and he acted in a variety of plays, including Shadwell's _The Squire of Alsatia_, in May, 1688, and _Bury Fair_, in April, 1689. In Dryden's _Don Sebastian_, produced in December, 1689, he played the young and noble Don Antonio, described as "the wittiest Woman's toy in Portugal." Although Mountfort was best known for comic roles, he scored a success as Alexander in Nathaniel Lee's _The Rival Queens_, January, 1690. Cibber says of his Alexander: