Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns the Herald to Wright, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes R. Palmer.] Receipts: #234 1s. (213/1/0; 20/8/6; 0/11/6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Brett as Carlos, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Mrs Kennedy.] Receipts: #133 16s. 6d. (132/5/0; 1/11/6)

Event Comment: Paid Wild [prompter] for 3 licenses [from Lord Chamberlain, to act new plays] #6 6s. Receipts: #147 7s. (142/9; 4/18)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by John O'Keeffe, altered from his The Banditti (see 28 Nov. 1781). Text in his Dramatic Works, Vol. 1 (T. Woodfall, 1798)]: With new Scenes [by Carver (O'Keeffe, u, 38)], Dresses, and a new Overture. The Selected Airs by Handel, Vento, Giordani, Giardini, Bertoni, Dr Arne, and Carolan, the Irish Bard. The Overture and New Airs composed by Dr Arnold. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [This was Sga Sestini's 1st appearance on the English-speaking stage. For several preceding seasons she had been a member of the Italian opera company performing at the King's.] "Sestini . . . was handsome, sprightly, and a good actress, if great exuberance of gesticulation, activity of motion, and affected Italian smorfie could make her one; but her voice was gritty and sharp (something like singing through a comb), and she was nothing of a singer, except for lively comic airs. Yet she was . . . long a favourite with the mass of the public, though not with the connoisseurs" (Mount-Edgcumbe, p. 33). Account-Book, 30 June 1783: Paid O'Keeffe in full for The Castle of Andalusia #368 18s. 6d. Receipts: #166 2s. 6d. (165/9/0; 0/13/6)

Event Comment: [For afterpiece see also 20 Sept.] The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 3 May 1783]. Receipts: #246 8s. (213/19/0; 31/9/6; 0/19/6)

Event Comment: "Among other Obligations that the Town has to the new Open is that it has, for this year, delivered the Play-goer from his periodical Endurance of Rowe's Tamerlane" (Public Advertiser, 6 Nov.). The reference is to the long established custom of performing Tamerlane either on 4 Nov. (the date of William III's birth) or 5 Nov. (the date of his landing in England). In the play the virtuous Tamerlane was held to be the portrait of an upright monarch, and the vicious Bajazet [i.e. Louis xiv] as that monarch's enemy. At DL Tamerlane was acted on either or both of these nights uninterruptedly from 1716 to 1777; at LIF and CG, with the exception of five seasons, from 1721 to 1784. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 1 May 1783]. Receipts: #155 2s. 6d. (153/4/0; 1/18/6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; mf 2, by John Dent. Prologue by the author (see text)]: A new Overture and Songs by Hook. Account-Book, 19 Nov.: Paid Dent for his farce #100. Receipts: #84 17s. (53/14; 30/18; 0/5)

Event Comment: [In afterpiece the playbill retains Miss Collett, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Miss Simson.] "Since the first performance, the scene of the Physicians has been judiciously struck out [of afterpiece]" {Universal Magazine, Nov. 1782, p. 254.) Paid Pemberton for copying parts #2. 3s. 6d. Receipts: #232 0s. 6d. (207/17/0; 23/12/0; 0/11/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 9 Apr. 1778]. [Staunton was from the HAY.] Receipts: #125 13s. (93/6/0; 31/9/6; 0/17/6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #308 12s. 6d. (307/10/6; 1/2/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. "There was, in my early days, such a permanent property as a stage-door in our theatres, and the proscenium beyond it; so that when [Jane] Shore was pushed from the door, she was turned round and staggered till supported by the firm projection behind her. Here was a terrific picture full in the eye of the pit, and this most picturesque of women knew the amazing value of it" (Boaden, Siddons, I, 326). Receipts: #232 (209/8; 21/18; 0/14)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Sga Sestini, but "Previous to the Opera, Mattocks apologized for the sudden illness of Sestini; Mrs Martyr would, on a Notice of two Hours, attempt to read the Part" (.Public Advertiser, 9 Nov.). On 9 Nov. Sga Sestini gave birth to a son Qbid., 11 Nov.).] Receipts: #185 18s. 6d. (184/15/6; 1/3/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [acted 19 Apr. 1779]. Receipts: #97 11s. 6d. (67/7/0; 29/17/0; 0/7/6)

Event Comment: "The Ring, to talk of [Mrs Siddons in] this Scene, would be Actum agere--almost every Body has seen it, and every one who has seen it must have felt, to their Heart's Core. As much ought to be said of some other Parts of the Play, viz. the Look at the Child, when she gives her Hand to Villeroy!, Her expressive Deportment at the Banquet!, Her Fainting!, Her Death! To all and each of these we desire the Printer not to omit, what they so potently demand, the Note of Admiration!!!" (Public Advertiser, 15 Nov.). Receipts: #249 2s. 6d. (228/7/0; 19/17/0; 0/18/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author of the Farce. Receipts: #121 4s. 6d. (84/13/0; 36/9/0; 0/2/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: none listed)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years [acted 23 Dec. 1779]. Receipts: #183 6s. 6d. (180/6/6; 3/0/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Thomas Hull; also ascribed to Samuel Jackson Pratt. Author of Prologue unknown. Epilogue by S. J. Pratt. {Miscellanies, 1785,1,271). MS: Larpent 603; not published]: With a grand Masquerade Scene, and Decorations incident to the Piece. Receipts: #234 17s. (223/13/0; 11/1/6; 0/2/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece]. Receipts: #100 13s (79/18/0; 20/8/6; 0/6/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: In 2 acts [i. e. reduced from the original 3]. Never Performed Here. Receipts: #202 9s. 6d. (199/11/0; 2/18/6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #237 15s.6d.(223/13/0; 13/17/6; 0/5/0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by John O'Keeffe. MS: Larpent 608; not published. CG playbill of 16 Nov. 1795 has a detailed synopsis of the action]: Intermixed with Songs and Dialogue. With new Music, Scenes, Dresses, Machinery, and Decorations. The new Music composed by Shield. The new Scenes designed by Richards, and executed by Richards, Hodgins, and assistants. To conclude with a Representation of the Lord Mayor's Show on the Water. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. "As to the Pantomime it wanted nothing on the first Night but Abbreviations . . . [which should be] omission of the Doctors, the two Women of the Town, and the whole of Edwin's Character" (Public Advertiser, 27 Nov.). Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1783, pp. 29-31, contains a detailed synopsis of the procession, and adds, "The personages of this procession were all dressed in the characters of the time in which they lived, and before each of them a label, a scroll, or a pageant was carried, bearing their name, or some allusion of the poets to their occupation. The figures in transparency were all painted as large as the life, and had a most grand and beautiful effect . . . The idea of the paintings was furnished by Mr Richards and Mr Smirk [sic], and all of them executed by the latter in a style of so much taste and excellence that it is a matter of some wonder to us, where an artist of Mr Smirk's abilities has been so long concealed . . . The glee introduced with so much applause is the composition of the late Dr Rogers (who lived in 1600); the other airs in the pantomime and procession arc by Handel, Lord Kelly, Abel, Stamitz and Shield, and have very great merit. The expense of preparing this splendid spectacle must have been very great, and the cost of continuing its representation cannot be inconsiderable, since more than 200 supernumeraries are employed to walk in the procession." Receipts: #215 3s. (206/3; 9/0)

Event Comment: Paid 7 years Assurance in the London Assurance Office to 25th November 1789 #195 13s. 6d. Receipts: #162 3s. (157/19; 4/4)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #295 17s. (290/0; 5/17)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of Too Civil by Half, announced on playbill of 27 Nov.] Receipts: #88 17s. 6d. (61/18/0; 26/19/6; 0/0/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never performed here. [Afterpiece in place of Tom Thumb, announced on playbill of 28 Nov. Address, probably written by Mrs Abington, printed in Public Advertiser, 9 Dec] Receipts: #274 19s. 6d. (271/5/0; 3/14/6)