Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [so stated on playbill of 13 Jan.; acted 6 Jan. 1784]. Receipts: #210 17s. (207/13; 3/4)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by John Burgoyne, based in part on Le Pere de Famille, by Denis Diderot. Prologue by the Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick; Epilogue by the author (see text)]: With a Variety of new Scenes [by Greenwood (Daily Universal Register, 16 Jan.)], Dresses, and Decorations. Public Advertiser, 4 Feb. 1786: This Day is published The Heiress (1s. 6d.). "It rarely happens that all the characters of a piece are so well sustained" (Morning Chronicle, 16 Jan.). "We never saw a play more admirably performed in all its parts" (Gazetteer, 16 Jan.). "In point of performance the comedy had every advantage" (Morning Herald, 16 Jan.). Receipts: #226 2s. (205/10; 20/7; 0/5)

Event Comment: "So much has been curtailed of [The Heiress] that the time of the representation is now three quarters of an hour less than it was on Saturday" (Morning Chronicle, 17 Jan.). Receipts: #250 4s. (227/6/0; 21/6/6; 1/1/6; tickets not come in: 0/10/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #216 1s. (186/18/0; 27/6/6; 1/16/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Mistake, announced on playbill of 16 Jan.] Receipts: #216 3s. (213/2; 3/1)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #311 5s. 6d. (297/3/0; 12/16/0; 1/6/6)

Event Comment: Paid Ashbridge, Kettle Drum, #1 10s. Receipts: #262 1s. (261/7; 0/14)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 1 May 1781]. Receipts: #164 5s. (156/14; 7/11)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #307 or. 6d. (283/12/0; 21/16/6; 1/12/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: [Mrs Jordan's 1st appearance as Miss Lucy was at the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, 3 Nov. 1779.] Receipts: #237 8s. 6d. (192/13/0; 42/9/0; 2/4/0; ticket not come in: 0/2/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #269 10s. 6d. (232/0/0; 36/1/6; 1/9/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #293 4s. (287/19; 5/5)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 10 years. [Mrs Brown was from the Norwich theatre.] Receipts: #200 11s. (198/17; 1/14)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [acted 19 Feb. 1784]. Afterpiece: Written by the late Henry Fielding, Esq. [The playbill lists Edwin as Coupee, but "Brown, in consequence of the sudden illness of Edwin . . . [undertook] the part of Coupee" (Morning Chronicle, 1 Feb.). He was from the Norwich theatre.] Receipts: #291 10s. (286/14/6; 4/15/6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #283 14s. (280/18; 2/16)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 7 years [acted 18 Jan. 1782]. [In afterpiece the playbill retains Edwin, but "At the conclusion of the play an apology was made for Edwin's non-appearance, owing to indisposition, and Palmer and Meadows announced as his substitutes in the two songs in Omai" (Morning Post, 6 Feb.).] Receipts: #231 15s. (229/7; 2/8)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. [Mainpiece in place of The Heiress, announced on playbill of 4 Feb.] Receipts: #281 8s. 6d. (271/0/0; 9/15/0; 0/13/6)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of Poor Vulcan!, announced on playbill of 4 Feb.] Receipts: #204 9s. (195/18/6; 8/10/6)

Event Comment: Paid Enderby, Oil Merchant, #142 12s. Receipts: #167 4s. (163/16/6; 3/7/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Abington. Pit and Boxes will be laid together. Ladies and Gentlemen are most earnestly requested to come early, to prevent Inconvenience in getting to their Places, and to send their Servants to keep them by Four o'clock. "At the close of the entertainment Mrs Abington came forward, and delivered a short poetical address to her fashionable auditory [written by Maurice Morgann (Monthly Mirror, Nov. 1797, p. 263)], apposite to her feelings on the present occasion" (Morning Herald, 11 Feb.). "The character [of Scrub] throughout was well conceived, and executed with a sprightliness and degree of humour that kept the house in a continual roar of laughter" (Public Advertiser, 11 Feb.) "Mrs Abington's voice was in its usual tone; her manners and deportment were inattentive and torpid, rather than active and interesting" (Morning Post, 11 Feb.). "With all her endeavours to give new points to the character, she entirely failed. Her appearance en culottes, so preposterously padded, exceeded nature. Her gestures to look comical could not get the least hold of the audience, though they had seen her before in men's clothes, when playing Portia in The Merchant of Venice, where her figure, dressed as a lawyer in his gown, gave effect to her excellent delivery on mercy, and the audience had been always delighted. But this leu de benefice, comparatively speaking, was disgusting and absurd as she dressed the character ... However, I have heard it originated in a bet she had previously made" (Henry Angelo, Reminiscenes, 11, 281-82). Receipts: #406 13s. 6d. (249/9/6; 1/9/0; tickets: 155/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: "Mrs Siddons' 'O Jaffier'--'Remember twelve'--'Aye, but that husband trusted her'--and, above all, the narrative of the night with Renault--were given with the most miraculous organs of varied emphasis, modulation, delicacy and propriety . . . Kemble's Jaffier was a perfect performance" (Public Advertiser, 14 Feb.). Receipts: #251 15s. (226/15; 23/6; 1/4; tickets not come in: 0/10)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Paid Licenses [from the Lord Chamberlain] for Omai and The Fool #4 4s. Receipts: #274 5s. (273/3; 1/2)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MF 2]: Written by the Author of The Poor Soldier [John O'Keeffe. Text 1st published in his Dramatic Works, Vol. IV (T. Woodfall, 1798)]. With new Scenes, Dresses, &c. The Airs partly compiled, the new Music, Overture, and all the Accompaniments composed by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Account-Book, 6 Apr.: Paid O'Keeffe in full for Love in a Camp #105. Receipts: #189 2s. 6d. (175/1/6; 14/1/0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time in London; F 2, by John Philip Kemble, 1st acted at Manchester, 25 Mar. 1778, as The Female Officer. MS: Larpent 723; not published; synopsis of plot in Public Advertiser, 20 Feb. Prologue by James Cobb (European Magazine, Feb. 1786, p. 129)]. Receipts: #222 8s. 6d. (192/0/0; 29/6/0; 0/7/6; tickets not come in: 0/15/0)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #274 13s. (262/3/0; 11/17/6; 0/12/6)