Event Comment: Afterpiece: Engagement as 6 Mar., but added: The Whole to conclude with a magnificent Illumination; displaying particularly two Ships of the Line in a most brilliant and superb Fire-Work. Receipts: #233 15s. (189.5.6; 41.2.6; 3.7.0)

Event Comment: "Miss Mellon possesses good comic powers, but they are rather of the hoyden cast; and there was a want of judgment in those who assigned this character [one recently acted by Miss Farren] to her" (True Briton, 19 Apr.). Receipts: #195 9s. (143.0.6; 48.15.0; 3.13.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Frederick Reynolds. Prologue by John Taylor. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text; although Boaden, Jordan, I, 286 says the Epilogue was by Samuel Rogers, being the same as that spoken on 27 Apr. 1795)]: With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. [Afterpiece in place of No Song No Supper, advertised on playbill of 18 Apr.] Morning Herald, 29 Apr. 1797: On Monday [1 May] will be published The Will (2s.). Account-Book: Reynolds to receive #33 6s. 8d. for every night of The Will. Receipts: #413 4s. (344.12.6; 63.16.6; 4.15.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Quick. 2nd piece: In one Act. A Tragi-Comic, Pastoral, Operatical, Farcical Drama, written by the Author of The Beggar's Opera [John Gay]. True Briton, 3 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Quick, No. 30, Little Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn-Fields. Receipts: #352 0s. 6d. (140.15.6; 5.9.0; tickets: 205.16.0)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of Harlequin and Oberon, advertised on playbill of 20 Apr.] Receipts: #181 16s. (176.6; 5.10)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains King, but he "being suddenly indisposed with the gout, his part was, after an apology, undertaken by Dowton, who performed it with considerable effect" (Morning Herald, 25 Apr.).] Receipts: #283 17s. (213.16.6; 67.1.0; 2.19.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Prince Hoare. Larpent MS 1159; not published; synopsis of plot in Universal Magazine, May 1797, p. 364]: Overture and rest of Music composed and selected by Shield. Harp by Weippert. The new Scenery by Richards. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. Receipts: #172 10s. 6d. (169.6.6; 3.4.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Wallis. 2nd piece: By Permission of the Proprietors of Drury Lane Theatre, and for that night only; with additional Songs [Sga Storace had sung in the oratorios at this theatre in the 1789 season.] True Briton, 13 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss Wallis, Gower-street. Receipts: #376 9s. 6d. (192.15.6; 2.16.0; tickets: 180.18.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer. [1st piece originally acted in 1767 as Dido. Prologue by David Garrick.] 3rd piece [1st time; INT 1, consisting of 3 tales in verse inserted into a continuous verse narrative]: As intended for Representation at the Theatre Royal, Hay-market, by George Colman Ynger. Morning Herald, 3 Apr. 1797: This Day is Published My Nightgown and Slippers (2s. 6d.). True Briton, 25 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Palmer, No. 39, Great Pulteney-street, Golden-square. Receipts: #491 16s. (152.3; 77.16; 11.16; tickets: 250.1) (charge: #232 18s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Holman. 1st piece [1st time; C 5, by Benjamin Hoadly, based partly on L'Ecole des Femmes, by Moliere. Larpent MS 1160; not published. Prologue by John Taylor; Epilogue by Edward Jerningham (European Magazine, May 1797, p. 342)]: Mr Holman having been favored by the Family of Doctor Hoadly, Author of the Suspicious Husband, with a Manuscript Comedy in Five Acts, the production of that celebrated Writer, he most respectfully informs the Public that it will be presented under the Title of The Tatlers. True Briton, 1 May: The Play was given to Holman by Dr Hoadly Ashe, Hoadly's nephew. Ibid, 10 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Holman, No. 14, John-street, Adelphi. Account-Book: Paid Insurance and Duty on #10,000 for one year from 16th Inst. at the Royal Exchange Fire Office #136 17s; ditto on #10,000 for one year from Lady Day at the Phoenix Fire Office #112 10s. Receipts: #290 11s. 6d. (143.16.0; 10.11.6; tickets: 136.4.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. 1st piece: Never acted in this Theatre. [Prologue by George Colman, elder. Monologue by Hester Lynch Piozzi (European Magazine, May 1797, p. 343).] True Briton, 12 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. "The scenery destroyed much of the effect of the tragedy; for the characters are supposed to be 'steeped in poverty to the very lips;' and yet their apartments would have become a family in the meridian of wealth and prosperity. Mrs Siddons was also too well dressed for Mrs Wilmot" (Monthly Mirror, May 1797, p. 308). "In the scene in which [Mrs Siddons's] son having put into her hands a casket to keep, and she having touched a spring it opens and she sees jewels, her husband (Kemble) enters, and in despair exclaims, 'Where shall we get bread?' With her eyes fixed on the jewels, she runs to him, knocks the casket against her breast and exclaims, 'Here! Here!' In Mrs Siddons's tone and in her look there was an anticipation of the murder which was to take place" (Robinson, I, 39). Receipts: #618 2s. (386.8.6; 43.19.0; 2.4.0; tickets: 185.10.6) (charge: #211 1s.)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of Richard Coeur de Lion. advertised on playbill of 1 May.] Receipts: #186 18s. 6d. (147.19.6; 36.2.0; 2.17.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Incledon. 2nd piece: Performed but once [recte twice: on 1 and 8 May 1795]. The Music part new, and part compiled, by Shield. True Briton, 20 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Incledon, No. 15, Charlotte-street, Bloomsbury. Receipts: #440 7s. 6d. (245.7.0; 5.18.0; tickets: 189.2.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Pope. 1st piece: Not acted these 10 years. [3rd piece in place of The Irish Mimick, advertised on playbill of 3 May.] True Briton, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Pope at his house, No. 5, Moon-street, Piccadilly. Receipts: #398 12s. 6d. (237.14.6; 10.15.6; tickets: 150.2.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Mattocks. 1st piece: In 3 Acts. [In 1st piece the playbill assigns Welford to Holman, and in 3rd piece Don Carlos to the same. But "An uncle of Holman expired suddenly on Saturday morning. An apology was made for Holman in the evening, and Macready took the Parts he was to have performed in the Play and Farce" (True Briton, 8 May). In 1st piece Cheaterly is assigned to Macready; who took his place is not stated.] True Briton, 22 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Mattocks, No. 8, Great Russell-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #223 12s. 6d. (118.10.0; 4.2.0; tickets: 101.0.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bannister Jun. 1st piece [1st time; C 5, by Richard Cumberland. Text 1st published in his Posthumous Dramatic Works, Vol. II (G. and W. Nicol, 1813); it assigns no parts, but adds George Ivey and David Duncan, acted by Caulfield and Packer. Genest erroneously assigns Sir Adam to Wewitzer and Beau Tiffany to R. Palmer. Prologue and Epilogue by the author (True Briton, 9 May). Songs by Michael Kelly, in Act I harmonized by Sir William Parsons.] True Briton, 25 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Bannister Jun., No. 65, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #581 15s. (294.18.6; 72.7.0; 3.17.6; tickets: 210.12.0) (charge: #213 6s. 8d.)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #507 14s. 6d. (49(.10.6; 8.4.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Johnstone. 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by Thomas Knight; incidental music by William Reeve]: Partly taken from The Committee [by Sir Robert Howard]. Morning Herald, 21 June 1797: This Day is published [by G. Cawthorn] The Honest Thieves (1s.). True Briton, 25 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Johnstone, No. 19, Piazza, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #434 7s. 6d. (210.4.0; 11.18.0; tickets: 212.5.6)

Event Comment: [2nd piece in place of The Scotch Ghost; 3rd piece The Prize, both advertised on playbill of 9 May.] Receipts: #224 4s. 6d. (145.11.0; 76.7.0; 2.6.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Martyr. 2nd piece [1st time; ENT 1, by John Cartwright Cross (see Monthly Mirror, June 1797, p. 370). Larpent MS 1166; not published]; With a striking Representation of the Conflagration of the Spanish Fleet in the Gulph of Pariav, the Island's Capitulation and the Departure of its Garrison, Prisoner of War [on 18 Feb. 1797]. True Briton, 1 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Martyr at her house, No. 16, Martlett Court, Bow-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #359 14s. (185.5; 8.2; tickets: 166.7)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. Afterpiece: With a Sea Fightv. True Briton, 28 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss Pope, No. 63, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Receipts: #386 8s. 6d. (125.17.6; 76.1.6; 7.16.6; tickets: 176.13.0) (charge: #224 9s. 6d.)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; M. INT 1, by John Rose. Larpent MS 1167; not published]: A Mask, in honour of the approaching Royal Nuptials [the Marriage of Charlotte Augusta, Princess Royal of Great@Britain to Frederick William, Prince of Wurttemberg, on 18 May]. The Musick entirely new by Attwood. The Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations entirely new. Books of the Interlude to be had in the Theatre. Receipts: #254 15s. (166.15.0; 84.6.6; 3.13.6)

Event Comment: 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by Andrew Franklin. Prologue by the author (Knapp, p. 164)]. Receipts: #233 7s. (137.2; 93.0; 3.5)

Event Comment: Benefit for Fawcett. 1st piece: Not acted some years [acted 30 Oct. 1790]. 2nd piece [1st time: ENT 1]. 3rd piece: By Permission of George Colman, Esq., and for that Night only. Tickets and Places to be had of Fawcett at his house, No. 10, Golden Square, and of Brandon, at the Theatre. "To the Public, May 16, 1797. In consequence of repeated Forgeries of Tickets on Benefit Nights, particularly those of Miss Wallis, Mr Incledon, Mr Holman, and Mrs Mattocks, it has been found necessary to offer a large Reward for the Discovery of the Person or Persons concerned in this unjust and cruel Practice. Mr Fawcett, therefore, thinks it his Duty to warn his Friends and the Public from purchasing Tickets for his Night of Strangers, especially those Persons who sell them in the Avenues of the Theatre, as all such will be stopt at the Doors, and if forged the Persons offering them for Admittance will be drawn into a disagreeable dilemma" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill). Receipts: #462 5s. (189.12; 8.13; tickets: 264.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Suett. True Briton, 11 May: Tickets to be had of Suett, No. 10, Hart-street, Covent-Garden. Account-Book: Suett by agreement with the proprietors to pay half the value of tickets he brings in over #100. Receipts: #319 11s. (91.16.0; 54.2.0; 1.8.6; tickets 172.4.6) (charge: not levied; see above)