Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Command of their Majesties. This Comedy is reviv'd with great Alterations by Mr G. by particular desire of the Queen. The play went off vastly well Mr G. Play'd with great Spirit & much Applauded the Alterations are vastly lik'd it will now be a living Play (Hopkins Diary). Doors open half past five. Play to begin promptly at six. House (Hopkins Diary). Receipts: #156 12s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Ackman. Tickets to be had at Pond's in the Great Piazza, Covent Garden; and of Mr Johnston, at the Theatre. House charges #84. Profit to Ackman #123 10s.; Paid Mr Davies's note to Liddell, #3 3s.; Paid extra Flute and Hautboy 10s.; Chorus 2 nights (this incl.) #4 1s. Receipts: #207 10s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mrs Abington continuing ill, The Maid of the Oaks oblig'd to be deferr'd. Soon after the Farce began off off--no, more, no more, was the General Cry with much hissing--Mr King went on Two or three times to know their pleasure but they would not hear him. They Call'd for Mr Garrick he attended--but they would not hear him for a long time tho' Attempted Several times to speak--at last Somebody said hear him! hear him!--Mr G. told them that he would wait their [sic] all Night with pleasUre if they requir'd it--hear him! again was bellow'd out--he told them he waited to know their pleasure--whether they would have the Blackamoor go on or if they would have any other Farce then a great Noise ensued; as soon as they were quiet Mr G. told them that his Theatrical Life would be very Short and he should be glad to end it in peace--A man in the Pit said if you have a mind to die in Peace don't let this Farce be play'd again Mr Garrick was on and off the Stage several times nothing would content them--at Length Mr King told them that the Author had taken the Copy from the Prompter and was gone away with it.--Soon after this they withdrew So ended this troublesome Affair (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble is considerably lengthened.] Paid Mr Rowland's bill for dinners #8 9s. 3d. Receipts: #284 18s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Robinson, musician, and Mrs Newby

Event Comment: A Concert of Music, Vocal and Instrumental, by the most celebrated performers, with Dancing by Miss Cranfield. Between the several parts of the Concert will be rehearsed (gratis) by Pupils, for their mutual improvement in Oratory The Fair Penitent [etc., as above]. By Subscription. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin precisely at 6:30. Boxes 3s. Pit 2s. Gallery 1s. No money will be taken at the door, nor any person admitted without a ticket, which may be had at the Office near the Concert Room, where attendance will be given from Ten to One every day; and from half past Five till Eleven each evening of performing. Morning Chronicle, 19 June: A correspondent who was present declares the business of the evening was conducted with great regularity and decorum... The dresses were as good as those of the Theatres Royal, the band excellent, and the decorations neat and ornamental

Event Comment: [The play was not allowed to conclude, nor was the afterpiece, All the World's a Stage, performed. "Yesterday evening, during the representation of...A Bold Stroke for a Wife, at China Hall, Rotherhithe, a party of the inhabitants, who had laid an information against the performers, rushed into the theatre, behind the scenes, and seized Mr Russell (who played the character of Colonel Feignwell), and carried him, in his stage dress, before Justice Smith, at the Rotation-Office, St Bennet's-hill, who committed him to the House of Correction, for further examination this morning" (Morning Chronicle, 24 July). What happened to Russell is not known, but because of this occurrence the theatre did not re-open until the following season, on 25 May 1778. See my article on the history of this unlucky playhouse, Theatre Notebook, VIII, 76-80.

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Afterpiece [1st time; INT 1, by Horace Walpole. Text 1st Published in Walpole's Works, vol. II (G. G. and J. Robinson and J. Edwards, 1798)]

Event Comment: Afterpiece: All the scenery, machinery, designed by DeLoutherbourg, and executed under his direction. Receipts: #170 17s. (126.19.0; 43.8.6; 0.9.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wright and Butler. Morning Chronicle, 17 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Wright, No. 24, Bennet-street, Westminster; of Butler, next door to the Theatre. Afterpiece: With Alterations and Additions. Not acted these 4 years. To conclude with a Grand Sea-Fightv, Dance, etc. [These were included in both subsequent performances.] The Scenery designed by DeLoutherbourg, and executed under his direction. Receipts: #276 14s. 6d. (52.9.0; 12.5.6; 0.4.0; tickets: 211.16.0) (charge: #74 14s.)

Event Comment: A Serious Opera [1st time; SER 3, author unknown; a pasticcio]. The Music by several celebrated Composers, and conducted [i.e. arranged] by Bianchi. Public Advertiser, 4 Dec.: Roncaglia was welcomed with merited and very flattering Applause, yet he seemed hurt at sharing with Ansani those marks of public Favour. We exhort them both to remember that Persons of their superior Talents ought to lay aside every petty Prejudice and personal Animosity. "[Ansani] had a finely toned, full, and commanding voice, was a spirited actor, and in the first opera, called Ricimero, sustained the most prominent and important part. But he was unfortunately of a most peevish, quarrelsome temper; Roncaglia was saucy and conceited, and neither could brook the superiority claimed by the other. Their mutual jealousy, and the importance assumed by the tenor soon produced an irreconcilable breach, Ansani threw up his engagement, and the season went on heavily to its close for want of him"(Mount-Edgcumbe, p. 29)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Inchbald. Mainpiece: By Permission of Colman [proprietor of the HAY, owner of the copyright of the play, and author of Epilogue]. Morning Chronicle, 22 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Inchbald, No. 10, Great Russel-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #107 8s. (71/17/6; 5/1/6; tickets: 30/9/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by George Colman ynger]: With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. The Overture, new Airs, and Accompaniments by Dr Arnold [partly adapted from Paisiello]. The Scenes painted by Rooker. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 5 Sept. 1787: This Day is published Inkle and Yarico (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Hannah Cowley. Prologue and Epilogue by the author (see text)]. @When first thy Tragedy I view'd@Where Sparta mourns her Lot severe;@I caught the Spartan Fortitude@And watch'd her Woes without a Tear.@ (William Parsons [not the actor], in Thraliana, II, 713.) Public Advertiser, 27 Feb. 1788: This Day is published The Fate of Sparta (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #203 15s. 6d. (171.13.0; 30.15.0; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 4, by Elizabeth Inchbald, adapted from Zelie; ou, L'Ingenue, by Stephanie Felicite Ducrest de Saint Aubin, Comtesse de Genlis. Beginning with 6 Dec. this was reduced to an afterpiece of 3 acts. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 12 Dec. 1788: This Day is published The Child of Nature (price not listed). Afterpiece: Reduced [from 5] into 3 acts. Receipts: #150 15s 6d. (139.10.0; 11.5.6),

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; CO 3, by John Scawen]: The Music, with a new Overture, by Dr Arnold. The Scenery designed and painted by Rooker. The Dances by Byrn. Books of the Songs [T. Cadell, 1790] to be had at the Theatre. Diary, 27 Aug. 1790: This Day is published New Spain (1s. 6d.)