Event Comment: The Characters in the Mainpiece New Dress'd. Neville MS Diary: At 6, went into the Pit...House not very full. King John was performed with new Dresses and Decorations. Powell and Smith are good in York and the Bastard, and Mrs Bellamy in Constance....The entertainment was the procession of the Coronation, with the ceremony of the Champion. Every truly free soul, on seeing a representation of such extravagant pageantry, must abhor that form of Government, of the superfluous trappings of which it is but a small specimen. Receipts: #91s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: New Overture and Pieces of Music Between the Acts. Music by Barthelemon. New Scenes, Habits and Decorations. The Scenes designed by DeLoutherberg, and painted by Messrs French, Royer, and Greenwood. Books of the songs and Chorusses to be had at the Theatre. This piece is got up in a most Superb manner. The Scenery is beyond description fine -& the whole Performance tho' the most complicated upon the stage went off with uncommon Applause. Mrs Abington played finely--Mr Slingsby & Sga Hidou danc'd for the first time & were Amazingly well Rec'ed. The Ballets are very Grand (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly in wording.] Rec'd stopages #17 18s.; Paid salary list #567 16s.; J. French on Acct #5 5s. (Treasurer's Book). Mainpiece: Never performed before, by John Burgoyne. [The review in the Westminster Magazine, Nov. 1774, tells the plot, and concludes: "After some superb exhibitions of transparent scenery, several characteristic airs, and elegant dances, Mr Oldworth...proclaims Maria his only daughter and gives her to Sir Harry. After a dance of Cupids, Hymen, &c....offering them eternal wreaths, the Druid of the Oaks, freed by the present powers of Beauty from that sequestered habitation to which by mystic spells he had long been doomed, appears to ratify their union, and astonishes the spectators by his magic influence, in a glorious vision of that felicity the virtues of the happy pair had so justly insured. An admirable vaudeville, and a grand dance, conclude the dramatic entertainment....Had it not appeared obvious that the whole was intended as a mere vehicle for the splendid spectacle, we do not suppose, in spite of the managers Orders and Puffs, that the author's labors would have been tolerated. The very excellent scenery, however, of the ingenious Mr Loutherbourg preserved this piece from that damnation, which as a dramatic production, it justly merited."] Receipts: #263 14s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Catley. Public Advertiser, 3 Oct.: Tickets to be had of Miss Catley, No. 12, Cockspur-street. Receipts: #297 13s. (187.19; tickets: 109.14) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Catley. No Part of the Pit can on any Account be laid into the Boxes. Public Advertiser, 3 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Miss Catley at Wilson's, Watchmaker, No. 150, Drury-Lane. Receipts: #302 3s. (209.13; tickets: 92.10) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Woodward. Tickets delivered for Every Man in His Humour, March 18th, and for this Day, will be admitted. Public Advertiser, 7 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Woodward, Chapel Street, Grosvenor Place, Hyde-Park Corner. Receipts: #204 10s. (168.15; tickets 35.15) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund, for the Relief of those who from their Infirmities shall be obliged to retire from the Stage. Prelude [1st time; M. PREL 1, by David Garrick, and others. In a synopsis of the plot the London Chronicle assigns Bannister; it lists the names of the other performers and, separately, their parts. The assignments given above are my own conjecture. Not in Larpent MS; the composer of the vaudeville written by Garrick is unknown]. The Words of the Songs will be given at the Theatre. Ladies and Gentlemen are requested to come early, to prevent Confusion. And to send their Servants by Five o'clock to keep the Places. Receipts: #217 8s. 6d. (100.9.0; 25.14.6; 0.0.0; tickets: 91.5.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Leoni. Public Advertiser, 19 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Leoni, No. 34, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields. Receipts: #234 8s. 6d. (174.19.6; tickets: 59.9.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Receipts: #153 11s. 6d. (115.13.0; 37.12.0; 0.6.6) (orders and free: #32 17s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Abington [who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #156 10s. 6d. (115.13.0; 40.3.6; 0.14.0; tickets: none listed) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Catley. Public Advertiser, 10 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Miss Catley, No. 115, Jermyn-street, St. James's. Account-Book, 3 Apr.: Paid Miss Catley in full for salary to 31st March #210. Receipts: #290 4s. 6d. (209.7.6; tickets: 80.17.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund for the Relief of those who from their Infirmities shall be obliged to retire from the Stage. The Doors to be opened at 5:00. To begin (for that night only) at 6:00. Receipts: #236 4s. 6d. (129.19.0; 25.2.6; 1.8.0; tickets: 79.15.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Macklin. Receipts: none listed (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Catley. Public Advertiser, 15 Feb.: Tickets and Places for the Boxes to be had of Miss Catley, No. 115, Jermyn-street. Receipts: #303 7s. (200.13; tickets: 102.14) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund, for the Relief of those who from their Infirmities shall be obliged to retire from the Stage. Receipts: #138 13s. (95.8; 0.0; tickets: 43.5) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Opera [1st time; Past 3, author unknown]. The music [to Part I] composed by Giovanni Battista? Bianchi, [to Part II by] Rauzzini, [to Part III by] Giordani. With Grand Chorusses. With new Decorations devised and painted by Novosielski, and new Dresses. The Side-boards, with a cold Collation and all sorts of Wines, at 12 o'clock. The Performance under the direction of Vestris Sen., and to conclude with a Ball. Tickets, at 2 Guineas each, are ready to be delivered at the Office in Union-court, where Boxes may be taken. No Masks will be admitted. The Doors will be opened at 9:00, and the Performance to begin at 10:00. Books of the Performance will be given out (gratis) at the Theatre. Morning Herald, 7 June: The Omaggio, or homage paid by the vassals and tenants to their Lord, is naturally calculated to give free scope to lively, and sentimental music. In the former stile Bianchi and Giardini [sic] were equally succesful; and in the latter Rauzzini was surprisingly great, both as composer and performer...Slingsby would, in our opinion, have come out with as great a share of applause as the best of them, having to go through an English dance in his own stile, but by some unaccountable accident...the music-band stopped short when he was in the very climax of his exertions. The scenes are in the rural stile, with the addition of natural trees, flowering shrubs, &c., set in the neatest order...The company did not begin to move till about four, and by five the rooms were cleared. Public Advertiser, 7 June: The Vestris' gave incontrovertible proof of the variety of their powers...They did more, they shewed what this country had never seen-the possibility of presenting to the eye a large and extensive stage filled with dancers all in motion at the same time

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Catley. Receipts: #282 14s. (194/12; tickets: 88/2) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Abington [who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #153 6s. 6d. (118/6/0; 33/18/0; 1/2/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Macklin. [In the dance Band is announced as making his 4th appearance (see 25 Feb., 19 Mar.).] Receipts: none listed (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund for the Relief of those who from their Infirmities shall be obliged to retire from the Stage. Receipts: #152 8s. (93/6; 26/17; 0/5; tickets: 32/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'clock. Public Advertiser, 10 Dec: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 149 in the Strand. [The most famous "point" in this play was the parting of Belvidera and Jaffier in Act III, and her words, "Remember twelve!" Boaden, Siddons, 1, 354, refers to Mrs Siddons's "querulous melancholy of tone, partaking of doubt, though still hoping for the best," in uttering these words.] Receipts: #335 5s. (157/15/0; 4/0/6; 0/12/6; tickets: 172/17/0) (charge: free). [Thus, officially, the Account-Book, but Mrs Siddons's total profit, from presents and from additional sums being added by her admirers to the usual price of her tickets, was, according to Public Advertiser, 25 Dec, over #800. This figure is almost certainly an accurate reckoning.]

Event Comment: Benefit for King [who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #152 19s. (148/19; 4/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Yates [who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: none listed (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Macklin. Receipts: #208 3s. (149/17; tickets: 58/6) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund for the Relief of those who from their Infirmities shall be obliged to retire from the Stage. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'clock. [Mainpiece in place of Isabella, announced on playbill of 17 May.] Receipts: #292 (146/5/0; 10/12/6; 0/12/6; tickets: 134/10/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Lady Randolph was at Manchester, 5 Feb. 1777.] "The Siddons, younger and more rich in natural Gifts, certainly offers much to the Mind, and yet much more to the Eye. The Crawford, by some means or other, offers more to the Heart" (Public Advertiser, 24 Dec). Receipts: #303 8s. 6d. (156/2/0; 10/13/0; 0/13/6; tickets: 136/0/0) (charge: free)