Event Comment: Receipts: #277 4s. (256/4/0; 19/11/6; 0/16/0; tickets not come in: 0/12/6)

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: Receipts: #270 3s. 6d. (244/15/0; 23/7/0; 1/14/0; tickets not come in: 0/7/6)

Event Comment: Receipts: #243 17s. 6d. (211/18/0; 30/2/0; 1/12/6; tickets not come in: 0/5/0)

Event Comment: Receipts: #224 9s. 6d. (198/17/0; 23/5/6; 1/19/6; tickets not come in: 0/7/6)

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: Receipts: #200 8s. 6d. (152/9/0; 43/1/6; 2/13/0; tickets not come in: 2/5/0)

Event Comment: Receipts: #238 14s. (216/2/0; 20/5/6; 1/4/0; tickets not come in: 1/2/6)

Event Comment: Receipts: #230 4s. (181/17/0; 47/3/6; 0/18/6; tickets not come in: 0/5/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Delpini [who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #185 13s. (134/16; 8/12; tickets: 42/5) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Receipts: #135 (118/n/o; 13/17/6; 1/11/6; tickets not come in: 1/0/0)

Event Comment: Receipts: #175 14s. (148/5/0; 25/7/6; 1/4/0; tickets not come in: 0/17/6)

Event Comment: The Heiress [announced on playbill of 6 Mar.] is obliged to be deferred, on Account of the Indisposition of Smith. Receipts: #99 14s. (80/12/0; 17/4/6; 1/0/0; tickets not come in: 0/17/6)

Event Comment: Receipts: #157 14s. (129/8; 26/12; 1/9; tickets not come in: 0/5)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. "The Captives were set at liberty last night, amidst roars of laughter. I see the doctor [i.e. the author] publishes it this week . . . Cadell bought this sublime piece before it appeared, for fifty pounds, agreeing to make it a hundred on its third representation. It has been played three times, and I dare say old Sanctimony will have no remorse in taking the other fifty." J. P. Kemble to Edmond Malone (Life of Edmond Malone, by Sir James Prior, i860, p. 126). Receipts: #138 13s. 6d. (91/19/0; 40/18/0; 5/16/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: [As mainpiece the playbill announces The Distress'd Mother, but it was not acted on account of Mrs Siddons's illness. Its substitute is listed in the Account-Book. Public Advertiser, 17 Mar., announces that "Macbeth (see 18 Mar.) is obliged to be deferred on account of the Indisposition of Mrs Siddons."] Receipts: #163 19s. 6d. (132/12/0; 29/12/0; 1/0/6; tickets not come in: 0/15/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Sga Sestini. A Comic Opera; the Music by Anfossi. Tickets, 10s. 6d. each, to be had of Sga Sestini, No. 38, Mount-street, Berkeleysquare

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of Macbeth, announced on playbill of 16 Mar., q.v.] Receipts: #162 13s. (135/1/0; 26/9/6; 0/10/0; tickets not come in: 0/12/6)

Event Comment: She Wou'd and She Wou'd Not [announced on playbill of 18 Mar.] is postponed on account of the Indisposition of Parsons. Mainpiece: Procession, as 6 Jan. Receipts: #93 12s. 6d. (66/16/0; 24/8/0; 1/13/6; tickets not come in: 0/15/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #217 7s. (210/9; 6/18; tickets: none listed) (charge #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Vestris. Tickets, 10s. 6d. each, to be had of Vestris, No. 8, Great Suffolk-street, Charing-cross. 2nd ballet: With a great Variety of magnificent Scenery and Decorations executed by Gaetano Marinari. [Synopsis of action in Morning Post, 23 Mar.] "Vestris and Baccelli, tho' incomparable in some parts of the art, are far inferior as actors to Lepicq and Rossi... One evident amendment of the Ballet may be compression and curtailment. As it was, the curtain did not drop till twelve o'clock" (Public Advertiser, 25 Mar.)