Event Comment: Benefit for the Widow and Three Orphan Children of the late Mr Benson. [Address by John Taylor, Poems, I, 62.] "Benson [who committed suicide on 19 May] was remarkable for a very retentive memory, which enabled him on the slightest notice to become a substitute for almost any performer who might be suddenly disabled from appearing" (European Magazine, June 1796, p. 397). The house was a very good one, but it has been said that Sheridan went to the Treasury and carried off the money, so that Benson's widow and children never got a sixpence" (Genest, VII, 245). Receipts: #678 10s. 6d. (319.8.0; 66.3.6; 2.19.0; tickets: 276.6.0; odd money: 13.14.0) (charge: #212 15s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Shade, Cameron, Woollams, Wood, Wilson, Dangerfield, Irish, Edwards, Griffiths, Nix, Wooldridge, Panchaud & Cole [box-keepers]. [This was Dodd's last appearance on the stage.] "Dodd was one of the most perfect actors that I have ever seen. He was the fopling of the drama rather than the age. I mean by this, that his own times rarely shewed us anything so highly charged with the vanity of personal exhibition. He was, to be sure, the prince of pink heels, and the soul of empty eminence. As he tottered rather than walked down the stage, in all the protuberance of endless muslin and lace in his cravats and frills, he reminded you of the jutting motion of the pigeon. He took his snuff, or his bergamot, with a delight so beyond all grosser enjoyments that he left you no doubt whatever of the superior happiness of a coxcomb" (Boaden, Kemble, I, 55). Receipts: #580 17s. 6d. (25.17.0; 37.3.6; 11.0.0; tickets: 503.4.0; odd money: 3.13.0) (charge: #211 17s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Portal, Gibson, Percey, George, Bowley, Stevenson, Hicks, J. Shade [box-keepers]. Receipts: #523 2s. (22.9; 23.15; 8.8; tickets: 457.7; odd money: 11.3) (charge: #211 16s. 11d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Didelot. Tickets to be had of Didelot, No. 9, Haymarket. Both dances composed by Didelot; the music by Bossi. With new Scenery, Machinery and Decorations [by Liparotti]. [Synopsis of action of 1st ballet in Cyril W. Beaumont, Complete Book of Ballets, 1941, pp. 19-21, where it is stated that "Flore et Zephire is noted for being the first ballet in which wires were used to enable the dancers to simulate aerial flight." This is not stricdly accurate; see note under L'Amour Vange, 2 June.

Event Comment: Benefit for Viganoni. Tickets to be had of Viganoni, No. 131, Pall-mall. [Opera with a new translation by Lorenzo DaPonte of Marmontel's original libretto (Loewenberg, p. 322).

Event Comment: Benefit for Fawcett. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. Morning Herald, 16 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Fawcett at his house, No. 9, Tottenham-court-road

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Kemble. 2nd piece [1st time; M. INT 1]. 3rd piece: Not acted these 2 years. Morning Herald, 20 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Kemble, No. 11, Haymarket

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer [whose 1st recorded appearance as King Richard was at Canterbury, 8 Mar. 1780]. Morning Herald, 26 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Palmer, No. 39, Great Pultney-street, Golden-square

Event Comment: Benefit for Johnstone. 1st piece: The Overture, Chorusses and new Musick by Dr Arnold. The new Scenery by Rooker, Marinari, &c. 2nd [1st time; MF 1, author unknown. Not in Larpent MS; not published]: Overture and new Music by Reeve, and selected Songs by Dibdin. [3rd piece in place of The Prize, advertised on playbill of 31 Aug. C. Kemble had 1st appeared as Zorinski at the hay on 31 Aug. and 7 Sept. 1795.] Morning Herald, 27 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Johnstone, No. 19, Piazza, Covent-Garden

Event Comment: Benefit for Bannister Jun. Morning Herald, 30 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Bannister Jun., No. 65, Gower-street, Bedford-square

Event Comment: Benefit for Elliston. Mainpiece: The Play will be dressed in characteristick Habits. Morning Herald, 3 Sept.: Tickets to be had of Elliston, No. 3, Frith-street, Soho

Event Comment: Benefit for Jewell, treasurer. Morning Herald, 1 Sept.: Tickets to be had of Jewell, No. 26, Suffolk-street, Charing-cross

Event Comment: [Extra night] By Authority of the Most Noble for Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's Household. Benefit for Waldron, prompter. Tickets to be had of Waldron, No. 4, Cross-court, Bow-street, Covent Garden

Event Comment: [Extra night] By Authority of the Most Noble the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's Household. Benefit for R. Palmer. 1st piece: Not acted these 2 years [not acted since 16 Sept. 1791]. Tickets to be had of R. Palmer, No. 28, Eaton-street, Pimlico

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Wilson, widow of Richard Wilson, lately of the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden and Haymarket [whose 1st appearance on the stage was at Manchester, 26 Feb. 1796]. Tickets to be had of Mrs Wilson, No. 239, Piccadilly, near the Haymarket

Event Comment: Gentlemen are particularly entreated to observe that in consequence of the displeasure expressed by the Subscribers, as well as the Public, at the frequent interruption of the business of the Representation, by the pressure of people on the Stage, the Company will hereafter be admitted behind the Scenes, before and after the Opera, and during the intervals between the Opera and Ballets only; but while the Curtain is up, Gentlemen are earnestly entreated to withdraw from the Stage; otherwise the request of the Nobility and Gentry, in conformity also to the public opinion, of shutting entirely the doors between the audience part of the Theatre and the Stage, must at last be compiled with. Those persons entitled to Admissions previous to the year 1789, who may not have an opportunity of sending their Securities to be registered before the opening of the Theatre, are requested to produce them at the Door, as they pass. The Public are entreated to observe that Ladies dressed in Bonnets, and Gentlemen in Boots, cannot be admitted into the Pit of the Opera. Pit 10s. 6d. Gallery 5s. No Money to be returned. The Doors to be opened at 6:30. To begin at 7:30 [same throughout opera season]. The Nobility are entreated to give direction to their Servants to set down and take up at the Theatre with the Horse's head toward Pall Mall. On account of the abuses practised in the names of the Subscribers, it is become necessary to require the production of the Subscription Ticket at the Doors and the Boxes. At the Chair-door in Market-Lane, Subscribers only will be admitted. "Braham sustained his part so well that we trust he will give us an example that shall induce us to chace from an English stage the degrading and distusting form of a Castrato" (Morning Chronicle, 28 Nov.). [The playbill omits Rovedino, but his performance is reviewed in True Briton, 28 Nov. The only other male part in the opera is that of Sandro. And see 14 Feb. 1797.

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Yates, and her Infant Children. [Mr and Mrs Litchfield, with Mrs Litchfield as Little Pickle, are identified in Morning Chronicle, 10 Feb. Address by Thomas Roberts (European Magazine. Feb. 1797, p. 121).] Tickets to be had of Mrs Yates, No. 26, Great Pultney-street, Golden-square; and of Rice at the Theatre, where Places for the Boxes may be taken

Event Comment: Benefit for Mme Rose. Tickets to be had of Mme Rose, No. 8, Hay-Market. 2nd ballet: 1st time; composed by Didelot in the Erotic Style. The Music entirely new, by Mazzinghi. With new Dresses [by Sestini], Scenery [by Greenwood], and Decorations

Event Comment: Benefit for Mme Banti. A new Opera, with Chorusses. 1st time in this Country [1st performed privately at the Royal Palace, Caserta, 1789; publicly at Naples, 1790]. The Music entirely by Paisiello. Tickets to be had of Mme Banti, No. 10, St. Alban's-street

Event Comment: Benefit for Mme Hilligsberg. Tickets to be had of Mme Hilligsberg, No. 36, Great Pulteney-street, Golden-square

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund for the Relief of those whose Infirmities oblige them to retire from the Stage. Receipts: #179 8s. (75.11; 50.14; 3.7; tickets: 49.16) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bowden. [1st piece in place of The Duenna, advertised on playbill of 19 May.] 2nd piece [1st time; M. INT 1]. True Briton, 8 May: Tickets to be had of Bowden, No. 6, Lower Brook-street, Grosvenor-square. Receipts: #236 12s. (101.14.6; 8.5.0;tickets: 126.12.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mlle Parisot. Tickets to be had of Mlle Parisot, No. 9, Haymarket. Nina [advertised in True Briton, 24 May] is postponed on account of Mme Banti's indisposition

Event Comment: Benefit for Fosbrook, box-book and housekeeper. Receipts: #466 6s. (57.2.6; 61.13.0; 4.3.6; tickets: 343.7.0) (charge: #226 4s. 2 1@2d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Brandon, box-book and housekeeper. Receipts: #416 9s. (66.11.0; 1.15.6; tickets: 348.2.6)