Event Comment: Benefit for Moody and Griffith, acted only once these three years. Tickets deliver'd for the Committee, Romeo and Juliet, and A Play will be admitted

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Paid Printer's Bill #9 6s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #248 5s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Love. House charges #66 7s. [Profit to Love #84 19s.] Paid Manager's subscription to Widow Nimmo #2 2s; Paid French on acct #20; Rec'd Stopages #3 3s. Paid salary list #435 19s. (Treasurer's Book). [Neville attended and commented that Bayes was well done by Love, We had Hearts of Oak, Bayes's Horse, & and a Concerto on the Harpsichord by Master Love, who was much applauded.'] Receipts: #151 6s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 12 years. [See 24 Jan. 1758.] Prologue written by Paul Whitehead. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. First Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr Sarjant (only) at the Stage-Door. No persons can be admitted behind scenes, nor any Money returned after curtain is drawn up. To begin exactly at 6 o'clock. [Customary note in succeeding bills.] Receipps: #190 14s. (Account Book). @The New Occasional Prologue@As when the merchant to increase his store@For Dubious seas, advent'rous quits the shore;@Still anxious for his freight, he trembling sees@Rocks in each buoy, and tempest in each breeze@The curling wave to mountain billow swells,@And every cloud a fancied storm fortells:@Thus rashly launch'd on this Theatric main,@Our All on board, each phantom gives Us pain;@The Aatcall's note seems thunder in our ears,@And every Hiss a hurricane appears;@In Journal Squibs we lightning's blast espy,@And meteors blaze in every Critic's eye.@Spite of these terrors, still come hopes we view,@Hopes, ne'er can fail us--since they're plac'd--in you.@Your breath the gale, our voyage is secure,@And safe the venture which your smiles insure;@Though weak his skill, th' adventurer must succeed,@Where Candour takes th' endeavor for the deed.@For Brentford's state, two kings could once suffice;@In ours, behold! four kings of Brentford rise;@All smelling to one nosegay's od'rous savor@The balmy nosegay of--the Public favor.@From hence alone, our royal funds we draw,@Your pleasure our support, your will our law.@While such our government, we hope you'll own us;@But should we ever Tyrant prove--dethrone us.@Like Brother Monarchs, who, to coax the nation@Began their reign, with some fair proclamation,@We too should talk at least--of reformation;@Declare that during our imperial sway,@No bard shall mourn his long-neglected Play;@But then the play must have some wit, some spirit,@And We allow'd sole umpires of its merit.@For those deep sages of the judging Pit,@Whose taste is too refin'd for modern wit,@From Rome's great Theatre we'll cull the piece,@And plant on Britain's stage the flow'rs of Greece.@If some there are, our British Bards can please,@Who taste the ancient wit of ancient days,@Be our's to save, from Time's devouring womb,@Their works, and snatch their laurels from the tomb.@For you, ye Fair, who sprightlier scenes may chuse,@Where Music decks in all her airs the Muse,@Gay Opera shall all its charms dispense,@Yet boast no tuneful triumph over sense;@The nobler Bard shall still assert his right,@Nor Handel rob a Shakespear of his night,@To greet the mortal brethren of our skies [upper galleries]@Here all the Gods of Pantomime shall rise:@Yet midst the pomp and magic of machines,@Some plot may mark the meaning of our scenes;@Scenes which were held, in good King Rich's days,@By sages, no bad epilogues to plays.@If terms like these your suffrage can engage,@To fix our mimic empire of the stage;@Confirm our title in your fair opinions,@And crowd each night to people our dominions.@--(Poems and Miscelaneous Compositions, Ed. Capt. Edward Thompson, 1777) Covent Garden opened with the Rehearsal with alterations. I was in the Pit. Powell, from Drury Lane, one of the new managers who have bought the patent from Rich's heirs, spoke an occasional Prologue. Shuter did Bayes pretty much to my liking, adding many crochets of his own.... Entertainment The Mock Doctor,...Young Jasper pretty well by one Massey, being his first appearance on that stage (Neville MS Diary)

Event Comment: Both pieces By Desire. Fixed nightly expenses were five: music-varying from #6 to #7 7s. 8d.; Wardrobe, from #1 12s. to #4; Properties, from 6s. 3d. to #2; and Kettle Drum, at about 5s.; Renters stage;