Event Comment: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Stage-door. The Doors will open at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 4 Nov.]

Event Comment: [Holman is identified on playbill of 5 Nov. Address by John Barwis (European Magazine, Oct. 1784, p. 336, which also lists name of speaker).] Mainpiece: With new Dresses, Scenery and Decorations. In Act I a Masquerade Scene. [This notice is included in all subsequent playbills.] "This easy and natural performance of Holman . . . will prove a fatal blow to the cause of the Attitudinarians and Face-makers; to those who think dramatic excellence consists in . . . finding out meanings that were never meant ... in stretching out their fingers like monkies dying in convulsions ... in uttering their words like minute-guns at royal funerals" (Public Advertiser, 1 Nov.). "Why does Romeo wear black in the last Act? Is it on account of his banishment? He has not heard of Juliet's death" (Gazetteer, 28 Oct.)

Event Comment: [This was Holcroft's last appearance on the stage.]

Event Comment: Windham Diary (30 Jan. 1784), 41: On the Wednesday 1 went to see Mrs Crawford in 'Belvidera', and found her much as I expected, though her disparity was very great. I can perhaps better conceive the delusion that, aided by a little prejudice [in favor of Mrs Siddons] and the recollection of Mrs C. in better times, could hesitate about the preference. The chief faults that I should find would be, that her articulation was cramped and timid, her tones sometimes colloquial and vulgar, her action confined, and her countenance inexpressive. A new man of the name of Pope performed; I pronounced him in my own judgment as inferior, upon the whole, to Brereton. [Henderson's 1st appearance as Pierre was at Bath, 14 Oct. 1773.]

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. [Author and speaker of Prologue unknown.] The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15

Event Comment: [Miss Orme is identified in Town and Country Magazine, Feb. 1785, p. 101.]

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Tickets to be had and Places for the Boxes to be taken of Fosbrook, at the Stage Door of the Theatre, at half a guinea each. Pit 51. 1st Gallery 3;. 6d. 2nd Gallery is. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [same throughout oratorio season]

Event Comment: "What a 'monstrous marring' ... is made amongst the wierd sisters! Mrs Wrighten laughing and talking the whole time, [and Miss] George who cannot help joining in a laugh . . . Mrs Siddons's sleeping scene [is] we think the greatest act that has in our memory adorned the stage" (Public Advertiser, 24 Feb.). Receipts: #279 6s. 6d. (250/0/0; 28/9/0; 0/10/0; tickets not come in: 0/7/6)

Event Comment: [By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain (but this notice does not appear on the playbill)]. Benefit for Miss Llewellin. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00. Tickets delivered for Monday the 24th, and Thursday the 7th of April will be admitted. Miss Llewellin is the daughter of a late eminent and respectable Merchant in one of our neighbouring islands, whose family have been great sufferers by the late war, and is left with two sisters, orphans. She solicits the patronage of a generous publick for that night only. Tickets to be had of Miss Llewellin, No. 204, Piccadilly

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. [Author of Address unknown.] 1st piece: By the Author of Love in a Village, &c. [Isaac Bickerstaffe]; not acted these 16 years [1st acted at DL, 24 Nov. 1770], by Veterans of the Stage. 2nd piece: By the late Samuel Foote, Esq. 3rd piece: By Garrick; not acted these 12 years. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund for the Relief of those who from their Infirmities shall be obliged to retire from the Stage. [Ernst Brandes quoted in J. A. Kelly, p. 109: Brandes has much to say on the subject of Shakespeare ... He regrets that the role of Ophelia is assigned in both theaters on the strength of the candidate's accomplishments as a singer, which he considers relatively unimportant; and that the mania for operettas has been allowed to disfigure several of Shakespeare's plays. The Tempest had been debased to an opera, and a whole army of witches had been added to the cast of Macbeth, so that witches' arias and witches' choruses might be introduced.] Receipts: #241 10s. (131/16/0; 12/17/6; 1/1/6; tickets: 95/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bellamy. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. "Mrs Bellamy was too much frightened to speak the address [written by Charles Stuart (European Magazine, May 1785, p. 354)], and Miss Farren spoke it--Mrs Bellamy herself added some few words in prose" (Genest, VI, 342). But Stuart's address was abandoned, and in its place Miss Farren spoke one written by Alexander Bicknell (Gentleman's Magazine, June 1785, pp. 449-50). This occurred at the end of the play; following the address the curtain rose, and Mrs Bellamy "succeeded in muttering a few words, expressive of her gratitude" (Reynolds, I, 282-83). [This was Mrs Yates's last appearance in London. In July of this year she was acting in Birmingham (Morning Chronicle, 18 July). Mrs Bellamy's last appearance on the stage was at CG, 1 June 1780.] Receipts: #306 4s. (188/1/0; 13/3/6; 0/14/6; tickets: 104/5/0) (charge: #113 8s. 10d.)

Event Comment: [This was Bonnor's last appearance on the stage.] The last Time of the Company's performing this Season