Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Ward. Tickets to be had of Mrs Ward, next door to the chapel in Little Wild St., and of Hobson at the stage door. Paid Norton 3 chorus 15s.; Cash rec'd #73 1s. 6d.; Tickets #85 18s.; Charges #63. Profit to Mrs Ward #95 19s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #150 (Cross); #158 19s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: According to the diary of the Reverend John Ward, ed. Charles Severn (London, 1839), Ward saw The Alchymist at this time. The Folger MS V.a. 292, of Ward's journal, gives it as performed between 1 and 25 Sept. 1662. See Shakespeare Quarterly, XI (1961), 336. See also Dec. 1660

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Ward. Tickets to be had of Mrs Ward, next door to the Chapel, in Little Wild St., and of Hobson at the stage door. Tickets deliver'd out for Jane Shore will be taken. A Pamphlet having lately appeared in Ridicule of the late performance of Othello at Drury Lane, to which was subjoined an Advertisement in my name,from whence Occasion has been taken to assert, that I was the publisher, the Publick may be assured that advertisement was inserted without my knowledge or consent, that I am entirely ignorant of the Author, nor am the least concerned in that mean invidious affair. F. Stamper (General Advertiser). [Stamper possibly refers to A satirical Dialogue Humbly address'd to the Gentlemen who deformed the play of Othello; with a Prologue and Epilogue, much more suitable to the occasion than their own. London: River, 1751, listed in the Register of Books, Gentleman's Magazine, March 1751, p. 142. Stamper may also be alluding in some way to a Modern Character introduced in the Scenes of Vanbrugh's Aesop as it was acted at a late private representation of King Henry IV, performed gratis at the Little Opera House in the Haymarket, 3rd edn. 1751, written by F. Stamper. It was published because the farce was hissed off the stage. The Character is a Spouter who tries to instruct Aesop in heroics.] Receipts: #210 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Ward. Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. No Building on Stage. Tickets deliver'd out for Macbeth will be taken. Tickets to be had of Mrs Ward, at Mr Trouton's in Surry-Street in the strand; and of Mr Sarjant at the stage Door where places for the Boxes may be taken

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New Comedy [by Richard Cumberland] never performed. [Genest, V, 282, reports that Garrick was in the House this night and was agreeably surprised at the complimentary reference to him in the Epilogue: Who but has seen the celebrated strife Where Reynolds calls the Canvass into life: And, 'twixt the Tragic, and the Comic Muse, Courted of both, and dubious where to chuse, Th'immortal Actor stands?' A long retelling of the plot appeared in the Freeholder's Magazine for Dec., concluding: This comedy was received with great applause by the Audience. It is said to be written by Mr Cumberland, who has already oblig'd the Public with a musical piece, called the Summer's Tale. The Performers, particularly Mr Smith, Mr Woodward, Mr Yates, Mrs Green, Mrs Bulkley, and Mrs Yates, did great justice to their characters. The Prologue was spoken by Mr Smith, and the Epilogue, which alluded to the celebrated picture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, where Comedy and Tragedy are contending for Mr Garrick, by Mrs Yates." Receipts: #215 18s

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Ward. Public Advertiser, 3 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Ward, No. 12, Catherine-street, Strand. Receipts: #292 17s. 6d. (65.17.0; 14.1.6; 0.10.0; tickets: 212.9.0) (charge: #106 11s. 4d.)