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.)
Performances
Mainpiece Title: The Belles Stratagem
Cast
Role: Characters Actor: Suett, Wathen, Benson, Trueman, Cooke, Caulfield, Phillimore, Webb, Maddocks, Miss DeCamp, Miss Leak.Role: Peter Actor: WathenAfterpiece Title: The Sultan
Performance Comment: As17960425, but In the dead of the night-_.Song: End I: Whither my Love, Ah! Whither art thou fled? (from The Haunted Tower)-Sga Storace; From Shades of Night-Braham; This fond Sorrow-Braham, Sga Storace (both from Mahmoud); End II: the celebrated Harp Song Ah che nel petto io sento, from Idalide,-Mme Mara; In IV: a Masquerade Scene, in which Ally Croker-Miss Leak, Master Welsh
Performance Comment: Whither art thou fled? (from The Haunted Tower)-Sga Storace; From Shades of Night-Braham; This fond Sorrow-Braham, Sga Storace (both from Mahmoud); End II: the celebrated Harp Song Ah che nel petto io sento, from Idalide,-Mme Mara; In IV: a Masquerade Scene, in which Ally Croker-Miss Leak, Master Welsh.Entertainment: MonologueEnd: a new Occasional Address-Mrs Jordan