Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Account-Book: Paid One Quarter Land, Window and House Taxes due Michaelmas last #102 6s. 9d. Receipts: #261 10s. 6d. (253.12.0; 8.6.6)

Event Comment: The Rivals [advertised on playbill of 4 Jan.] is obliged to be deferred on account of the indisposition of a principal performer. "There seems to be a perverse and impolitic system introduced of late years in the management of this theatre, in virtue of which certain plays are suffered to remain in a state of slovenly representation, to serve as a kind of stage lumber, on which the manager can immediately lay his hand (confident of a good half-price, from the popularity of his after-piece); he wants something, no matter what, to fill up the intermediate space of time. This is a system, however, which in the event cannot fail to prove equally injurious to the interest of the proprietors, and the gratification of that part of the audience who pay the full amount of admission" (Dramatic Censor, I, 45). Receipts: #188 5s. (102.16; 83.17; 1.12)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #418 2s. 6d. (405.1.0; 13.1.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #333 6s. 6d. (313.7.6; 19.19.0)

Event Comment: A Comic Opera (1st time [in London; 1st performed at Rome, 1777]); the Music entirely new, by Anfossi. With new Scenes, painted by Novosielski; new Dresses and Decorations by Sestini, both for the Opera and Dances. By their Majesties Command No Person can be admitted behind the Scenes. Pit 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. The Doors to be opened at 6:00, and begin exactly at 7:00 [see 7 June 1785]. Subscriptions are received at Messrs Ransom, Moreland and Hammersley's, bankers, No. 57, Pall-mall; who will deliver the Subscription Tickets. The Nobility and Gentry, Subscribers to the Opera-House, are respectfully intreated to send for them, as, in order to prevent future mistakes, no body can be admitted without producing a Ticket

Event Comment: A Serious Opera [1st time; SER 3, author unknown; a pasticcio]. The Music by several celebrated Composers, and conducted [i.e. arranged] by Bianchi. Public Advertiser, 4 Dec.: Roncaglia was welcomed with merited and very flattering Applause, yet he seemed hurt at sharing with Ansani those marks of public Favour. We exhort them both to remember that Persons of their superior Talents ought to lay aside every petty Prejudice and personal Animosity. "[Ansani] had a finely toned, full, and commanding voice, was a spirited actor, and in the first opera, called Ricimero, sustained the most prominent and important part. But he was unfortunately of a most peevish, quarrelsome temper; Roncaglia was saucy and conceited, and neither could brook the superiority claimed by the other. Their mutual jealousy, and the importance assumed by the tenor soon produced an irreconcilable breach, Ansani threw up his engagement, and the season went on heavily to its close for want of him"(Mount-Edgcumbe, p. 29)

Event Comment: A Serious Opera [1st time; ser 3, by Giovanni de Gamerra; a pasticcio, with music by Anfossi, Gluck, Alessandri, Martini, Sarti, Giordani]; the Music under the Direction of Anfossi. With new Scenes, painted by Novosielski, new Dresses and Decorations, both for the Opera and Dances. By their Majesties Command, no Person can be admitted behind the Scenes. Pit 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin exactly at 7:00 [same throughout season]. The Subscribers' Tickets are ready to be delivered at the Office in Unionstreet. To prevent Inconvenience to the Nobility and Gentry in getting to their Carriages, they are most respectfully intreated to give positive orders to their servants to set down and take up with their Horses Heads towards Pall-Mall. The Door in Market-lane for Chairs only

Event Comment: A Serious Opera in 2 acts [1st time; altered by Carlo Francesco Badini from Demetrio, by Metastasio]; the music by Gresnick. By their Majesties' Command no person can be admitted behind the scenes. Pit 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. The Doors to be opened at 6:30. To begin exactly at 7:30 [see 2 June 1787]. Subscriptions are received at Messrs Ransom, Morland and Hammersley's, Bankers, No. 57, Pall-mall, who will deliver the subscription tickets. The Nobility and Gentry, subscribers to the Opera-house, are respectfully intreated to send for them, in order to prevent future mistakes, as nobody can be admitted without producing a ticket. To prevent inconvenience to the Nobility and Gentry in getting to their carriages, they are most respectfully intreated to give positive orders to their servants to set down and take up with their horses' heads towards Pall-mall. The doors in Market-lane for chairs only. [Synopsis of opera in Morning Post, 25 Dec. Mme Perignon and Goyon were from the Opera, Paris.] Receipts: #86 11s. 6d. [These receipts, and those on all other nights throughout the opera season, represent the sale of non-subscription tickets. On this night 400 tickets were delivered to Prendergrass, office-keeper at the Haymarket pit entrance; of these he sold 84 at 10s. 6d. (i.e. #44 2s.). 100 were delivered to Reynolds, office-keeper at the King's Door pit entrance; he sold 6 at 10s. 6d. (i.e. #3 3s.). 300 were delivered to Butler, office-keeper of the 1st Gallery; he sold 112 at 5s. (i.e. #28). 200 were delivered to Snelson, office-keeper of the 2nd Gallery; he sold 70 at 3s. (i.e. #10 10s.). "Difference from Gallery to Pit" (i.e. money received from persons who changed their seats from gallery to pit, 16s. 6d.). The delivery of 1,000 non-subscription tickets to be disposed of was almost invariably the case on every night of the season. If a subscriber's box was released for sale it could be had for 2 guineas (see 6 Feb. 1787).