Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [In mainpiece the playbill does not list the Child; for the assignment see Morning Post, 10 Oct., and edition of 1787 (Rachael Randall).] "[Mrs Siddons's] merit in the character was infinite, and the applause she received unbounded. In various of her scenes the plaudits were repeated . . . During the fourth and fifth acts there was almost an incessant clapping, and when Isabella expired her death was rendered glorious by the theatre's resounding with thundering applause for more than a minute" (Morning Chronicle, 11 Oct.). "L'actrice la plus noble dans ses manieres, madame Siddons, ne perd rien de sa dignite quand elle se prosterne contre terre . . . Enfin, il arriva ce moment terrible ou Isabelle, s'etant echappee des mains des femmes qui veulent l'empechcr de se tuer, rit, en se donnant un coup de poignard, de l'inutilite de leurs efforts. Ce rire du desespoir est l'effet le plus difficile et le plus remarquable que le jeu dramatique puisse produire; il emeut bien plus que les larmes: cette amere ironie du malheur est son expression la plus dechirante. Qu'elle est terrible la souffrance du coeur, quand elle inspire une si barbare joie, quand elle donne, a l'aspect de son propre sang, le contentement feroce d'un sauvage ennemi qui se serait venge!" (Mme de Stael: Corinne, livre XVII, chapitre iv). Receipts: #181 11s. (147/0; 34/6; 0/5)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wild. 1st piece: As altered in 3 Acts by Garrick. 3rd piece [1st time; MF 2, by Leonard Macnally. MS: Larpent 623; not published]: The Music compiled from the most eminent Composers. Receipts: #304 1s. 6d. (222/9/6; tickets: 81/12/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: [Playbill of 5 June says mainpiece "Not acted here these 7 years." It was acted 17 Aug. 1780.]

Event Comment: Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Stage-door. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. The Doors will open at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 13 Oct.]. Receipts: #203 10s. 6d. (202/12/0; 0/18/6)

Event Comment: "[Kemble] has not, and we speak charitably, any pretensions to a first or second rank in the theatre. We are sorry for this, as he seemed to labour earnestly, but in vain" (London Magazine, Oct. 1783, p. 350). Paid Music 3 nights #23 19s. Receipts: #288 12s. 6d. (287/0/0; 1/12/6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns the 1st Gravedigger to Parsons, but "an Apology was made for Parsons, and Suett went through his Part" (Public Advertiser, 2 Oct.). In afterpiece the playbill retains Parsons as Solomon; for Fawcett see 26 Nov.] "We have for so many years been accustomed to see Hamlet dressed in the Vandyke costume, that it may be material to state that Mr Kemble played the part in a modern court dress of rich black velvet, with a star on the breast, the garter and pendant ribbon of an order-the mourning sword and buckles, with deep ruffles: the hair in powder; which, in the scenes of feigned distraction, flowed dishevelled in front and over the shoulders" (Boaden, Kemble, I, 104). Receipts: #285 16s1. (265/14/0; 19/19/6; 0/2/6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Diana to Mrs Martyr, but "News of Mrs Martyr's husband's death having reached her the day before, an apology was made for her not playing Diana; Miss Wheeler, however, from the other house proved a very agreeable substitute" (.European Magazine, Oct. 1783, p. 310). In afterpiece the playbill assigns Lucy to Mrs Wilson, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Mrs Davenett.] Receipts: #134 19s. 6d. (133/9/0; 1/10/6)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Dighton. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. [In 1st piece the cast is not listed; for Decastro's performance in it see his Memoirs, 1824, p. 38.] 3rd piece [1st time; INT 1, author unknown. MS: Larpent 690; not published]: A Commutation Act

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Greville. Tickets and places to be had of Mrs Greville, No. 1, Queen's-court, King-street, Covent-garden. [This was Mrs Pinto's last appearance on the stage (but see 12 May 1786).]

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Paid Licenses [from the Lord Chamberlain] for Omai and The Fool #4 4s. Receipts: #274 5s. (273/3; 1/2)

Event Comment: [Mathews was from the Royal Circus. Prologue by George Colman the elder (Colman, Prose, ui, 269).] Places for the Boxes to be taken of Rice, at the Theatre. Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. Hunt the Slipper is unavoidably postponed. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. [Master Degville and Miss De Camp were from the Royal Circus.]

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by Wycherley, altered by Garrick, and perform'd very often last season, at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane, with great applause. Afterpiece: Never acted here. Peeping Tom is obliged to be deferred till Monday next

Event Comment: Afterpiece: Written by O'Keeffe, Author of The Poor Soldier, &c, and perform'd at the Theatre Royal, Hay-Market, with universal Applause

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Phillips. Tickets to be had of Miss Phillips, at the West-End of Dorville's-Row. Afterpiece: Written by O'KeefFe, set to music by Shield, and performed with greatest applause at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Chambers and Mrs Clarke. Mainpiece: Written by Mrs Cowley, and performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden with universal Applause. Never Acted there

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Johnston & Miss Williams. Mainpiece: Written by R. Cumberland, Esq., and perform'd at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane, with great Applause. Never acted there. Tickets to be had of Mr and Mrs Johnston & Miss Williams at the Windsor Castle [Inn], Plough and Harrow, Angel, Cock and Magpie, Salutation; and of Waldron, No. 17, Dorville's Row, where places for the Boxes may be taken

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years [and in place of Every Man in his Humour, announced on playbill of 28 Oct.]. Receipts: #184 4s. (148.6; 34.17; 1.1)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Harwood, late prompter of the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane. Harwood's respectful compliments to his Friends in particular, and the publick in general, and assures them every effort in his power shall be exerted to render the Evening's Entertainment agreeable, and humbly hopes for their well-known candour and protection on the above occasion. Tickets and Places to be had of Harwood, next door to Drury-Lane Theatre, Little Russel-street, Covent Garden. [Harwood was prompter at dl from 1780 to 1786. Hooke was from cg.] Afterpiece: Written by the late Samuel Foote, Esq