Event Comment: A new Serious Opera (1st time [in London; 1st performed at Venice, 1781]); the music by Sarti, under the direction of Mazzinghi. "At length in the spring arrived the celebrated Marchesi, whose fame had long reached this country, and who had been extolled to such a degree that impatience and expectation were raised to the highest pitch; and on the first night of his appearance the theatre was not only crowed to the utmost in every part, but on the rising of the curtain, the stage was so full of spectators that it was some time before order and silence could be obtained, and with some difficulty that Marchesi, who was to open the opera, could make his way before the audience. Marchesi was at this time a very well-looking young man, of good figure, and graceful deportment. His acting was spirited and expressive: his vocal powers were very great, his voice of extensive compass, but a little inclined to be thick (Mount-Edgcumbe, 66-67). Receipts: #437 15s. 6d., i.e. 560 tickets delivered to Prendergrass [see 8 Dec. 1787], who sold 558; 110 to Toosey, who sold 86; 400 to Butler, who sold 285; 236 to Snelson, who sold 204. Total non-subscription tickets sold: 1133

Event Comment: Benefit for Quick. Public Advertiser, 27 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Quick, Broad court, Bow-street, Covent-garden. [Mainpiece: Epilogue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.] Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by John O'Keeffe]: With proper Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. Receipts: #379 13s. (192.6.6; 4.9.6; tickets: 182.17.0)

Event Comment: [1st piece in place of Summer Amusement, advertised on playbill of 10 July.] 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, ascribed by Town and Country Magazine, July 1789, p. 327, to George Colman ynger. Prologue by the author (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 19 Aug. 1789: This Day is published The Family Party (1s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Kemble. 1st piece [1st time; M. PREL 1; at its 2nd performance, 10 Aug., acted under its 2nd title, and published as such]: Written by Thomas? Bellamy. [The Address by--Codrington, of Exeter (European Magazine, Sept. 1789, p. 218).] World, 1 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Kemble, No. 26, Villiers-street, York-Buildings. Diary, 1 Sept. 1789: This Day is published The Benevolent Planters (1s.)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; BO 2, by the Hon. John St.John. Prologue by the author (see text)]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. The Overture, new Songs and Accompaniments by Shaw. The Scenes by Greenwood. Receipts: #172 16s. (117.11.0; 53.9.6; 1.15.6)

Event Comment: A new and correct Edition of the Farce [J. Debrett, 1790] to be had at the Theatre. Paid Perrott, Coal Merchant, #139 13s. Receipts: #166 7s. (126.1; 39.7; 0.19)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by James Cobb. Text 1st published (unauthorized), Dublin, 1792]: The Scenes entirely new, designed and executed by Greenwood. With new Dresses and Decorations. The Musick composed principally by Storace, with a few Pieces selected from [Una Cosa Rara, by] Martini [i.e. Martin y Soler], Salieri, and Paisiello. "The Siege of Belgrade is a very pleasing vehicle for the music, which in a modern opera is all that is expected from the poet" (Universal Magazine, Jan. 1791, p. 66). "The battle between Palmer and Kelly ought to be shortened. It is almost as ludicrous as that between Don Whiskerandos and Beefeater, in Mr Puff's Tragedy [in The Critic]" (Gazetteer, 4 Jan. 1791). Account-Book, 24 May 1791: Paid Cobb for Copyright of Siege of Belgrade of #210. Receipts: #267 9s. 6d. (242.0.0; 23.9.6; 2.0.0)

Event Comment: "Mrs Siddons's timid approach [in Act V] to the home of a friend whom she had robbed of a lover: 'She staggers up to the door, timidly lifts the knocker, releases it as if she had committed a mortal sin, seizes it a second time and--knocks. It is impossible to describe how she knocked, but I shall never forget her in this situation, never forget the tone of her voice in answer to the servant, never the timidity, the anguish of her expression and movements.'" (F. W. von Hassell quoted in J. A. Kelly, 144-45). Receipts: #337 7s. 6d. (321.16.0; 14.6.6; 1.5.0, being the largest amount taken at this theatre, on a night not devoted to a benefit, between 1776 and 4 June of this season, q. v.)

Event Comment: 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by Charles Stuart, "from the Spanish"; on 2 Sept. reduced to 1 act. Prologue by the author (see text)]. "The Piece, we understand, was originally founded on some topics that have of late engrossed the conversation of much of the fashionable world...The Lord Chamberlain thought [it] too delicate a nature to appear with the allusions and title it then bore, She would be a Duchess. The consequence was that the offensive bits were expunged and the piece re-christened...It would be unfair to make any observations...in the mutilated stage it was presented" (Public Advertiser, 15 Aug.). "Some part of the plot was supposed to allude to the late occurrences in the family of General John? Gunning, who was indulged with the privilege of erasing [from the MS] that which he disliked, and who reduced it to its present feeble and unconnected form" (Gazetteer, 15 Aug.). [The reference in the original title is to the simultaneous flirtation of Miss Elizabeth Gunning, the General's daughter, with the eldest sons of the Dukes of Marlborough and Argyll (see dnb, under Susannah Gunning). She would be a Duchess: in Larpent MS 915.