Event Comment: "...Richard III, which I saw performed at Drury-lane theatre at the beginning of the present season...The dresses of the characters which here make their appearance are in the usual half-and-half mode, made up from portraits of Charles I's reign, and from unrestrained fancy. Richard's habit, indeed, shews a faint hint, at the costume of his day; but how modernized! A fancy cap and feather,with a milliner's white-ribband rose, sewed thereon. A deep ruff, of that make not known until the reign of James I From the neck depends a ribband With the George: this decoration never seen in paintings till about the fashions of the abovementioned monarch's court. On his legs and feet, white silk stockings, white shoes, and red roses. These latter ornaments unknown before Elizabeth or James I's modes of dress prevailed; at any rate, they should have been white ones to have accorded with the party-badge in his cap." Writer signing himself "An Artist and an Antiquary" in Gentleman's Magazine, Apr. 1800, p. 319. Receipts: #225 16s. 6d. (178.3.6; 47.12.0; 0.1.0)

Event Comment: An accurate Edition of the [mainpiece] to be had in the Theatre. "The Prince, we observed, wore the regimentals of an English officer, and the star of a knight of the Bath or Garter. We know not well how this can be thought the costume of either Messina or Arragon" (Monthly Mirror, Oct. 1799, p. 237). Receipts: #252 16s. (151.11; 100.11; 0.14)

Event Comment: [Mrs Higginson, who is identified in European Magazine, Nov. 1799, p. 328, had, as Mrs Cussans, acted previously at Richmond and elsewhere.] 2nd piece: In one act [and in place of The Flitch of Bacon, advertised on playbill of 9 Nov.]. 3rd piece: Representation of the Battle, as 9 Nov. Receipts: #293 17s. 6d. (286.17.6; 7.0.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Morton; with incidental music by John Moorehead. Prologue by William Thomas Fitzgerald; Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]: With New Scenes [by Richards (Universal Magazine, Feb. 1800, p. 157)] and new Dresses. Morning Chronicle, 8 July 1800: This day is published Speed the Plough (2s.). Receipts: #256 7s. (253.4.6; 3.2.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Martyr. [In 1st piece the playbill retains Mrs Martyr as Dolly, but "Dolly was undertaken at a short notice, by Mrs Chapman, upon the sudden indisposition of Mrs Martyr" (Monthly Mirror, June 1800, p. 366). "In consequence of Mrs Martyr's accouchement...the part of Dolly was sustained by Miss Sims" (Dramatic Censor, II, 140).] 2nd piece [1st time; M. INT 1, author unknown. Not in Larpent MS; not published]: To conclude with a Representation of the Storming the City of Acrev by the French [17 Mar.-20 May 1799], and the Heroic Defence made by the Turkish Troops led on by the British Sailors [under the command of Sir Sidney Smith]. Morning Chronicle, 23 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Martyr, No. 16, Martlett-court, Bow-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #333 4s. 6d. (118.3.6; 11.16.6; tickets: 203.4.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer and Caulfield. [In 3rd piece the playbill retains Miss DeCamp as Fanny, but "Miss DeCamp being reported ill during the representation of [1st piece], the part of Fanny, in the Entertainment, was undertaken, at a moment's notice, by Miss Heard, [who]...studying the character, scene by scene, acted the part to general satisfaction, which was announced merely to be read" (Dramatic Censor, II, 232).] Morning Chronicle, 19 May: Tickets to be had of Caulfield, No. 6, Southampton-place, Tottenham-court-road [Palmer not listed]. Receipts: #194 1s. 6d. (120.10.0; 66.10.6; 7.1.0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #212 4s. 7d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Trueman. [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Walcot as Mrs Heidelberg, but "An apology was made on behalf of Mrs Walcot, in whose stead the papt of Mrs Heidelberg was ably sustained by Mrs Sparks" (Dramatic Censor, II, 243. As afterpiece the playbill announces Three Weeks after Marriage, but "Mrs Jordan happening, like other great performers, to be taken ill (it is wonderful how much great actors and actresses are subject to sudden indisposition!) Trueman was under the necessity of subsituting The Prize for the afterpiece" (ibid, p. 244).] Morning Chronicle, 30 May: Tickets to be had of Trueman, No. 38, Norfolk-street, Strand. Receipts: #127 8s. (70.6; 55.6; 1.6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #201 2s. 2d.)

Event Comment: Under the Patronage of their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Duke of Clarence, Duke of Cumberland, and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York [and] the Duchess of Devonshire and the Duchess of Gordon. Benefit for O'Keeffe, the Unfortunate Author of the following successful Dramatic Pieces: The Son in Law, Agreeable Surprise, Peeping Tom, Dead Alive, Young Quaker, Life's Vagaries, Castle of Andalusia, Czar, Tony Lumpkin in Town, Poor Soldier, Modern Antiques, Basket Maker, Wild Oats, Wicklow Mountains, French Grenadier [never acted], Positive Man, Love in a Camp, Tantara Rara Rogues all, Beggar on Horseback, Toy, London Hermit, Highland Reel, Blacksmith of Antwerp, Man Milliner, Irish Mimic, Little Hunchback, World in a Village, Fontainbleau, Magic Banner, Farmer, Doldrum, Sprigs of Laurel, Birth Day, Prisoner at Large, &c. &c. Tickets delivered for The Belle's Stratagem will be admitted. [O'Keeffe is referred to as being unfortunate because he was totally blind. In delivering his Poetical Composition, which is printed in Dramatic Censor, II, 265-67, the Monthly Mirror, June 1800, p. 367, reports that he was led on and off the stage by Lewis. It also notes that "Mrs Jordan...came from Drury-Lane, where she had performed the Child of Nature, to officiate at Covent-Garden as the handmaid of charity."] The Last Night of the Company's performing this season. Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: At Drapers' Hall. (See J. Paine Collier, Monk and the Restoration,' Gentleman's Magazine, New Series, XXXVI (1851), 347-52. See also 13 April 1660.

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: After dinner I went to the new Theatre and there I saw The Merry Wives of Windsor acted, the humours of the country gentleman and the French doctor very well done, but the rest but very poorly, and Sir J. Falstaffe as bad as any

Event Comment: Pepys, Diary: I with Lord Brouncker (who was this day in an unusual manner merry, I believe with drink), J. Minnes, and W. Pen to Bartholomew-Fair; and there saw the dancing mare again, which, to-day, I find to act much worse than the other day, she forgetting many things, which her master beat her for, and was mightily vexed; and then the dancing of the ropes, and also the little stage-play, which is very ridiculous

Event Comment: See 27 Feb. and 4 March. Pepys, Diary: [Sir W. Coventry] told me the matter of the play [The Rehearsal] that was intended for his abuse, wherein they foolishly and sillily bring in two tables like that which he hath made, with a round hole in the middle, in his closet, to turn himself in; and he is to be in one of them as master, and Sir J. Duncomb in the other, as his man or imitator: and their discourse in those tables, about the disposing of their books and papers, very foolish. But that, that he is offended with, is his being made so contemptible, so that any should dare to make a gentleman a subject for the mirth of the world; and that therefore he had told Tom Killigrew that he should tell his actors, whoever they were, that did offer any thing like representing him, that he would not complain to my Lord Chamberlain, which was too weak, nor get him beaten, as Sir Charles Sidly is said to do, but that he would cause his nose to be cut

Event Comment: The King's Company. For the identification of this play and details of its performance, see W. J. Lawrence, "Foreign Singers and Musicians at the Court of Charles II," Musical Quarterly, IX (1923), 217-25, and James G. McManaway, "Entertainment for the Grand Duke of Tuscany," Theatre Notebook, XVI (1961), 20-21. The Travels of Cosmo the Third [Monday 3 June 1669 NS; Monday 24 May 1669 OS]: In the afternoon his highness left home earlier than usual to make his visits, that he might be at the King's Theatre in time for the comedy, and a ballet set on foot and got up in honor of his highness by my Lord Stafford, uncle of the Duke of Norfolk. On arriving at the theatre, which was sufficiently lighted on the stage and on the walls to enable the spectators to see the scenes and the performances, his highness seated himself in a front box, where, besides enjoying the pleasure of the spectacle, he passed the evening in conversation with the Venetian ambassador, the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Stafford, and other noblemen. To the story of Psyche, the daughter of Apollo, which abounded with beautiful incidents, all of them adapted to the performers and calculated to express the force of love, was joined a well-arranged ballet, regulated by the sound of various instruments, with new and fanciful dances after the English manner, in which different actions were counterfeited, the performers passing gracefully from one to another, so as to render intelligible, by their movements, the acts they were representing. This spectacle was highly agreeable to his highness from its novelty and ingenuity; and all parts of it were likewise equally praised by the ladies and gentlemen, who crouded in great numbers to the theatre, to fill the boxes, with which it is entirely surrounded, and the pit, and to enjoy the performance, which was protracted to a late hour of the night (pp. 347-48). In BM Add. Mss. 10117, folio 230, Rugge's Diurnall states that towards the end of May 1669 Cosmo, Prince of Tuscany had several plays acted for him

Event Comment: Henry Savile to the Earl of Rochester, 17 Dec. 1677: I had allmost forgott for another argument to bring you to towne that a French troop of comaedians bound for Nimeguen were by adverse winds cast into this hospitable port and doe act at Whitehall soe very well that it is a thousand pittyes they should not stay, especially a young wench of fifteen, who has more beauty and sweetnesse than ever was seen upon the stage since a friend of our left it (HMC, Bath MSS., 1907, II, 161). W. J. Lawrence (Early French Players in England, pp. 148-49) identifies the French actress as Francoise Pitel, later Mlle Raisin

Event Comment: During February and March 1678@9 two plays, titles unknown, were acted before the King. See an order: To Edward Griffin, Esq. Treasurer of the Chamber, to be paid over to John Lacy, assigne of Charles Killigrew, Mastr of the revells, for two plays acted before his said Majestie in Feb'ry and March 1678@9 (Moneys Received and Paid for Secret Services, ed. J. Y. Akerman, Camden Society, LII 1851, 34)

Event Comment: On this day Luttrell purchased a copy (Bindley Collection, William Andrew Clark@Jr@Library) of The Beggars Delight As it was Sung at the Theatre Royal, published in 1684 by J. Dean

Event Comment: Cardell Goodman, the actor, was brought to court for complicity in a poisoning case. See Luttrell, A Brief Relation, I, 318, and J. C. Jeaffreson, A Young Squire of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1878), II, 143-44

Event Comment: On this date a payment was made to the foreign performers who had come in the spring: To Francis Duperier, for the charge and expences of ye French players attending his Majestie at Windsor and Winchester, and returning to London (Moneys Received and Paid for Secret Services, ed. J. Y. Akerman, Camden Society, LII [1851], 93)

Event Comment: Christopher Jeaffreson to Colonel Hill, 29 Oct. 1684: Sir James Hackett, lieutenant-colonell to the Lord Dunbarton's regiment, was wounded in the thigh by one Mr Potter in the Playhouse; of which woud he has since died. He is much lamented by his Majesty, and all that knew him (J. C. Jeaffreson, A Young Squire of the Seventeenth Century [London, 1878], II, 143-44)

Event Comment: Luttrell, A Brief Relation: The 18th, upon the water before Whitehall, in a great barge, was performed an exercise of musick, vocall and instrumental, by the kings musick (I, 445). B. M. Sloane MS 3929, newsletter, 23 June 1688: on Monday night a great performance was upon the water of Vocal and Instrumental Musique in a Barge borrowed from one of the Companies of London stuck around with lighted fflambeaux, and many of the Nobility and Gentry invited thereto (transcribed by Professor John Harold Wilson). J. Pulver, A Biographical Dictionary of Old English Music (London, 1927), under John Abell: The Barge was decorated and illuminated by numerous torches....The performers, vocal and instrumental, amounted to one hundred and thirty....Nobility and company that was upon the water gave three shouts to express their joy and satisfaction; and all the gentlemen of the musick went to Mr Abell's house, which was nobly illuminated and honoured with the presence of a great Company of the nobility

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that the play was advertised in the Post Boy, 18-21 Dec. 1697, suggests that the premiere occurred not later than late November. This play was originally given to the company in Drury Lane, but withdrawn. See G. Thorn-Drury, An Unrecorded Play Title, Review of English Studies, VI (1930), 316-18. Edition of 1698: A Dialogue in the fourth Act, between Mr Bowman and Mrs Bracegirdle; The words by Mr Durfey and set by Mr Eccles: When will Stella kind and tendre. A Dialogue in the fifth Act, between a Boy and a Girl, and an Old Man, Written by Mr Motteux, set to the Musick by Mr J. Eccles. Preface: I look upon those that endeavour'd to discountenance this Play as Enemys to me

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but it cannot be later than December 1698, for the play was advertised in the Post Man, 27-29 Dec. 1698. The play may have been produced earlier in the season, but it apparently followed the two operatic works (The Island Princess and Rinaldo and Armida), as the Epilogue alludes to the "late Singers." It also refers to Sigismondo Fideli, as being lately arrived, and he is known to have given a concert on 22 Dec. 1698

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. This performance is known from a playbill apparently no longer extant: W. R. At the Desire of several Persons of Quality. At the New Theatre in Little Lincoln's-Inn Fields, this present Tuesday, being the 27th of February, will be presented, a Tragedy call'd The Mourning Bride. The Moorish? Entry perform'd by The Little? Boy. Vivant Rex. (W. J. Lawrence, The Elizabethan Playhouse and Other Studies (Stratford, 1913). See also R. W. Lowe, Thomas Betterton (London, 1891), and Fitzgerald, A New History, I, 389