Event Comment: [Longley is identified in European Magazine, Dec. 1797, p. 410, but Monthly Visitor, Jan. 1798, p. 64, says that he was Clarke, "from the Shakesperian Theatre at Tottenham Court Road." Afterpiece in place of The Shipwreck, advertised on playbill of 24 Nov.] "[Longley] is not inferior to some Falstaffs we have seen upon the London stage, and he possesses all the traditionary shrugs, winks and bye-play usual in the representation of the part" (True Briton, 27 Nov.). Receipts: #140 18s. (101.15; 38.3; 1.0)

Event Comment: Sent a note to Mr Barry to know if he could play in the Siege of Damascus on Tuesday. He sent word he could not determine till tomorrow. Sunday Morning (the 4th) sent a note for Mr Barry's determination & to know if Zenobia might be advertis'd for Saturday. His answer was he would let me know when he was able to play (Hopkins MS Memorandum Book)

Event Comment: Letter from John Potter, Proprietor of the New Theatre in the Haymarket, to the author of the General Advertiser: As the resentment of the Town for the disappointment of the performance advertised to be exhibited at my theatre on Monday last, shall fall entirely upon me, I hope I may be allowed to acquaint the public with the nature of my case. [Suggests he should not be to blame for misbehavior of any person who hired his house, that he had some apprehensions in this case, but that the Bottle Conjurer paid the rent in advance and agreed to have a House officer in the box office to return the money if the audience was displeased.] All the caution above mentioned was taken, and the money locked up in the office, guarded by persons of reputation, who would have returned it, and publicly on the stage told them, that if the person did not appear, their money should be return'd. But instead of complying with that offer, my House was pulled down, the Office broken open, the money taken out, and the servants oblig'd to fly to save their lives. I hope therefore this may be deem'd a sufficient justification in my behalf, and all that could be reasonably expected from me; and that those gentlemen who are conscious of having injured me, will be so generous as to make me a reasonable Satisfaction, considering the damage I have suffer'd, which in a moderate computation will amount to upwards of four thousand pounds. This day is Publish'd, at 1s. Lethe, a Dramatic Satire, by David Garrick as it is perform'd at Drury Lane. By Paul Vaillant, facing Southampton Street in the Strand. [A letter from Samuel Foote to the Author of the General Advertiser clears himself from any imputation of confederacy in the Bottle Conjuror fraud. See also my Introduction, note 103.] Receipts: #100 (Cross); #119 2s. 6d. (Powel)

Event Comment: With the Ceremonial of her Coronation in the same Manner as it was Perform'd in the Play of King Henry the Eighth

Event Comment: Mr Lacy a Proprietor of this Theatre made his first appearance upon the Stage in the part of Alexander. He is very Tall, & Thin, a good Voice but His Fright took away from it's power--he was rec'ed with Applause. Mr Garrick wrote a New Occasional Prologue to introduce him, which was Spoken by Mr King & rec'ed with great Applause (Hopkins Diary). Paid 4 days list at #91 8s. 10d. per diem #365 15s. 4d.; Mr J. French on Acct #10 10s. (Treasurer's Book). [The Westminster Magazine commented on Willoughby Lacy's performance (Oct. 1774): "His performance was far from answering the expectations we had been taught to form from a friend and pupil of our English Roscius. Indeed Mr Lacy is a very young man: therefore we ought not to draw the line of our expectation. His figure is at present lank, awkward, and unengaging; his voice distinctly powerful, but inharmonious; his action outre, vulgar and forced: his attitudes unnatural, affected and disgustful; and his delivery a continued rant, without proper change, a pleasing variety, or a just discrimination of the necessary difference of tone demanded by the different passions. These...capital defects...are not unsurmountable...The play was prefaced by a new Prologue, evidently the production of Mr Garrick. It had some humor and was well received. The purport of it was to beg favor for the hero of the evening, whom it compared to a young swimmer, who had tried to float in two shallow streams, and was now about to venture himself in the great deep. This image is certainly an apt one, though, it is no great compliment to the audiences of Norwich and Birmingham."] Receipts: #248 19s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit Woodward. [Receipts: #81 3s. 6d., plus #59 9s. from tickets. Charges #63.] Paid Servandoni #10 10s. Paid Price a bill for carpenter's work at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre last week #2 19s. 9d. Tickets to be had of Woodward at his lodgings in King St. (near the Churchyard Gate) Covent Garden; at the Bedford Coffee House; at the Salutation Tavern in Nicholas Lane; and of Page at the stage door. Tomorrow The Distress'd Mother and Miss in her Teens, the part of Fribble by Garrick.--General Advertiser. Daily Advertiser: By Particular Desire of several Persons of Quality. [On 13 April Woodward published a letter of thanks to the former schoolfellow who sent him this speech, promised to present it, and assured him that no copy would be made. See Theatrical Clippings, Folger Library.

Event Comment: This day at noon will be published at 6d. A Letter to Mr Henry Woodward, Comedian, occasioned by his letter to the Inspector. by Simon Partridge, the facetious Cobbler of Pall Mall, and son to the late Mr Partridge, famous for his dispute with Isaac Bickerstaff. "Barbarian to attack, a chymist, Critick, Journalist, and Quack" (Anon). Printed for H. Jeffrey in Pope's Head Alley, Cornhill. [Another mock defense of Hill, casting opprobrium on him in the manner of the eightenth-century bully boys of the bathroom. A second edition of Sampson Edwards' Letter to Woodward appeared this day. See Comment, 9 Dec.] Receipts: #130 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of the brave Men who fell in the late Glorious Actions [on 1 June 1794], under Earl Howe. The Whole Receipt of the Night to be applied to the above Fund. Under the Patronage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence. The Tickets for the Boxes at Half-a-Guinea each, are issued under the Direction of a Committee consisting of the following Noblemen and Gentlemen, who have obligingly undertaken to attend to the arrangements of the Evening: The Duke of Leeds, The Duke of Bedford, The Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Mulgrave, Lord William Russel, The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor [Paul Le Mesurier], Mr Alderman Coombe, Hon. Thos. Erskine, J. Nesbit Esq., I. B. Church Esq., W. Devaynes Esq., J. Taylor Vaughan Esq., J. J. Angerstein Esq., R. B. Sheridan Esq. Tickets and Places for the Boxes, not disposed of by the Committee, to be had of Fosbrook, at the Box-Office, Little Russel-Street. Tickets also to be had at the Bar of Lloyd's Coffee House. Afterpiece [1st time; ENT 2, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and James Cobb; with songs written by the Duke of Leeds, the Earl of Mulgrave, Mary Robinson, Joseph Richardson, &c. In 1797 altered as CAPE ST. VINCENT. Prologue by Joseph Richardson (London Chronicle, 4 July). Epilogue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan]: The Music composed and selected by Storace [with one song each by Reeve. Linley Sen., Michael Kelly]. The Dresses, Scenery and Machinery entirely New. "This piece is a sort of continuation of No Song No Supper...hastily put together for the occasion" (European Magazine, July 1794, p. 60). "The Theatre this Evening was crowded in every Part, the receipt amounting to something better than 1300 Guineas" (Powell). Powell, 1 July: Country Girl rehearsed at 10; Glorious First at 12 and at night. 2 July: Glorious First rehearsed at 10. Receipts: #1,526 11s. (450/6/0; 41/13/0; 0/12/6; tickets in boxes: 954/0/0; tickets in pit: 80/0/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Genest, VII, 88: On this evening there was not any play performed, from respect to the memory of the unfortunate monarch, Louis 16th, who was murdered in Paris on that day [sic] -Kemble, without consulting Sheridan, closed the theatre -Sheridan, who was out of town, arrived late that evening, and finding there was no play, was highly incensed at the shutting up of the theatre upon such an occasion; for, he said, it was an invariable maxim with him, that neither politics nor religion should be taken notice of in his playhouse, yet no man deplored the tragical event more sincerely than he did. (Kelly, Reminiscences, II, 37). [The playbill of 23 Jan. advertises Cymon and The Ghost for this present evening.

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but a licensing date of 28 March 1678 suggests a first performance not later than February 1678. One song, One night while all the village slept, with music by Louis Grabu and words by Sir Car Scroop, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 17): Major Mohun...[in] Mithridates, &c. An Eminent Poet seeing him Act this last, vented suddenly this Saying: Oh Mohun, Mohun! Thou little Man of Mettle, if I should write a 100 Plays, I'd Write a Part for thy Mouth; in short, in all his Parts, he was most Accurate and Correct. [Downes, p. 12, gives an identical cast except for omissions.] Princess Anne apparently played Ziphares and Frances Apsley played Semandra in a production of this drama, probably at St James's Palace or at Sir Allen Apsley's house in St James's Square, between January 1677@8 and August 1679. See Benjamin Bathurst, Letters of Two Queens (London, 1924), p. 61

Event Comment: By Command of Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales [who were present]. Mainpiece: Written by Beaumont and Fletcher. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop. [For a letter on the disputes between the footmen and the gentlemen, see Grub St. Journal, 17 March.] [There is in the Bennett Collection, I, 93, in the Birmingham Library, an exceptionally curious advance notice for a performance to be given at Drury Lane soon after Easter of The Conscious Lovers and The Devil to Pay, with no cast for either play in the bill. The announcement appears to refer to the spring of 1737 and presumably appeared around the middle of March. It is intended for the benefit of a Widow under Misfortunes and the bill bears the heading: Gift and Pleasure. According to the announcement, the widow has been left Italian pictures, antiqees, jewels, and precious stones; and she intends, for the encouragement of her benefactors, to make a gift of all the objects, which will be placed in three hundred parcels. Tickets for the performance are advertised at five shillings, and no one is to be admitted without a ticket. The pit and boxes are to be put together at two tickets for each person, and the first and second galleries are placed together at one ticket for each spectator. The tickets are not to be left with the door-keepers as usual, but only shewn and kept. On the day following the benefit a raffle will be held, by Mr Foubert's Patent Mathematical Machine, at Hickford's Great Room in Brewers Street, Golden Square, and only holders of tickets will be admitted to the raffle, After this entry was set, an advertisement was found in the Daily Advertiser, 18 April 1738, announcing this performance for 13 May 1738. The Daily Advertiser on 5 May 1738, however, announced that the proposed performance had been cancelled.

Event Comment: At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Mainpiece: As written by Shakespear. [Daily Post, 2 Feb., has a letter from a writer who promises to discuss theatrical affairs in the form of The Domestic Courier; this issue includes four short essays.