Event Comment: Benefit for Condell, box-keeper, and Charles Sarjant, book and house-keeper. Mr Ross having, by a fall from his horse, hurt himself so much as to be incapable of performing, the Play is oblig'd to be chang'd; and the Tickets deliver'd out for King Lear will be taken this night

Event Comment: Benefit for Lee and Miss Slack. Comedy never performed, Alteration of Wycherley's play into two acts by Lee (Genest, V, 69). Tickets and places to be had of Lee at LaGrange's Medicinal Warehouse, in New St., Covent Garden; of Miss Slack, at Mr Bates', Charles St., Covent Garden; and at Stage door

Event Comment: Benefit for Tindal and Charles Sarjant (book and housekeeper). Not acted this season

Event Comment: Benefit for Legg and Charles Sarjant (book-keeper)

Event Comment: Benefit for Charles Sarjant (book-keeper) and his Son (box-keeper). Tickets sold at doors not admitted. Afterpiece: For last time this season. Charges #89 6d. [Deficit to the Sarjants #11 16s., covered by income from tickets of #142 8s. (Box 346; Pit 260; Gallery 169).] Paid the Billsetters for Black Bills #4 10s. (Account Book). Receipts: #77 4s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Paid Charles Sarjant for the Like sum advanc'd towards the repairs of the Houses in Bow St... #11 (Account Book). Receipts: #170 10s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: long letter published in the Public Advertiser by Delectante specifying a six point program for eliminating the confusion and the "riots that regularly follow the breaking up of a full house at the Opera": I) exclude servants from the lobby; 2) all chairs to come down Market Lane from Charles Street to take up and go off by Pall Mall; 3) no chairs to be allowed at other doors and passages; 4) a pent house to be built to protect those waiting from the rain; 5) all carriages to come to the door in the Haymarket, with horses heads towards Cockspur street; 6) constables to attend and assert themselves in regulating the traffic.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New English Burletta, never performed, by the Author of Midas [Kane O'Hara], in three parts. Books of the Burletta to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #229 14s. [The mainpiece had been censored by Licenser 5 April 1772 (Larpent MS 330) but had been passed later. The MS indicates stage directions "Curtain rising discovers a splendid Pavilion in the Clouds, Juno, Pallas and Venus at card table." Reviewed in the Westminster Magazine. Rev. Charles Jenner wrote the following "Ode to Miss Catley in the character of Juno." (Harvard Library original MSS No. 65 [1930].)] @Hail vulgar Goddess of the foul mouth'd race!@If modest Bard may hail without offence)@In whose majestic, blush-disdaining face@The steady hand of Fate wrote Impudence;@Hail to thy dauntless front, and aspect bold;@Thrice hail, magnificent, immortal scold!@ @Thee, Goddess, from the upper gallery's height@With heedful look the jealous fish-wife eyes,@Tho early train'd to urge the mouthing flight,@She hears thy bellowing powers with surprize.@Returns instructed to the realms that bore her,@Adopts thy tones and carries all before her.@ @Proceed then, Catley, in thy great career@And nightly let our maidens hear and see@The sweetest voice disgust the listning ear@The fairest face assume deformity!@So shalt thou arm them with their best defense,@And teach them Modesty by Impudence.

Event Comment: Benefit for Quick. Afterpiece: A new Farce never performed. Altered from Sir Charles Sedley's Piece of the same title by Dr Goldsmith. Acted only this night (playbill). [The notation on the alteration is by Kemble on the playbill. The characters are: Sourby, Octavio, Wentworth, Dancing Master, Scamper, Clarissa and Jenny. See Edition by Alice I. Perry Wood (Cambridge, Mass., 1931).] Charges #66 5s. Profit to Quick #7 6d., plus #80 from tickets (Box 100; Pit 263; Gallery 156) (Account Book). [Brief review of the Grumbler in the Westminster Magazine for May 1773: "It was several years ago translated from the French, and received this night some additional touches from the pen of Dr Goldsmith. An entertainment of one act cannot be expected to contain much. The whole merit of this is centered in one character, and perhaps in one scene."] Receipts: #73 5s. 6d

Event Comment: Receipts: #200 7s. 6d. (Account Book). Mainpiece: With New Dresses and Decorations. [The first of a series of five performances (the last, Merchant of Venice, 18 Nov.) which got Macklin dismissed from the theatre until 1775, when his lawsuit against six persons whom he claimed formed a conspiracy to hiss him from the stage and ruin his livlihood was concluded favorably for him. His performance of Macbeth was favorably treated but with certain misgivings in the Morning Chronicle (25 Oct.), but he was mercilessly criticized in the London Evening Post and St James Chronicle: "In Act II, Sc. i, Shakespeare has made Macbeth murder Duncan; Now Mr Macklin, being determined to copy from no man, reversed this incident, and in the very first act, scene the second, murdered Macbeth." The favorable review (Morning Chronicle) thought he did well in first and last acts, but gave way to stage rant and "vehemence of energetic expression" wanting any variation in tone in between. It also pointed out a certain faulty memory of his lines. His novel stage effects came in for a paragraph of comment: The alterations in the jeux de theatre respecting the representation of this tragedy do Mr Macklin great credit. His change of the scenery is peculiarly characteristical. The Quadrangle of Macbeth's castle, and the door which is supposed to lead to Duncan's apartment (both of which are entirely new) are additions of consequence to the exhibition of the play. The door also through which Macbeth comes to the Weird Sisters, in the 4th act, is a better and more probable entrance than through the common stage portal. The dresses are new, elegant, and of a sort hitherto unknown to a London audience, but exceedingly proper. The Banquet was superbly set out, and it must be confessed that the managers seem to have spared neither cost nor assiduity to ornament and add to the effect of the representation." A favorable letter from a correspondent to the London Evening Post adds: "I must observe, Mr Printer, that from the graceful and characteristic manner in which Macbeth was introduced by the martial music and military procession, from the manner of M. Macklin's acting, from his judicious alteration of the dresses, the disposition of the scene where the King is killed, the cave of the witches in the 4th act, from the improvement of Mrs Hartley's thinking in Lady Macbeth and from her manner of speaking, which seemed plainly to be the effects of some intelligence she had received from Mr Macklin...I thought Mr Macklin deserv'd great praise." See the newspaper comments all gathered and reprinted in an Apology for the Conduct of Charles Macklin, (London, 1773). See also note to 30 Oct. See also London Chronicle, Oct. 23-26 (cf. Odell, I, 453). The Westminster Magazine suggests the performance was pitiable. "Macklin knew what he ought to do, but could not do it." The Scenemen's pay this week was about double the normal cost. (Account Book).] Verse Squibs from St James Chronicle (Oct. 1773) against Macklin: @Macbeth@"Eight Kings appear and pass over in order, and Banquo the last"@Old Quin, ere Fate suppressed his lab'ring breath@In studied accents grumbled out Macbeth:--@Next Garrick came, whose utt'rance truth impressed,@While ev'ry look the tyrant's guilt confess'd:--@Then the cold Sheridan half froze the part,@Yet what he lost by nature sav'd by art.@Tall Barry now advanc'd toward Birnam Woodv@Nor ill performed the scenes--he understood--@Grave Mossop next to Foris shaped his march@His words were minute guns, his action starch.@Rough Holland too--but pass his errors o'er@Nor blame the actor when the man's no more.@Then heavy Ross, assay'd the tragic frown,@But beef and pudding kept all meaning down:--@Next careless Smith, try'd on the Murd'rer's mask,@While o'er his tongue light tripp'd the hurried task:--@Hard Macklin, late, guilt's feelings strove to speak,@While sweats infernal drench'd his iron cheek;@Like Fielding's Kings [in Tom Thumb] his fancy'd triumphs past,@And all be boasts is, that he falls the last.@ Also from St James Chronicle:@The Witches, while living deluded Macbeth@And the Devil laid hold of his soul after death;@But to punish the Tyrant this would not content him,@So Macklin he sent on the stage to present him.

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; burl 2, by Charles Dibdin, based on The Loves of Mars and Venus, by Peter Anthony Motteux]: With New Scenes and Dresses. The Music chiefly composed by Dibdin. [Dr Arne and Dr Arnold each wrote one air.] Books of the Burletta to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 5 Feb. 1778: This Day at Noon is published Poor Vulcan! (1s.). [The playbill lists Reinhold in place of Mahon, but on the Kemble playbill his name is deleted and a MS annotation substitutes Mahon's.] Receipts: #232 5s. 6d. (230.2.6; 2.3.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by William Kenrick, based on The Country Lasses, by Charles Johnson]: With new Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. The Overture and the rest of the Music composed by Hook. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 2 Dec. 1778: This Day at Noon is published The Lady of the Manor (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by William Kenrick, based on The Country Lasses, by Charles Johnson. Not published; synopsis of plot in London Chronicle, 23 Dec. Prologue by the author (ibid)]

Event Comment: A New Serious Opera [1st time; SER 3, ascribed to Giovanni Gualberto Bottarelli]. The Music entirely new, composed by Sacchini. 2nd dance: The Music entirely new, composed by Charles Stamitz

Event Comment: [This was a puppet show, rewritten by Charles Dibdin from his Comic Mirror; it consisted of 7 different acts, presented in 3 Parts. The audience was both misled into thinking that it was to be performed by actual persons, and made angry because of the "almost unintelligible manner of conveying [the various acts], as the singers were scarcely audible, and the objects very indistinctly visible.' A riot ensued. Lighted candles were thrown on the stage against the curtain, chandeliers broken, benches torn up. The audience was not "satisfied" until Colman the proprietor of the theatre, disclaimed any concern with the entertainment, and Dibdin made an apology. Although announced for repetition on 3 Mar., it was not again performed. (See Dibdin, II, 65; Morning Chronicle, 2 Mar. )]

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 5 years [not acted since 26 Dec. 1776. Mrs Robinson, who was from the Portsmouth theatre, is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill]. Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, by Frances Brooke, based on Les Moissonneurs, by Charles Simon Favart]: The new Music and overture composed, and the Selected Airs compiled [from Paxton and Sacchini], by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Account-Book, 30 June 1784: Paid Shield for composing Rosina #100. Receipts: #158 18s. 6d. (154/5/6; 4/13/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for [W.] Bates and Mahon. Afterpiece: With an exact Representation of the Irish Giant [who had recently been exhibited in London: Charles Byrne, 1761-83], and a Leap through a Cask on Fire. Receipts: #132 5s. Receipts: #132 5s. (none listed; tickets: 132/5) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Brereton. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. [Afterpiece in place of Too Civil by Half, announced on playbill of 14 Apr.] Public Advertiser, 24 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Brereton, Charles-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #317 19s. (133/13; 12/11; 0/9; tickets: 171/6) (charge: #107 15s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Brereton. Public Advertiser, 26 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Brereton, Charles-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #262 7s. 6d. (129/3/0; 18/13/0; 0/10/6; tickets: 114/1/0) (charge: #106 7s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bellamy. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. "Mrs Bellamy was too much frightened to speak the address [written by Charles Stuart (European Magazine, May 1785, p. 354)], and Miss Farren spoke it--Mrs Bellamy herself added some few words in prose" (Genest, VI, 342). But Stuart's address was abandoned, and in its place Miss Farren spoke one written by Alexander Bicknell (Gentleman's Magazine, June 1785, pp. 449-50). This occurred at the end of the play; following the address the curtain rose, and Mrs Bellamy "succeeded in muttering a few words, expressive of her gratitude" (Reynolds, I, 282-83). [This was Mrs Yates's last appearance in London. In July of this year she was acting in Birmingham (Morning Chronicle, 18 July). Mrs Bellamy's last appearance on the stage was at CG, 1 June 1780.] Receipts: #306 4s. (188/1/0; 13/3/6; 0/14/6; tickets: 104/5/0) (charge: #113 8s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by A Lady [unidentified], based partly on L'Amitie A l'epreuve, by Charles Simon Favart and Claude Henri de Fusee de Voisenon]: The Overture and the new Music composed by Hook. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 30 Mar. 1786: This Day at Noon is published The Peruvian (1s. 6d.). [The music was printed under the title of The Fair Peruvian (S. A. & P. Thompson [1786]), which was the original title as given in the MS (Larpent 727).] Receipts: #246 8s. (242/16/6; 3/11/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Kemble. Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. "Mrs Siddons spoke the speech on mercy as it certainly should be spoken--but as in truth we never heard it spoken--as a reply to 'On what compulsion must I?' From every other Portia it has always appeared as a recitation, prepared for the occasion" (Morning Chronicle, 8 Apr.). Morning Chronicle, 20 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Kemble, No. 19, Charles-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #284 2s. 6d. (160/19/0; 20/17/6; 1/1/0; tickets: 101/5/0) (charge: #107 0s. 5d.)