Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bulkley. 2nd piece [1st time; c 2, by James Brown Williamson. MS: Larpent 630; not published. Prologue probably by the author; Epilogue by the author; speakers' names (Public Advertiser, 3 Sept.)]

Event Comment: By Permission [of the Lord Chamberlain]. 1st piece [1st time; c 5, author unknown. Authors and speakers of Prologue and Epilogue unknown]. 2nd piece [1st time; m.int i, author unknown]. 3rd piece [1st time; f 2, by Walley Chamberlain Oulton, altered from The Letter Writers, by Henry Fielding. MSS of none of these pieces in Larpent; none of them published]. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by William Jackson. MS: Larpent 638; not published; synopsis of plot in London Magazine, Dec. 1783, pp. 553-54]: With entire new Music composed by Jackson. Receipts: #146 1s. 6d. (121/6/0; 23/11/6; 0/1/6; tickets not come in: 1/2/6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, author unknown. MS not in Larpent; synopsis of action in Public Advertiser, 8 and 9 Jan.]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. To conclude with a Representation of the Repulse of the Spaniards before the Rock of Gibraltar [on 13 Sept. 1782; this was included in all subsequent performances]. The Music partly new [by William Shield, with overture by Carl Friedrich Baumgarten] and partly compiled from the best Masters. The Scenes designed and executed by Greenwood. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. Books of the Pantomime to be had at the Theatre. Account-Book, 4 June: Paid the Author of Harlequin Junior a Compliment on the Success #30. Receipts: #261 5s. 6d. (257/10/0; 3/8/0; tickets not come in: 0/7/6)

Event Comment: By Permission [of the Lord Chamberlain]. Mainpiece [1st time; C 5 (?), author unknown. It was 1st advertised in Morning Chronicle, 15 Dec. 1783, for performance on 26 Jan. 1784, as "A new Comedy called The Artful Patriot; or, The Rage of the People." Prologue by Thomas Stewart (Morning Post, 23 Feb., which also gives names of T. Davis and Miss Hemet. Author of Epilogue unknown. MS not in Larpent; not published]. The Doors to be opened at 5:00. To begin at 6:30

Event Comment: Benefit for Baddeley. Mainpiece: Not acted these 30 years [not acted since 22 July 1718]. Afterpiece [1st time; C 2, ascribed to Jesse Foot. MS: Larpent 650; not published; synopsis of plot in Gazetteer, 20 Apr. Author of Prologue unknown]. Public Advertiser, 16 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Baddeley, No. 2, Little-Russel-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #216 18s. (73/10; 35/11; 3/10; tickets: 104/7) (charge: #106 8s. 4d.)

Event Comment: Prelude [1st time; PREL 2, by George Colman, the elder. MS: Larpent 659, which lists the following unassigned parts: Cabbage, Clatterton, Folio; not published; synopsis of plot in Gazetteer, 3 June. Prologue by the author (Colman, Prose, III, 250)]: With new Scenes, Dresses, Banners, Songs, &c

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for Bonnor. Afterpiece [1st time; INT 1]: Translated [by Charles Bonnor] from a new Production of Dorvigny, entitled La Fete de Campagne; ou, L'Intendant Comedien malgre Lui, now acting in Paris with uncommon Applause [MS: Larpent 664; not published; in later season occasionally acted under the title of Transformation]. Tickets to be had of Bonnor, No. 19, Piazza, Covent Garden. Bonnor begs leave to inform his Friends and the Public that on account of his Absence at the time his Night was to have been appointed he was induced to decline a Benefit in the course of the Season, but the Manager having obligingly made him an Offer of the Theatre, free of all Expense, and the several Performers kindly engaging to assist him, he has fixed on this Day. Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: Benefit for Wilson. 2nd piece [1st time; INT I, probably by Richard Wilson. MS: Larpent 667; not published]. 3rd piece: Never perform'd here. [Prologue and Epilogue by John Gay.]

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, author unknown; frequently attributed to Thomas Vaughan, but his authorship denied in a letter written by him to editor of the Oracle, 13 Feb. 1796. Author of Prologue unknown. Epilogue by Edward Topham (European Magazine, Nov. 1784, p. 393). MS: Larpent 670; not published; synopsis of plot in London Magazine, Nov. 1784, p. 389]. Receipts: #161 2s. 6d. (142/9/0; 18/0/6; 0/13/0)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of Tamerlane, announced on playbill of 23 Dec] Afterpiece [1st time; P 2 (?), by Ralph Wewitzer and Frederick Pilon. MS not in Larpent; not published. Synopsis of action in Town and Country Magazine, Supp. 1784, p. 717]: With new Scenery, Music, Dresses and Decorations. The Scenes chiefly designed by Richards, and executed by him, Carver, Hodgins, and assistants. The Overture, Songs, Chorusses and the whole Music of the Pantomime new, and composed by Shield. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. The Words of the Songs, &c to be had at the Theatre. "The performance was such as the first performance of pantomimes generally--machinery and scenery not so perfectly executed as when practice has rendered the movements more familiar to those to whom they belong, which, as the beauty of a pantomime depends on the celerity and adroitness of the scene-men, it seldom is discovered on the first night" (Public Advertiser, 28 Dec)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2 (?), author unknown. MS not in Larpent; not published]: The Scenery, &c., partly new and partly selected from old and approved Pantomimes. Receipts: #205 7s. (156/6/0; 46/16/6; 2/4/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 5]: Altered from Massinger [by John Philip Kemble. Prologue by the Hon. Henry Phipps (London Chronicle, 28 Jan.). Epilogue by George Colman, the elder (ibid). MS: Larpent 687; not published]. "This piece is considerably altered from the original; passages are expunged, and others added, in every scene; and several incidents transposed from the order in which they formerly stood. Some scenes are also introduced from the Maid's Tragedy of Beaumont and Fletcher" (London Magazine, Feb. 1785, p. 137). Receipts: #269 9s. (240/10/0; 27/6/6; 1/12/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Aickin. Afterpiece [1st time; F 2. MS: Larpent 693; not published; synopsis of plot in Town and Country Magazine, supra]: Taken from a Piece written by Smollett, never published or performed. [This attribution is open to question.]

Event Comment: Benefit for Baddeley. Public Advertiser, 2 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Baddeley, No. 2, Little Russel-street, Covent-garden. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Ogle to King, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Barrymore.] 2nd piece [1st time: INT I, probably by Robert Baddeley. MS: Larpent 692; not published]. Receipts: #226 3s. 6d. (105/18/0; 30/11/6; 0/16/0; tickets: 88/18/0) (charge: #111 17s. 7d.)