Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Desire. Music [to afterpiece] by
Barthelemon. I often go to both theatres, have seen
Garrick and
Mrs Yates, who are the first in this theatrical sphere. The former has hitherto [i.e., this season] appeared only in comedy, --his manner, his humour, and his judgment are not to be equall'd. The adoration he meets with from
the English is equal to his merit. His every motion they attend to, and every turn of his eye seems to transport them.
Mrs Yates [at
Covent Garden] has much tragic merit. Her low voice is very tuneful, her feeling great, her action peculiarly graceful and her figure uncommonly fine. She has more power than
Mrs Dancer (at
Drury Lane] and more variety than
Mrs Fitz-Henry, tho' less strength and compass. On the whole she is superior to the former and inferior to the latter.
Barry and
Mrs Dancer are engag'd here (MS Letter from
Henry Grattan to
Cornet Broome giving his first impressions of living in
London, 27 Oct. 1767, in
Folger Library).
Neville MS Diary: Went into the Pit to see
As You Like It a second time.
Reddish did
Orlando for the 1st time. He is a pretty good player. End Act I,
Hearts of Oak. The Entertainment was the new Farce called a
Peep Behind the Curtain.
Glib by
King who is the author. The piece is not unentertaining, whatever other merit it may have. The
Prologue and an Address to the Town by way of
Epilogue, are spoken by
Mr King, the music by
Barthelemon