Event Comment: The Public is most respectfully informed that in consequence of the sudden Indisposition of Mrs Jordan the New Comedy is unavoidably deferred. [The original playbill and Public Advertiser both announce the 6th night of Better Late than Never (see 29 Dec.). The above is from a second playbill for this night in BM (Burney 937.c.7). "Mrs Jordan's Illness defers...Better Late than Never" (Kemble Mem., which lists the substitutes play).] Receipts: #123 5s. (83.19.0; 33.4.6; 6.1.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In Act I The Cardinal's Banquetv. In Act II The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharinev. In Act V a Grand Processionv to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Afterpiece: Representation of the Engagementv, as 14 Oct. [In mainpiece the playbill omits Lord Sands, but "Sands Hollingsworth, Baddeley ill" (Powell).] Powell, 17 Oct.: Chaplet rehearsed at 10 [see under 16 Oct.]; Drummer at 11; Roman Actor at 12 (order to be dismissed by Mr Kemble); 18 Oct.: Haunted Tower rehearsed at 10; Wedding Day at 12. Receipts: #307 6s. (227.18; 77.6; 2.2)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [altered by John Philip Kemble]. Receipts: #427 19s. (360.8.6; 66.5.6; 1.5.0)

Event Comment: "In many instances [C. Kemble] mistook rant for animation" (True Briton, 11 Jan. 1799). [For the naming of the characters in mainpiece, as they were called originally, see 23 Feb. 1792.] Receipts: #228 4s. 6d. (185.3.0; 42.16.6; 0.5.0)

Event Comment: [For the naming of the characters in mainpiece, as they were called originally, see 23 Feb. 1792. As afterpiece the playbill announces Blue-Beard, but "The Public are most respectfully informed that on account of the very sudden indisposition of Mrs Crouch, Blue-Beard cannot be performed. This evening will be presented The Children in the Wood" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill).] Receipts: #165 15s. (120.7.6; 43.16.6; 1.11.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bannister Jun. Public Advertiser, 17 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Bannister Jun., No. 6, Great Russel Street, Covent Garden. Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years [not acted since 21 Oct. 1760]. Afterpiece: For that night only; never acted here. [Miss Bannister's 1st appearance on the stage was at HAY, 27 Aug. 1783.] Receipts: #206 19s. 6d. (114/1/0; 23/7/6; 1/5/0; tickets: 68/6/0) (charge: #108 14s. 3d.)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of The Island of St. Marguerite, advertised on playbill of 2 Feb. Beginning with this night Kemble, as acting manager, rearranged the order of listing the dramatis personae on the playbills, i.e., not, as had hitherto been the universal custom, according to the importance of the character in the play or the importance of the actor, but according to the social rank of each character. See also Genest, VII, 57-58, who remarks, inter alia, that "the vast importance which actors attach to the situation of their names in the bills, and to some other points of theatrical etiquette, must appear ridiculous to every body but themselves."] Receipts: #126 17s. 6d. (89.18.0; 34.10.0; 2.9.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Goodall and Mrs Bland. [In mainpiece the playbill retains Kemble as Beverley , but "Kemble being ill, Whitfield played Beverley" (Thespian Magazine, June 1793, P. 3).] Morning Herald, 4 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Goodall, No. 13, Russel-street, Covent-Garden; of Mrs Bland, No. 12, St. Albans-street, Pall-Mall. Receipts: #432 4s. (74.19.0; 40.1.6; 7.8.0; tickets: 309.15.6) (charge: #169 10s. 8d.)

Event Comment: [For the naming of the characters in mainpiece, as they were called originally, see 23 Feb. 1792.) Powell: Douglas rehearsed at 10:30 (Mrs Siddons ill; Barrymore one scene); Lodoiska at 12 (Miss De Camp absent). Receipts: #365 1s. 6d. (298/11/0; 60/1/0; 6/9/6)

Event Comment: [There are two Kemble playbills for this night. The first announces No Song No Supper and The Child of Nature (with Mrs Jordan as Amanthis) and The Spoil'd Child (with Mrs Jordan as Little Pickle). The second carries the notice: The Publick are most respectfully informed that, on account of the sudden Indisposition of Mrs Jordan, Miss Mellon will undertake the character of Amanthis, and humbly solicits their indulgence. The Entertainments this Evening will be [as above].] Receipts: #265 2s. (173.0.6; 81.6.0; 10.15.6)

Event Comment: 3rd piece [1st time; MF 2, by George Brewer]: The Musick by Dr Arnold. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Morning Herald; 6 July 1796: This Day is published Bannian Day (1s.). Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. Places for the Boxes to be had of Rice, at the Theatre. [On this evening the following performers appeared both at dl and at the hay: Suett, Caulfield, Trueman, R. Palmer, Burton, Miss Leak, Miss Heard

Event Comment: [As afterpiece the playbill announces Of Age To-morrow, but "The Publick are most respectfully informed that in consequence of the accident Miss DeCamp met with in Lodoiska yesterday evening, Of Age To-morrow is unavoidably deferred. This Evening will be presented The Lying Valet" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill). Receipts: #409 16s. (345.11.0; 63.7.6; 0.17.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: [With alterations by John Philip Kemble] Not acted these 4 years. [In his prompt copy (1808) now in Harvard Theatre Collection Kemble's annotation lists the following as needed in the opening scene: 10 principals, Captain of the Guard, 3 Knights, 2 Pages, 2 Gentlemen with Crown, 2 Gentlemen with Map, Physician, Herald, 2 Ladies with Goneril, 2 Ladies with Regan, 2 Standard Bearers, 12 Guards. Nearly every scene opens or closes with drums and trumpets. In the storm scene, "Thunder and lightning; lamps down," i.e. the footlights lowered out of sight into a shallow trough. It is not unlikely that these arrangements were adhered to in this present revival.] "Kemble said that, however singular it might be, in Lear an audience quite unsettled him; the noise of the box-doors caught his ear, and routed all his meditated effects; and he found it absolutely impossible to do that at night which he had thrown out during the rehearsal in the morning" (Boaden, Siddons, II, 376). Receipts: #350 9s. 6d. (310.9.6; 38.12.0; 1.8.0)

Event Comment: The Rose is a New Musical performance of Two Acts by Dr Arne a very dull insipid piece. Mr G. protested against its being perform'd its being perform'd it was hiss'd from the beginning & wd not Suffer it to be given out again, therefore Mr King went on & told them it Should not be perform'd again until it be alter'd (Hopkins Diary). [Macmillan's note from Kemble differs slightly. See critical damnation of The Rose in British Theatre Article in The London Magazine, Dec. 1772.] Book of the Entertainment to be had at the Theatre (playbill). Paid Mr Petit for men's cloaths, #8 8s. CTreasurer's Book). [Reviewer for Town and Country Magazine (Theatre, No. XLI) disappointed with the Rose: "We are told that this precious piece of stuff is the production of an Oxford student; it may be so, of this every auditor is certain, that the collegian who penned it was so entirely lost in the pursuit of some abstruse study, that he has totally forgot grammar, common sense, and even his mother tongue...it was unanimously damn'd."] Receipts: #172 6s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: King Henry the Eighth [advertised on playbill of 19 Jan.] is, on Account of the Indisposition of Mrs Siddons, deferred 'till Sturday next (after which it will be laid aside from some Time, on Account of Preparations for Coriolanus [see 7 Feb.]) with The Critic [also advertised on playbill of 19 Jan.]. Kemble Mem.: Palmer imprisoned [seemingly for debt]. Receipts: #129 13s. (108.3; 19.19; 1.11)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. Receipts: #256 8s. (88.14; 24.17; 0.0; tickets: 142.17) (charge: #116 13s. 10d.)

Event Comment: [As afterpiece the playbill announces the 5th night of The Island of St. Marguerite, but it was not acted [see 20 Nov.). The substitute play is listed in Kemble Mem.] Receipts: #241 6s. 6d. (207.19.0; 31.17.0; 1.10.6)

Event Comment: Powell: Gamester rehearsed at 11; Lodoiska at 12 (Bannister, Miss Redhead ill; Boyce, Denman, Fisher, Horsfall, Bardeauleau, Annereau, Cooke, Walker absent; Sedgwick, Webb, Fairbrother, Boimaison, Dorion Jun. one chorus). Receipts: #388 18s. (314/10/0; 68/7/6; 5/8/6; tickets not come in: 0/12/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. [In mainpiece the playbill retains King as Sir Peter Teazle, but "Murray, on account of the indisposition of King, was the Sir Peter to Mrs Jordan's Lady Teazle" (Monthly Mirror, May 1797, p. 311).] Tickets delivered for the 15th [for which day the benefit was first announced] will be admitted. "On the whole, Mrs Jordan's Lady Teazle, if not excellent, was respectable; and at a time when it was thought that it would be impossible to personify her Ladyship [i.e. after the retirement of Miss Farren], Mrs Jordan is commendable in having endeavoured it...[Sir Peter] was a part well suited to Murray, who excels in the still and the pathetic...In the screen scene his mirth in revealing to Charles the story of the French milliner, and his amazement the moment after when Charles, throwing down the screen, presented that milliner in the shape of Lady Teazle, must confirm the reputation of Murray. 'Lady Teazle!' (exclaimed he, turning from her towards the door, and in an accent alarmingly impressive), 'Lady Teazle, by all that is damnable!" (Monthly Visitor, June 1797, pp. 531-32). True Briton, 6 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #550 3s. (232.4.0; 72.2.0; 7.10.6; tickets: 238.6.6) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: by Shakespeare, in 5 acts. With New Music, Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. Public Advertiser, 6 Jan.: The Shipwreck, which opened the Piece, was designed and executed under the Direction of DeLoutherbourg. The new Airs and Chorusses are composed by Linley Jun. The Musical Instrument (played behind the Scenes) is the Invention of Merlin. Morning Chronicle, 6 Jan.: Caliban is by much the best performed character in the piece... The dresses were rich, but to our amazement those of Ferdinand, Sebastian, &c. were in the Spanish taste. [Ibid., 8 Jan., remarks that the entire omission of I. i is to be regretted. Miss Field and Mrs Cuyler are identified by MS annotations on Kemble playbill.] Receipts: #231 9s. 6d. (211.19.0; 17.5.6; 2.5.0)