Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Younge. Public Advertiser, 7 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Miss Younge at her house, Half-moon Street, Piccadilly. Afterpiece: Not acted these 8 years. Receipts: #277 11s. 6d. (167/17/6; tickets: 109/14/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Henderson. Mainpiece: Written by Congreve; and now carefully revised and corrected, by expunging the exceptionable passages. [The playbill assigns Lord Touchwood to Clarke, but on the Kemble playbill his name is deleted; the substitute name has been cut by the binder.] Afterpiece: Contracted into 3 acts. With a Grand Dance, and a Reinforcement of Bayes's Troops [for which, and for a list of the other parts, see DL, 13 Dec. 1777. In the Dancing Banti is announced as making his 5th appearance (see 25 Feb., 5 Mar.)]. Public Advertiser, 2 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Henderson, Buckingham-street, York Buildings. Receipts: #238 9s. 6d. (144/9/6; tickets: 94/0/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Dodd. Mainpiece: Not acted these 11 years. 2nd piece: An Interlude, written by the late D. Garrick, Esq. Receipts: #246 13s. 6d. (110/11/0; 21/16/6; 0/18/0; tickets: 113/8/0) (charge: #105 4s. 11d.)

Event Comment: A new Comic Opera in 2 acts [1st time, by Carlo Francesco Badini]; the music composed by [Tommaso] Giordani

Event Comment: Public Advertiser, 2 May: With Alterations (by the Author) in the 5th Act. Receipts: #121 8s. 6d. (116/4/6; 5/4/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Frederick Pilon; probably a rewriting of an opera with the same title, 1st acted at Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, 20 May 1771, at which time Pilon was acting in Dublin]: With new Dresses, and entirely new Music and an Overture by Carter. [In mainpiece the playbill lists Dodd, but "Suett, who undertook at a few minutes' notice the part assigned to Dodd, went through the reading as though he had studied the character" (Morning Herald, 21 May).] [On this night, Whitsun Eve, the theatre was customarily closed.] Receipts: #152 4s. 6d. (134/15/0; 17/6/0; 0/3/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Altered, in 3 acts, from Dryden

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns the Herald to Wright, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes R. Palmer.] Receipts: #234 1s. (213/1/0; 20/8/6; 0/11/6)

Event Comment: Paid Wild [prompter] for 3 licenses [from Lord Chamberlain, to act new plays] #6 6s. Receipts: #147 7s. (142/9; 4/18)

Event Comment: "Among other Obligations that the Town has to the new Open is that it has, for this year, delivered the Play-goer from his periodical Endurance of Rowe's Tamerlane" (Public Advertiser, 6 Nov.). The reference is to the long established custom of performing Tamerlane either on 4 Nov. (the date of William III's birth) or 5 Nov. (the date of his landing in England). In the play the virtuous Tamerlane was held to be the portrait of an upright monarch, and the vicious Bajazet [i.e. Louis xiv] as that monarch's enemy. At DL Tamerlane was acted on either or both of these nights uninterruptedly from 1716 to 1777; at LIF and CG, with the exception of five seasons, from 1721 to 1784. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 1 May 1783]. Receipts: #155 2s. 6d. (153/4/0; 1/18/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. "There was, in my early days, such a permanent property as a stage-door in our theatres, and the proscenium beyond it; so that when [Jane] Shore was pushed from the door, she was turned round and staggered till supported by the firm projection behind her. Here was a terrific picture full in the eye of the pit, and this most picturesque of women knew the amazing value of it" (Boaden, Siddons, I, 326). Receipts: #232 (209/8; 21/18; 0/14)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'clock. Public Advertiser, 10 Dec: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 149 in the Strand. [The most famous "point" in this play was the parting of Belvidera and Jaffier in Act III, and her words, "Remember twelve!" Boaden, Siddons, 1, 354, refers to Mrs Siddons's "querulous melancholy of tone, partaking of doubt, though still hoping for the best," in uttering these words.] Receipts: #335 5s. (157/15/0; 4/0/6; 0/12/6; tickets: 172/17/0) (charge: free). [Thus, officially, the Account-Book, but Mrs Siddons's total profit, from presents and from additional sums being added by her admirers to the usual price of her tickets, was, according to Public Advertiser, 25 Dec, over #800. This figure is almost certainly an accurate reckoning.]

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Wroughton as Richmond, and Webb as Lord Mayor. On the Kemble playbill both names are deleted. The name of Wroughton's substitute has been cut by the binder; who acted the part has not as yet come to light. A MS annotation substitutes Bates for Webb.] Receipts: #165 18s. (162/13/6; 3/4/6)

Event Comment: "The Dress of Belvidera was happily arranged; and the Continuation of the same Dress, without the usual Change in the Fifth Act, is an Alteration for the better. It escapes the well-pointed Reproof of The Critic: 'Enter Tilburina, mad, in white Satin'" {Public Advertiser, 21 Dec.). Receipts: #272 8s. (260/18/0; 11/1/6; 0/8/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. Receipts: #219 11s. (212/6; 7/5)

Event Comment: A Serious Opera in 2 acts [1st time; by Benedetto Pasqualigo]: The Music entirely new by Bertoni

Event Comment: Afterpiece: Not acted these 2 years. Receipts: #294 12s. 6d. (285/18/0; 8/8/0; 0/6/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Yates [who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Mainpiece: Not acted these 7 years. Receipts: none listed (charge: #65 19s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Younge [who had 1st acted Monimia at DL, 21 Feb. 1772]. Receipts: #249 11s. 6d. (133/6/6; tickets: 116/5/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bannister. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. The Music composed by Dr Arne. Public Advertiser, 22 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Bannister, No. 6, Great Russel-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #233 11s. (123/6; tickets: 110/5) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Lewis. Public Advertiser, 25 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Lewis at his house in Broad-court, Bow-street. Afterpiece [1st time in London; co 2. MS: Larpent 620; not published]: Written by the Author of The Castle of Andalusia, The Agreeable Surprise, Son-in-Law, &c &c. [John O'KeefFe, 1st acted at the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, 15 Apr. 1777, and altered in the CG season of 1783-84 as The Poor Soldier]. The Airs Select [ed by the author from] Irish [airs]. With a New Overture and Accompaniments by Shield, who composed the music of Rosina. The Words of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #256 9s. (201/10; tickets: 54/19) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Aickin. Mainpiece: Not acted these 5 years. Afterpiece [1st time; c 2]: By the Author of Retaliation [Leonard Macnally, with incidental music by Michael Arne. Prologue by Chalmers (see text, S. Bladon, 1783)]. The Persons represented to be dressed from the Caricatures of Hogarth. Receipts: #191 15s. 6d. (140/1/6; tickets: 51/14/0) (charge: #64 5s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Wheeler. Public Advertiser, 19 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss Wheeler, No. 9, Craven-buildings, Drury-lane. Afterpiece: Not acted these 2 years. Receipts: #111 12s. 6d. (33/8/0; 15/19/0; 0/7/6; tickets: 61/18/0) (charge: #106 4s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wild. 1st piece: As altered in 3 Acts by Garrick. 3rd piece [1st time; MF 2, by Leonard Macnally. MS: Larpent 623; not published]: The Music compiled from the most eminent Composers. Receipts: #304 1s. 6d. (222/9/6; tickets: 81/12/0) (charge: #105)