Event Comment: Benefit for Dunstall. Public Advertiser, 3 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Dunstall, Little Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Receipts: #282 10s. 6d. (70.17.6 tickets: 211.13.0) (charge: #64 5s.)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Moss, who performed Peggy in February and October 1776. [Author of Prologue unknown.

Event Comment: Benefit for Wright, Carpenter & Butler. Tickets delivered by Mrs Veal will be taken. Receipts: #299 8s. (39.3; 3.18; 0.0; tickets: 256.7) (charge: #74 14s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Waldron & Mrs Greville. Public Advertiser, 19 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Waldron, No. 16, Glanville-street, Rathbone Place; of Mrs Greville at the Orange Warehouse, the Corner of King-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #178 15s. (69.0; 15.1; 0.0; tickets: 94.14) (charge: #74 14s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Fawcett, Legg & Kear. Morning Chronicle, 3 May: Tickets to be of Fawcett, Craven Buildings, Drury-Lane; of Legg, Market-street, St James's Market; of Kear, No: 2, Stephen-street, Tottenham Court Road. Tickets delivered for Wednesday the 7th Inst. will be taken. Receipts: #229 1s. (36.12; 10.12; 0.0; tickets: 181.17) (charge: #64 15s.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Prologue by David Garrick. Epilogue by George Colman elder (London Chronicle, 9 May). Text 1st published (unauthorized), Dublin, 1780]: With New Scenes and Dresses. "No modern theatrical piece ever met with a fuller success, nor deserved it more... The performers deserve every sort of commendation for their spirited exertion in supporting the respective characters, especially Smith, King and the incomparable Mrs Abington" (Gazetteer, 9 May). "To my great astonishment there were more parts performed admirably in The School for Scandal than I almost ever saw in any play. Mrs Abington was equal to the first of her profession, Yates (the husband), Parsons, Miss Pope, and Palmer, all shone. It seemed a marvellous resurrection of the stage. Indeed, the play had as much merit as the actors. I have seen no comedy that comes near it since The Provoked Husband" (Walpole [13 July 1777], X, 82). Receipts: #224 10s. (215.12.0; 8.14.6; 0.3.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Dumay, Harris & Holloway. Public Advertiser, 16 May: Tickets to be had of Dumay at Sandhill, behind the Foundling Hospital; of Harris, No. 12, Duke's-court, Bow-street, Covent Garden; of Holloway, Great Maddox-street, Hanover-square. Receipts: #263 15s. (69.2; tickets: 194.13) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for the Widow and Children of the late Hugh? Kelly. Tickets delivered for a Comedy, May 28th, will be admitted. Morning Chronicle, 10 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Kelly, No. 3, Racquet Court, Fleet-street. Receipts: #108 -16s. (52.1; tickets: 56.15) (charge: #52 1s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Berrisford, Carleton Jun., Shade & Edleston. Receipts: #227 5s. 6d. (25.17.0; 3.10.6; 0.0.0; tickets: 197.18.0) (charge: #84)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; BO 3]: Being the Sequel to The Beggar's Opera, Written by Gay, with Alterations [by George Colman elder; the overture (a compilation of airs from The Beggar's Opera) and 6 new airs by Samuel Arnold]. Books of the Opera to be had at the Theatre. [Mrs Colles is identified on playbill of 9 July.] Public Advertiser, 20 June: This Day is published Polly (1s.)

Event Comment: [Henderson's 1st appearance on the stage was as Hamlet, at Bath, 6 Oct. 1772. In I.iv "after the short ejaculation of 'Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!' he endeavoured to conquer that fear and terror into which he was naturally thrown by the first sight of the vision, and uttered the remainder of the address calmly, but respectfully, and with a firm tone of voice, as from one who had subdued his timidity and apprehension" (Davies, III, 30). "Palmer's Ghost would have been more in character had he given less into the rant of declamation and the bustle of stage action, which accord not with our ideas of a supernatural being; his crying, likewise, at the recital of his murder, was childish, and destroyed the solemnity of the scene' (Morning Post, 27 June).