Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Bullock. At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Afterpiece: Written by Mr Farquhar. Receipts: money #50 0s. 6d.; tickets #93 11s

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; MD 3, by Prince Hoare. Larpent MS 1126; not published; synopsis of plot in Monthly Magazine, May 1796, p. 320]: With new Scenes, Dresses, Decorations, &c. The Musick principally composed by the late Mr Storace [who had died on 19 Mar.], with a few Selections from Paisiello, Haydn and Sarti. [Grove, under Storace, states that the music was completed and prepared for the stage by Kelly and Sga Storace.] The Scenes designed and executed by Marinari and assistants. The Dresses by Johnston, Gay and Miss Rein. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. "It was exceedingly tedious the first night, not being over till eleven o'clock. Since, it has been prudently cut down, and yet has lost nothing. A prologue, written on the very morning of representation, deploring the loss of the composer, was spoken (perfectly) by the last unfortunate Benson [for whom see 9 June. It was written by Hoare (Universal Magazine, May 1796, p. 362), and Was perhaps spoken only on the 1st night; it is not listed on any playbill]" (Monthly Magazine, May 1796, p. 320). "In short, possessing all the science of Harrison, the melody of Incledon, and the pleasing articulation of the late Mrs Kennedy, we have no hesitation in pronouncing [Braham] the first public singer of the present day. He was three times encored. His action is indifferent, and his dialogue scarcely audible" (Morning Herald, 2 May). Receipts: #297 14s. (258.10.6; 38.19.6; 0.4.0)

Event Comment: DDaily Post, 29 May: We are assur'd that there will be no more Plays acted this Season at [dl], and we hear that there was Yesterday no Play acted...as had been advertiz'd for that Day; the Occasion we are inform'd was, that at Midnight on Saturday last several persons arm'd took Possession of the same, by Direction from some of the Patentees, and lock'd up and barricado'd all the Doors and Entrances thereunto, against the whole Company of his Majesty's Comedians, as also against Mr Cibber, Jun. notwithstanding he had paid to one of the Patentees several hundred Pounds for one third Part of the Patent, Cloaths, Scenes, &c. and all Rights and Privileges thereunto annexed, for a certain Term not yet expired. Mr Cibber, Jun. and the rest of the Company of Comedians, and this Morning to wait upon his Grace the Duke of Grafton, Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's Houshold, with their humble Petition, and the Representation of their Cast, and to beg his Grace's Favour and Protection

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: Benefit Cibber Jun. Tickets and places to be had of Hobson at the stage door. Tickets deliver'd out by Mr Moore, and tickets deliver'd out for the Distress'd Wife dated 16 March will be taken

Event Comment: At the New Wells near the London Spa Clerkenwell. By Desire. For one night only. Benefit for Yeates Jun. A Concert, etc. Prices: 2s., 1s. 6d., 1s. To begin exactly at 6 p.m. There will be fires in proper Places to keep the Wells warm. It will be moonlight. Mr Yeates entreats the favor of those Gentlemen and Ladies who intend to honour him...that they will please to come at the time prefix'd on account of the length of the Performances; and they may depend on the whole being conducted with the utmost Decorum (General Advertiser)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. With new Dresses and Decorations. The Characters dressed in the Habits of the Times. [Palmer Jun. was from the hay.] "It is necessary to remind both Macbeth and his Lady that there is a measured declamation, of which the natural utterance of passion knows nothing, and that words and syllables may be divided and subdivided till the fatigue of the ear overcome every other feeling...Between the first and second acts Ca ira was loudly called for from the pit and gallery. The clamour, after preventing the first part of the second act from being heard, subsided as unaccountably as it rose. The performers, in compliance with an admonition from the pit, began the act again, and proceeded without further interruption" (Morning Chronicle, 20 Feb.). "In Macbeth there was too much that was not Shakespeare, too much bad taste and shabbiness in the costumes of the witches, and all in all too much claptrap. He found it insufferable that Banquo should take the part of his own ghost and felt that the audience should behold the specter only in Macbeth's terror, as was the case with the banquet guests. 'Mr Kemble has desired on several occasions to suppress the ghost,' Meister says, 'but has never had the courage to do so.'" (J. H. Meister quoted in J. A. Kelly, 134). For Kemble's eventual courage in this matter see dl, 21 Apr. 1794.] Receipts: #425 6s. (383.2; 40.4; 2.0)