Event Comment: Benefit for Sga Sestini

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author. Receipts: #166 7s. (164/17; 1/10) (charge: #63). [A tally-sheet for this performance in the Harvard Theatre Collection lists the following details: 338 spectators in boxes at #84 10s.; 253 in pit at #37 19s.; 314 in 1st Gallery at #31 8s.; 190 in 2nd gallery at #9 10s. Total of 1,095 spectators at #164 17s. After money #1 10s. Charge #63. Owing Mrs Inchbald #101 17s.]

Event Comment: Benefit for Wilson. Tickets deliver'd for the 12th Instant will be admitted. Second Course [1st time; F 2, author unknown. MS not in Larpent; not published]

Event Comment: Benefit for Edwin. Public Advertiser, 19 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Edwin, No. 19, Piazza, Covent Garden. Mainpiece: Written by Dr Goldsmith

Event Comment: Benefit for Bannister. 2nd piece [1st time; M.INT 2, author unknown. MS: Larpent 705; not published]

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Farren. Mainpiece: With Permission of the Author [Richard Brinsley Sheridan]

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #211 0s. 6d. (206/17/0; 4/3/6; tickets: none listed)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece]. Books of the Songs of the Opera to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #232 13s. (206/4; 27/5; 1/4; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece]. Receipts: #181 1s. 6d. (158/8/0; 21/6/6; 1/7/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #249 15s. 6d. (205/6/0; 42/9/6; 2/0/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #216 1s. (186/18/0; 27/6/6; 1/16/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #307 or. 6d. (283/12/0; 21/16/6; 1/12/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #269 10s. 6d. (232/0/0; 36/1/6; 1/9/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Abington. Pit and Boxes will be laid together. Ladies and Gentlemen are most earnestly requested to come early, to prevent Inconvenience in getting to their Places, and to send their Servants to keep them by Four o'clock. "At the close of the entertainment Mrs Abington came forward, and delivered a short poetical address to her fashionable auditory [written by Maurice Morgann (Monthly Mirror, Nov. 1797, p. 263)], apposite to her feelings on the present occasion" (Morning Herald, 11 Feb.). "The character [of Scrub] throughout was well conceived, and executed with a sprightliness and degree of humour that kept the house in a continual roar of laughter" (Public Advertiser, 11 Feb.) "Mrs Abington's voice was in its usual tone; her manners and deportment were inattentive and torpid, rather than active and interesting" (Morning Post, 11 Feb.). "With all her endeavours to give new points to the character, she entirely failed. Her appearance en culottes, so preposterously padded, exceeded nature. Her gestures to look comical could not get the least hold of the audience, though they had seen her before in men's clothes, when playing Portia in The Merchant of Venice, where her figure, dressed as a lawyer in his gown, gave effect to her excellent delivery on mercy, and the audience had been always delighted. But this leu de benefice, comparatively speaking, was disgusting and absurd as she dressed the character ... However, I have heard it originated in a bet she had previously made" (Henry Angelo, Reminiscenes, 11, 281-82). Receipts: #406 13s. 6d. (249/9/6; 1/9/0; tickets: 155/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit [6 rows (Public Advertiser, 6 Mar.)] will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Orestes to Smith, but he "was indisposed . . . Throughout the whole [of his part] Kemble's skill was apparent. In the last scene he displayed as fine a picture of horror as was ever given from the stage" (Morning Chronicle, 6 Mar.).] Morning Herald, 24 Feb.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #293 11s. (122/17/0; 10/1/6; 1/2/6; tickets: 159/10/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. "The Captives were set at liberty last night, amidst roars of laughter. I see the doctor [i.e. the author] publishes it this week . . . Cadell bought this sublime piece before it appeared, for fifty pounds, agreeing to make it a hundred on its third representation. It has been played three times, and I dare say old Sanctimony will have no remorse in taking the other fifty." J. P. Kemble to Edmond Malone (Life of Edmond Malone, by Sir James Prior, i860, p. 126). Receipts: #138 13s. 6d. (91/19/0; 40/18/0; 5/16/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Brunton. Mainpiece [1st time in London; T 5, by Frederick Reynolds, 1st acted at Bath, 3 Dec. 1785. In 1795 reduced to 3 acts. Prologue and Epilogue by William Meyler (Town and Country Magazine, Apr. 1786, p. 215]. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. Morning Chronicle, 17 Feb.: Tickets to be had of Miss Brunton, No. 5, George-street, York-buildings. Receipts: #350 17s. 6d. (210/11/0; 3/1/6; tickets: 137/5/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Sga Sestini. A Comic Opera; the Music by Anfossi. Tickets, 10s. 6d. each, to be had of Sga Sestini, No. 38, Mount-street, Berkeleysquare

Event Comment: Benefit for Smith. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. Morning Chronicle, 25 Feb.: Tickets to be had of Smith, No. 7, Beaufort Buildings, Strand. Receipts: #325 17s. 6d.(163/2/0; 8/2/6; 0/16/0; tickets: 153/17/0) (charge: #65 10s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #217 7s. (210/9; 6/18; tickets: none listed) (charge #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #171 16s. 6d. (167/6/6; 4/10/0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Macklin. Morning Chronicle, 24 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Macklin, Tavistock-Row, Covent Garden. Receipts: #309 9s. 6d. (216/19/6; 2/4/0; tickets: 90/6/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Sga Ferrarese del Bene. A Serious Opera [1st time; SER 2, by Pietro Giovannini]; the Music entirely new by Cherubini. Tickets, 10s. 6d. each, to be had of Sga Ferrarese del Bene, No. 232, Piccadilly

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bannister. Afterpiece [1st time; MF 2, by Leonard Macnally, based on A Mad World, My Masters, by Thomas Middleton. MS: Larpent 729; not published. Introduction by the author (Town and Country Magazine, June 1786, p. 328]. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre [composer unknown]. Morning Herald, 11 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Bannister, No. 29, Bow-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #273 4s. 6d. (180/6/0; 7/9/6; tickets: 85/9/0) (charge: #105)