Event Comment: MMrs Pritchard and Mr Havard continuing ill the plays which were lately bespoke and designed to be acted at Drury Lane are oblig'd to be deferr'd for some days. Receipts: #140 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for ye Author, tho' not put so in the Bills (Cross). To the Publick: As Mr Arne originally composed the Music in the Masque of Alfred, and the town may probably on that account imagine the Music, as now perform'd, to he all his production, he is advised by his friends to inform the publick that but two of his songs are in that performance, viz.: the first song beginning O Peace thou fairest child of Heaven; and the Ode in Honour of Great Britain, beginning, When Britain first at Heaven's Command, with the chorus, Rule Britannia, Rule the Waves, &c. which songs he submitted to be mix'd with the productions of others, to oblige the author of the poem. Tho. Aug. Arne (General Advertiser)

Event Comment: Benefit for Yates. Tickets and places to be had of Yates, next door to Mr Walsh's Music Shop, in Catherine St. in the Strand, and of Hobson at the Stage Door. Tickets deliver'd for the 25th of March will be taken. Receipts: #200 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for Berry. Tickets at Popes Perke maker Russell St., and at the Stage Door. Tickets deliver'd out for 26 March will be taken. At Punch's Theatre in James St., near the Haymarket, this, and every Evening this week, the Town will be entertained with Yeates's inimitable dexterity of Hand; likewise by Mr Punch's Company of performers will be exhibited the play of Jane Shore. To conclude with a New Grand Machine, representing the Temple of the Sunv, at Mexico, in North America, which has given universal satisfaction to the Nobility and Gentry (General Advertiser). Receipts: #212 (Cross)

Event Comment: Yesterday Mr Garrick set out from his House in Southampton Street for Paris (London Daily Advertiser and Literary Gazette)

Event Comment: A Concert, etc. At the Desire of several Gentlemen and Ladies. For One Night Only. For the Benefit of Mr Phillips. At the New Playhouse, Bowling Green, Southwark. Boxes 2s. 6d. Pit 1s. 6d. Gallery 1s. Upper Gallery 6d. Sylvius went to see Hamlet but was distracted by a beautiful woman nearby (Daily Advertiser and Literary Gazette, 20 Sept.)

Event Comment: Receipts. #100 (Cross). General Advertiser: The tragedy of the Revenge is reviving at Drury Lane, and will be played there sometime next week, in which Mossop will play the part of Zanga. A Poem To Mr Ross, on his first appearance in the Character of Bevil : @Who can resist to pour the raptur'd praise@When such deserts as thine attention raise...@Bevil whose words still fire the Noble mind@Shines with new lustre to thy Merits joined...

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Acted but once these five years. Mr Dexter has given us in the character of Oroonoko the greatest first essay that perhaps any stage has produced. He has great feeling, and equal expression; a fine figure, a vast deal of grace in his deportment and uncommon tenderness in his manner, and a voice formed by nature for expressing it (Inspector No 201, in Daily Advertiser and Literary Gazette). Receipts: #140 (Cross)

Event Comment: Never were the theatres more in Estimation than at present, nor was there ever a time at which so much pains appear to have been taken, in order to continue them upon a good footing. We owe our thanks to Mr Garrick for engaging in the expence of such a number of additional performers, but we owe him also our applause for the success with which they have played (Inspector No 203, in Daily Advertiser and London Gazette). Receipts: #110 (Cross)

Event Comment: MMr Garrick did Richard (Cross). This day is publish'd, Dedicated to the Right Honorable John, Earl of Orrery, Sejanus a Tragedy, as it was intended for the stage, with a Preface; wherein the Manager's reasons for refusing it are set forth. By Mr Gentleman. Printed for R. Manby and H. S. Cox on Ludgate Hill. [Garrick turned it down and Gentleman accepted his judgment without animosity.] Receipts: #210 (Cross)

Event Comment: As the Entertainment call'd Taste, was not quite so well receiv'd as was expected, and as it was solely intended for the Benefit of Mr Worsdale, the Author has suspended its representation till Worsdale's Benefit night; by that time some alterations will be made, which, it is hop'd, will render the piece more palatable to the publick (General Advertiser). [The Inspector No. 271 , commented on Foote's Taste of the previous Saturday: A party against it, but the piece was "heard with attention, and, in consequence with Applause. There is, indisputably more genuine Wit in it than in any piece of the kind ever produc'd among us; the characters are natural, tho many of them uncommon ones; their stile and sentiments are adapted to them with perfect propriety, and the incidents are not forced or crowded together upon the audience." A full discussion of each part follows. (Daily Advertiser and Literary Gazette.] Receipts: #140 (Cross)

Event Comment: No alterations were made in the farce, but cutting out a little, & it was play'd with great Applause, & given out again with great Clapping. Benefit for Mr Worsdale (Cross). Tickets to be had at the Bedford Coffee House. Part of Pit laid into boxes. We hear that Miss Bellamy, belonging to Drury Lane Theatre, was taken ill on Sunday last, and continues very much indispos'd. Receipts: #230 (Cross)

Event Comment: A little hissing during the farce, & at the End ye Audience call'd, no more &c.--& insisted upon another farce being given out wch Mr Blakes did--farewell Taste (Cross). The Book of the Entertainment will be sold in the theatre, and at R. Francklin's in Russel Street, Covent Garden (playbill). [The publication of Taste was dedicated to Francis Delaval, and includes in prefatory remarks Foote's distinction between Comedy and Farce: As the follies and absurdities of men are the sole objects of Comedy, so the powers of Imagination (Plot and Incident expected) are in this kind of writing greatly restrainded. No unnatural assemblages, no creatures of the fancy can procure the protection of the Comic Muse; men and things must appear as they are. To Farce greater liberties are permitted. I look upon Farce to hold the same rank in drama that Burlesque does in other poetry. It is employed either in debasing lofty subjects, or in raising humble ones.'] Receipts: #180 (Cross)

Event Comment: Publish'd, A Treatise of the Passions so far as they regard the stage &c., by Mr Foote. 1s. [First pub. 1747, it contains an interesting comment on Garrick's Lear.] Romeo and Juliet which was bespoke, and was to have been acted last Monday at Drury Lane, will be acted there next Monday, Miss Bellamy being recovered from her late indisposition. Receipts: #190 (Cross)

Event Comment: TThe Sorcerer, a Pantomime Entertainment, originally performed at the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, is preparing, with alterations, at Covent Garden (The scenes painted by Mr Lambert) and will be performed one day next week. [Another letter appeared in the General Advertiser on innocent entertainment for the lower classes (see 29 Jan. 1752), but severely criticized the existence of Prize fights, Cock-pits, and Gambling houses as the real nuisances and nurseries of theft and disorder."] It is whispered that the Townwill shortly be entertained with a phenomenon of the Monosyllable Fun,--the match between Sir Alexander Drawcansir, Kent. and their Lownesses of Grub Street, being certainly to be decided on the Stage; great bets depending on this Battle, it is thought the Knowing ones will be taken in (General Advertiser)

Event Comment: RRichd 3d (by Mossop) & Anatomist was put up but: Mossop being taken ill, after many Messages it was resolv'd to do ye Con. Lovers & Harl. Ranger. Small bills were printed & deliver'd at ye Doors to signify the Change & all went well. Mr Rich's Ent: of ye Sorcerer came out this day (Cross). Receipts: #120 (Cross). [The small bill referred to by Cross read as follows:] @Theatre Royal in Drury Lane@This night being the@11th of February@Richard the Third@(On Account of the Indisposition of a Principal Performer)@Is Oblig'd to be Chang'd to@The Conscious Lovers@and@Harlequin Ranger@with Dancing@By Mad Auretti@