Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Kemble. 1st piece: Never [previously] acted here. 2nd piece [1st time; INT i, by Henry Siddons. Prologue by John Taylor (see text)]. Gazetteer, 28 Aug. 1790: This Day is published Modern Breakfast (1s.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [acted 21 Jan. 1789. Mrs Esten has 1st acted Belvidera at Bath in the season of 1786-87]. Afterpiece [1st time; M. INT 2, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 883; not published. Prologue by John Taylor (his Taylor, Poems, I, 43). Rees' 1st appearance at this theatre was on 14 May 1788]: The Overture and the whole of the Music by Dibdin. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [Most of these songs had originally appeared in Dibdin's "table entertainment," The Oddities, 1st performed at the Lyceum, 7 Dec. 1789.] Receipts: #244 18s. 6d. (234.8.0; 10.10.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. A new and accurate Edition of the Tragedy to be had at the Theatre. "[Mrs Siddons's] eyes possess a peculiar brilliancy and animation...Her voice is sonorous and variable" (Candid Strictures, 33). Receipts: #311 13s. (296.3; 13.0; 2.10)

Event Comment: Benefit for Quick. 1st piece: Written by Mrs Inchbald. 2nd piece: For that night only. 3rd piece: Written by Foote; 1st time at that Theatre. Morning Herald, 28 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Quick, No. 98, High Holborn. Receipts: #325 4s. 6d. (152.3.0; 5.10.6; tickets: 167.11.0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [acted 21 Jan. 1789. Mrs Esten has 1st acted Belvidera at Bath in the season of 1786-87]. Afterpiece [1st time; M. INT 2, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 883; not published. Prologue by John Taylor (his Taylor, Poems, I, 43). Rees' 1st appearance at this theatre was on 14 May 1788]: The Overture and the whole of the Music by Dibdin. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [Most of these songs had originally appeared in Dibdin's "table entertainment," The Oddities, 1st performed at the Lyceum, 7 Dec. 1789.] Receipts: #244 18s. 6d. (234.8.0; 10.10.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. A new and accurate Edition of the Tragedy to be had at the Theatre. "[Mrs Siddons's] eyes possess a peculiar brilliancy and animation...Her voice is sonorous and variable" (Candid Strictures, 33). Receipts: #311 13s. (296.3; 13.0; 2.10)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by John O'Keeffe. Prologue by John Taylor (see text). Address by John Wolcot (Pocket Magazine, supra)]: With new Dresses and Decorations. [Mrs Lee was from the Salisbury theatre.] Morning Chronicle, 11 May 1795: This Day is published Life's Vagaries (2s.). Receipts: #268 3s. 6d. (259.19.6; 8.4.0)

Event Comment: Last Night of the Company's performing this Season. Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Mrs Shotter, Wyatt, Waller, Gawdrey, Ratchford, the Band, Coombes, Page, Wilkins, Robson (door-keeper), Warwhick, Dosel, Paskin, Wells, Ansell, King will be admitted. Receipts: #467 13s. 6d. (67.10.0; 3.14.0; tickets: 396.9.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by William Henry Ireland; incidental music by William Linley. Prologue by Sir James Bland Burges; Epilogue by Robert Merry (see text)]: With new Scenes, Dresses & Decorations. The Scenes designed and excuted by Greenwood and Capon. The Dresses by Johnston, Gay & Miss Rein. Printed slip attached to Kemble playbill: A malevolent and impotent attack on the Shakspeare MSS. [i.e. those forged by W. H. Ireland, of which this play was one] having appeared, on the Eve of representation of Vortigern, evidently intended to injure the interest of the Proprietor of the MSS., Mr Samuel? Ireland [W. H. Ireland's father] feels it impossible, within the short space of time that intervenes between the publishing and the representation, to produce an answer to the most illiberal and unfounded assertions in Mr Malone's enquiry [i.e. Edmond Malone, An Inquiry into the Authenticity of certain Papers attributed to Shakspeare, Queen Elizabeth, and Henry, Earl of Southampton, 1796]. He is therefore induced to request that Vortigern may be heard With that Candour that has ever distinguished a British Audience. The Play is now at the Press, and will in a very few days be laid before the Public. [But it was not issued until 1799 (see below). See also Bernard Grebanier, The Great Shakespeare Forgery, London, 1966.] 4 Apr., states that the first three acts were listened to with patience, but beginning with the fourth act the play was damned, when "one tremendous yell of indignation from the pit burst simultaneously." "At four o'clock the doors of the theatre were besieged; and, a few minutes after they were opened, the pit was crowded solely with gentlemen. Before six not a place was to be found in the boxes, and the passages were filled...The audience betrayed symptoms of impatience early in the representation; but, finding its taste insulted by bloated terms, which heightened the general insipidity, its reason puzzled by discordant images, false ornaments, and abortive efforts to elevate and astonish, pronounced its sentence of condemnation at the conclusion of the play" (Gentleman's Magazine, Apr. 1795, pp. 346-47). "Irelands play of Vortigern I went to. Prologue spoken at 35 minutes past 6 [see 29 Mar.]: Play over at 10. A strong party was evidently made to support it, which clapped without opposition frequently through near 3 acts, when some ridiculous passages caused a laugh, mixed with groans-Kemble requested the audience t o hear the play out abt. the end of 4th act and prevailed.-The Epilogue was spoken by Mrs Jordan who skipped over some lines which claimed the play as Shakespeares. Barrymore attempted to give the Play out for Monday next but was hooted off the stage. Kemble then came on, & after some time, was permitted to say that "School for Scandal would be given," which the House approved by clapping. Sturt of Dorsetshire was in a Stage Box drunk, & exposed himself indecently to support the Play, and when one of the stage attendants attempted to take up the green cloth [i.e. a carpet which, by custom, was laid on the stage during the concluding scene of a tragedy], Sturt seized him roughly by the head. He was slightly pelted with oranges" (Joseph Farington, Diary, 1922, I, 145). Account-Book, 4 Apr.: Paid Ireland his share for the 1st Night of Vortigern #102 13s. 3d. Morning Chronicle, 29 Mar. 1799: This Day is published Vortigern and Henry the Second (4s.). Receipts: #555 6s. 6d. (528.6.0; 26.9.6; 0.11.0)

Event Comment: [as Miss Mahon Mrs Second has sung in the cg oratorios in 1789 and 1790.] Receipts: #189 5s. (187.5.6; 1.19.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Acasto to Murray, but "An apology was made for Murray, who was prevented by illness from playing Acasto, which, at a short notice, was taken by Hull" (True Briton, 14 Oct.).] "This whole of [Mrs Spencer's] performance was marked by such unaffected simplicity that it was almost impossible to consider it as the mere fiction of the scene. This lady is really a great aquisition to the house" (True Briton, ibid). Receipts: #254 6s. 6d. (244.18.6; 9.8.0)

Event Comment: By Authority of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Lacy, formerly of the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane. Tickets to be had of Fosbrook, at the Box Office of the Drury Lane Theatre, and Rice, at the Box Office of the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket, where Places for the Boxes may be taken. [Address by John Taylor (Monthly Mirror, Dec. 1798, p. 370). On this night the following appeared both at dl and at the hay: Hollingsworth, Caulfield, Bannister Jun., Suett, Miss Pope, Mrs Bland.

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for an Infant Orphan Family. Tickets to be had at No. 17, Tufton-street, Westminster; of Appleby, Hosier, Parliament-street; Mrs Cleaver, Cannon-row, Parliament-street; Newcomb, Confectioner, Bridge-street, Westminster; Taylor, Linen-draper, Whitehall; Thomas, Butcher, Charing-cross; Medhurst, Pastry Cook, Russel-court, Drury-lane; Rice, at the Theatre, where Places for the Boxes may be taken

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for the General Lying-In Hospital, Bayswater, Under the Patronage of Her Majesty. Tickets to be had at the Hospital; of Longman and Wilkinson, Cheapside; Broderip andCo., Haymarket; and of Brandon at the Theatre, where Places for the Boxes may be taken. Many of the Re-Renters have generously relinquished their Privilege upon this Night. [Faulkner had acted at dl on 21 Dec. 1796, and Mrs Johnstone at cg on 4 Jan. 1798.] Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that the Dedication of the play is dated 15 Jan. 1696@7 suggests that it was probably first acted not later than December 1696. The play was advertised in the Post Man, 21-23 Jan. 1696@7. The music was set by John Eccles. Dedication, Edition of 1697: I make you a Present of a Play, that miscarri'd on the first Nights Performance; tho' afterwards, without any farther Discouragement, it kept it self alive till the third day was over, and then I must confess the City Lady expir'd....This I am confident on, that the like Unfortunate Accidents which attended this Comedy, wou'd have been sufficient to have Dam'd a much better Play. The tedious waiting to have the Curtain drawn, after the Prologue was spoke, occasion'd by Mr Underhill's violent Bleeding, put the Audience out of Humour, and made it susceptible of the least Disgust; and when once the Torrent of its Displeasure break bounds, nothing cou'd put a stop to his Vehemence. After Mr Underhill was no longer able to come upon the Stage, scarce any thing was done but by Halves, and in much Confusion; in the midst of which, I think my self oblig'd to applaud the Justice I receiv'd from the Incomparable Mrs Barry. I very well know that the Ode in the third Act seems to be introduc'd something unseasonably. It was made and set long since, in hopes of having it perform'd before the King, at his return from Flanders; and the Music being so finely compos'd by Mr John Eccles, I was loath it shou'd be wholly lost to the Town. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 20: Damn'd

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but the evidence points to this day as a strong Possibility. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus (p. 44) states that it was given thirteen days consecutively, and John Coke (see 16 March 1696@7) states that it was acted "till Saturday" (16 March 1696@7). If the tragedy was acted on Wednesdays but not Fridays, as was often the practice in Lent, and if the farce alluded to for Saturday, 16 March 1696@7, comprised the entire program, this day was probably the premiere. The following sequence of performances is based on these premises. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 44: The Mourning Bride...had such Success, that it continu'd Acting Uninterrupted 13 Days together. Gildon, English Dramatick Poets, p. 23: This Play had the greatest Success, not only of all Mr Congreve's, but indeed of all the Plays that ever I can remember on the English Stage, excepting some of the incomparable Otway's. Aston, A Brief Supplement (in Cibber, Apology, II, 302): His [Betterton's] Favourite, Mrs Barry, claims the next in Estimation. They were both never better pleas'd, than in Playing together.--Mrs Barry outshin'd Mrs Bracegirdle in the Character of Zara in the Mourning Bride, altho' Mr Congreve design'd Almeria for that Favour

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Clendining. At the Special Desire of his Excellency the Turkish Ambassador [see 7 May]. 3rd piece: Engagement, etc. as 26 May, but Moving Figures not specified. Morning Herald, 26 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Clendining, No. 5, Bow-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #301 10s. (136/3; 6/12; tickets: 158/15)

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that the play was advertised in the Post Boy, 18-21 Dec. 1697, suggests that the premiere occurred not later than late November. This play was originally given to the company in Drury Lane, but withdrawn. See G. Thorn-Drury, An Unrecorded Play Title, Review of English Studies, VI (1930), 316-18. Edition of 1698: A Dialogue in the fourth Act, between Mr Bowman and Mrs Bracegirdle; The words by Mr Durfey and set by Mr Eccles: When will Stella kind and tendre. A Dialogue in the fifth Act, between a Boy and a Girl, and an Old Man, Written by Mr Motteux, set to the Musick by Mr J. Eccles. Preface: I look upon those that endeavour'd to discountenance this Play as Enemys to me

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. This performance is known by a letter of John Dryden to Mrs Steward, 7 Nov. 1699: There is this day to be acted a New tragedy, made by Mr Hopkins, & as I believe in rhime. He has formerly written a play in verse calld Boadicea, which you fair Ladyes likd: & is a poet who writes good verse without knowing how, or why; I mean he writes naturally well, without art or learning, or good sence (The Letters of John Dryden, p. 124). The Dedication to the play is dated 1 Nov. 1699, but the play was not advertised until, apparently, in the Post Man, 17-20 Feb. 1699@1700

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, by Samuel James Arnold]: The Overture and Musick by Dr Arnold. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. Receipts: #224 7s. 6d. (121.19.0; 99.9.0; 2.19.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wilson. Afterpiece [1st time; M. ENT 3]: The Dialogue and part of the Songs written by Richard? Wilson. The Overture, new Music and accompaniments composed by Reeve. The Songs, Duets, Glees compiled from Arnold, Rogers, Giordani, Shield, Hook, Dibdin, W. Wilson, Stevens, Broderip and David Rizzio. [Larpent MS 908; not published. Prologue probably by Richard Wilson. Epilogue by Joseph Haynes.] Public Advertiser, 14 May: Tickets to be had of Wilson. No. 10, Bow-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #354 14s. 6d. (165.17.6; 5.4.0; tickets: 183.13.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never acted here. [Mrs Armstead is identified in Morning Chronicle, 16 May. Prologue by George Colman elder (Collection...of English Prologues and Epilogues, II, 207).] Afterpiece: Not acted these 20 years. With a new Overture, the Original Prologue [by David Garrick], and a New Scene, in which will be introduced an air. With a Grand Jubilee-Pageant, in Honour of Gulliver. The Music, Dresses, Scenes, Trophies and Decorations entirely new. The Music composed by Dr Arnold. ["Lilliput was altered by Garrick (its author), and a procession of cards introduced in it, Gulliver walking as the Knave of Clubs" (Gilliland, I, 121-22). London Chronicle, 16 May, gives a synopsis of this pageant.] The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. Places for the Boxes to be taken at the Theatre. After this Evening the Entertainments of this Theatre will be discontinued till further Notice, on account of the Performers employed at Drury Lane Theatre [see 28 May]

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: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2 (?), by James Wild. Text (no publisher, 1790)]: Being a Collection of favorite Scenes from the Following celebrated Pantomimes: Harlequin Sorcerer, Mother Shipton, Choice of Harlequin, Lord Mayor's Day, Druids, Fryar Bacon, Harlequin Freemason, Norwood Gipsies, Omai, Magic Cavern, and Harlequin Rambler. With new Dresses and Decorations. The Original Scenery, Machinery, &c. painted by Lambert, Dall [both deceased], Carver, Hodgins and Richards-and now all repaired and repainted. The Music selected by Shaw from Pepuch [sic], Dr Arne, Dr Arnold, Dr Fisher, ?M.? Arne, Vincent, Dibdin and Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Account-Book, 31 Dec.: Paid Wild for his Attention to the Pantomime #30; Boyce for Ditto #15; Shaw for Ditto #10. Receipts: #233 5s. 6d. (204.8.6; 28.17.0)