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: Mainpiece: A New Tragedy never performed before. This Tragedy was written by Mr Murphy & has great Merit, it is very carefully got up & well perform'd, & receiv'd uncommon Applause Mrs Barry Display great Tragick powers & receiv'd the vast Applause She merited--She will gain great Reputation in the part (Hopkins Diary). New Scenes, Dresses, Decorations. Theatrical Review, 26 Feb.: Mrs Barry rose beyond herself, if we may be allowed the expression, in the laborious Character of Euphrasia....The scenes and decorations were well adapted to the importance of the piece. The representation of the city of Syracusev, with a view of the sea; and the Temple scene, with the mausoleum, in particular are extremely well executed, and do credit to the theatre, and honor to the artists who designed and painted them. Paid two notes for Mr J. Aickin, per order #12 1s. 8d. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #251 7s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: [a tragedy by Alexander Dow]: Never acted before. New Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. This Play was receiv'd with very great Applause Mrs Barry Play'd finely & the Scenes were applauded (Hopkins Diary). Rec'd Stopages #4 12s. 6d. Paid 4 days salary list #348 14s. 8d. Mr King's extra salary #2 (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #238 19s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Barry. King Arthur oblig'd to be deferr'd on account of Mr Barry's illness. Tickets deliver'd for The Distressed Mother will be taken. Pit and Boxes are laid together. Send servants by Four o'clock. Afterpiece: Not acted these seven years. [See 21 April 1760.] The Farce hiss'd. Mrs Barry Sir Harry (Hopkins Diary). Paid Salary list #333 19s.; Mrs Abington's Cloaths Acct, #1; Mr S. French 6 days, #1 10s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #296 14s. Charges: #65. Profit to Mrs Barry: #231 14s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: NNeville MS Diary: Read ye parts of Varanes and Athenais before I went into ye Pit to see ye Play of Theodosius. Barry and Mrs Dancer are excellent in Varanes and Athenais. Young Barry did Theodosius, and Sowdon Marcian, who, tho' ugly, has a pretty good person and is a tolerably good player. Liontine by Bannister

Event Comment: This Tragedy written by Mr Hume was receiv'd with very great Applause Indeed Mrs Barry Seem'd inspir'd She never Appeard to moor Advantage uncommon Applause (Hopkins Diary). New Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. Paid 4 Day's salary list #348 5s.; Tallow chandler's 6th bill #44 14s. Mr Reddish's draft #10 10s.; Mr Racket for Women's cloaths #12; Mr Dibdin Draft #70 (Treasurer's Book). [Westminster Magazine for March gives a long, and unfavorable review of the new tragedy, concluding Home's genius lies not in the tragic way.] Receipts: #237 11s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: [For Cross' comment, see dl.] Receipts: #203 8s. 6d. Paid Barry one third of the surplus of this night's receipt over and above #80 allow'd for the charges:-#41 2s. 10s. Paid Lambert (Scene Painter) 3 month's salary to 16 Nov. last:-#25 (Account Book). [Lee, who seems to have entered earlier on a percentage-of-Box-Receipts: basis for his salary, received only one-third of receipts above a house charge of #100.] The Tragedy of King Lear was presented on this stage; King Lear by Mr Barry, and Cordelia by Mrs Bellamy; The latter was received with universal satisfaction; but on the former's appearance, after a thundering Peal of Applause, a few misguided persons made it necessary for Mr Barry to inform the audience that it ever had been his study to contribute his utmost to the entertainment of the town, and that all reports of his having been exorbitant in his demands were injurious and totally groundless. Upon this he was desired with one general acclamation to proceed in the play. The disturbers of the public were ordered to be silent or to be turned out of the house; and this great actor proved, by the improvement he has made in this character, that excellent as he is, he is still capable of reaching new strokes of perfection; and in the conclusion of the play the applause he met with was the tribute of hearts gratefully agitated through the whole performance with a variety of passions thrown into a ferment by powers most wonderfully suited to tenderness and compassion (London Chronicle, 3-6 Dec.)

Event Comment: G[arrick] This Night was advertis'd for Mr Barry's Benefit but he being ill his Benefit was deferr'd (Hopkins Diary). Garrick is removed from Southampton St. to Adelphi Terrace (Winston MS 10). This day is publish'd Theatrical Biography; or, Memoirs of the principal performers of the three Theatres Royal. Drury Lane: Garrick, Barry, Reddish, Aickin, King, Moody, Dodd, Love, Vernon, Parsons, Baddeley, Mrs Barry, Mrs Abington, Miss Younger, Miss Hayward, Mrs Baddeley, Miss Pope, Mrs Egerton, Mrs W. Barry and Mrs Jefferson. Covent Garden: Ross, Smith, Savigny, Woodward, Yates, Shuter, Bensley, Dyer, Mattocks, Clark, Mrs Yates, Mrs Mattocks, Miss Macklin, Mrs Bulkley, Mrs Green, and Mrs Thompson. Haymarket: Foote, Weston, Aikin, Didier, Davies, Mrs Gardner, Mrs Jewell, and Mrs Didier. Together with critical and impartial remarks on their respective professional merits. Printed for S. Bladon. Receipts: #265 18s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barry. Pit and Boxes laid together, and Stage, for better accommodation of the Ladies, will be form'd into Front and Side Boxes. Tickets to be had of Barry at the corner of Bow St., and of Hobson at the Stage Door. [This month was printd The Town, a Satire by Wm. Kenrick, with especial attack upon Garrick and Garrick's plays. In Miss in her Teens, he boasts the strange pretense, To satire Coxcombs, while he murders sense." Kenrick is one of the few who criticizes Garrick (p. 21) for playing a low character Abel Drugger, rather than a king. He yields indirect praise to Janeton Auretti by blaming the town for cheering her dance, while neglecting the players: @Yet if Janeton shakes her slender feet@How loud the thunder clatters through the Pit.@ Prologue intended to have been spoken on the Revival of The Distress'd Mother, for the Benefit of Mr Barry, but omitted through some misunderstanding. Written by Mr Rolt, printed in Gentleman's Magazine, March 1748, p. 134.] Receipts: #270 (Cross); house charges, #60 (Powel); cash, #80 3s. 6d.; tickets, #118 5s. (Clay MS)

Event Comment: By Particular Desire. [The BM Playbill lists Mercury-Barry">Bannister.] Half past six went into ye Pit to see $Barry do Hastings and Mrs Dancer Jane Shore. Before ye play began, ended reading ye parts of Hastings, Jane Shore and Dumont. When ye Gods called for ye Prologue, York beckoned to be quiet. What authority these fellows assume! T. Barry did Dumont, but he will never be equal to his father. The Entertainment was Lethe. Old Man and Lord Chalkstone by Shuter. Garrick, who sat near me, laughed at his understanding ye character of Lord Chalkstone so little, as to say--"She married for money, and I for a title." Drunken man pretty well by Weston (Neville MS Diary)

Event Comment: NNeville MS Diary: Barry played Lear very well. His broken voice is appropriate in that character; tho' I am apt to imagine that certain nice inflections of voice in expressing ye language of passion, are mistaken for a failure of ye voice itself...[partial cast]. Young Barry was tolerable in some parts of Edgar, but very inanimate in ye last scenes...The House very full

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. [See 10 May 1771.] Benefit for J. Bannister and W. Barry. Paid Easter Offering for St Martin's one year 10s. 6d.; Chorus 2 nights (this incl.) #3 6s. (Treasurer's Book). Tickets delivered by Kear will be taken. Receipts: #135 11s. Charges: #84. Profits to J. Bannister and W. Barry: #51 11s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Play never acted before. [This new tragedy by MacNamara Morgan is mercilessly scourged by Paul Hiffernan in Tuner No 1, (21 Jan.), pp. 41-61]: To Tune it in Lilliputian Score : @Such sighing@Such Billing@Such Flashing@Such Heeling@And Dying@And Killing@And Dashing@And Kneeling@Such Rizing@Surprizing!@Such Falling@And Bawling@Such Attitudes@And Flattitudes@Were ne'er exhibited before.@ In the representation Mr Barry spared no pains; Miss Nossiter and Mr Smith strained hard-Mrs Bland, as far as her part exposed itself, did it with alacrity, but vanished abruptly in a storm of Lust. Mrs Vincent put as good a face on wanton barbarity as possible-and Mr Sparks who can do justice to a more spirited character, supported his Arcadian Kingship with becoming equanimity...It is a Romance crush'd together without choice, unconnected and full of Exidents not Incidents. Musidorus and Pamela , are duplicates to Pyrocles and Philoclea , which lengthen by so much the play, with repetition of the same dull nauseous tale of love, stirr'd up now and then by a bounce and a cracker-many persons come on we know not why, and disappear we know not wherefore....This new piece is an outlaw from all rules of Criticism; the Unities of Time, Place, and Action are unobserv'd; Plot, Moral, Verisimilitude, or even Probability unknown: many scenes bid defiance to possibility....Mr Rich stopp'd at no expence as to the Dresses and Decorations, and reprieving the play's duration to the utmost extent of Managerian clemency

Event Comment: This comedy was wrote by Mr Moor, & except ye part of Faddle meet with Universal Applause (ye Author's first play) (Cross). New Scenes and Cloaths (General Advertiser). This C. was written by Moore--it is a good play--it was acted 11 times successively--Garrick's peculiar qualifications and happy use of them, added amazing spirit to the piece, and gave more consequence to Young Belmont than can well be imagined--Macklin, who never had in voice, figure or features much capacity for the fop cast, yet struck out some things in Faddle, that have not been since equalled, particularly in marking the obsequious knave throughout--Barry in the fourth act supported his character with emphatic dignity and in the last with melting tenderness--the part of Rosetta was undoubtedly conceived for Mrs Woffington, and she did it particular justice--the elegance, the notions of love, and the vanity of admiration, which are united in Rosetta, were natural to Mrs Woffington, so that she had the advantage of looking and speaking in her own character--the softness and pathos, which distinguished Fidelia sat with much ease on Mrs Cibber (Dramatic Censor, II, 206). [For contemporary account of plot and discussion of the play, see Gentleman's Magazine Feb. 1748, pp. 51-54; March 1748, pp. 114-17; May 1748, pp. 207-9; June 1748, pp. 257-59. See also G. Stayley, An Answer to an unjust criticism on the Foundling, listed in Register of Books, Gentleman's Magazine, May 1748, p. 240; A Criticism of the Foundling, in a letter to the author, listed in Register of Books, Gentleman's Magazine, March 1748, p. 144. The Larpent MS indicates many revisions. The substitution of Rake for Whoremaster, &c. Some Suggestive passages marked for excision. "The Disapprobation, which the Character of Faddle met with the first Night, made it necessary for me to shorten it in almost every Scene" (Dedication to 1st Edition).] Receipts: #200 (Cross); #200 5s. (Powel)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. The date of the premiere is not known. Pepys saw it on 6 March 1679@80, calling it a "New Play," and that may have been the first day. The Prologue alludes also to the Duke of York's triumphant return from Scotland on 24 Feb. 1679@80, and the play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1680. For Mrs Bracegirdle as the "little Girl," see Edmund Curll, History of the English Stage (1741), p. 26, and Lucyle Hook, Anne Bracegirdle's First Appearance, Theatre Notebook, XIII (1959), 134. For Betterton as Castalio and Mrs Barry as Monimia, probably as they performed in the next decade, see Cibber, Apology, ed. Lowe, I, 116, 160. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 37) gives the same cast except for omissions and except for Serina-Mrs Barry">Mrs Mountfort, who acted it later. Downes (pp. 37-38) adds: [Monimia, Belvidera in Venice Preserved, and Isabella in The Fatal Marriage] These three Parts, gain'd her the Name of Famous $Mrs Barry, both at court and City; for when ever She Acted any of these three Parts, she forc'd Tears from the Eyes of her Auditory, especially those who have any Sense of Pity for the Distress't. These 3 Plays, by their Excellent Performances, took above all the Modern Plays that succeeded. A song for this play, Come all the youths whose hearts have bled, the music by Forcer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but it lies between Saturday 9 and Saturday 16 April. Luttrell, A Brief Relation (II, 413) stated on 9 April that the Queen had prohibited its being acted; on 16 April (II, 422) he reports that it has been acted. Luttrell, A Brief Relation, II, 422, 16 April: Mr Dryden s play has been acted with applause, the reflecting passages upon this government being left out. The Gentleman's Journal, May 1692 (licensed 14 May): I told you in my last, that none could then tell when Mr Dryden's Cleomenes would appear; since that time, the Innocence and Merit of the Play have rais'd it several eminent Advocates, who have prevailed to have it Acted, and you need not doubt but it has been with great applause. Preface, Edition of 1692: Mrs Barry, always Excellent, has, in this tragedy, excell'd Herself, and gain'd a Reputation beyond any Woman whom I have ever seen on the Theatre. [See also Cibber, Apology, I, 160, for a discussion of Mrs Barry in Cleomenes.] A song, No, no, poor suffering heart no change endeavour, the music by Henry Purcell, is in Comes Amoris, The Fourth Book, 1693, and also, with the notice that it was sung by Mrs Butler, in Joyful Cuckoldom, ca. 1695. See also Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XVI (1906), xviii-xix; Epistolary Essay to Mr Dryden upon his Cleomenes, in Gentleman's Journal, May 1692, pp. 17-21. When the play was revived at Drury Lane, 8 Aug. 1721, the bill bore the heading: Not Acted these Twenty-Five Years

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 Barry. Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, as altered by Thomas Hull]. Translated from [Iphigenie en aulide, by] Racine by Boyer. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Four o'Clock. Public Advertiser, 18 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Barry, No. 26, Henrietta-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #273 19s. 6d. (157.18.6; tickets: 116.1.0) (charge: #70 17s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Barry. Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Afterpiece: By Desire. Last time of performing till the Holidays. Tickets for Isabella will be taken. Part of pit laid into boxes

Event Comment: MMr Barry's 1st appearance this season.--A quarrel in the Green Room between Mrs Barry and Mr Aickin (Hopkins Diary)

Event Comment: Mr Aickin, Evander well receiv'd (Hopkins Diary). Benefit for Mrs Barry. Pit and Boxes laid together. Send servants by 4 o'clock. Othello and Irish Widow deferr'd, for Barry's Illness. Paid salary list (4 days) #348 5s.; Mr Lutherberg on Acct, #80; Mr J. French's Draft on the managers, #50 (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #281 18s. 6d. Charges: #65 19s. Profits to Mrs Barry: #215 19s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted in 7 years. [See 20 Feb. 1767.] Mr Barry being ill Mr Palmer play'd the Bastard--with applause $Mrs Barry not so well in Constance as was expected (Hopkins Diary). Paid properties #2 8d. Receipts: #162 18s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barry. Afterpiece: By MacNamara Morgan. Receipts: #133 14s. 6d. plus Tickets #163 3s. (boxes 479; pit 230; gallery 89). Charges #63. Total value of House: #296 17s. 6d. Profit to Barry #233 17s. 6d. Paid Samuel Wale for painting figures Boys & other decorations in a scene designed by Servandoni #5 5s. Paid Matthew Pearce, Bricklayer, #230, on account of the New Building. Paid Thomas Pervil for sundry cloaths as specified below, #112, 17s.: A Bloom Colored Brocade coat & Breeches with silver flowers & a Gold & Silver Brocaded Waistcoat & Coffs, #8; A Pompador Velvet Coat, Waistcoat & 2 pr. Breeches shot with silver, #11 11s.; A Blue cut and uncut Velvet Suit, Flower'd and Gold Ground, #10 10s.; A Dove colored Brocade Coat & Breeches, Gold & Flowers & a Gold & Silver Brocade waistcoat & Cuffs, #10 10s.; A Blue & Silver Brocade Coat & Breeches & Silver Brocade waistcoat & Cuffs, #10; a light color'd coat & Breeches & a blue silk waistcoat with gold lace, #14; A copper color'd velvet coat & breeches, and yellow waistcoat, embroider'd with gold, #20; A blue velvet suit, plain, #4 10s.; A crimson velvet Roab Surcoat, belt sword & Bonnet worn by a Peer in Parliament, & a Green velvet Roab, purple velvet surcoat & hood-a Knight of the Thistle's dress, #17 16s.; a plain crimson velvet suit, #6 (Account Book)

Event Comment: JJane Shore for the 1st time by Miss Younge--so, so--spoke much too low.--Mrs Barry was very well in Alicia (Hopkins Diary)