Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Abington. Afterpiece: A Farce in 2 Acts, never acted, taken from George Dandin by Moliere. Part of Pit will be laid into the Boxes

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Barry. Part of pit laid into boxes. ["On 25 March Mrs Baddeley set off for Dublin, induced by her husband's behaviour" (Winston MS 10, from Dr Burney's News Clippings). But she was advertised as singing the part of Rhodope in the afterpiece the night of the twenty-sixth.

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Barry. Part of Pit laid together with Boxes. Send servants at half past Four

Event Comment: Benefit for Aickin. The Tragedy of All for Love, which was to have been performed this evening, is oblig'd to be changed, on account of the indisposition of Mrs Barry and Miss Younge; therefore Mr Aickin humbly hopes that his friends will accept of the Tempest in its stead. Tickets deliver'd for All for Love will be taken. Paid extra flute and hautboy 10s. (Treasurer's Book). Aickin did not act (Winston MS 10). [This month published The Sentimental Spouter; or, Young Actor's Companion. The whole comprising the essence of theatrical delivery, and the beauties of dramatic poetry. Price 1s. 6d. Printed for Wheble (Gentleman's Magazine Register).] Receipts: #123 14s. 6d. Charges: #74 14s. Profit to F. Aickin: #49 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Waldron and Mrs Greville. Farce (in 2 Acts) Never performed before, and for that night only. This Farce was written by Mr Waldron-Some Applause (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly in wording.] Paid Mr Wegg's rent half year to Lady Day last #57; Duke of Bedford ditto #164 2s. 10d.; One yrs Paving, Cleansing & Lighting to ditto #39 7s. 6d.; Mr Moody for Mr Philips #13 13s.; St Martin's Charity School, 1 year, 1774 #2 2s. (Treasurer's Book). [The Westminster Magazine for May gives the following cast for the farce: Reuben-$Waldron; Blunt-$Moody; Sharp-$Dodd; Flimsy-$LeMash; Joseph-$Burton; Mrs Reuben-$Mrs Davies; Betty-$Miss Platt. It then bluntly tells the plot and concludes: "The whole is beneath criticism."

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [See 30 April 1773. See, for afterpiece, the Regatta attached to Queen Mab, 11 Nov.] Mr Moody very bad in Maj. Oldfox , &c. Mrs Greville not much better in Olivia (Hopkins Diary). Rec'd from the late Mrs Johnston for Old Women's Cloaths #10 10s.; By ditto from Mr Garrick for wax candles #1 12s. Receipts: #150 13s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: The Provoked Husband and Rival Candidates was given out for Tuesday. On Sunday Morning Mrs Yates sent word she was ill and could not play--sent to Miss Younge, and she sent word that she was ill in bed--King sent word he had a sore Throat, and could not play--so that we could do no Play but the Committee and Rival Candidates. On Monday the Managers met, but nothing was settled. At twelve o'clock Mrs Baddeley sent word she had a sore Throat, and could not play in the Riv[al] Can[didates] (Hopkins Diary). The Hypocrite and The Christmas Tale are obliged to be deferred. "[Smith] has a good figure, is gentlemanlike, and decent in everything he undertakes. When we allow that, we have said all; he wants both feeling to be affected, and powers to convey his feelings, if he had them. In fine, in spite of all the partiality of his friends, or the ignorant prejudices of those who never judge but at second hand, his performance of Richard was little more than a strong union of judgement and industry, unaided by nature. He should woo genteel Comedy oftener; and not that coy sister of hers, who certainly holds Smith at the point of her lance" (London Magazine, Oct. 1776, p. 511). Receipts: #186 18s. 6d

Event Comment: [This was Mrs Hitchcock's 1st appearance in London. Miss Farren was from the Manchester theatre. Miss Twist is identified in playbill of 14 July.] Because of Foote's acting scarcely anything but his own plays "a relaxation of discipline has been fallen into at the Haymarket... The audience last night, however, were not less surprized than pleased at the very regular manner in which the Comedy and the Burletta were exhibited. All the business of the stage perfect, all the little parts smoothly given, and the whole rather superior than inferior to a performance at either of the Winter Theatres" (Morning Chronicle, 10 June)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. [Mrs Kennedy was from the York theatre.

Event Comment: Benefit for Phillimore, Spencer, Mrs Pulley & Miss Armstrong. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. Receipts: #298 19s. (34/8; 8/10; 0/11; tickets: 255/10) (charge: #115 10s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'clock. Public Advertiser, 10 Dec: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 149 in the Strand. [The most famous "point" in this play was the parting of Belvidera and Jaffier in Act III, and her words, "Remember twelve!" Boaden, Siddons, 1, 354, refers to Mrs Siddons's "querulous melancholy of tone, partaking of doubt, though still hoping for the best," in uttering these words.] Receipts: #335 5s. (157/15/0; 4/0/6; 0/12/6; tickets: 172/17/0) (charge: free). [Thus, officially, the Account-Book, but Mrs Siddons's total profit, from presents and from additional sums being added by her admirers to the usual price of her tickets, was, according to Public Advertiser, 25 Dec, over #800. This figure is almost certainly an accurate reckoning.]

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons [whose 1st appearance as Imogen was at Bath, 15 Apr. 1779]. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their Servants at half past Four o'Clock. Public Advertiser, 13 Jan.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. "The exact receipts of Mrs Siddons's house on Monday were #332 [actually #335 5s., excluding the 2nd account and after-money], which, with bank notes for side-boxes, and gold tickets through all the boxes, raise the total to about #650 or #700. This benefit is clear of the nightly charges of the house" (Morning Chronicle, 1 Feb.). Receipts. #344 17s. 6d. (161.10.0; 9.11.6; 0.1.0; tickets: 173.15.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their Servants at half past Four o'Clock. Receipts: #304 2s. (110.18.0; 11.6.6; 2.2.6; tickets: 179.15.0) (charge: #107 14s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons [whose 1st appearance as Alicia was at York, 26 Apr. 1777]. 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. Public Advertiser, 27 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street. [In the interim she changed the play. The Announcement of 27 Apr. advertises Romeo and Juliet, by Kemble and Mrs Siddons, in which play she did not appear until May 1789.] Receipts: #337 16s. 6d. (146.1.0; 8.7.6; 0.14.0; tickets: 182.14.0) (charge: #105 16s.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. Tickets delivered by the young D'Egvilles, Jones, Newbold, Shaw, Dale, Purser Sen., Smith, Aberdein, Mills, Miss Tidswell, Mrs Heard, Miss Dancer, Miss Bradshaw, Mrs Haskey, will be admitted. Receipts: #241 8s. 6d. (23.4.0; 15.3.6; 0.15.0; tickets: 202.6.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Brooks. Public Advertiser, 18 July: Tickets to be had of Mrs Brooks, at Mr Woodmason's, No. 68, Pall-mall

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bannister. 2nd piece: Never acted here. Public Advertiser, 17 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Bannister, Frith-street, Soho

Event Comment: The Play and Farce designed for this Evening [The Constant Couple and The Romp, both advertised on playbill of 23 Sept.] are changed on Account of Mrs Jordan's Indisposition. Receipts: #170 4s. (124.19; 44.8; 0.17)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Miss Pope as Mrs Larron, but "previous to the play, an apology was made by Palmer for the absence of Miss Pope, who by indisposition was prevented from performing, and requested the audience to accept of Mrs Edwards in the part of Mrs Larron, who, it must be confessed, showed no want of spirit in her performance" (Thespian Magazine, Jan. 1793, p. 169).] Receipts: #195 0s. 6d. (143.16.0; 48.14.0; 2.10.6)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Pirates; afterpiece of The Virgin Unmask'd, both advertised on playbill of 8 Dec.] 'Mrs Goodall is a very good substitute for Mrs Jordan [who had not yet appeared this season] in Letitia Hardy" (Thespian Magazine, Jan. 1793, p. 171). Receipts: #115 4s. (69.0; 37.8; 8.16)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bensley. [In afterpiece the playbill assings Lazarillo to R. Palmer, but "Bland appeared in Lazarillo instead of R. Palmer" (Thespian Magazine, May 1793, p. 266).] Morning Herald, 2 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Bensley, No. 21, Charlotte-street, Bloomsbury. Receipts: #201 10s. (93.4; 16.1; tickets: 92.5) (charge: #94 19s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Dignum and Mrs Powell. [Afterpiece in place of The Devil to Pay, advertised on playbill of 23 May.] Morning Herald, 23 May: Tickets to be had of Dignum, No. 25, New North-street; of Mrs Powell, No. 22, Henrietta-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #510 1s. (54.13.6; 26.7.6; 3.17.0; tickets: 425.3.0) (charge: #160 5s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Kemble. Afterpiece: The [first] and only time of performing it [this season] at this theatre. Morning Herald, 31 July: Tickets to be had of Mrs Kemble, No. 24, corner of Panton-street, Haymarket

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; INT 1, author unknown. MS: Larpent 993; not published]. [Mrs Stuart, who was from the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, is identified in European Magazine, Nov. 1793, p. 390.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In Act I The Cardinal's Banquet. In Act II The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine. In Act V a Grand Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Paid Charles Smith on Acct. of Upholders Work at Drury Lane Theatre #400. Powell: Henry VIII rehearsed at 10 (for Packer, lame, and Mrs Siddons); Siege of Belgrade music at 12 (for Storace, Bannister Jun., Crouch, Davis, Danby). The Iron Curtain being finish'd was this Evening exhibited for the first Time with the Epilogue [and see 21 Apr.]. "On the 24th February, 1809, this theatre was burnt down . . . Every care had been taken to guard against such a calamity. Two large reservoirs for water, on the top of the house, happened, unfortunately, at this crisis to be empty; and an iron curtain, intended to separate the auditory from the stage, for the purpose of saving a part of the edifice in case of conflagration, was, with its machinery, so much out of order as to be useless; it was, in fact, utterly immoveable" (Brayley, p. 8). Receipts: #451 8s. 6d. (389/4/0; 56/5/0; 4/6/6; tickets not come in: 1/13/0)