Event Comment: Receipts: #112 1s. 6d. Probable attendance: boxes, 124 paid and 22 orders; pit, 264 paid and 3 orders; slips, 30 paid and 1 order; first gallery, 271 paid and 15 orders; second gallery, 128 paid

Event Comment: [By John Sturmy.] Never Acted before. Receipts: #60 19s. Probable attendance: boxes, 66 paid and 17 orders; pit, 221 paid and 13 orders; slips, 15 paid and 1 order; first gallery, 140 paid and 2 orders; second gallery, 95 paid

Event Comment: Receipts: #71 4s. Probable attendance: boxes, 39 paid and 29 orders; pit. 218 paid and 22 orders; slips, 15 paid and 4 orders; first gallery, 150 paid and 10 orders; second gallery, 173 paid

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not Acted these Thirty Years. All the Characters New Dress'd. Afterpiece: A New Dramatick Pantomime Entertainment. With New Cloaths, Scenes, Machines, and other Decorations. An Exact Representation of the Hermitage, as in the Royal Garden at Richmond. And Entire New Musick, compos'd by Mr Jones. [Author not known. Apparently not published.] Daily Advertiser, 2 Feb.: When one of the Changes [on 1 Feb.] by Chance miscarried, a second Attempt was generally desir'd, which, when executed, was so pleasing, a general Clap continu'd for more than the Space of a Minute

Event Comment: A Concert, &c. To be concluded by Mrs Mary Midnight and her Family. The Concert to begin at Twelve. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 2s. [Repeated in subsequent bills.] Second time of performing

Event Comment: MMrs Cowper did Sylvia, for her first appearance here (she came from Bath, Richmond &c.)-Toll. Afterpiece as originally perform'd (Cross) [i.e., without the burlesque scenes of The Fair (see 6 Nov. 1752).] This piece [Harlequin Ranger] was now acted as originally written. It is surprising that Mr Garrick should be the first to introduce Pantomime Entertainments (this season) especially as his own universal talents are seconded by a good company of performers. We suppose he does it to gratify the taste of the town; but such Smithfield exhibitions should certainly be banish'd from all regular theatres; and as Mr Woodward is an excellent comedian, it would be more eligible in him if he chuses to wear the motley dress any more to appear in the character of a speaking Harlequin, after the manner of the Italian Comedy; and indeed it is not a little surprising that nothing of this kind has yet been admitted upon our stage (Gentleman's Magazine, Oct., p. 493, from Grays' Inn Journal, 13 Oct. 1753.). Receipts: #120 (Cross)

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: Mainpiece: Altered from [The Artful Wife, by William? Taverner. [1st time; C 3, by George Colman elder. Not in Larpent MS; not published; synopsis of plot in London Chronicle, 20 May. Public Advertiser, 19 May, notes that the Prologue was the same as that spoken on 15 May 1777. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Servants to keep Places are to be at the door in Suffolk-street by Five o'clock. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. On account of the Performers employed at other Theatres the second Night of Representation cannot be till Thursday, the 21st inst. [On this night, the 18th, Baddeley's name is in the playbills at both dl and hay.

Event Comment: [In 2nd piece the playbill assigns Scruple to Caulfield, but "Previous to the second piece, an apology was made by Barrymore for young Palmer, who, in consequence of Caulfield's indisposition, read the part of Scruple" (Thespian Magazine, Nov. 1793, p. 311).

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 359: Augustus Caesar. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 346. The music for a song in act I, scene I, was composed by Nicholas Staggins, and printed in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679. There is no certainty that this was the premiere, but it may well have been. The play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1676

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@142, p. 81: At the Virtuoso. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 348. Nell Gwyn also attended this performance; see VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 407. The Diary of Robert Hooke, 25 May 1676: Mr Abraham Hill gave J. Hoskins, Aubery and I an account of Vertuoso play. A song, How retched is the slave to love, the music by Francis Forcer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Second Book, 1679. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 37): The Libertine and Virtuoso: Both Wrote by Mr Shadwell; they were both very well Acted, and got the company great Reputation

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Nell Gwyn attended this performance. See VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p. 408. It is not known when the premiere occurred, but this is the earliest known performance. The Prologue, missing in the 1677 edition, is in the 1693 edition. A song, Make haste, my shepherd, come away, with music by Francis Forcer, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, Second Book, 1679

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Nell Gwyn attended this performance. See VanLennep, Nell Gwyn's Playgoing, p.408. It is not certain that this was the premiere, but, as the play was licensed for publication on 20 Nov. 1676, the first performance may well have been on this day. A song, Away with the causes of riches and cares, with music by Matthew Lock, is in Catch that Catch Can, No. 64, 1685. Another, Beneath a shady willow, with music by William Turner, is in A New Collection of Songs and Poems...by Thomas D'Urfey, 1683. Edition of 1677: That its only good Fortune was, in being the Subject of the Courts Diversion, where their Noble Clemency and Good Nature were extremely requisite, in covering its defects from the too Censorious; His Majesty, according to His accustomed Royal and Excellent Temper, was pleas'd to descend so far, as to give it a particular Applause, which was seconded by your Grace [The Duke of Ormond]

Event Comment: The King's Company. There is no indication of the date of the first performance, but a licensing date of 6 April 1677 and the large number of minor actors in the cast suggest a Lenten performance. Preface to edition of 1677: I think (without Ostentation) never was House more throng'd;...The first, second, and other times it was Acted, I think lost me no Credit, but...Fortune...Jaded me, robbing me of the Honour of my Plays continuance for that time; by a Mischance which hapned to one, whose Part was too considerable to be quickly studied

Event Comment: Christopher Rich's Company. The date of this revival is not certain. Apparently the revival was in preparation before the division of the company, but the publication of the Songs in 1695 confines the production to the period between mid-April and the late autumn. For the opera, see The Works of John Dryden, Vol. VIII: The Plays, edited by John Harrington Smith and Dougald MacMillan (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1692), pp. 325-30; Moore, Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre, Chapter VI;and Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, Vol. XIX. The Songs (1695), the music by Henry Purcell, lists the following pieces and singers: I, Wake, wake, Quivera, sung by Freeman. I, Why shou'd men quarrel, sung by The Boy, with Flutes. Their looks are such that mercy flows, sung by Freeman. II, I come to sing, sung by Freeman. Scorn'd Envy here's nothing, sung by Freeman. Begone, curst Feinds of Hell, sung by Freeman. III, Ah, how happy we are, sung by Freeman and Church. I attempt from Love's sickness to fly, sung by Mrs Cross. IV, They tell us that you mighty powers above, sung by Mrs Cross. In addition, other parts of the opera appeared elsewhere: Act V, a Masque, set by Daniel Purcell, O Bless the Genial Bed with chast delights, in Deliciae Musicae, First Book of the Second Volume, 1696. [The others, since they do not name the performers, are omitted here.

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but the fact that the play was advertised in the Flying Post, 29-31 March 1698, suggests that the first performance probably occurred in late February or very early in March. One song, Though over all mankind, the music by Leveridge and sung by Mrs Lindsey, was published in A Second Book of Songs with a Through Bass, 1699

Event Comment: [By Susanna Centlivre.] Never Acted before. [In the Preface the author discusses her difficulties with the Epilogue. The managers did not think it safe to speak the Epilogue without a License. As she could not get it approved in time, Norris spoke "six Lines Extempore" asking the audience to excuse the defect and promising one for the second night. The Spectators, convinced no Epilogue was intended, hissed. On the following day the Epilogue was licensed, but Mrs Oldfield, who had been intended to speak it, received letters against it; Norris then spoken an Epilogue which implied that the intended one had never been licensed.

Event Comment: Receipts: #23 0s. 6d. Probable attendance: boxes, 21 paid and 16 orders; pit, 50 paid and 25 orders; slips, 10 paid and 3 orders; first gallery, 94 paid and 17 orders; second gallery, 44 paid and 1 order

Event Comment: [By Owen Swiny.] Not Acted these Ten Years. All the Characters new drest. Pit and Boxes to be laid together by tickets only at 5s. First Gallery 2s. 6d. Upper Gallery 1s. 6d. Receipts: #163 3s. 6d. Probable attendance: p1t and boxes, 464 paid and 14 orders; stage, 2 paid; balcony, 4 paid; slips, 21 paid and 1 order; first gallery, 270 paid and 9 orders; second gallery, 124 paid. [The Prologue was printed in London Journal, 26 Nov.

Event Comment: Receipts: #69 19s. 6d. Probable attendance: boxes, 42 paid and 14 orders; stage, 3 paid; pit, 145 paid and 22 orders; slips, 18 paid and 15 orders; first gallery, 197 paid and 12 orders; second gallery, 173 paid and 3 orders

Event Comment: Receipts: #35 9s. 6d. Probable attendance: boxes, 33 paid and 25 orders; stage, 5 paid; pit, 94 paid and 17 orders; slips, 7 paid and 8 orders; first gallery, 62 paid and 10 orders; second gallery, 65 paid and 10 orders