Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never Acted before. [By John Hewitt.] Preface to edition of 1737: This Comedy made it's Appearance under many Disadvantages:...It was read for the first Time to the Performers, Tuesday the 15th, and acted Monday the 21st. Mrs Giffard, who had been Ill the Whole Season, undertook the Character of Lady Betty Manly, but finding herself indisposed, returned the Part on Thursday Evening. It was then given to Mrs Hamilton, who on Saturday about one in the Afternoon declared she could not do it unless it was cut, which the Nature of that Part not admitting, there was a Necessity to ask the Favour of Miss Hughes to undertake it, who with a great deal of good Nature, studied and played it perfect, tho' at so short a Warning

Event Comment: Benefit J. Roberts, Yates, Mrs Mullart. Written by Mr Durfey. [Tickets for Mrs Marshall and Miss Ferguson also taken.

Event Comment: Tickets deliver'd out by Richard Neale and the Widow Dupre will be taken. [Mrs Walter formerly Mrs Bellamy.

Event Comment: Benefit for Taswell, Mrs Bennett, Mrs Ridout

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Clive. Mainpiece alter'd from Dryden by Colley Cibber. Not acted these 30 years [see 27 April 1722]. Servants will be admitted to keep places on the stage, which will be inclos'd and form'd into Front and Side Boxes. Tickets and places to be had of Mrs Clive, at her House in Great Queen St., Lincoln's Inn Fields; and of Hobson at the Stage Door

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Dyer, Miss Helm, Mrs Viviez, Mrs Leppie. Tickets delvier'd out by Redman, Chapman, and others will be taken. Receipts #23 14s. 6d. plus 1!2 value of tickets. @Tickets Mrs Dyer Box 8@Pit 35@Gallery 29@Value #10 3s.@1!2 Value #5 1s. 6d.@Tickets Miss Helm Box 3@Pit 20 Gallery 20@Value #7 5s.@1!2 Value #3 12s. 6d.@Tickets Mrs Viviez Box 15@Pit 42@Gallery 71@Value #17 3s.@1!2 Value #8 11s. 6d.@Tickets Mrs Leppie Box 6@Pit 38@Gallery 34@Value #10 12s.@1!2 Value #5 6s.@Tickets Redman Box -@Pit 40@Gallery 44@Value #9 16s.@1!2 Value #4 18s.@Tickets Chapman Box 52@Pit 150@Gallery 79@Value 43 8s.@1!2 Value #21 14s.@Tickets Jarvis Box 3@Pit 77@Gallery 55@Value #18 8s.@1!2 Value #9 14s.@Tickets Cockayne Box 2@Pit 19@Gallery 7@Value #4 1s.@1!2 Value #2 6d.@Tickets Dumay Box 17@Pit 31@Gallery 36@Value #12 10s.@1!2 Value #6 5s.@Tickets Mrs Granier Box -@Pit 18@Gallery 16@Value #4 6s.@1!2 Value #2 3s.@Tickets Miss Davis Box 23@Pit 27@Gallery 13@Value #11 2s.@1!2 Value #5 11s. (Gratis)@Tickets Paddock Box 1@Pit 24@Gallery 26@Value #6 9s.@1!2 Value #3 4s. 6d.@Tickets Hitchcock Box 17@Pit 42@Gallery 3@Value #10 17s.@1!2 Value #5 8s. 6d. (Gratis)@Total Box 147@Pit 573@Gallery 433@Value #166@1!2 Value #83 Money #23 14s. 6d.@#106 14s. 6d. #9 12s.; Paid Blackmore a bill for the theatre, #71 12s. 6d.; A Bill for Rich #30 0s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Hamilton. Mainpiece: Not acted in 10 years. [See 16 Jan. 1753.] Afterpiece: By Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Ladies send servants by 3 o'clock. Receipts: #56 16s. plus #154 13s. from tickets (Box 203; Pit 514; Gallery 268) (Account 8ook). Charges: #64 5s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Arne. Afterpiece: By Desire. House Charges #68 16s. 6d. [Profits to Mrs Arne #150 18s. 6d.] Tickets deliver'd for The Beggar's Opera will be admitted. Dido oblig'd to be defer'd a few days. Paid 1 year's Watch for St Martin's #10 2s.; Reynolds Oil bill #46 4s.; Carpue (silk dyer) #7 9s. 6d.; Jennings (glover) #13 12s.; Vernon on note #21; Chorus 1 night #2 5s. 6d.; Hautboy 5s.; Salary list #294 2s. 8d. [Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #219 14s. (Treasurer's Book). At 4 dined at the Chop House in St Clements. At 5 went to Drury Lane to see the Tempest for the benefit of Mrs Arne the prettiest performer at the house...She has a sweet little voice...A grand Dance of Fantastic Spirits in different shapes. At the end of the play a Double Hornpipe by Mr Walker and Miss Tatley. We had the entertainment of Daphne and Amintor with dancing by Sg and Sga George, Sg Tessoni, Miss King, &c. Having a seat in the third row of the Pit, was much pleased as all the principal characters were well played and the scenery is very fine. Had I been later in going, I should not have got in (Neville MS Diary)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New Comedy [by Charlotte Lennox]. Never Performed. Prologue by Colman. Epilogue by Goldsmith. Treated so badly by the audience this first night that Mrs Lennox withdrew it. Burgoyne's The Heiress [dl, 14 Jan. 1784] draws upon it (Genest, V, 242). Receipts: #234 5s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: great applause to the Play (Hopkins Diary). Mainpiece: A tragedy never before acted [by Mrs Celisia]. Prologue (by Whitehead)-Reddish; Epilogue (by Garrick)-Mrs Barry. New Scenes, Dresses and Decorations (Winston MS 10). [The Gentleman's Magazine for Feb. reviewed the mainpiece in great detail, concluding: "A combat between two knights in the days of chivalry and honour, not to determine whether a person accused is innocent or guilty, but whether a person under the infamy of acknowledged guilt shall suffer, is, as the Scotch peasant says emphatically of his pupil, a phenomenon. It is, however, but justice to Mrs Barry, to say, that in performing the part allotted her in this piece, she rises like perfection out of chaos, and therefore those who have not yet seen it represented should by no means be deterred by these strictures on the composition, supposing them to be just."

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs King. Paid Paccini in lieu of benefit #80 (Treasurer's Book). Mainpiece: With a Medley Overture of favourite Sea-Tunes. Receipts: #78 9s. 6d. Charges: #67 16s. Profits to Mrs King: #10 13s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by George Edward Ayscough, based on Semiramis, by Voltaire. Prologue by the author. Epilogue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (see text)]: With New Scenes and Dresses. This Tragedy is a translation from Voltaire by Captain Ayscough. Mrs Yates played finely, and met with the Applause she deserved. Mrs Reddish, alias Mrs Canning, who played the part of Azema, was hissed all through, and must never perform again. Indeed she was very bad. The Play was greatly applauded (Hopkins Diary). Public Advertiser, 24 Dec. 1776: This Day is published Semiramis (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #226 3s. 6d. (224.16.6; 0.0.0; 1.7.0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time at a public theatre; C 3, by Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven, afterwards Margravine of Anspach, 1st acted privately at the Town-Hall, Newbury, 6 Apr. 1780. Text (G. Riley, 1781) assigns no parts. Prologue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Epilogue by Joseph Jekyll (see text)]: With new Dresses, &c. "The Prologue [the first 30 lines and the concluding couplet of which were used by Sheridan as the Prologue to Pizarro (see dl, 24 May 1799)] was so much admired that at the request of the Duchess of Devonshire and several other of the nobility it was respoken after the piece; but as King was absent from the theatre, it was delivered by Palmer" (Town and Country Magazine, May 1780, p. 23 ). "The chief singularity was that [Lady Craven] went to it herself the second night, in form; sat in the middle of the front row of the stage-box, much dressed, with a profusion of white bugles and plumes, to receive the public homage due to her sex and loveliness. The Duchess of Richmond, Lady Harcourt,...Mrs Damer, Lord Craven,...and I were with her. It was amazing to see so young a woman entirely possess herself-but there is such an integrity and frankness in her consciousness of her own beauty and talents, that she speaks of them with a naivete as if she had no property in them, but only wore them as gifts of the gods. Lord Craven on the contrary was quite agitated by his fondness for her and with impatience at the bad performance of the actors, which was wretched indeed, yet the address of the plot, which is the chief merit of the piece, and some lively pencilling carried it off very well, though Parsons murdered the Scotch lord, and Mrs Robinson (who is supposed to be the favourite of the Prince of Wales) thought on nothing but her own charms, or him. There is a very good though endless prologue written by Sheridan and spoken in perfection by King, which was encored (an entire novelty) the first night: and an epilogue that I liked still better and which was full as well delivered by Mrs Abington, written by Mr. Jekyl. The audience, though very civil, missed a fair opportunity of being gallant, for in one of those ----logues, I forget which, the noble authoress was mentioned, and they did not applaud as they ought to have done, especially when she condescended to avow her pretty child and was there looking so very pretty...Yet Lady Craven's tranquillity had nothing displeasing;...and it was tempered by her infinite good nature, which made her make excuses for the actors instead of being provoked at them" (Walpole [28 May 1780], XI, 178-80). Public Advertiser, 14 July 1781: This Day at Noon will be published The Miniature Picture (price not listed). Receipts: #144 9s. (94.9; 48.3; 1.17)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Webb. Mainpiece: Never performed Here. [Miss Stuart was from cg.] Tickets to be had of Mrs Webb, No. 15, Bedford-street, Covent Garden

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 5 years [not acted since 26 Dec. 1776. Mrs Robinson, who was from the Portsmouth theatre, is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill]. Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, by Frances Brooke, based on Les Moissonneurs, by Charles Simon Favart]: The new Music and overture composed, and the Selected Airs compiled [from Paxton and Sacchini], by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Account-Book, 30 June 1784: Paid Shield for composing Rosina #100. Receipts: #158 18s. 6d. (154/5/6; 4/13/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bannister. Afterpiece: Written by [John] O'Keeffe, Author of The Son-in-Law, Agreeable Surprise, Young Quaker, &c &c. Tickets to be had of Mrs Bannister, No. 6, Great Russel-strcet, Covent Garden

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: [As mainpiece the playbill announces the 6th night of Better Late than Never (see 29 Dec.), but it was not acted. Kemble Mem. and Account-Book both list the substitute play, the former stating that "Mrs Jordan being ill, Mrs Goodall acted Viola."] Receipts: #122 5s. (84.18; 33.14; 3.13)

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 by half past Four. Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Richard (later) Sir Richard? Ford. Kemble Mem.: Altered by R. Ford from the Humourous Lieutenant. Epilogue by Henry William? Bunbury. Larpent MS 894; not published]: Altered from Beaumont and Fletcher (recte Fletcher alone). Oracle, 25 Feb.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan at her house, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #346 8s. 6d. (102.18.0; 13.5.0; 3.6.6; tickets: 226.19.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bland and Mrs Powell. Afterpiece: 1st Time this Season [see 9 Oct. 1790]. Morning Chronicle, 4 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Bland, No. 93, Strand; of Mrs Powell, No. 12, Little Russel-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #248 9s. (59.17; 21.19; 3.7; tickets: 163.6) (charge: #115 16s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Tickets delivered for this Evening [Account-Book: by Alfred, Benson, Kirk, Maddocks, Walker, Whittow, Whitmell, Mrs Booth, Miss Daniels, Mrs Davies, Mrs Edwin, Mrs Gaudry, Mrs Jones] will be admitted. Receipts: #69 9s. (47.0; 19.12; 2.17; tickets: none listed)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Pope. Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years [not acted since 12 Mar. 1771]. Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by Andrew Franklin]. Morning Chronicle, 5 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Pope at her house, Half-Moon-street, Piccadilly. Receipts: #272 14s. (151.14; 5.3; tickets: 115.17) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Arthur Murphy. Prologue by John Philip Kemble (see text). Author of Epilogue unknown; European Magazine, Apr. 1793, p. 306, prints two Epilogues: the one spoken by Mrs Siddons, and the one "as originally written by Thomas? Vaughan"]. Morning Herald, 20 Mar. 1793: This day is published The Rival Sisters (1s. 6d.). Morning Herald, 25 Feb.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. Receipts: #451 6s. 6d. (243.1.0; 21.18.0; 1.18.0; tickets: 184.9.6) (charge: #154 9s. 8d.)

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: Afterpiece: By Permssion of the Manager of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. The Overture and Music by Dr Arnold. Powell: Children in the Wood rehearsed at 10 (Bannister, Dignum, Mrs Powell, Mrs Bland absent); No Song No Supper at 11 (for Starace, Kelly, Leak, Dignum, Sedgwick); Distressed Mother at 12. Receipts: #385 7s. (310/1/6; 64/10/6; 10/15/0)