Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Tickets and places to be taken of Mr Johnston at the Stage Door of the Theatre at Half a Guinea. Pit 5s. First Gallery 3s. 6d. Second Gallery 2s. Doors to be opened at Five o'clock. To begin at Half past Six. Theatrical Review (London, 1772), appendix, pp. 207-8: The Oratorios performed at this House were conducted by Messrs. Stanley and Smith, for their own emolument; the Managers of the theatre having had no Share of the profit arising from these performances, nor any advantage, except a premium for the use of the house. Mr Stanley's musical abilities are well known. Mr Smith, was, if we are not mistaken, a pupil of the celebrated Mr Handel's; and, we believe, that Gentleman left Mr Smith the greatest part of his music, if not his whole library; so that Mr Smith may with great propriety claim the right of succeeding Mr Handel in the exhibition and conduct of his Oratorios, which he has undertaken (in conjunction with Mr Stanley) every since Mr Handel's death. Their band was composed of some of the most capital performers in this kingdom, and was led by Mr Ximenes. The vocal performers (exclusive of Chorus singers) were Mr Norris, well known to all lovers of Music, for his taste and delicacy of execution. Mr Parry (a Bass voice) from the Cathedral Church of Salisbury. This gentleman, though very young, has an extensive compass, and a great power of voice, and acquits himself with considerable reputation. Mrs Weichsel and Mrs Scott, of whom it would be superfluous and unnecessary to say anything, since their abilities are generally known. And lastly Signora Grassi, a performer of great merit. Theatrical Review, 6 March: This is Mr Dryden's celebrated Ode on St Cecelia's Day, and not an Oratorio, but performed as such...It contains many beauties and such as are worthy of Mr Handel's genius...Being much shorter than the usual length of oratorios, Mr Handel's celebrated Coronation Anthems were added in order to make the evening's entertainment of a proper length. Also a Solo on the Violincello by Mr Janson...lately arrived from Paris, said to have been a pupil of Mr Duport's but, though his taste and excution is very astonishing, we cannot give him the preference of his master. [See 13 April 1773.Charge seems to have been #28 per night plus expenses for oil, candles &c.

Event Comment: Benefit for Barry. Tickets deliver'd for King Arthur will be taken. Part of Pit laid into Boxes. Ladies send servants by 4 o'clock. Paid Supers, Kettle Drum, & practices to King Arthur #2 16s.; Printer's Bill #8 12s. (Treasurer's Book). Mary Martin to J. M. Rebow, 6 April (MS correspondence in Washington State University Library): There has not been any mention of Barry's Benefit in ye Papers till to Day when it is advertis'd for ye 23rd of this Month, & ye Play. After...ye Constant Couple, which I imagine is no very desirable thing to see so late in ye Season, therefore pray tell me if I must send ye Tickets back directly, or may keep them till you are in Town again, which I hope you certainly will be before that time; I find we are not ye only unfortunates that Mr Johnson disappoints of Places, for that it is his Constant Practice not to let a single Place, till all his Five Guinea Chaps are serv'd even if you are at ye Play House, & apply ye Instant ye Play is given out, for which reason Mr Garrick has desir'd Gentlemen will Write to him upon such Occasions, & it is now very commonly done. Receipts: #264 11s. 6d. Charges: #67. Profits to Barry: #197 11s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Egerton. Afterpiece: Not acted in 3 years. [See 3 April 1769.] [Genest in Volume of News Clippings (Harvard Library) quotes Edinburg Evening Courant of 29 April: Last night between the play and the farce at Drury Lane Theatre, a disturbance arose which continued for a full hour. Mr Weston it appeared was in debt to the managers a considerable sum of money, on which account they had impounded all the cash received on his benefit night. This the comedian did not like, and therefore yesterday evening sent word that he could not play, that he was arrested and detained in a springing house, but desired that no apology should be made of his being 'suddenly ill' (the usual stage plea) as it would be an egregious falsehood. After the play Mr Vernon came forward and inform'd the audience that Mr Weston 'was suddenly taken ill' and could not perform. Weston instantly started up in the front of the upper Gallery, and inform'd the house that he was not ill, but in the custody of an officer, and if the audience would have patience he'd inform them of the whole affair. A long altercation ensued. The Managers sent on Mr Vernon repeatedly; and after much pro and con Weston came down and played his part of Sneak." The article must have referred to the 24th of April, when Weston play'd Sneak in The Mayor of Garratt. The Managers promis'd the Town a publication of the whole affair."] Paid Mr Brathwait for men's cloaths #33s. Receipts: #200 8s. Charges: #70 12s. Profit to Mrs Egerton: #129 16s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: [N.B. A prompt copy in the Library of Congress adds to the Farce: Mathews-Moss; Taylor-$Dabell and unspecified parts for $Jacobs and Fearon.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New English Burletta, never performed, by the Author of Midas [Kane O'Hara], in three parts. Books of the Burletta to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #229 14s. [The mainpiece had been censored by Licenser 5 April 1772 (Larpent MS 330) but had been passed later. The MS indicates stage directions "Curtain rising discovers a splendid Pavilion in the Clouds, Juno, Pallas and Venus at card table." Reviewed in the Westminster Magazine. Rev. Charles Jenner wrote the following "Ode to Miss Catley in the character of Juno." (Harvard Library original MSS No. 65 [1930].)] @Hail vulgar Goddess of the foul mouth'd race!@If modest Bard may hail without offence)@In whose majestic, blush-disdaining face@The steady hand of Fate wrote Impudence;@Hail to thy dauntless front, and aspect bold;@Thrice hail, magnificent, immortal scold!@ @Thee, Goddess, from the upper gallery's height@With heedful look the jealous fish-wife eyes,@Tho early train'd to urge the mouthing flight,@She hears thy bellowing powers with surprize.@Returns instructed to the realms that bore her,@Adopts thy tones and carries all before her.@ @Proceed then, Catley, in thy great career@And nightly let our maidens hear and see@The sweetest voice disgust the listning ear@The fairest face assume deformity!@So shalt thou arm them with their best defense,@And teach them Modesty by Impudence.

Event Comment: Receipts: #86 (Account Book). Charges #81 15s. Profit to Society #4 5s., plus #106 17s. from tickets (Box 242; Pit 309) (Account Book). Benefit for Use of the Society at the Thatched-House Tavern For the release and discharge of persons imprisoned for small debts. [The Epilogue was written by Cumberland. (See Folger Library Theatrical Clippings). The Curtain rises and discovers a prison; at some distance a woman, poorly habited, and in a disconsolate attitude; after standing some time montionless, in a posture of fixed attention she speaks]: @Woman: Thou loathsome dungeon in whose dreary womb@The pining Debtor finds a living tomb;@Where 'midst the Clank of Chains and Dismal yells@Of shakled felons my sad husband dwells;@From his dark cell, oh give him to my view!@Let him look forth and take a last adieu.@ [As she advances towards the prison, a person in Gentleman's apparel accosts her.] @Man: Stay, Child of Sorrow, thou whose piercing groans@Might move to pity e'en these senseless stones.@Why dost thou bend thy melancholy way@To that Drear Dungeon? Child of Sorrow stay.@Woman: Why should I stay, or my sad Griefs impart?@Can there be pity in a Human heart?@Away and let me die.@ [...The Man suggests a Human heart can have pity] @Woman: If there be such, O lead me to their sight,@And let me plead a wretched sufferer's right:@Can there be Truth, Humanity or Sense@In laws that make Misfortune an offence?@ [Her husband was a God-fearing weaver who fell ill for 10 weeks, lost his job and was seized upon by a relentless creditor.] @Steel'd to their trade, and deaf to all our cries,@Relentless ruffians seize their legal prize;@From my fond arms a dying Husband tear@And plunge their victims in a dungeon there!@Man: Enough! go speak the healing words of peace@To thy sad mate, and bear him this release;@Tell him the Muse, which on these Scenes attend@That balsam to his wounded spirit sends.@And Know this Truth thyself, 'tis not alone@The Preacher's pulpit and the Monarch's throne@That Charity frequents; but in this age,@She guides the Theatre and treads the stage;@Lo! She is present, cast your eyes around,@And here in each Spectator's heart she's found.

Event Comment: Benefit for Weston. Tickets delivered for 7 April taken. It is agreed this day between Mrs Abington and Mr Garrick that the former shall be engag'd to him and Mr Lacy, Patentees of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, for three years from this date, or three acting seasons, at the sum of twelve pounds a week, with a Benefit, and sixty pounds for cloaths--the above agreement to be put into Articles according to the usual form. s@ Frances Abington, D. Garrick for himself and Mr Lacy (Folger Library, Garrickiana 962 MS [Cage, p. 154).] Receipts: #205 14s. 6d. Charges: #66 5s. Profits to Weston: #139 9s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Boxes 5s. Gallery 3s. Pit 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Doors open at half past five. Play begin at half past six. [Repeated.] Before the Play a new Overture and New Occasional Prelude (Public Advertiser). The House has been quite alter'd since last Season and is now fitted up in the most elegant manner Possible by the Adam's etc. and is the most Compleat of any Theater in Europe. Great applause to the House before the Curtain. The Theatrical Candidates is wrote by D. G. Esq and was received with great Applause (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly in wording. In Judging the popularity of a play in terms of box receipts for this season one must be aware of the fact that the treasurer's account books here differ from those of the five preceding years in not recording the income from the tickets delivered out for benefit nights. Hence on those nights the stated income reflects only the money taken at the door the night of the performance, and does not indicate the larger amounts which the actors received for their tickets. Deficits to various actors listed on the following pages were all paid up, presumably from the ticket receipts. Each actor doubtless at least broke even on his benefit.] Ceiling rais'd 12 feet. Old side Boxes top and bottom remov'd. New passages to Boxes. Entrance Bridges St. Light pillars to support Boxes inlaid with plate glass on green and crimson ground. Old chandeliers remov'd. Gilt branches with two candles each on pillars. Four new chandeliers in front. No slit i Curtain. Adam architects. 4,000 guineas. Persons not employed in the night's amusement ordered not to come behind the scenes--performers by that means go cross stage (Winston MS 11, from Dr Burney's News Cuttings). Paid Renters #8; Supernumeraries and Drum #1 16s.; taylor's Bill #10 11s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). [For the 188 acting nights of the season and for 11 Oratorio nights the Renters were paid a total of #1,692. The Supernumeraries were paid an average of #5 per night or #940 for the season. No further account of these items will be made. Full account of the new look given to Drury Lane by the Adam's brothers in the Westminster Magazine for Sept. along with an approving review of the Meeting of the Company.] From Lloyd's Evening Post, 25 Sept., "On the New Front of Drury Lane Theatre": @Garrick asham'd to poke his nose@Too sheepishly beneath the Rose:@And fearing, poor man, what were Worse,@His bashfulness might hurt his purse;@Resolves this year to push a front,@And put a better face upon't.@Not surely meaning to give o'er@His Art, and make no faces more.@Yet, fair as tis, I'd have him know@If tis the last he means to show.@This face will never make amends,@For turning tail upon his friends;@Who own, by general consent,@His face the best Stage ornament.@ (In Folger Library, David Garrick Verses, Prologues and Epilogues, MS, p. 86.) Receipts: #208 11s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: House (Hopkins Diary). The new Comedy of The Runaway is unavoidably oblig'd to be deferred till Saturday. Rec'd Mr Stanley's Oratorio Account, 11 nights, #327 5s. Paid Lawrence (paper hanger) #13 7s.; Renters (for 11 Oratorio nights) #88; Cubit (tinman) #7 14s. 6d.; Gardner (shoemaker) #25; Chettle (timber merchant) #22 14s. 6d.; Mist andCo. (brazier) #10 8s.; Thomson (smith) #5 16s. 6d. Barrow andCo. (oil) #106 5s.; Tallow Chandler's 8th Bill #26 12s.; Palmer's Bill of Bath for Spermacetti Candles #162 10s. (Treasurer's Book). [MacMillan quotes from Kemble's note on the playbill, a Garrick interpolation in Drugger 's last speech (IV, vii): "Abel: Did you never see me play the Fool? Face: Yes. Abel: But the wise ones say I have played the Fool long enough; So I am going to leave it off and grow melancholy." [This note does not appear in the Hopkins Diary in the Folger Library.] Receipts: #265 17s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: With a New Scene and New Dresses. Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, by Charles Dibdin and Edward Thompson. Thompson's name does not appear on the title-page of the text; it has been added by J. P. Kemble on the half-title of his copy now in the Huntington Library]: The Music chiefly composed by Dibdin [Public Advertiser, 15 Nov.: Three of the airs and the finale were composed by Samuel Arnold; one air by John Abraham Fisher]. With New Scenes [ibid: by Dall, Richards, and Carver], Dresses and Decorations. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Account-Book, 7 Feb. 1777: Paid Dibdin in full for copyright of the Seraglio #20; ibid, 2 June 1777: Received of Cooper for Songs & Books sold of The Seraglio #19 10s. 9d. [Mrs Ward was from the Birmingham theatre]. Receipts: #221 11s. 6d. (219.7.0; 2.4.6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Frederick to Murray, but on the playbill in the New York Public Library Theatre Collection his name is deleted and a MS annotation substitutes Francis's.] Boxes 3s. Pit 2s. Gallery 1s. To begin precisely at 7:00. The Public are respectfully informed that the Company will perform here but four or five Weeks longer, being engaged elsewhere. The Theatre is not only very commodious, but also remarkably cool. The Days of performing will be regularly Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Event Comment: Benefit for Edwin. 2nd piece [1st time; F 2, by George Colman, elder, based of L'Avocat Patelin, by David Augustin de Brueys. This is usually ascribed to William Macready. But on the title-page of his copy (K-D 295 in Huntington Library) J. P. Kemble has written "This Piece was not written by Mr Macready." Public Advertiser, 29 Aug. states that "Colman...presented Edwin upon this occasion with a new Farce, taken from a celebrated French Play." World, 15 Oct. 1787 refers to Colman's dislike of L'Avocat Patelin, but adds, "When [he] came to translate it himself, he found reason to alter his opinion."]. Public Advertiser, 25 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Edwin, No. 19, Piazza, Covent Garden

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5]: Altered from Beaumont and Fletcher, by Dryden [by Thomas King. The original alteration, 1700, was by Sir John Vanbrugh, not by Dryden. The present alteration has been attributed to John Philip Kemble, but in his copy of the play, now in the Huntington Library (K-D 95), he has written "by Thomas King"]. Public Advertiser, 22 Nov. 1787: This Day is published, as now revived with material Additions, The Pilgrim (1s.). Receipts: #85 9s. 6d. (72.5.0; 13.4.6; 0.0.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; MD 3, by George Colman, ynger]: The Scenery and Dresses are entirely new. The Musick composed by Storace.The Scenes designed and executed by Greenwood and Capon [the Gothic library was painted by Capon (Oracle, 21 Mar. 1796)]. The Dresses by Johnston, Gay and Miss Rein. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. [When Colman published his play he prefaced it with an acrimonious attack on Kemble, in which he accused him of deliberately trying to make the play a failure. But almost without exception the contemporary reviews excused Kemble's performance on the grounds of his obvious indisposition, and agreed that the play itself was unsatisfactory. "The play failed, and we are sorry to say did not merit to succeed...Kemble, who was tormented With an incessant cough, said he could not but be sensible that much of the displeasure of the house proceeded from his deficiency in a principal character...The whole audience with one voice cried out, 'No, no, Kemble-it is not your fault'" (Oracle, 14 Mar.). "The dialogue is extremely heavy, and there is little or no incident to relieve the tedium of more than four hours representation...Sir Edward Mortimer is a being distracted, with no adequate cause; a prey to remorse, which he of all men was the last to feel from the principles that make up his being. This therefore is the radical moral defect of the piece. But there is another which, though not equally strong, is equally fatal: there is no progression of interest, there is no involution of plot, there is no development of character" (Star, 14 Mar.). Other notices of the opening night were much in the same vein. Subsequently Colman revised the play, and it held the stage for many years. "The curtailments which have been made shorten the representation near an hour and a half, and the alterations are many and judicious" (Morning Herald, 21 Mar. 1796). Morning Herald, 23 July 1796: This Day is published The Iron Chest (2s.). Receipts: #471 9s. (468.13; 2.16)

Event Comment: Benefit for R. Palmer, Russell & Dowton. 1st piece [1st time; B 1, by Edward Henry Iliff. The title-page has "by Edmund Spenser, Ynger." On his copy, now in Huntington Library, J. P. Kemble has written, "Iliffe [sic] is the real Name of the Authour"; he has made a similar notation on the playbill]: Founded on the 17th Number of The Spectator. 3rd piece [1st time; MF 1. Larpent MS 1219; not published. The characters are all taken from previous plays by John O'Keeffe, as follows: Sadboy (The Young Quaker); Signor Arionelli and Bowkitt (The Son-in-Law); Motley (The Dead Alive); Tully (The London Hermit); Lingo and Cowslip (The Agreeable Surprise); Ephraim Smooth (Wild Oats); Nipperkin (Sprigs of Laurel); Jemmy Jumps and Betty Blackberry (The Farmer); Mrs Casey (Fontainbleau)]: Written by Mr O'Keeffe. Times, 4 June: Tickets to be had of R. Palmer, No. 2, Queen's-row, Pimlico; of Russell, No. 19, Martlet-court, Bow-street; of Dowton, No. 5, Strand-lane, Surry-street, Strand. Receipts: #413 11s. 6d. (76.17.6; 37.7.0; 1.0.0 tickets: 298.7.0) (charge: #215 10s. 5d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald, based on Das Schreibepult; oder, Die Gefahren der Jugend, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Prologue by Charles Moore (MS annotation by J. P. Kemble in Kemble-Devonshire copy in Huntington Library); Epilogue by John Taylor (see text)]: With New Dresses and Scenes. Morning Chronicle, 17 Dec. 1799: This day is published The Wise Man of the East (price not listed). Receipts: #323 14s. 6d. (321.12.6; 2.2.0)