Event Comment: By particular Desire. ["We have in Rehearsal a new Tragedy call'd Irene--Author, as yet, unknown."--Charles Adams to John Gilbert-Cooper, Theatre Notebook, XI (1957), pp. 138-39.] Receipts: #130 (Cross); #143 16s. 6d. (Powel)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: For the entertainment of two young Africans. On Friday 10 February will be perform'd a New Oratorio, call'd Susanna, with a Concerto. Pit and boxes to be put together, and no person to be admitted without tickets, which will be deliver'd that day, at the Office in Covent Garden Theatre, at half a guinea each. First Gallery 5s. Second Gallery 3s. 6d. Galleries opened at half past four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To Begin at Half an Hour after Six. [This advertisement repeated in the General Advertiser daily to 10 Feb. 1749.

Event Comment: Afterpiece: By Desire. [A full column, front-page letter to the Author of the General Advertiser from one purporting to live many miles from London, but whose curiosity about the New Tragedy Irene brought him to see it, details his experience in the theatre the night of Tues. 14 Feb. Seems to be an illconcealed "puff." The writer listens to three critics in the pit decry the performance, then after seeing it himself concludes: "It was receiv'd with universal approbation...Upon the whole I dare affirm that the Judgment of Posterity will concur with me in distinguishing Irene as the best tragedy which this age has produced, for Sublimity of thought, Harmony of numbers, strength of expression, a scrupulous observation of Dramatic Rules, the sudden Turn of events, the tender and generous distress, the unexpected catastrophe, and the extensive and important moral." He inquires why the play has not been so favorably received as others, and concludes it is too finely and artistically conceived to please the masses. He closes by complimenting the Ladies of Great Britain for he "scarce ever saw so shining an assembly in the Boxes. Their early approbation of a Tragedy in which not only the words but the ideas are entirely chaste; a tragedy filled with noble sentiment and poetic beauty is at once a proof of their delicacy and penetration."] Receipts. #100 (Cross); #101 (Powel)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: A New Musical Entertainment in Two Interludes. The words to be sold at the theatre (General Advertiser). Some Gentlemen crowding behind ye Scenes, ye Audience resented it & ye farce was stop'd for half an hour--I drew lines with chalk, but Miss Norris applying publickly to Capt. Johnson, desiring he wou'd retire, He did & ye farce went on with great Applause. The words of this piece were by Mr Mendez, & set by Dr Boyce (Cross). Added to salary list, Mr Campioni. Paid him for cloaths #21, and for 51 days work, #42 10s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #140 (Cross); #142 13s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: A new musical entertainment compos'd & wrote by Mr Arne--it was much hiss'd but suffer'd to be given out again (Cross). No latter account will be taken. Books of the Entertainment to be had at the theatre. [Pages covering this date missing from Treasurer's Book. Larpent MS 85 indicates the Character Capt. Sancho-Blakes, deleted.] Receipts: #100 ($Cross)

Event Comment: nother long letter to the author of the General Advertiser pleading attendance at the benefit performance of Comus]: Whoever then would be thought capable of Pleasure in reading the works of our Incomparable Milton, and not so destitute of Gratitude as to refuse to lay out a Trifle in a rational and elegant entertainment for the Benefit of his living remains, for the exercise of their own Virtue, the Increase of their Reputation, and the pleasing consciousness of doing good, should appear at Drury Lane theatre tomorrow April 5, when Comus will be performed for the Benefit of Mrs Elizabeth Foster, Granddaughter to the Author, and the only surviving branch of the family. N.B. There will be a new Prologue on the Occasion written by the Author of Irene, and spoken by Mr Garrick; and by particular Desire there will be added to the Masque, a dramatic Satyr call'd Lethe in which Mr Garrick will perform. Tickets to be had of Dodsley, Bookseller, Pall Mall; Messrs Payne and Boquet, Booksellers, Paternoster Row; Batson's Coffee House, near the Royal Exchange, and of Hobson at the Stage Door

Event Comment: Benefit for ye Author (no more Noise) (Cross). Tickets as of 5 Feb. Tickets deliver'd out for the third and sixth Nights will be taken. Receipts: #140 (Cross). Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1751, pp. 77-78, concerning Gil Blas: To animadvert upon a piece which is almost universally condemned is unneccessary, and to defend this is impossible. There is not one elegant expression or moral sentiment in the dialogue; nor indeed one character in the drama, from which either could be expected. It is however, to be wished that the Town, which opposed this play with so much zeal, would exclude from the theatre every other in which there is not more merit; for partiality and prejudice will be suspected in the treatment of new plays, while such pieces as the London Cuckolds, and the City Wives Confederacy, are suffered to waste time and debauch the morals of society....Upon the whole the Author appears to have intended rather entertainment than instruction, and to have disgusted the Pit by adapting his comedy to the taste of the Galleries....Perhaps the ill success of this comedy is chiefly the effect of the author's having so widely mistaken the character of Gil Blas whom he has degraded from a man of sense, discernment, true humor, and great knowledge of mankind...to an impertinent silly, conceited coxcomb, a mere Lying Valet, with all the affectation of a Fop, and all the insolence of a coward. [Thomas Gray wrote to Horace Walpole 3 March 1751, "Gil Blas is the Lying Valet in five acts. The fine lady has half-a-dozen good lines dispersed in it."

Event Comment: A little Noise at ye Singing & Dancing (Cross). Nn Saturday night was played for the first time a new Masque called Alfred, at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, before a very numerous and splendid audience. The Piece itself, as it justly deserved met with great and universal applause: However, the spectators rightly found fault with some improprieties in the performance of the inferior dancers and actors, which we hear will be all corrected in this night's representation (General Advertiser). Receipts: #160 (Cross)

Event Comment: A new tragedy, call'd the Earl of Essex, which has sometime been in rehearsal at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, will be performed in a Few Days

Event Comment: Benefit for Berry. Tickets at Popes Perke maker Russell St., and at the Stage Door. Tickets deliver'd out for 26 March will be taken. At Punch's Theatre in James St., near the Haymarket, this, and every Evening this week, the Town will be entertained with Yeates's inimitable dexterity of Hand; likewise by Mr Punch's Company of performers will be exhibited the play of Jane Shore. To conclude with a New Grand Machine, representing the Temple of the Sunv, at Mexico, in North America, which has given universal satisfaction to the Nobility and Gentry (General Advertiser). Receipts: #212 (Cross)

Event Comment: A New Musical Entertainment, call'd the Shepherd's Lottery is now in rehearsal, at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, and will be perform'd there in a few days. The music is composed by Dr Boyce. Receipts: #130 (Cross)

Event Comment: By Desire of the...Masons...Benefit of a Brother under Misfortunes. The new Scenes, which were painted for the Gentlemen who presented this Tragedy last Winter at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane will be made use of. A Concert. Boxes 4s. Pit 2s. 6d. Gallery 1s. 6d. The Doors to be shut at six, no person to be admitted after, on Account of the Play being Gratis

Event Comment: We hear that a new piece of Machinery representing a Fountain, which has been preparing a considerable time will soon be exhibited at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden

Event Comment: As a principal performer was taken ill after the play last night, the New tragedy is oblig'd to be deferred till Thursday. [Printed: The British Theatre, containing Lives of the British Dramatic poets with an account of all their plays. Also The Present state of the Stage, in Great Britain and Ireland, and the theatrical characters of the principal Performers in both kingdoms.] Receipts: #130 (Cross)

Event Comment: Play a New Italian Burletta. The first performance in England. Libertto by Goldoni; Music by Galuppi (Loewenberg, Annals of Opera, p. 107). Books of the Opera will be sold at the theatre. Ladies send servants by half past three. Nothing but full prices will be taken during the performance

Event Comment: This day publish'd at 3s. The Actor; or, A Treatise on the Art of Playing. A New Work written by the Author of the former [See dl 30 Oct. 1753]; and adapted to the present state of the Theatres. Containing impartial Observations on the Performance, Manner, Perfections, and Defects of: Garrick, Barry, Woodward, Foote, Havard, Palmer, Ryan, Berry, Mrs Cibber, Mrs Pritchard, Mrs Woffington, Mrs Gregory, Mrs Clive, Mrs Green, Miss Nossiter, Mrs Bellamy, &c., &c., in their capital parts. Printed for R. Griffiths

Event Comment: The Oratorio is publish'd this evening and will be sold at the theatre. We can assure the Public, that Mrs Cibber is very much recovered from her late indisposition; and will certainly appear tomorrow night in the character of Belvidera in Venice Preserved for the benefit of Mossop. This day publish'd at 4s. Songs in the New English Opera call'd The Fairies. Composed by Mr Smith. Printed for J. Walsh

Event Comment: At the Great Tiled Booth, George Inn Yard, West Smithfield. Afterpiece: A new Pantomime. By a Company of Comedians from the Theatres. Pit 1s. 6d. First Gallery 1s. Upper Gallery 6d

Event Comment: [E+Esther] With New Additions. Pit and Boxes to be put together .No persons to be admitted without tickets, which will be deliver'd this day at the office in the Theatre at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5s. Second Gallery 3s. 6d. Galleries to be open'd at Half an Hour after Four o'clock. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at Half an Hour after Six o'Clock. This day publish'd Esther. An Oratorio, composed by Handel, as is to be performed this day at Covent Garden. Printed for J. Watts

Event Comment: By Cibber and Company. Consisting of a Variety of Entertainments, intermixed with Singing, Dancing, &c. The Scenes, Machines, Habits, and Decorations &c., all new. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gall. 2s. The Doors will be opened at Five; the Concert to begin at Six. To be continued (with Variations) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, during the Summer season. Places for the Boxes to be had at the Theatre. The Performances depending very much on the Music, no Persons can be admitted into the Orchestra; and on account of the Variety of Scenery and Machinery, &c., that there may be no Interruptions in the Performances, 'tis hoped no Gentlemen will take it ill that they cannot possibly be admitted behind the Scenes. No money to be returned after the Curtain is drawn up; nor anything under the full Price to be taken during the Performance

Event Comment: This day at noon, Mr Yates of Drury Lane and Mr Shuter of Covent Garden Theatres at the new erected Great Concert Hall, the Greyhound Inn, Smithfield, intend to divert the Town during the short time of Bartholomew Fair with variety of Entertainments

Event Comment: Receipts: #64 19s. 6d. [Saturday's deficit increased by payment of #200 to Wm. Finny on account of the new building, a partial amortization of purchase of additional structure adjoining the theatre.

Event Comment: [Benefit] for a Gentlewoman under Misfortunes (Cross). Tickets to be had fo Mrs Powell, at the Golden Leg in Fleet St.; at the Turk's Head Coffee-House in New Bond St.; and of Mr Varney at the theatre, where places in the Boxes may be taken (Public Advertiser). Receipts: #160 (Cross)

Event Comment: An Oratorio. With several New Additions. Pit and Boxes to be put together. No person to be admitted without tickets, which will be deliver'd this day at the Office of the Theatre at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5s. Second Gallery 3s. 6d. Galleries to be opened at Half past Four, Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at Half an Hour after Six. [Customary note for all oratorios this season.

Event Comment: Benefit for Clarke. Mainpiece: Not acted these 8 years. [See 22 March 1750.] No building on the Stage. Receipts: #49 4s. 6d. Charges: #63. Deficiency covered by #114 14s. from tickets (boxes 160; pit 394; gallery 156). Rec'd from John Rich, #300, being part of the sum paid Mrs Finny on account of the New Building. Paid out for sundries from the theatres and sum, to Barry and Lee, #284 14s. (Account Book)