Event Comment: Paid 3 day's salary at #100 12s. 6d. per diem #301 17s. 6d. Salaries short-paid last week #168 8s. 6d.; Tabor and Pipe #3 13s. 6d. Louchre [Lauchery] #8 8s. Mr Abington #2; Mr King #3; (Treasurer's Book). [The payment to King was the first of 37 similar ones for extra salary amounting to #111. That to Mrs Abington was the first of weekly payments for her clothes account, amounting to #60 for the season. No further mention will be made of these items.] Receipts: #265 9s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). [From the Middlesex Journal (7-9 Oct.) quoted by Hampden, Eighteenth Century Journal: "The Way of the World, though confessedly replete with wit and character, is not the most entertaining play in representation. It is so full of plot and intrigue, that it demands an Unusual degree of attention in the performers and audience to excite admiration. On Saturday they seemed averse to assist the author. Mr King in Witwou'd was as entertaining and full of spirits as usual. Mr Jefferson in the gay admired Mirabel (independent of the antique mode of his wig, and formal cut of his clothes, which surely were both uncharacteristic) seemed in attempting to be quite natural, to keep the entire plot of the play in his own bosom, looked more like the father than the Mirabel of Congreve. Mr Reddish was a contrast to his friend Mirabel; he seemed attentive nervous, and played the latter part of his character well....Mrs Abington's person, manner and dress were fashionable and elegant; but though the character was certainly a fine one, there was a want of that spirit best calculated to call her powers into action: her delivery was tediously formal; and had the audience been deprived of their sight they would conclude that Capt. Bobadill had got into petticoats. Her dress was no more decent than Madam Hidou's was on her first appearance last year; stays so low cut before puts modesty to the blush; and will not be countenanced by an English audience, though made after the French fashion....Mrs Greville, to convince the town that she could keep a secret, whispered it to only a few friends in the Pit....her indifference is intolerable, and should be noticed by her employer."

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years. [See 11 Nov. 1752.] Characters New Dressed in the Habits of the Times. This play is alter'd by Mr Colman and receiv'd with Some Applause, but it don't seem to hit the present Taste a few hisses at the End (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly.] Paid salary list #630 1s. 6d.; Widow Hunter #2 2s.; King's glass bill #3 17s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). [Mainpiece reviewed and contrasted with the original in the Westminster Magazine for Jan.: "Upon the whole we cannot esteem this a striking comedy, even with the assistance it has now received,--the fine manner in which it is got up, and the great expence which the managers have been at in habiting the whole dramatis personae in splendid and characteristic Old English dresses. All the actors except Mr King and Mr Parsons performed but indifferently. Bensley is the worst Old Man we ever saw. He presents the countenace of a sickly old woman; and the uniform goggle of his eye, by which he means to express infirmity and distress is the look of a man in anguish from the colic. Mr Palmer, Mr Brereton, and Mr Davis have a bloated vulgarity about them, which should ever deter the manager from assigning them the parts of cavaliers or men of fashion. Baddeley, as usual, overdid his part, and Mr Yates, as usual, was not very perfect in his."] Receipts: #192 11s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Lee. Mainpiece: With the characters for the time in old English Dresses, By Desire

Event Comment: Sga Sestini thinks it her Duty to assure, in this Public Manner, the English Nobility Gentry and Public, of her unfeign'd Gratitude for their numerous appearance on Thursday Night 28 March at her Benefit as she looks upon it as the most convincing Proof of their honouring her with the continuance of their kind Indulgence and Protection, which she will always use her utmost Endeavour to deserve as long as she shall continue in England, and retain the most grateful Rembrance of wherever her Profession may call her (Public Advertiser)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jewell. By Permission. A Tragedy for Warm Weather, not acted these ten Years, written after the manner of the worst as well as the best English Poets [author unknown] Containing, amongst a Variety of Particulars curious, entertaining, and pathetic, the Rebellion of the Journeymen Tailors, their Military Preparations and Election of a Chief, their Skirmishes, Ambushes, Sieges, Councils and Combats; their Division into Flints, and Dungs; with the Defection of the Dungs, at the Pass of Butcher Row and total Overthrow of the Flints at the famous Battle of Temple Bar; together with the Captivit and End of their valiant leader. [Colman's shortened version of the 1767 play (Biographia Dramatica).

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A Tragedy for Warm Weather, written after the Manner of the Worst as well as the Best English Poets; containing, amongst a Variety of Particulars, the Rebellion of the Journeymen Tailors; their Military Preparations and Election of a Chief; their Skirmishes, Ambushes, Sieges, Councils and Combats; their Division into Flints and Dungs, with the Defection of the Dungs at the Pass of the Butcher-Row, and total Overthrow of the Flints at the Famous Battle of Temple-Bar; together with the Captivity and Fatal End of their Valiant Leader

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by George Colman elder, based on Le Barbier de Seville; ou, La Precaution Inutile, by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais; music by Samuel Arnold and, by attribution, Pierre Alexandre Monsigny. Prologue by the author (Collection...of English Prologues and Epilogues, II, 209). Epilogue by David Garrick (Garrick's Poetical Works, II, 340). Larpent MS 436; not published; synopsis of plot in London Magazine, Sept. 1777, pp. 467-69]: With New Dresses and Scenes

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by William Shirley. Not in Larpent MS; not published; synopsis of plot in London Chronicle, 19 Dec. Prologue by the author (London Chronicle, 23 Dec.). Epilogue by Richard Cumberland (Collection...of English Prologues and Epilogues, IV, 194]: With New Scenes and Dresses. "I have been at another new play, The Roman Sacrifice. It is the old story of Junius Brutus, without a tolerable line. I went to see it, as I had never seen Henderson, and thought I could Judge him better in a new part; but either the part was so bad, or he wants to copy, that I should not have found out he was at all superior to all other actors" (Walpole [23 Dec. 1777], X 170). Receipts: #2223s. 6d. (207.8.0; 13.13.6; 1.2.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Richard Cumberland. Prologue and Epilogue by the author (Collection...of English Prologues and Epilogues, II, 214; IV, 195)]: With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. Public Advertiser, 7 Feb. 1778: This Day is published The Battle of Hastings (1s. 6d.). "This piece was received with uncommon applause...[Palmer's] heroic exclamation-'all private feuds should cease when England's glory is at stake'-was so sensibly felt by the audience that a repetition was called for, but judiciously refused, as out of character in a tragedy" (London Magazine, Jan. 1778, p.37). Receipts: #243 15s. 6d. (235.0.0; 8.13.0; 0.2.6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: Written after the Manner of the worst as well as the best English Poets. Containing, amongst a Variety of Particulars, curious, entertaining and pathetic, the Rebellion of the Journeymen Tailors; their Military Preparations and Election of a Chief; their Skirmishes, Ambushes, Sieges, Councils, and Combats; their Division into Flints and Dungs; with the Defection of the Dungs at the Pass of the Butcher-Row, and total overthrow of the Flints at the famous battle of Temple-Bar; together with the Captivity and fatal End of their valiant Leader

Event Comment: Benefit for Vernon. Mainpiece: With a Grand Procession, as 23 Dec. 1778. [Miss Pinto was from the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin.] Public Advertiser, 15 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Vernon at Mahon's, the corner of Bow-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #217 1s. 6d. (121.8.0; 21.11.0; 0.19.6; tickets: 73.3.0) (charge: #73 3s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Opera [1st time; Past 3, author unknown]. The music [to Part I] composed by Giovanni Battista? Bianchi, [to Part II by] Rauzzini, [to Part III by] Giordani. With Grand Chorusses. With new Decorations devised and painted by Novosielski, and new Dresses. The Side-boards, with a cold Collation and all sorts of Wines, at 12 o'clock. The Performance under the direction of Vestris Sen., and to conclude with a Ball. Tickets, at 2 Guineas each, are ready to be delivered at the Office in Union-court, where Boxes may be taken. No Masks will be admitted. The Doors will be opened at 9:00, and the Performance to begin at 10:00. Books of the Performance will be given out (gratis) at the Theatre. Morning Herald, 7 June: The Omaggio, or homage paid by the vassals and tenants to their Lord, is naturally calculated to give free scope to lively, and sentimental music. In the former stile Bianchi and Giardini [sic] were equally succesful; and in the latter Rauzzini was surprisingly great, both as composer and performer...Slingsby would, in our opinion, have come out with as great a share of applause as the best of them, having to go through an English dance in his own stile, but by some unaccountable accident...the music-band stopped short when he was in the very climax of his exertions. The scenes are in the rural stile, with the addition of natural trees, flowering shrubs, &c., set in the neatest order...The company did not begin to move till about four, and by five the rooms were cleared. Public Advertiser, 7 June: The Vestris' gave incontrovertible proof of the variety of their powers...They did more, they shewed what this country had never seen-the possibility of presenting to the eye a large and extensive stage filled with dancers all in motion at the same time

Event Comment: [2nd piece in place of The English Merchant; 3rd piece of The Agreeable Surprise, both announced on playbill of 31 Aug.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by Ben Jonson. Afterpiece: With a New Overture by Dr Arnold. With Italian, French, Irish, Scotch, Welsh and English

Event Comment: "Both these actresses [Mrs Siddons and Mrs Wells] possess a quality which no other actresses have on the English stage--they are always, whether speaking or not speaking, in their part" (Public Advertiser, 4 Oct.). Receipts: #245 18s. (223/16; 21/8; 0/14)

Event Comment: 2nd piece: With Italian, French, Irish, Scotch, Welsh and English

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer. Mainpiece [1st time; C 3, by George Colman, the elder, altered from The Mutual Deception, by Joseph Atkinson, which was based on Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard, by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, and 1st acted at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 2 Mar. 1785. Prologue by the author (.European Magazine, Sept. 1786, p. 166). Author of Epilogue unknown]. Afterpiece: Never acted at this Theatre. [Prologue and Epilogue by David Garrick.] "This play, originally French, was translated by an Officer (the plot of which may be found in The Man's the Master, as well as in many other English plays and farces) who, with some few additions, changed it into five acts, and called it The Mutual Deception (which is now in print), but was represented in Ireland with little or no success. This Comedy, however, has undergone many very masterly alterations, and received many additions by the able hand of the attentive Manager of this Theatre" (Public Advertiser, 30 Aug.). Public Advertiser, 6 May 1788: To be published May 7, Tit for Tat (1s.)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The English Merchant, advertised on playbill of 27 June.

Event Comment: Mrs Powell allow'd to bring into the House #40 in Tickets, if any more, the overplus to be paid into the Treasury. Afterpiece: To conclude with the Representation of an Engagement between the English and Spaniards and the Storming of Fort Omoa, in the Bay of Honduras [on 26 Oct. 1779]. Receipts: #137 16s. 6d. (61.14.0; 21.3.6; 2.1.0; tickets: 52.18.0)