Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Joseph Berington, altered from the same, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. MS: Larpent MS 1041; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Herald, 30 Oct. It has hitherto been assumed that this play was altered by Benjamin Thompson, but "This Tragedy was translated from the German by the Rev. Jos. Berrington [sic]" (Kemble Mem.). Dr. Berington's authorship is also referred to in London Chronicle, 30 Oct. 1794. Thompson's translation was published by Vernor and Hood in 1800. Prologue by Richard Cumberland. Epilogue by George Colman, ynger (London Chronicle, 29 Oct.)]: The Dresses, Scenes and Decorations are entirely new. The Scenery in the four first Acts is the work of Signor Barzago and of his Brother; and in the fifth of Greenwood, by whom also a new Frontispiece is designed and executed. [Miss Miller, who had appeared the previous season as a chorus singer, is identified in European Magazine, Nov. 1794, p. 363.] The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 20 Apr. 1795]. Powell: Emilia Galotti rehearsed at 10. The New Frontispiece and Stage doors were exhibited for the first Time this Evening. Receipts: #317 19s. 6d. (270.8.6; 46.5.0; 1.6.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for King. [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Gertrude was at Liverpool, 23 July 1777; Mrs Jordan's as Ophelia at Richmond, 19 Aug. 1795.] Morning Herald, 28 Apr.: Tackets to be had of King, No. 56, Store-street, Bedford-square; 30 Apr.: The dresses [in Hamlet] were all modern. Receipts: #498 17s. 6d. (284.11.6; 55.9.0; 2.5.0; tickets: 156.12.0) (charge: #232 7s. 6d.)

Event Comment: [For Johnston as Hamlet see cg, 28 Apr. Mr Johnston was from the Dublin theatre.

Event Comment: [Mrs Higginson, who is identified in European Magazine, Nov. 1799, p. 328, had, as Mrs Cussans, acted previously at Richmond and elsewhere.] 2nd piece: In one act [and in place of The Flitch of Bacon, advertised on playbill of 9 Nov.]. 3rd piece: Representation of the Battle, as 9 Nov. Receipts: #293 17s. 6d. (286.17.6; 7.0.0)

Event Comment: [The edition of 1662 suggests that this was a ballet, the text offering description or synopses of the entries. Edition of 1662: Being part of that Magnificent Entertainment by the Noble Prince, DelaGrange, Lord Lieutenant of Lincolns Inn. Presented to the High and Mighty Charles II, Monarch of Great Britain, France and Ireland. On Friday 3 of January 1662. Evelyn, Diary: After Prayers I went to Lond: invited to the solemn foolerie of the Prince de la Grange at Lincolne Inn: where came also the King, Duke, &c.: beginning with a grand Masquev and a formal Pleading before the mock-princes (Grandes), Nobles & Knights of the Sunn: He had his L. Chancelor, Chamberlaine, Treasurer, & other royal officers gloriously clad & attended, which ended in a magnificent Banquet: one Mr John? Lort, being the young spark, who maintained the Pageantrie. Pepys, Diary: While I was there, comes by the King's life-guard, he being gone to Lincoln's Inn this afternoon to see the Revells there; there being, according to an old custom, a prince and all his nobles and other matters of sport and charge. John Ward (notebooks, 6 Jan.): I saw a Leopard and the same day as strange a sight which was the mock prince of Lincolnes' Inne his Nobels his Knights of the Garter and his other officers (Shakespeare Quarterly, XI [1960], 494)

Event Comment: The King's Company. For the identification of this play and details of its performance, see W. J. Lawrence, "Foreign Singers and Musicians at the Court of Charles II," Musical Quarterly, IX (1923), 217-25, and James G. McManaway, "Entertainment for the Grand Duke of Tuscany," Theatre Notebook, XVI (1961), 20-21. The Travels of Cosmo the Third [Monday 3 June 1669 NS; Monday 24 May 1669 OS]: In the afternoon his highness left home earlier than usual to make his visits, that he might be at the King's Theatre in time for the comedy, and a ballet set on foot and got up in honor of his highness by my Lord Stafford, uncle of the Duke of Norfolk. On arriving at the theatre, which was sufficiently lighted on the stage and on the walls to enable the spectators to see the scenes and the performances, his highness seated himself in a front box, where, besides enjoying the pleasure of the spectacle, he passed the evening in conversation with the Venetian ambassador, the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Stafford, and other noblemen. To the story of Psyche, the daughter of Apollo, which abounded with beautiful incidents, all of them adapted to the performers and calculated to express the force of love, was joined a well-arranged ballet, regulated by the sound of various instruments, with new and fanciful dances after the English manner, in which different actions were counterfeited, the performers passing gracefully from one to another, so as to render intelligible, by their movements, the acts they were representing. This spectacle was highly agreeable to his highness from its novelty and ingenuity; and all parts of it were likewise equally praised by the ladies and gentlemen, who crouded in great numbers to the theatre, to fill the boxes, with which it is entirely surrounded, and the pit, and to enjoy the performance, which was protracted to a late hour of the night (pp. 347-48). In BM Add. Mss. 10117, folio 230, Rugge's Diurnall states that towards the end of May 1669 Cosmo, Prince of Tuscany had several plays acted for him

Event Comment: The King's Company. The Diary of Robert Hooke, 27 Aug. 1675: Saw Psyche Grand foppery

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but contemporary sources refer to the fact that William Smith, who died in the last week of December, fell ill on the fourth day of its run; hence, it probably was first presented in mid-December. One song, O take him gently from the pile, set by John Eccles and sung by Mrs Bracegirdle, is in Deliciae Musicae, The Fourth Book, 1696. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 44: The Grand Cyrus, wrote by Mr Banks; it was a good Play; but Mr Smith, having a long part in it, fell Sick upon the Fourth Day and Dy'd, upon that it lay by, and ne'er have bin Acted since. Gildon, English Dramatick Poets, p. 6: Tho' this Play had been formerly refus'd the Action, yet it held up its Head about Six Days together, and has been since Acted several Times. A Comparison Between the Two Stages: Sullen, p. 16: Banks's, which the Players damn'd and wou'd not Act of a great while, but at length it was acted, and damn'd then in manner and form

Event Comment: For the Entertainment of several Foreigners. Mainpiece: With an Additional Grotesque Scenev, and the Grand Machinev, both taken out of the Opera of Dioclesian

Event Comment: By Subscription. With a new Prologue and Epilogue. Admission as 14 Dec. 1703. [A Folger Library broadside appears to be a program for this concert. It lists in Act I The Druid's Song from Bonduca, two songs by Mrs Tofts, a song from The Fairy Queen, and a dance; in Act II The Frost Music from King Arthur, two dances, and a song by Mrs Tofts; in Act III an Ode on the Glorious Beginning of Her Majesty's Reign, set by Daniel Purcell and performed by Leveridge, Hughes, Mrs Lindsey, and Mrs Campion; a song by Mrs Tofts, The Sacrifice from King Arthur, and a Grand Dance.

Event Comment: The first of Twelve Grand Concerts. In Daily Courant, 9 Jan., proposals had been issued for setting up by subscription a monthly concert for the first Wednesday of each month. There were never to be fewer than three of the best singers and nineteen performers in all. Each subscriber was to pay to Trustees John Shipton and Thomas Ives one guinea for a year. The concerts were to begin when there were 350 subscribers. On this date 100 subscriptions had been received

Event Comment: The Second of the 12 Grand Concerts [See 27 Feb.]. N.B. No Footmen to be admitted, nor any Wine to be drank there

Event Comment: Afterpiece: [By John Thurmond.] A new Grotesque Entertainment...in the Character of Harlequin, Mephostophilus, Scaramouch, Pierrot, Punch, and the Spirit of Helen. The whole concluding with a grand Masque of the Heathen Deities, (viz), Apollo, Mars, Bacchus, Mercury, Diana, Ceres, Flora, and Iris. All the Scenes, Machines, Habits, and other Decorations being entirely New. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. First Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. N.B. No Money (under the full Price) will be taken during the Time of the Play

Event Comment: Daily Post, 30 Nov.: Harlequin Doctor Faustus...meets with universal Approbation. The Incidents are taken from the old History of the doctor and several Tricks supposed to be done by the Power of the Black Art, art executed in a very surprising Manner, and the last Grand Scene is superior in Magnificence to any thing that has ever yet appeared on the British Stage

Event Comment: Afterpiece: Concluding as usual with a Grand Masque of the Heathen Deities. No Money (under the full Price) will be taken during the Time of the Play

Event Comment: Afterpiece: In the Characters of Harlequin, Mephistophilus, Scaramouch, Pierrot, and Punch. Concluding as usual with a Grand Masque of the Heathen Deities, viz. Mars, Bacchus, Mercury, Diana, Ceres, Flora, and Iris

Event Comment: At the Desire of several Persons of Quality. Daily Journal, 30 Dec.; And we hear, that...the Grand Master and Wardens [for the Free Masons] and most of the Gentlemen present took Tickets to appear in White Gloves at...Drury-Lane, this Evening, where the Play of Henry IV. Part II is to be acted for their Entertainment; and it is said a Prologue and Epilogue will be spoken suitable to the Occasion, and in Honour of that Society

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Dryden

Event Comment: For the Entertainment of the Grand Master of the Antient and Hon. Society of Free and Accepted Masons. Alter'd from Shakespear by Mr Betterton

Event Comment: Benefit Essex. At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Afterpiece: Being particularly desir'd

Event Comment: Benefit Newhouse. Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Congreve. Receipts: money #15 18s.; tickets #88 2s