Event Comment: [This was
Miss Farren's last appearance on
the stage.] "On
the conclusion of
the play
Wroughton came forward, and, instead of uttering
the usual lines [i.e. giving out
the play for
the next night], delivered
the following Address before
the curtain dropped, all
the Performers remaining on
the Stage, and Miss Farren herself in a state apparently of much agitation. [Here follows
the address (which is not listed on
the playbill).] After Wroughton had delivered
these lines, Miss Farren advanced and curtsied repeatedly" (
True Briton, 10 Apr.).
The address "was written by
Sheridan during
the performance of
the comedy" (
Morning Herald, 12 Apr.). "[Miss Farren's] figure is considerably above
the middle height, and is of that slight texture which allows and requires
the use of full and flowing drapery, an advantage of which she well knows how to avail herself...She possesses ease, vivacity, spirit and humour, and her performances are so
little injured by effort, that we have often experienced a delusion of
the senses, and imagined, what in a
theatre it is so difficult imagine,
the scene of action to be identified, and Miss Farren really
the character she was only attempting to sustain" (
Monthly Mirror, Apr. 1797, pp. 236-37). Account-Book: Renters, Free, Orders and Private Boxes at
School for Scandal #199 9s. [
The tally is also entered of 3,656 spectators in
the theatre.] Receipts: #728 14s. 6d. (654.18.0; 70.7.0; 3.9.6; being
the largest amount taken at this
theatre, on a night not devoted to a benefit, between 1794 (when it was opened) and 1800)