Event Comment: Great Applause to Mr G. House (Hopkins Diary). N.B. King Arthur which was to be performed this evening for Mr Barry's Benefit, is oblig'd to be deferred till further notice, on account of his continuing ill. Receipts: #266 14s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Paid Hopkins's bill for licenses #5 5s.; Miss Younge for cloaths #10 10s. (Treasurer's Book). Full Prices (Winston MS 10). Receipts: #157 16s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Receipts: #172 11s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. [See 23 April 1771.] Receipts: #228 19s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Receipts: #181 14s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Paid Tallow Chandler's 4th Bill #41 6s. 5d.; Spermacetti Candles, #132 18s. Mr Tomlinson for Men's cloaths #11 11s.; Mr J. French on acct #20; Miss Hopkins, 15 nights (19th Dec. incl.) #3 15s. (Treasurer's Book). [The sixth edition of Wm. Law's Absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Representations was published this year (1st. edn. 1726) This day was published the Preliminary Number of the Westminster Magazine, which, monthly, included a section called The English Theatre, which observed generally on the state of the Stage, and commented specifically on new plays. Its view of the stage in general was not as sanguine as had been that of the writer for the Town and Country Magazine (1 April 1772). "We are of opinion, that the English Theatre is now in its decline. Whether it is that the stores of Dramatic Subjects or of Dramatic Genius are exhausted, is not immediately obvious; but there is a fault somewhere....We have seen the Morning star of Wit--the Noon too is past; we have now arriv'd at its evening...There is in Arts, as in Empires, a progress which leads to Refinement; and this refinement leads to Ruin." According to the writer the meridian glory of the English stage was during the reign of Queen Anne. Reviewer damns the Irish Widow, refuses to discuss the Gamesters (revived), damns the Rose and praises the Garrick alteration of Hamlet. This year also appeard Granny's Prediction, a 53-page pamphlet attack on Mrs Barry, condemning her on moral grounds (polygamy) and on aesthetic grounds, commenting on each of her characters. By a spiteful female relative Elizabeth Franchetti.] Receipts: #142 10s. (Treasurer's Book)