Event Comment: Account-Book: Tickets delivered by John Brandon, Dick, Denman, Hall (carpenter), Hay, Williamson will be admitted. [Miss Lascelles is identified in Morning Post, 4 June.] Receipts: #409 16s. (39.2.6; 6.9.0; tickets: 364.4.6)

Event Comment: By Authority of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Lacy, formerly of the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane. Tickets to be had of Fosbrook, at the Box Office of the Drury Lane Theatre, and Rice, at the Box Office of the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket, where Places for the Boxes may be taken. [Address by John Taylor (Monthly Mirror, Dec. 1798, p. 370). On this night the following appeared both at dl and at the hay: Hollingsworth, Caulfield, Bannister Jun., Suett, Miss Pope, Mrs Bland.

Event Comment: By Permission. Benefit for Williams, Mrs Weston

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Harwood, late prompter of the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane. Harwood's respectful compliments to his Friends in particular, and the publick in general, and assures them every effort in his power shall be exerted to render the Evening's Entertainment agreeable, and humbly hopes for their well-known candour and protection on the above occasion. Tickets and Places to be had of Harwood, next door to Drury-Lane Theatre, Little Russel-street, Covent Garden. [Harwood was prompter at dl from 1780 to 1786. Hooke was from cg.] Afterpiece: Written by the late Samuel Foote, Esq

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Johnston & Miss Williams. Mainpiece: Written by R. Cumberland, Esq., and perform'd at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane, with great Applause. Never acted there. Tickets to be had of Mr and Mrs Johnston & Miss Williams at the Windsor Castle [Inn], Plough and Harrow, Angel, Cock and Magpie, Salutation; and of Waldron, No. 17, Dorville's Row, where places for the Boxes may be taken

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but it was very likely this day. Writing on 12 May 1688, Peregrine Bertie states that it had been acted nine days successively. If the ninth performance fell on Friday 12 May, the premiere probably occurred on Wednesday 3 May. The Prologue and Epilogue, printed separately, are reprinted in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 261-63. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 41): This Play by its Excellent Acting, being often Honour's with the presence of Chancellor Jeffereies, and other great Persons had an Uninterrupted run of 13 Days together. Note, The Poet receided for his third Day in the House in Drury Lane at single Prizes 130 l. which was the greatest Receipt they ever had at that House at single Prizes. Dedication, Edition of 1688: This, I must confess, made me hope for success upon the Stage, which it met with, but so great, as was above my expectation (in this Age which has run mad after Farces) no Comedy, for these many years, having fill'd the Theatre so long together: And I had the great Honour to find so many Friends, that the House was never so full since it was built, as upon the third day of this Play; and vast numbers went away, that could not be admitted. For Leigh as Belfond Sr, see Cibber, Apology, ed. Lowe, I, 147-48; and for Underhill as Lolpoop, I, 154-55. For further comment upon the play, see 12 May 1688

Event Comment: Rich's Company. There is no certainty as to the date of the first performance, and the play has been sometimes assigned to mid-summer 1697 because the Preface refers to a summer production and the play was printed in 1697. Nevertheless, the presence of Verbruggen in the cast suggests that the summer of 1696 is more likely, as Verbruggen left Drury Lane on 1 Jan. 1696@7 and thereafter appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Preface, Edition of 1697: Amongst a number of New Plays that of late have crowded the Stage.... As it is, it may bear up in the Winter, notwithstanding the little Encouragement it met with at its first Appearance from a thin Town, and the Scarcity of Money. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702): Sullen: Unhappy Kindness, the same Author's [as of Mock Marriage], but very word stole. Ramble: The success? Sullen: Damn'd

Event Comment: See Craftsman, 4 Nov., for an account of the precautions against fire at Drury Lane

Event Comment: UUniversal Spectator, 16 Nov.. On Thursday last one Leigh, a young Lad belonging to...Drury-Lane, was descending in a Machine, at the Rehearsal of the New Entertainment of Perseus and Andromeda, when the same was let down with such a Force, that the poor Boy broke both his Arms