Event Comment: "At the conclusion of the Opera on Saturday, a scene of riot and tumult took place which the King's Theatre has not witnessed since the celebrated discords between 'Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee' in the days of Handel and Bononcini. At the commencement of the last dance hostilities commenced by hissing and hooting from the pit and boxes...The dancers, however, were not dismayed, but continued their evolutions, though the noise was so great that they derived but little aid from the music. At last a body of malcontents, among whom were several stars and ribbons, sallied from the pit and took possession of the stage, from which they drove the light-heeled troops, and immediately began to perform a ballet tragique. The chamber of Ifigenia was despoiled of all its ornaments, and side scenes, and patent lamps; Roman tents and triumphal cars danced on the stage in all the mazes of confusion, nor did they cease, till they had demolished everything they found that was moveable. Mr Carnevale came forward to inform the audience that Mr Gallini could not be found...The ostensible reason given for this riot, which in our opinion is not to be justified on any pretense, is that Mr Gallini has not engaged dancers of sufficient eminence" (Public Advertiser, 10 Feb.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wrighten, prompter. 3rd piece [1st time; M I, author unknown. Music selected from Dr Arne. MS: Larpent 833 (which notes, "The words partly new and partly compiled. In Commemoration of the Restoration of His Majesty's Health"); not published]. Public Advertiser, 18 May: Tickets to be had of Wrighten, No. 6, Little Russel Street. Tickets delivered for the 20th will be admitted. Receipts: #278 17s. 6d. (48.2.0; 13.17.0; 0.17.6; tickets: 216.1.0) (charge: #106 13s. 7d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Quick. "Quick, in July 1777, played Richard III at Bristol" (Anthony Pasquin [pseud. for John Williams], Poems [1789], II, 244). "Most people expected from Quick a comic representation of Richard the Third--but strange to tell he was earnest in the attempt, and succeeded tolerably. The audience, however, were not disposed to be very serious, and named him 'Little Dicky'" (Public Advertiser, 8 Apr.). [Address by Robert Merry (European Magazine, Apr. 1790, p. 307.] Gazetteer, 1 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Quick, Broad-court, Bow-street. Receipts: #430 17s. 6d. (265.5.6; 4.15.0; tickets: 160.17.0)

Event Comment: Love in a Village [advertised on playbill of 23 Apr.] is obliged to be deferred, on account of the Indisposition of a principal Performer. [2nd piece in place of The Death of Captain Cook; 3rd piece of The Little Hunchback, both advertised on playbill of 23 Apr. But there may have been still a third change: the Account-Book for this night lists The Castle of Andalusia and Poor Vulcan; no corroboration of their having been acted has, however, come to light.] Receipts: #111 14s. (100.0.6; 11.13.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Phillimore, Miss Tidswell & Miss Barnes. Diary, 24 May: Tickets to be had of Phillimore, Little Russel-street; of Miss Tidswell, No. 8, Martlet-court, Bow-street; of Miss Barnes, No. 23, Clare-street, Clare Market. Receipts: #217 18s. (32.13; 21.14; 0.10; tickets: 163.1) (charge: #105 17s. 1d.)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. "There were not an hundred persons in the Pit when their Majesties entered, and there were not double the number at any part of the evening. The Royal box being in the centre, fronting the stage, their Majesties were invisible to the Gallery; and on their entrance solemn stillness prevailed, until the Orchestra, for the first time in an Opera-house, for the first time by the Professional Band, Struck up God save the King. Never, we will venture to say, in any Theatre during the present reign, was there so thin an audience when their Majesties were present; and we pretend not to divine the cause. Whether it is the failure of the Theatre as a musical room--the general poverty of the performance--the little notice that was given of their Majesties' intention to be present we know not" (Morning Chronicle, 23 Feb.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Henry Bate]: With new Music, Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. The Music (with a few exceptions) composed entirely new by Shield. And new Scenery designed and chiefly executed by Richards. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [Williamson was formely a chorus singer at this theatre; Mme Pieltain had sung at the king's in the season of 1788-89. Afterpiece in place of The Deaf Lover, advertised on playbill of 25 Feb.] "The author is very little responsible for his part of the entertainment, which he acknowledges was composed chiefly for the purpose of [the music, which] in the taste of the present day is almost the only essential part of such an entertainment" (Gazetteer, 28 Feb.). Oracle, 7 May 1791: Thas Day is published The Woodman (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #243 2s. (239.17.6; 3.4.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bland and Mrs Powell. Afterpiece: 1st Time this Season [see 9 Oct. 1790]. Morning Chronicle, 4 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Bland, No. 93, Strand; of Mrs Powell, No. 12, Little Russel-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #248 9s. (59.17; 21.19; 3.7; tickets: 163.6) (charge: #115 16s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Phillimore, Miss Tidswell, Miss Barnes & Miss DeCamp. [La Fete Marine was 1st performed at king's, 27 Apr. 1786.] Oracle, 19 May: Tickets to be had of Phillimore, Little Russel-street; of Miss Tidswell, Stanhope-street, Clare Market; of Miss Barnes, No. 23, Clare-street, Clare Market; of Miss DeCamp, No. 64, Tottenham-court-road. Receipts: #41 14s. (27.4; 11.13; 2.17; tickets: none listed) (charge: #108 7s. 2d.)

Event Comment: Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Brandon, Longley, Furkins, Pilbro, Anselmo, Copland, Rye, Pugh, Robson, Jealous, Noble, Varley, Wilkinson, Little, Lamp, Plank, Linton, Standen, the Band will be admitted. Receipts: #366 12s. (43.13.6; 7.4.6; tickets: 315.14)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; INT 1, author unknown. Not in Larpent MS; not published]: An Occasional Interlude of Singing and Dancing. With new Dresses and Decorations. [This was written as a compliment to the Duchess of York, daughter of the King of Prussia; on 29 Sept. 1791 she had married the Duke of York (see European Magazine, Dec. 1791, p. 459) "It was a pretty, slight compliment, touched up by Byrne, St.Amand, Incledon and Mrs Mountain, with a couple of airs and the Pas Russe a little lamed. Byrne carried his arm in a scarf [see 29 Oct.], and Incledon and Mountain their parts in their hands" (Oracle, 22 Nov.). 3rd piece in place of Oscar and Malvina, advertised on playbill of 19 Nov.] Receipts: #221 4s. (208.16; 12.8)

Event Comment: Tickets delviered for The Merry Wives of Windsor will be admitted. Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Rowson, Blurton, Evatt, Jackson, Ratchford, Cross, Letteney, C. Powell, Little, Hall [box-keeper], Mrs Masters, Egan, Mrs Rock, Mrs Harris, Mrs Lefevre will be admitted. Receipts: #397 7s. (55.4.6; 4.7.6; tickets: 337.15)

Event Comment: Benefit for the young D'Egvilles, Johnstone, Nix & Dale. Morning Herald, 7 June: Tickets to be had of the young D'Egvilles, No. 18, Broad-street; of Johnston, No. 15, Martlet-court, Bow-street, Covent-Garden; of Nix, No. 8, Little Russel-street, Covent-garden; of Dale, No. 26, Stanhope-street, Claremarket. Receipts: #518 6s. (86.14.6; 29.1.0; 10.8.0; tickets: 392.2.6) (charge: #171 15s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Caulfield, Miss DeCamp, Miss Tidswell & Miss Heard. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Mr Worthy to Benson but "an apology was made for the absence of Benson...His part of Worthy was read by Whitfield" (Thespian Magazine, July 1793, p. 50).] Tickets delivered for the 8th of June will be admitted. Morning Herald, 24 May: Tickets to be had of Caulfield, No. 8, Dartmouth-street, Westminster; of Miss DeCamp, No. 70, Tottenham-Court-Road; of Miss Tidswell, No. 3, Little Charles-street, St. James's-square; of Miss Heard, No. 13, Panton-street, Hay-market. Receipts: #182 3s. (28.17; 3.5; tickets: 150.1) (charge: #86 8s.)

Event Comment: 1st piece [1st time; INT 1 by Francis Godolphin Waldron): Altered from THE FATAL EXTRAVAGANCE of [Joseph] Mitchell and Aaron Hill. "I went on Monday evening with Mrs Darner to the Little Haymarket, to see The Children in the Wood, having heard so much of my favourite, young Bannister, in that new piece; which, by the way, is well arranged, and near being fine. He more than answered my expectation, and all I had heard of him. It was one of the most admirable performances I ever saw: his transports of despair and joy are incomparable, and his various countenances would be adequate to the pencil of Salvator Rosa. He made me shed as many tears as I suppose the original old ballad did when I was six years old. Bannister's merit was the more striking, as, before The Children in the Wood, he had been playing the sailor in No Song No Supper, with equal nature" (Walpole [4 Dec. 1793], XV, 266-67)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Maiesties. "A most dreadful accident happened this evening; no less than fifteen persons were crushed to death at the opening of the pit door" (Thespian Magazine, Feb. 1794, p. 87). [This accident gave rise to many speculations and suggestions as to the necessity of instituting easier and safer means of access to the various theatres. But little was ever done about it. Sec HAY, 4 Feb.]

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of PATRICK IN PRUSSIA, advertised on playbill of 30 May.] On account of Johnstone's Indisposition THE WORLD IN A VILLAGE [also advertised as above] is obliged to be deferred. Tickets delivered for that Comedy [Account-Book: by Claremont, W. Wilde, Jackson, Little, Hawtin, Roberts, Pollock, Curteen, Pilfold] will be admitted. Receipts: #399 13s. 6d. (55/4/6; 4/11/6; tickets: 339/17/6)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for the Gentleman who performs the Part of Zanga [in THE REVENGE], and Mr and Mrs Simpson. Mainpiece: Written by the celebrated Dr Young, Author of the Night Thoughts, &c. Afterpiece: As an After-piece [i.e. reduced from 5 to 3 (?) acts]. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30. Tickets to be had of Longman and Broderip, Cheapside and Haymarket; Pass, No. 53, High Holborn; Bland's Music Warehouse, No. 45, High Holborn; Strutt, Bookseller, No. 20, Little Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields; Ellwick, Musical Instrument Maker, No. 55, Long Acre, comer of Phoenix O>urt; Padbury, Coal Merchant, No. 24, Henrietta-street, Covent Garden; Evan, Bookseller, No. 351, near the Pantheon, Oxford Road; and of Simpson, at No. 33, St. Martin's-street, Leicester-square