Event Comment: Benefit for the Voluntary Contribution now open at the Bank, for the Defence of our Country. Boxes 10s. 6d. Pit 5s. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Tickets to be had and Places to be taken of Brandon, at the Stage-Door in Hart-street. Tickets also to be had at the Bar of Lloyd's Coffee-House. [Prologue by William Boscawen (Monthly Mirror, Mar. 1798, p. 178. Author of Address unknown.] "A subscription was set on foot behind the scenes," to which most of the performers contributed #10 apiece (Monthly Mirror, ibid). Account-Book, 12 May: Paid into the Bank of England in aid of the Voluntary Contribution #394 15s. Receipts: #518 8s. (280.9; 12.2; tickets: 225.17) [the difference of #123 13s. appears to have been the house charge]

Event Comment: Both pieces By Command of his Majesty. The Comedy Love for Love design'd to be perform'd this day, is deferr'd till further notice. Present His Majesty and Princess of Wales, Lady Augusta, Princess Louisa, Prince William and Prince Frederick. Boxes #94 7s. 6d. [about 384 persons, nearly the capacity of the Boxes, which was about 560]. Paid Macklin one fifth part of #179 being the surplus after #63 allow'd for the charge as per agreement...#35 16s. Gave the Yeomen of the King and Princess's Guard #2 2s., and the King's Footmen and Chairmen #1 1s. (Account Book). Receipts: #242 (Account Book)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MD 2, by William Pearce. The Masque was produced in honor of the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Princess Caroline of Brunswick, 8 April 1795]: The Overture composed expressly for the Occasion by Haydn, as is the rest of the Music by Salomon [and see 9 Apr.]. The Scenery, Machinery, Decorations and Dresses are entirely New, and Designed by Noverre, except St. George's Hall, painted by the late Signor Cipriani. The Scenery executed by Hodgins, Walmsley, Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, and many Assistants. The Machinery and Decorations by Sloper. Goosetree and Martinelli. The Dresses by Lupino, Dick and Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "On the 10th [of April] I was at the Covent Garden Theatre-to see the big Spectacul [sic]-Windsor Castle, the music by Salomon quite passable. The decorations-costumes-scenery, and the enormous amount of people on the stage are exaggerated. All the Gods of Heaven and Hell, and everything that lives on the earth are in the piece" (Haydn, 299). Morning Chronicle, 7 May 1795: This Day is published Windsor Castle (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #266 8s. 6d. (250.12.6; 15.16.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Henry James Pye. Prologue by William Sotheby; Epilogue by John Taylor (see text)]: With new Dresses and Decorations. "From the first drawing up of the curtain, till its final fall, we could not discover one single flight of fancy, one solitary scene of woe...It is but justice to add that for a first night the performers, with the exception of Barrymore, were very perfect in their respective parts [and see 27 Jan.]" (Dramatic Censor, I, 175, 181). Receipts: #309 13s. (246.4.6; 61.0.6; 2.8.0)

Event Comment: The United Company. As 9 Nov. 1692 is known to be the second day, it is assumed that 8 Nov. 1692 represents the first performance. (See entry for 9 Nov. 1692.) The authorship is uncertain; William Mountfort signed tne Dedication, but its authorship is linked with that of Edward III (November 1690), which may have been by Bancroft. Gentleman's Journal, October 1692 (not issued until November): Henry the Second, King of England, A new Play, by the Author of that call'd Edward the Third, which gave such universal satisfaction, hath been acted several times with applause. It is a Tragedy with a mixture of Comedy....Had you seen it acted, you would own that an Evening is pass'd very agreeably, when at a Representation of that pleasing Piece. [Alfred Harbage, Elizabethan-Restoration Palimpsest, Modern Language Review, XXXV (1940), 312-18, argues that this play is the Elizabethan Henry II once in the possession of Moseley. A song, In vain 'gainst Love I strove, composed by Henry Purcell and sung by Mrs Dyer, not in the printed play, is in Comes Amoris, 1693, and Joyful Cuckoldom 1695. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XX (1916), vii

Event Comment: [T$Their Majesties, Prince of Wales, Prince William, three eldest Princesses, Duke of Lorrain present.

Event Comment: [T$Their Majesties, Prince, Prince William, Princess Royal, the young Princesses, and Duke of Lorrain present. See also Lord Hervey and his Friends, p. 115.

Event Comment: Yesterday George Frederick Handel, Esq; was couch'd by William Bromfield, Esq; Surgeon to her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, when it was thought there was all imaginable hopes of success by the Operation, which must give the greatest pleasure to all lovers of Music

Event Comment: Both pieces By Command. Ladies and Gentlemen who have taken places are desired to send their servants before 3 o'clock. No persons can possibly be admitted behind the scenes or into the Orchestra. Present their Majesties the Duke of York, Prince William Henry, Prince Henry Frederick, and Lady Augusta. [The Winston Theatrical Record lists the customary night's expenses as follows]: @Renters #12 1s.@Barber 5s. 4d.@Music #4 19s. 5d.@Tallow Candles #2 10s.@Wax Candles #1 6s.@Coals 10s.@Lamps #1 12s. 3d.@1 days Billstickers 11s. 6d.@1 days Bills #1 7s.@1 days Advertising 5s.@Wardrobe Bill (a day) #1 7s.@Property Bill (a day) #1 6d.@Extras (for Opera and Rape) #1 6s. 6d.@J. Rich #5 5s.@C. Rich #1@Guards (18) and a Serjeant #1@#36 6s. 5d.@ Extras that night: @Yeomen of His Majesties' guard #1 1s.@Yeomen of Her Majesties' guard #1 1s.@His Majesties' Footmen #1 1s.@Her Majesties' Footmen #1 1s.@Princess of Wales' Attendant #1 1s.@Their Majesties' Coachman 6s.@Total #5 11s.

Event Comment: By Command of their Majesties. Income from Boxes #83 10s. Present Their Majesties, Lady Augusta; Prince William Henry, Prince Henry Frederick, Paid Vincent in full for 10 Lac'd Coats...8 Trumpet Banners and 2 Kettle drum banners #73 10s. Receipts: #232 11s. (Winston Theatrical Record)

Event Comment: By Their Majesties' Command. Afterpiece: a new Dramatic Masque. [By Roger.] The Habits, Scenes, Machines, and the other Decorations entirely new. King, Queen, Prince of Wales, Princess Amelia and Princess Mary present

Event Comment: Benefit Morgan. For the Entertainment of a Foreign Prince. With Scenes, Machines, and Habits, proper to the Play

Event Comment: Benefit Mills. By Command of His Royal Highness. To which (By Command) will be added, The Coronation of Anna Bullen, with the Military Ceremony of the Champion in Westminster-Hall, for the Entertainment of . . .the Prince of Orange, who accompanies his Royal Highness to the Play. [Prince of Wales, Prince of Orange, Princess Caroline present.]

Event Comment: At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. [Prince Frederick, Princess Amelia, and Princess Carolina present.

Event Comment: Receipts: #32 13s. [Prince of Wales and Princess Caroline present.

Event Comment: By His Majesty's Command. Mainpiece: Not Acted these Seven Years. [King, Queen, Prince of Wales, and three eldest Princesses present.

Event Comment: By Command of His Royal Highness. [The Prince, attended by Lord Charles Cavendish and Colonel Townshend, and Princess Caroline, attended by the Countess of Suffolk, present.

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Oldfield. By Thier Majesties' Command. Tickets for Sophonisba will be taken. [The King, Queen, Prince of Wales, and three eldest Princesses present.

Event Comment: By Command of His Royal Highness. [Prince, Duke, and Princesses present.

Event Comment: Full Princes

Event Comment: [The playbill assigns the Dauphin to Barrymore but, "Benson performed the Dauphin instead of Barrymore" (Thespian Magazine, Nov. 1792, p. 125). It is not stated who acted Duke of Gloster; doubling these two parts is not likely.] Account-Book: Paid The Prince of Wales's Porter for Performances in Cymon [on 31 Dec. 1791, et seq.] #13 10s. Receipts: #169 9s. 6d. (118.6.6; 46.8.0; 4.15.0)

Event Comment: At Cushing's Booth, facing the King's Head, Smithfield. The tragedy contains the barbarous contrivances of King John against his nephew Prince Arthur; his method of persuading Hubert to undertake the cruel murder of that youth; the sufferings of Arthur in his confinement, where Hubert attempts to put out eyes with a red-hot iron, til moved to compassion by the tender entreating of the young prince, he quits his horrid purpose. The manner of Arthur's leaping from the battlements of the tower where he was imprisoned, when by attempting to escape his severe treatment he loses his life. The terrors that attended the villainous Uncle King John, and at length his dreadful death, who is poisoned in the midst of all his glory, and in terrible anguish and distraction, pays his nephew's blood with the price of his own. The comic contains the exquisite drolleries of Sir Lubberly and his man, their whimsical journey from Cumberland, and no less whimsical exploits in London; the odd reception they met with from their three faithful friends, Tom Rash the Porter, Jeffrey Holdfast the Constable, and Moll Tatter the Beggar Woman, the one getting a wife, the other a bastard

Event Comment: Written by Shakespear. [The Prince present.

Event Comment: [By Charles Beckingham.] Never Acted before. [The Prince expected to attend.