Event Comment: By Command of
Their Royal Highnesses
the Prince and Princess of Wales [who were present]. Mainpiece: Written by
Beaumont and
Fletcher. Afterpiece: Written by
the Author of
the Toy Shop. [For a letter on
the disputes between
the footmen and
the gentlemen, see
Grub St. Journal, 17 March.] [
There is in
the Bennett Collection, I, 93, in
the Birmingham Library, an exceptionally curious advance notice for a performance to be given at
Drury Lane soon after Easter of
The Conscious Lovers and
The Devil to Pay, with no cast for ei
ther play in
the bill.
The announcement appears to refer to
the spring of 1737 and presumably appeared around
the middle of March. It is intended for
the benefit of a Widow under Misfortunes and
the bill bears
the heading: Gift and Pleasure. According to
the announcement,
the widow has been left Italian pictures, antiqees, jewels, and precious stones; and she intends, for
the encouragement of her benefactors, to make a gift of all
the objects, which will be placed in
three hundred parcels. Tickets for
the performance are advertised at five shillings, and no one is to be admitted without a ticket.
The pit and boxes are to be put toge
ther at two tickets for each person, and
the first and second galleries are placed toge
ther at one ticket for each spectator.
The tickets are not to be left with
the door-keepers as usual, but only shewn and kept. On
the day following
the benefit a raffle will be held, by Mr
Foubert's Patent Mathematical Machine, at
Hickford's Great Room in
Brewers Street,
Golden Square, and only holders of tickets will be admitted to
the raffle, After this entry was set, an advertisement was found in
the Daily Advertiser, 18 April 1738, announcing this performance for 13 May 1738.
The Daily Advertiser on 5 May 1738, however, announced that
the proposed performance had been cancelled.