Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Follett. [Egerton was from the hay (see 23 Jan.).] 2nd piece: In one Act. 3rd piece: Two new Scenes, as 17 Apr.; Procession, as 26 May. Morning Herald. 5 June: Tickets to be had of Follett, No. 46, Drury-lane. Receipts: #360 18s. (116.13.6; 3.11.0; tickets: 240.13.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Portal, Gibson, Percey, George, Bowley, Stevenson, Woollams, Massingham [box-keepers]. In consequence of the Indisposition of two Principal Performers The Fairy Festival [advertised on playbill of 13 June] cannot be performed this Evening. Receipts: #567 17s. 6d. (31.0.6; 30.19.0; 2.14.0; tickets: 503.4.0) (charge: #213 16s.)

Event Comment: The New Comedy [i.e. Secrets Worth Knowing, advertised on playbill of 8 Jan.] is unavoidably deferred till Thursday, on account of the Indisposition of two Principal Performers. Receipts: #187 18s. 6d. (173.6.6; 14.12.0)

Event Comment: "Salomon led the band for the first time these two years, in place of Viotti, who has been sent out of the country, under the authority of the Alien Bill. He left town yesterday" (Times, 5 Mar.)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; MD 3, by James Boaden; some of the songs written by George Colman, ynger]: With new Musick, Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. The new Musick by Dr Arnold. With an appropriate Overture, accompanied by two Pedal Harps and the Union Pipes, by Weippert, C. Jones, and Murphy. The Scenery by Marinari. The Dresses and Decorations designed by A. Johnston, and executed by him and Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "Any exertion of impartial criticism to check the prevalent taste for the marvellous and the horrific which so wantonly conjures up the spirit (it was once thought had been for ever laid) of gross superstition and Gothic barbarism must, we fear, prove at present unavailing" (Times, 23 July). Morning Chronicle, 30 July 1798: This Day is published Cambro-Britons (2s.)

Event Comment: [Mrs Johnson was from the Park Theatre NewYork.] Afterpiece: Compressed into Two Acts. "Munden's Sir Francis Wronghead was a very pleasing display of comicality; but he should have contented himself with what was set down by the author, without introducing his own common place allusions to the fashions of the present day" (Morning Herald, 29 Sept.). Receipts: #200 17s. 6d. (195.19.6; 4.18.0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MD 3, by Samuel Birch, adapted from Camille; ou, Le Souterrain, by Benoit Joseph Marsollier des Vivetieres, and from Les Victimes Cloitrees, by Jacques Marie Boutet de Monvel; the songs written by Thomas John Dibdin. Larpent MS 1236; not published. The playbill states that this was "Taken from the German," but London Chronicle, 12 Dec., says that its source is the same as that of The Captive of Spilburg (see dl, 14 Nov.). An examination of the MSS of these two pieces (Larpent 1230 and 1236) proves that such is unmistakably the case]: With entire new Scenes, Machinery, Dresses & Decorations. The Music composed and selected by Steibelt and Attwood. The Action of the Chorusaes, Finales, &c. under the Direction of Farley, and the Action of the Overture by Bologna Jun. A new Descriptive Overture, composed by Steibelt, on a Plan never before introduced on the English Stage, accompanied by Action. "The overture is...nothing more than music adapted to pantomime; and, in the present instance, the dumb shew is an unnecessary anticipation of the procession with which the piece opens" (Monthly Mirror, Dec. 1798, p. 369). The Scenery painted by Richards, Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, Blackmore, &c. The Dresses by Dick and Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #338 17s. 6d. (325.14.6; 13.3.0)

Event Comment: Medonte announced, but Morning Chronicle, 17 Dec.: By the sudden indisposition of Madame Banti, there was no opera on Saturday night. Ibid, 18 Dec.: Bills were posted up all over London in the forenoon, and a respectful card sent to the house of each subscriber. Morning Herald, 18 Dec., carries a statement signed by Pere Elisee saying that "about two o'clock, Saturday morning last, I was called out of my bed by a message that Mrs Banti was taken dangerously ill," that she so continues, and that as her physician he is "of opinion it will not be safe for her to quit her sick bed for several days yet to come.

Event Comment: [The playbill announces A Trip to Scarborough, but in Kemble playbill it is deleted, and the two farces listed above inserted in a contemporary hand. The BM playbill (Harris, Vol. VI) and the Account-Book note the same change.] Receipts: #231 5s. (149.19.0; 78.1.6; 3.4.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New Oratorio, in Two Parts, the only one composed in this Country nearly these 30 years. Afterpiece: An Ode, in One Part. The Band will wholly consist of Professors of the first eminence, and the Chorusses will be numerously supported by the best Performers in London, assisted by the young Gentlemen of his Majesty's Chapels, and of Westminster Abbey. The music entirely new, composed by Thomas? Busby, who will take the Piano Forte. Boxes 7s. Pit 4s. 1st Gallery 3s. 2nd Gallery 2s. Grove: [Busby] worked at a setting of Pope's 'Messiah' for some years, and it was produced in 1799 with considerable success as 'The Prophecy.

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; F 1, by Thomas John Dibdin; incidental music by John Moorehead]: Altered from [Die Witwe und das Reitpferd, This Day is published The Horse and the Widow (1s.). 3rd piece: Altered into Two acts. Receipts: #187 17s. 6d. (180.6.6; 7.11.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Townsend and Mrs Johnson. 3rd piece [1st time in London; F 1, by William Dunlap]: Performed with distinguished Applause at the John St.? Theatre, New York [on 9 Jan. 1797]; compressed into one act [from two], and adapted for the English Stage by a Gentleman [perhaps the author]. "Commencing at half past eleven o'clock, and after a tiresome variety of other entertainments, the audience thought they had had enough for their money, and demanded the fall of the curtain before the conclusion of [Tell Truth and Shame the Devil]" (Monthly Mirror, June 1799, p. 367). Morning Chronicle, 8 May: Tickets to be had of Townsend, No. 9, Leicester-place. [Mrs Johnson not listed.] Receipts: #442 17s. 6d. (108.1.0; 1.11.0; tickets: 333.5.6, of which Townsend sold 218.2.0; Mrs Johnson 115.3.6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: In Two Acts. Receipts: #245 16s. (241.4.6; 4.11.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. Afterpiece [1st time; P 2 (?). Not published; Songs: Larpent MS 1272]: Invented by T. Dibdin, & produced under the Direction of Farley. To conclude with an Allegorical Procession of the Seasons, Months and Hours, to the Temple of Domestic Happiness. With entire new Music, Scenery, Machinery, Machinery, Dresses and Decorations. The Overture and Music composed by Moorehead. The Dances by Bologna Jun. The Scenery by Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, Wilkins, Bromley, the two Whitmores, Powell. The Machinery by Cresswell, Sloper, Goostree, C. Dibdin Jun., &c. The Dresses by Dick and Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs [J. Barker, 1799] to be had in the Theatre. "The opening scene of the new pantomime is highly interesting. The representation of the Volcanov, and the fight in the air between Floridel and Cratero, may with justice claim the epithet of grand and magnificent" (Dramatic Censor, I, 13). Account-Book, 6 Feb, 1800: Paid Moorehead for music in Volcano #25. Receipts: #366 7s. (344.17; 21.10)

Event Comment: "The part of Lord Albert seems to be a kind of give and take between Messrs Pope and Claremont. After being resumed for a night or two by the original representative [27, 31 Jan., 1 Feb.], it again devolved upon the latter gentleman [28 Jan., 5 Feb.]" (Dramatic Censor, I, 203). Receipts: #183 12s. (177.12.6; 5.19.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Murray. 2nd piece: Compressed into Two Acts by the Author [Elizabeth Inchbald. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews]. Morning Chronicle, 8 Apr: Tickets to be had of Miss Murray, No. 77, Long Acre. Receipts: #393 9s. 6d. (159.5.6; 24.14.6; tickets: 209.9.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Sedgwick. Afterpiece: Not acted these 10 years [acted 19 May 1791]; Compressed in Two Acts. Morning Chronicle, 9 May: Tickets to be had of Sedgwick, No. 18, Clement's Inn. Receipts: #336 16s. 6d. (55.5.6; 52.17.6; 2.17.0; tickets: 225.16.6) (charge: #234 8s. 1d.)

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for The General Lying-In-Hospital, Bayswater. Under the Patronage of Her Majesty. N.B. 51765 Women have been Delivered since the first Institution of this Charity in 1752, & the humane Purposes are now extended to the Infant Poor, the two first Years after Birth, & to the Distressed Wives of Sailors & Soldiers in their Country's cause. "The house exhibited a deplorable appearance of empty seats" (Dramatic Censor, II, 281). Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [acted 21 Apr. 1798]. Afterpiece: Taken from Solyman the Magnificent of Marmontel. [Mrs Baster is identified in Thespian Dictionary, 1805. This was the second successive evening on which Mrs Jordan appeared at both dl and cg.] Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: Benefit for the Humane Society. A new grand Commemorative Oratorio [1st time; in two parts], as originally performed by Busby, in aid of the Fund for the Naval Pillar, including the new Music [by Busby: Song and Chorus, From where the sun; Song, To thy brave sons; Recitative and Song, Peace to the soul, Around the ever-honoured urn], introduced in the Grand National Concert, performed the 28th of May, at the Opera House. Leader of the Band-Cramer. Organ-Russell. The performance to be conducted by Busby, who will preside at the Piano Forte. Tickets, at playhouse prices, to be had at all the principal music shops...and of Busby, No. 9, China Terrace, Vauxhall Road. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00. "The words [of Part I] are taken entirely from Gray's well-known Pindaric Ode, The Progress of Poesy," with six introductory lines written by John Gretton andthe concluding stanzas by Thomas Dutton; the text of Part II by Gretton (Dramatic Censor, II, 285-86)

Event Comment: [1st two pieces in place of The London Hermit, advertised on playbill of 2 July.