*p1785 02 02 dl Macbeth. Macbeth-Smith; Banquo-Hull [of CG]; Duncan-Packer; Ross-Aickin; Malcolm-R. Palmer; Macduff-Brereton; Hecate-Bannister; Witches-Parsons, Moody, Baddeley; Lady Macbeth-Mrs Siddons .hathi.*a1785 02 02 dl The Guardian. The Guardian-Hull [of CG]; Sir Charles Claclcit-Parsons; Young Clackit-Dodd; Lucy-Mrs Wilson; Harriet-Miss Kemble .hathi.*s1785 02 02 dl In mainpiece: The Original Music by Matthew Locke, with additional Accompaniments, by Bannister, Dignum, Suett, Chapman, Barrymore, Williames, Wilson, Fawcett; Miss Phillips, Miss Field, Mrs Love, Mrs Booth, Miss Barnes, Mrs Burnett, Miss Simson, Miss Cranford, Miss Burnett, Mrs Smith, the Miss Stageldoirs, Miss George, Mrs Wrighten. [This was sung, as here assigned, in all subsequent performances, except on 4 Feb.] hathi.*c1785 02 02 dl Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [acted 15 May 1782]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years [not acted since 25 Mar. 1775]. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Banquo to Bensley, but "Poor Bensley's illness last night took him off; but on another night he will give and take in the triumph" {Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). In afterpiece he is assigned to The Guardian. On the Kemble playbill in both cases his name is deleted and MS annotations substitute Hull's.] "Macbeth at Drury-lane will. . . gag the drivellers who, on the failure of Constance [in King John], ventured a sweeping prophecy of condemnation that 'the Siddons never could play Shakespeare.' Would it not have been better to have borrowed Farren, rather than Hull, for Banquo?" (Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). "'Why,'say some of the critics, 'should Mrs Siddons wear a white dress in her last scene of Lady Macbeth? She is supposed to be asleep, not mad.' What reason except custom can be given for a mad heroine appearing in white we know not [and see DL, 20 Dec. 1782]. Yet there is an obvious reason why a person walking in their sleep should wear a white dress of the loose kind worn by Mrs Siddons ... It [is] the nearest resemblance which theatrical effect will admit, to the common sort of night-dresses" (Public Advertiser, 7 Feb.). Receipts: #346 16s. (198/10/0; 7/2/6; 0/8/6; tickets: 140/15/0) (charge: free) .hathi.