*p1798 08 29 hay The Purse. ^As17980820^.*a1798 08 29 hay The Merchant of Venice. Shylock-C. Kemble (1st appearance in that character); Anthonio-Aickin; Gratiano-R. Palmer; Lorenzo (with a <i>song</i>)-Davies; Tubal-Waldron; Old Gobbo-Waldron Jun.; Launcelot-Suett; Duke-Davenport; Salanio-Caulfield; Solarino-Trueman; Leonardo-Lyons; Balthazar-Ledger; Bassanio-Barrymore; Jessica (with a <i>song</i>)-Mrs Bland; Nerissa-Mrs Harlowe; Portia-Miss DeCamp.*a1798 08 29 hay Rosina. Belville-Trueman; Capt. Belville-Davies; Rustic-Waldron Jun.; Irishmen-Caulfield, Abbot; William-Mrs Harlowe; Phoebe-Mrs Bland; Dorcas-Mrs Davenport; Rosina-Miss Griffiths (1st appearance in that character).*c1798 08 29 hay "We suggest the necessity of curtailing the entertainments...<i>The Purse</i> ought to have been entirely omitted. There is a want of alertness between the acts which is much better managed at the Winter Theatres. <i>Rosina</i> did not begin till half past eleven o'clock. We advise the Female Performers not to disguise their faces with so much rouge. If it is in some measure necessary at the Winter Theatres, where the chief part of the audience are at a distance from the Stage, we conceive in this small House it is less necessary" (<i>Times</i>, 30 Aug.).