Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. [Public Advertiser, 18 Feb., refers to the Overture to Rodelinda, which opened the performance, and to Street Bird, sung by Miss Linley, accompanied on the organ by Stanley; Oft on a plat of rising ground by Miss Prudom; Hide me from day's garish eye by Miss Linley; Horn and Morn by Reinhold.] 2nd piece: Set to Music by Handel. Tickets to be had and Places for the Boxes to be taken of Fosbrook at the Stage Door of the Theatre, at half a guinea each. Pit 5s. 1st Gallery 3s. 6d. 2ndGallery 2s. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [same throughout oratorio season]

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F2, by Leonard Macnally. Author of Prologue unknown.]. Public Advertiser, 14 May 1782: This Day is published Retaliation (1s.). Receipts: #121 11s. 6d. (114/14/6; 6/17/0)

Event Comment: Oratorio announced for Representation this Evening [L'Allegro il Penseroso, also Dryden's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day] cannot be performed on account of the Indisposition of a Principal Performer [Public Advertiser, 10 Mar.: Miss Linley]

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by Frederick Pilon. Prologue probably by the author]. Public Advertiser, 11 Nov. 1784: This Day is published Aerostation (1s.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by A Lady [unidentified], based partly on L'Amitie A l'epreuve, by Charles Simon Favart and Claude Henri de Fusee de Voisenon]: The Overture and the new Music composed by Hook. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 30 Mar. 1786: This Day at Noon is published The Peruvian (1s. 6d.). [The music was printed under the title of The Fair Peruvian (S. A. & P. Thompson [1786]), which was the original title as given in the MS (Larpent 727).] Receipts: #246 8s. (242/16/6; 3/11/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Hannah Cowley. Prologue and Epilogue by the author (see text)]. @When first thy Tragedy I view'd@Where Sparta mourns her Lot severe;@I caught the Spartan Fortitude@And watch'd her Woes without a Tear.@ (William Parsons [not the actor], in Thraliana, II, 713.) Public Advertiser, 27 Feb. 1788: This Day is published The Fate of Sparta (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #203 15s. 6d. (171.13.0; 30.15.0; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Bertie Greatheed. Prologue by the Rev. David Williames. Epilogue by Hester Lynch Piozzi (see text)]: With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. Public Advertiser, 20 May 1788: This Day is published The Regent (1s. 6d.). Afterpiece: Not acted these 12 years [acted 29 May 1779]. "I do think that Mrs Siddons for Vigour of Action, pathetic Tone of Voice, & a sort of Radiance which comes round her in Scenes where strong heroic Virtues are displayed, never had her Equal" (Thraliana, II, 715). Receipts: #226 13s. (211.1; 14.4; O.18; tickets not come in:0.10)

Event Comment: [Iliff was from the Edinburgh theatre; Mrs Farren from the York theatre.] Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by John O'Keeffe]. Public Advertiser, 30 Aug. 1788: This Day is published The Prisoner at Large (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 4, by Elizabeth Inchbald, adapted from Zelie; ou, L'Ingenue, by Stephanie Felicite Ducrest de Saint Aubin, Comtesse de Genlis. Beginning with 6 Dec. this was reduced to an afterpiece of 3 acts. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 12 Dec. 1788: This Day is published The Child of Nature (price not listed). Afterpiece: Reduced [from 5] into 3 acts. Receipts: #150 15s 6d. (139.10.0; 11.5.6),

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by the Hon. John St.John. Prologue by William Fawkener.-Epilogue by the author (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 1 May 1789: This Day is published Mary Queen of Scots (1s. 6d.). [As afterpiece the playbill announces Who's the Dupe?, but it was not acted. Kemble Mem. lists the substitute play.] Receipts: #240 9s. (226.4.0; 13.8.6;0.16.6)

Event Comment: [The playbill retains Mrs Jordan as Matilda and Mrs Crouch as Laurette, but Mrs Jordan "sent word she was too ill to perform this Evening. The audience called for Crouch to act Matilda" (Kemble Mem.). "She instantly complied...and was received with the most marked respect" (Morning Chronicle, 28 Nov.). The audience refused to believe that Mrs Jordan's illness was genuine, and for several days she was treated harshly by letters to and paragraphs in the newspapers. For her letter explaining her "real inability from illness to sustain her part in the entertainment" see Oulton, 1796, II, 103-6; see also 10 Dec. "Richard Coeur de Lion was advertised as the afterpiece; but on account of the sudden illness of Mrs Jordan, High Life below Stairs was proposed to be substituted; the house, however, seeming to disapprove of this change, Mrs Crouch kindly undertook the part of Matilda; Miss Hagley took hers of Laurette" (Public Advertiser, 28 Nov.).] Receipts: #285 10s. (220.3; 64.10; 0.17)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, by John O'Keeffe. In 1797 altered by the author as The Rival Soldiers]: With new Music, new Scenes and Dresses. The Music composed and selected [from Handel and Anfossi (BUC, 969)] by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 25 May 1793: This Day is Published Sprigs of Laurel (1s). Receipts: #210 16s

Event Comment: [Mrs Pollock's 1st two appearances were on 24 Nov. 1792 and 14 Jan. 1793.] Afterpiece: Not acted these 3 years. Being a Collection of Favorite Scenes from the following celebrated Pantomimes: Harlequin Sorcerer, Mother Shipton, Choice of Harlequin, Lord Mayor's Day, Druids, Fryar Bacon, Harlequin Freemason, Norwood Gipsies, Omai, Magic Cavern, Harlequin Rambler. [Synopsis of Entertainment in Public Advertiser, 3 Oct.] Receipts: #261 11s. (245.5; 16.6)

Event Comment: Characters in Mainpiece New Dress'd in the Habits of the Times. [Theatrical Intelligence for 4 Nov. (Theatrical Miscellaneous Cuttings, G 60.23, Boston Public Library) notes: Last night the reformation in dress took place at the theatre in the revival of the second part of King Henry IV. The beauty as well as the propriety of the dresses give great satisfaction. The Old English Habits are indeed admirably suited to the style and manners of the plays of that time, in which a peculiarity prevails very remote from modern dialogue and the present fashion. The effect of this observation of the Costume, as the French call it, is very visible in the representation of Every Man in His Humour, and will, we hope, for the future be strictly observed in dressing every character of the plays of that age." The author then comments on Love's succes as Falstaff, and Garrick's effectiveness as the sick king especially in delivering the long speeches.

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but the evidence points to this day as a strong Possibility. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus (p. 44) states that it was given thirteen days consecutively, and John Coke (see 16 March 1696@7) states that it was acted "till Saturday" (16 March 1696@7). If the tragedy was acted on Wednesdays but not Fridays, as was often the practice in Lent, and if the farce alluded to for Saturday, 16 March 1696@7, comprised the entire program, this day was probably the premiere. The following sequence of performances is based on these premises. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 44: The Mourning Bride...had such Success, that it continu'd Acting Uninterrupted 13 Days together. Gildon, English Dramatick Poets, p. 23: This Play had the greatest Success, not only of all Mr Congreve's, but indeed of all the Plays that ever I can remember on the English Stage, excepting some of the incomparable Otway's. Aston, A Brief Supplement (in Cibber, Apology, II, 302): His [Betterton's] Favourite, Mrs Barry, claims the next in Estimation. They were both never better pleas'd, than in Playing together.--Mrs Barry outshin'd Mrs Bracegirdle in the Character of Zara in the Mourning Bride, altho' Mr Congreve design'd Almeria for that Favour

Event Comment: Farce hiss'd (Cross). The Confederacy is oblig'd to be deferr'd a few days (playbill). [Goldsmith in The Bee (Vol. 1759, p. 154) comments on the farce: "Too narrow a plan...The poor affecting the manners of the rich might be carried on through one character or two, at the most, with great propriety; but to have almost every personage on the scene almost of the same character, was unartful in the poet to the last degree." He laments the barrenness of incident, but admits one or two scenes are "fine satire and sufficiently humorous...Whatever defects there might be in the composition, there were none in the action; in this the performers shewed more humour than I had fancied them capable of."] Receipts: #160 (Cross)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. That this date is the premiere is conjectured from the order, dated 11 Dec. 1680, forbidding further acting of this play. See L. C. 5@144, p. 28, in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p.1 on: Whereas I am informed that there is Acted by you a Play called Lucius Junius Brutus..wherein are very Scandalous Expressions & Reflections upon ye Government these are to require you Not to Act ye said Play again. In the Preface to Charles Gildon's The Patriot (1703) it is stated that Lee's play was banned after the third day's Acting, by the Lord Chamberlain Arlington as an anti-monarchical play." As the order is dated 11 Dec. 1680, the drama was probably presented on 8, 9, and 10 Dec. 1680.

Event Comment: In L. C. 5@152, pp. 202, 220--see Boswell, Restoration Court Stage, p. 105--is a reference to a performance given jointly by both companies. As this was the customary date of the celebration of King William's birthday, this musical work was probably given on this day. The BM copy has a MS date of 29 Nov. 1697; and a dialogue from this work was noticed in the Post Boy, 30 Nov.-2 Dec. 1697. The music was composed by John Eccles

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Frederick Reynolds. Prologue by James Boaden. Epilogue by Edward Topham (see text). For this play Reynolds and the cg manager made a new plan for payments to the author. Benefits for the author on the 3rd, 6th and 9th nights were abandoned; instead he received #33 6s. 8d. for each of the first nine nights and #100 on the 20th night. "This was the foundation of that bargain between manager and author which, I believe, exists to the present period [1826]" (Reynolds, II, 182-83)]. Morning Chronicle, 19 Jan. 1795: This Day is published The Rage! (2s.). Receipts: #259 13s. 6d. (255.17.6; 3.16.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Holcroft, based partly on The Fashionable Lover, by Richard Cumberland. Authors of Prologue and Epilogue unknown]. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30, for the remainder of the Season. Morning Chronicle, 13 May 1795: This Day is published The Deserted Daughter (2s.). Receipts: #210 2s. (205.12.6; 4.9.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Holcroft, adapted from Le Complaisant, by Antoine de Feriol comte de Pont-de-Veyle, and from Clavigo, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It has been attributed to John Fenwick (Genest, VII, 360-61; London Chronicle, 14 Feb. 1798). But for Holcroft's acknowledgment of authorship see his Life, ed. Elbridge Colby, 1925, II, 170. Author of Prologue unknown. Epilogue by the author (Knapp, p. 88)]. Times, 12 Apr. 1798: This Day will be published He's Much to Blame (2s.). "Mrs Mattocks has of late habituated herself to a constant titter, which destroys the effect of her best scenes" (Times, 14 Feb.). Receipts: #249 1s. (240.5; 8.16)