Event Comment: Mainpiece: With Alterations [by John Philip Kemble]. The Scenery and Dresses are entirely new. The Scenes designed and executed by Marinari and Capon. [Oracle, 29 Feb.: Capon painted three scenes of Westminster Hall.] An accurate Edition of The Plain Dealer to be had in the Theatre. Receipts: #324 14s. 6d. (322.6.6; 2.8.0)

Event Comment: Account-Book, 13 Feb.: Received from John Ashley Oratorio rent #52 10s. [i.e. for every performance]

Event Comment: Benefit for the Widow and Three Orphan Children of the late Mr Benson. [Address by John Taylor, Poems, I, 62.] "Benson [who committed suicide on 19 May] was remarkable for a very retentive memory, which enabled him on the slightest notice to become a substitute for almost any performer who might be suddenly disabled from appearing" (European Magazine, June 1796, p. 397). The house was a very good one, but it has been said that Sheridan went to the Treasury and carried off the money, so that Benson's widow and children never got a sixpence" (Genest, VII, 245). Receipts: #678 10s. 6d. (319.8.0; 66.3.6; 2.19.0; tickets: 276.6.0; odd money: 13.14.0) (charge: #212 15s.)

Event Comment: [As afterpiece the playbill announces Olympus in an Uproar, but it "was obliged to be postponed, on account of the sudden indisposition of Mrs Martyr. The change was announced in bills published at a late hour, and the door-keepers were ordered to acquaint the audience as they entered of the change. This information ought to have been given from the stage; but instead of that decent ceremony the curtain drew up on Rosina. John Bull resented this want of respect, and made a tremendous clamour, which Incledon and Townsend in vain attempted, by repeated apologies, to allay. At last, however, the storm gradually subsided, and Rosina was suffered to warble her mellifluous tones" (True Briton, 14 Nov.).] Receipts: #199 4s. (193.6; 5.18)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Robert Jephson, based on La Clemenza di Tito. by Pietro Bonaventura Trapassi? Metastasio. Text (unauthorized), Dublin: John Archer, 1796; it assigns no parts. Authors of Prologue and Epilogue unknown]: The Scenery by Marinari. Receipts: #237 10s. (169.18; 64.12; 3.0)

Event Comment: [Address by John Taylor (see text).] Receipts: #236 17s. (229.5; 7.12)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MD 2, by George Colman, ynger, based on Raoul Barbe Bleue, by Michel Jean Sedaine (although, in the 1st edition of the play, this denied by Colman). Text (Cadell and Davies, 1798)]: The Scenery, Machinery, Dresses, and Decorations entirely new. The Musick composed and selected [from Paisiello] by Kelly. The Scenes designed and executed by Greenwood? Jun, Chalmers, and others. The Machinery, Decorations, and Dresses designed and under the direction of Johnston, and executed by him, Underwood, Gay, and Miss Rein. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. Times, 8 Feb. 1798: This Day is published Blue Beard (1s. 6d.). "In the course of the representation, many blunders in working the scenery, which are unavoidable in a first representation of this nature, occurred, and the delays which took place were frequently very great...It was twelve o'-clock before the curtain dropped...The Expense of getting it up is said to be not less than #2,000" (London Chronicle, 18 Jan.). Proud swells the tide, with loads of capering heels, And vacant Folly shouts applause in peals; Hoards, even beyond th miser's wish, are thrown, To deck some sham farago for the town...Money for dresses, money for new scenes, New music, decorations, and machines; The cost of these, including every freak, Would pay ten decent players four pounds a week. Anthony Pasquin (pseud. for John Williams), "Innovation," in The Devil [1787], II, no. 2, 46. Receipts: #319 14s. 6d. (216.17.6; 102.2.0; 0.15.0)

Event Comment: 3rd piece [1st time; MF 2, by George Moultrie. Larpent MS 1199; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Herald, 18 Mar. Prologue by John Taylor (Poems, I, 97)]: The Music composed by Attwood. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #250 14s. (243.16; 6.18)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bannister. 3rd piece [1st time: INT 1. Larpent MS 1218; not published]: A Sequel [to Sylvester Daggerwood], written by John? O'Keeffe. Times, 24 May: Tickets to be had of Bannister, No. 7, Suffolk-street, Haymarket. Receipts: #318 17s. (86.6.0; 44.4.6; 2.0.6; tickets: 186.6.0, of which Bannister to pay for half over #100) (charge: none listed)

Event Comment: The last Night of the Company's performing this season. [This was John Palmer's last appearance in London. He died on the stage of the Liverpool theatre, while acting in The Stranger, on 2 Aug. 1798.] Receipts: #164 19s. (113.2.6; 50.9.0; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; M. INT 1, by Thomas John Dibdin. Prologue by Richard Cumberland (see text)]: The Overture and Music composed by Attwood, with some favorite Selections from the Works of Dibdin and Mazzinghi. Books of the Songs, including a descriptive Sketch of the Ballet, to be had at the Theatre. Morning Herald, 5 Nov. 1798: This Day is published The Mouth of the Nile (1s.). Receipts: #309 3s. 6d. (303.0.6; 6.3.0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time in London; F2, by Thomas John Dibdin, 1st acted at Maidstone, 12 July 1798]. Receipts: #286 3s. (279.13; 6.10)

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: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Joseph George Holman. Prologue by William Thomas Fitzgerald; Epilogue by John Taylor (see text)]: With new Dresses, Scenery, &c. [Afterpiece in place of The Farmer, advertised on playbill of 11 Jan.] Morning Chronicle, 26 Mar. 1799: This Day is published The Votary of Wealth (2s.). Receipts: #326 10s. 6d. (321.2.6; 5.8.0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by Thomas John Dibdin; pantomime by Charles Farley]: With new Scenery, Machinery, Tricks, Dresses, and Decorations. The Overture, Airs and Chorusses by Attwood. The Pantomime Music by Attwood, Mountain, and Ealy [recte Eley]. The Scenery by Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, Blackmore, Thorne, Wilkins, &c. The Machinery and Tricks by Cresswell, Sloper and Goostree. The Dresses by Dick and Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #364 (353.12; 10.8)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; C 3, by Thomas John Dibdin, altered from Die Versohnung, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Author of Prologue unknown. Epilogue by the author (see text)]: With new Scenery, Dresses, &c. [3rd piece in place of The Old Cloathsman, advertised on playbill of 6 Apr.] Receipts: #180 3s. (177.1; 3.2)

Event Comment: Benefit for Pope. 1st piece [1st time; D 4. Larpent MS 1249; not published synopsis of plot in Universal Magazine, Apr. 1799, p. 273]: Translated from [Der Graf von Burgund, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von? Kotzebue (Author of The Stranger, Lover's Vows, &c.) by Miss Anne? Plumptre, and adapted to the English Stage by Alexander? Pope. Morning Chronicle, 25 26 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Pope at his house, No. 5, Half Moon-street, Piccadilly. [This was Mrs Abington's last appearance on the stage.] "The perpetuated evidence of youth was in character with her person and her powers; the slimness of her figure, the fulness of her voice, the freshness of her spirits, the sparkle of her eye, and the elasticity of her limbs, savoured alike of a juvenility that puzzled the mind, whilst it pleased it: of her it was justly said that 'she had been on the stage thirty years; she was one-and-twenty when she came, and one-and-twenty when she went!'" (John Bernard, Retrospections of the Stage, 1830, II, 228-29). Receipts: #334 19s. 6d. (194.1.0; 2.5.0; tickets: 138.13.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Knight. 2nd piece [1st time; F 1, by Thomas John Dibdin. Larpent MS 1252; not published]. 3rd piec : Not acted these 9 years. [Miss A. DeCamp had appeared as a dancer with the dl Company at king's in the season of 1792-93.] Morning Chronicle, 22 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Knight, No. 38, King-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #392 3s. (185.12.6; 3.18.0; tickets: 202.12.6)

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: 2nd piece [1st time; MD 5, by George Holman, based on Die Rauber, by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller. Prologue by John Taylor (Poems, I, 65)]: With new Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. The Musick composed by Attwood, and selected from Dr Arnold, Callcott, and Mozart. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Morning Chronicle, 4 Sept. 1799;: This day is published The Red Cross Knights (2s.). Ibid, 22 Aug.: It was remarked from its extreme length and the frequent fall of the drop scene that it was a play in ten acts instead of five--indeed this method of preparing for a new scene disjoints the business, and of course tends greatly to injure the effect

Event Comment: [Address by Thomas John Dibdin (T. J. Dibdin, Reminiscences, 1, 256).] Boxes 6s. Pit 3s. 6d. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 9 Dec.]. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Box office in Hart-street. No Money to be returned. [On playbill of 6 May 1800: Printed by E. Macleish, 2, Bow-street, Covent-Garden.] Receipts: #290 3s. 6d. (279.12.0; 10.11.6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Miss Biggs as Angela, but "On account of the sudden indisposition of Miss Biggs, Miss Heard will perform the part of Angela, and hopes for the usual indulgence of the audience" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill).] Afterpiece [1st time; MF 2, by Thomas John Dibdin, based on Der Wildfang, by August Ferdinand Friedrich von Kotzebue. Prologue by Miles Peter Andrews (London Chronicle, 4 Feb. 1800)]: The Overture and Musick composed by Kelly [with one selection from Paisiello]. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. Receipts: #264 17s. (139.8.6; 122.17.0; 2.11.6)