Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but Lucyle Hook, James Brydges Drops in at the Theatre, Huntington Library Bulletin, VIII (1945), 309, speculates that James Brydges' attendance at lif this day may have been prompted by his seeing this new play, as he stayed longer than he often did at a theatrical performance. The comedy was certainly acted before 12 March 1699@1700. James Brydges, Diary: I went to ye play in Lincolns inn fields, where I met Sr G. Coply, who set me down after it was ended (Huntington MS St 26). Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 45: The Way of the World, a Comdey wrote by Mr Congreve, twas curiously Acted; Madam Bracegirdle performance her Part so exactly and just, gain'd the Applause of Court and City; but being too Keen a Satyr, had not the Success the Company Expected

Event Comment: Wth Shakespear's ode (by Havard). Mrs Cibber ill, she came tho', and went thro' Ye two first Acts & then Miss Haughton finish'd the Part (Cross). For bt. of Ross, but Ross did not act. Receipts: #180 (Cross)

Event Comment: MMr Foote's Oratorical Lectures will be continued in the New Theatre in the Haymarket this day, between Twelve and One noon. [In six parts]: 1. Oratory in general, 2. Its utility demonstrated from its universality, 3. Distinct species of oratory, 4. The present practice peculiar to the English, 5. Necessity of an Academy, 6. The propriety of appointing the author perpetual professor. The whole to be illustrated in apt instances by a set of pupils long trained to the art, one of which is amazing proof of the force of Genius when properly cultivated (Public Advertiser). [These lectures were given 36 times and referred thereafter this season as The Orators.

Event Comment: [N$Neville read part of play before going in at six.

Event Comment: Paid Six days salary at #82 16s. 5d. per diem, #496 18s. 6d.; Paid Mrs Abington in part of #60 for cloaths, #7; Paid Mr J. Johnston's Music Bill #15 9s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #119 12s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Play a New Italian Burletta. The first performance in England. Libertto by Goldoni; Music by Galuppi (Loewenberg, Annals of Opera, p. 107). Books of the Opera will be sold at the theatre. Ladies send servants by half past three. Nothing but full prices will be taken during the performance

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author. Ladies send servants by half past three

Event Comment: Benefit for Shuter. Mainpiece: By Desire. Not acted these five years. [See 4 April 1752.] Ladies send servants by half past three o'clock. [The MS of Shuter's skit is Larpent MS 155.

Event Comment: Being desir'd by many Persons of Quality, for ONE NIGHT ONLY, and By Permission of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Catch-Club, at the Thatch'd House in St Jame's St., will be perform'd the Favourite Catches and Glees which were exhibited Last Summer at Ranelagh-House, With TWO DESIR'D ALTERATIONS. After the 2nd Act, a Concerto on the Violin, by Barthelemon. A Considerable number of the Best Vocal and Instrumental Performers are engag'd on this occasion. Books for the Performance to be had at the theatre. Great care will be taken to keep the Theatre Cool. Ladies and Gentlemen send servants before the opening of the doors, which will be at Half-past 4. No persons can possibly be admitted behind the scenes. To Begin at exactly Seven o'clock. Tickets to be had and places to be taken (ONLY) of Mr Johnston at the stage Door (playbill)

Event Comment: Doors opened at half past 4 o'clock. Play to begin at 6 o'clock

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Ladies and Gentlemen are respectfully informed that no Places can be kept after their Majesties are seated; in order to prevent confusion they are likewise requested to send their Servants to the Theatre by half past four o'Clock. Receipts: #292 2s. (264.17; 22.12; 4.13)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. To prevent Confusion, Ladies and Gentlemen are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'Clock. Mainpiece: In I The Cardinal's Banquet. In II the Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine. In V a Grand Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Morning Herald, 7 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. Receipts: #493 16s. (258.15.6; 25.13.0; 1.16.0; tickets: 207.11.6) (charge: #159 8s. 10d.)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Force of Ridicule; afterpiece of Richard Coeur de Lion, both advertised on playbill of 28 Nov.] "The new Comedy last night was deferred upon the pretext of Miss Farren's illness...The Manager sent after Mrs Siddons, who was found at Covent-Garden Theatre, seeing Abroad and at Home. Brandon, however, ordered her a chair, and she kindly performed Isabella. Wroughton read the Father" (Oracle, 30 Nov.). "For near an hour the audience waited patiently...At half past seven Palmer addressed the audience" He said that Miss Farren was ill, that to those who preferred to leave the theatre their money would be returned, and that instead of the new play Mrs Siddons would act Isabella, "as soon as the dresses could be prepared for that purpose. This address was by no means favourably received, and hundreds of persons immediately left the house. A few minutes after eight, the Curtain drew up to the tragedy, which was well performed, and much applauded by the few who remained to witness it" (Morning Herald, 30 Nov.). "November 30. Miss Farren last night refused to appear in a new Play at Drury Lane which made much confusion in the House. The cause assigned was indisposition but that was not believed by the audience; and the fact Lysons says is, that as she cannot obtain payment from the Theatre, she resolutely told them she wd. not appear unless her demands were paid...Such is the unprincipled conduct of Sheridan" (Diary of Joseph Farington, 1922, I, 174). [On 1 Dec. Morning Herald prints a letter from Miss Farren, from Green-street, Grosvenor-square. saying that she really was ill. The editor of the paper adds a note in which he affirms his positive knowledge that rumours about a dispute as to Miss Farren's unpaid salary were without foundation.] Receipts: #134 2s. (82.2; 50.18; 1.2)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 5, by Benjamin Thompson, altered from Menschenhass und Reue, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Prologue by William Linley; Epilogue by Matthew Gregory Lewis (European Magazine, Mar. 1798, p. 260)]: With new Scenes, Dresses, &c. With Musick [by Thomas Shaw]. "Mrs Siddons was succesful in all the impassioned parts; but she cannot sustain a mixed character. She is the Muse of Tragedy herself, and when she descends from her lofty state to the level of familiar dialogue, she instantly ceases to astonish and we to admire" (Monthly Mirror, Apr. 1798, p. 234). "The dialogue must be considerably abridged, as well for the purpose of preserving the interest of the piece, as for shortening the time of representation, which is at least an hour too long, it being half past ten before the curtain dropt" [see 26 Mar.] (Morning Herald, 26 Mar.). Receipts: #420 7s. 6d. (378.11.6; 40.18.0; 1.8.0)

Event Comment: "We suggest the necessity of curtailing the entertainments...The Purse ought to have been entirely omitted. There is a want of alertness between the acts which is much better managed at the Winter Theatres. Rosina 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" (Times, 30 Aug.)

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: To begin at half after six

Event Comment: To begin at half after six

Event Comment: Benefit for Poynter and Dancer. To begin at half after six

Event Comment: Benefit for a Tradesman in Distress. A Concert, etc. Prices 4s., 2s. 6d., 1s. 6d. To begin at half after six

Event Comment: A New Opera. To begin at half after six (Daily Advertiser)

Event Comment: By Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Prices as 12 Oct. To begin at half after Six

Event Comment: Benefit Signora Frasi. At the Great Room, Dean St. A Musical Entertainment by Handel. To begin at half after six

Event Comment: Poems of Milton, with music by Handel. Benefit for Beard. Admittance 5s. To begin at half after Six

Event Comment: 1st piece [1st time; PREL 1, by George Colman, ynger. Larpent MS 951; synopsis of plot in Diary, 16 June. This piece is stated to have been published in 1792]. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be had of Rice, at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. In 1st piece "Parsons was highly entertaining in affecting to speak in an under tone scarcely audible, that the feebleness of his voice might correspond with the smallness of the House, compared with the enormous [new] Theatre over the way; and his broken, unintelligible mode of announcing the Performance to the Audience as a specimen, was truly whimsical" (Morning Herald, 16 June)