Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Mrs Peachum to Mrs Webb, but on the Kemble playbill her name is deleted and a MS annotation substitutes Mrs Davenett's.] Receipts: #157 19s. 6d. (156/10/6; 1/9/0)

Event Comment: "Among other Obligations that the Town has to the new Open is that it has, for this year, delivered the Play-goer from his periodical Endurance of Rowe's Tamerlane" (Public Advertiser, 6 Nov.). The reference is to the long established custom of performing Tamerlane either on 4 Nov. (the date of William III's birth) or 5 Nov. (the date of his landing in England). In the play the virtuous Tamerlane was held to be the portrait of an upright monarch, and the vicious Bajazet [i.e. Louis xiv] as that monarch's enemy. At DL Tamerlane was acted on either or both of these nights uninterruptedly from 1716 to 1777; at LIF and CG, with the exception of five seasons, from 1721 to 1784. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 1 May 1783]. Receipts: #155 2s. 6d. (153/4/0; 1/18/6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by John O'Keeffe. MS: Larpent 608; not published. CG playbill of 16 Nov. 1795 has a detailed synopsis of the action]: Intermixed with Songs and Dialogue. With new Music, Scenes, Dresses, Machinery, and Decorations. The new Music composed by Shield. The new Scenes designed by Richards, and executed by Richards, Hodgins, and assistants. To conclude with a Representation of the Lord Mayor's Show on the Water. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. "As to the Pantomime it wanted nothing on the first Night but Abbreviations . . . [which should be] omission of the Doctors, the two Women of the Town, and the whole of Edwin's Character" (Public Advertiser, 27 Nov.). Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1783, pp. 29-31, contains a detailed synopsis of the procession, and adds, "The personages of this procession were all dressed in the characters of the time in which they lived, and before each of them a label, a scroll, or a pageant was carried, bearing their name, or some allusion of the poets to their occupation. The figures in transparency were all painted as large as the life, and had a most grand and beautiful effect . . . The idea of the paintings was furnished by Mr Richards and Mr Smirk [sic], and all of them executed by the latter in a style of so much taste and excellence that it is a matter of some wonder to us, where an artist of Mr Smirk's abilities has been so long concealed . . . The glee introduced with so much applause is the composition of the late Dr Rogers (who lived in 1600); the other airs in the pantomime and procession arc by Handel, Lord Kelly, Abel, Stamitz and Shield, and have very great merit. The expense of preparing this splendid spectacle must have been very great, and the cost of continuing its representation cannot be inconsiderable, since more than 200 supernumeraries are employed to walk in the procession." Receipts: #215 3s. (206/3; 9/0)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #295 17s. (290/0; 5/17)

Event Comment: Benefit for [W.] Bates and Mahon. Afterpiece: With an exact Representation of the Irish Giant [who had recently been exhibited in London: Charles Byrne, 1761-83], and a Leap through a Cask on Fire. Receipts: #132 5s. Receipts: #132 5s. (none listed; tickets: 132/5) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: In order to prevent Confusion among the Carriages, Ladies and Gentlemen are humbly requested to order their Servants to set down and take up with their Horses' Heads towards Pali-Mall. Servants are particularly desired not to croud the Doors, or to come up till called for. 1st piece: In three Scenes of Dialogue

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by Lillo, Author of George Barnwell. [Prologue, which is by George Colman, the elder, is the Prologue introductory to the play, not the Prologue spoken on 31 May, &c] Afterpiece: The Music by Dr Arnold. The Scenes by Rooker. Books of the Tragedy and of the Songs in the Pantomime to be had in the Theatre

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; c 3, by Denis O'Bryen. Prologue by the author; Palmer was obliged to read it, he "not having received it in due time". Epilogue by George Colman, the elder, with name of speaker (Town and Country Magazine, July 1783, p. 339). MS: Larpent 626; not published; synopsis of plot in Public Advertiser, 7 July]

Event Comment: Afterpiece: To conclude with an Exact Representation of the Procession at an Eastern Marriage. The Scenery by Richards, Carver, Hodgins, Cipriani, Catton, and others. The Music composed by [Michael] Arne. Paid Properties 19th Inst. 10s. 10d. Receipts: #261 9s. 6d. (260/4/6; r/5/0)

Event Comment: She Wou'd and She Wou'd Not [announced on playbill of 24 Sept.] is obliged to be deferred on account of the Indisposition of a Principal Performer [Lewis (Public Advertiser, 27 Sept.)]. Receipts: #178 2s. 6d. (174/2/0; 4/0/6)