Event Comment: Cato [announced on playbill of 14 Jan.] is obliged to be deferred

Event Comment: Benefit for Davis and Dibdin. Cato cannot be perform'd on account of the indisposition of Mrs Mattocks. Tickets for Cato will taken. Charges #64 10s. [Profit to each beneficiary #4 5s. 6d. plus income from tickets. Davis #67 11s. (Box 65; Pit 272; Gallery 105); Dibdin #41 7s. (Box 46; Pit 97; Gallery 153).] (Account Book)

Event Comment: Benefit Penkethman. Written by Shakespear. N.B. The Tickets delivered out for The Trip to the Jubilee will be taken at this Play. [See Swift's Journal to Stella for the rehearsal of Cato at 10 a.m. on this day.

Event Comment: [Written by Shakespear. With new Scenes and Cloaths. At the Desire of several Persons of Distinction the Pit and Boxes will be put together at 3s. Boxes on the Stage 4s. Gallery 1s. [The Prologue is in The Comedian, No. VII, October 1732, with a long essay on the major theatres of the present season.] Daily Advertiser, 4 Oct.: A very splendid and crowded Audience...testify'd their Approbation both of the Decorations and Performance. The principal Embellishments are as follows: On a large Oval over the Pit is represented the Figure of His Majesty, attended by Peace, Liberty, and Justice, trampling Tyranny and Oppression under his Feet; round it are the Heads of Shakespear, Dryden, Congreve, and Betterton. On the Coving on the Left Hand is painted the Scene of Cato pointing at the dead Body of his Son Marcus; in the Middle, that of Julius Caesar stabb'd in the Senate-House; and on the Right, that of Marc Anthony and Octavia, where the Children are introduc'd in All for Love. On the Sounding-Board over the Stage is an handsome Piece of Painting of Apollo and the Nine Muses. [See also Daily Post, 4 Oct. and Gentleman's Magazine, II (October 1732), 1028.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Otway. At Common Prices. 6 p.m. N.B. There is a new Passage to the Pit.,. also a large Lobby for the Servants that keep Places. Receipts: #65. Egerton 2320: ye first night of Mr Right's appearance. Cato given out, but cou'd not be play'd, Mrs Cibber not being ready in Maria we cou'd play no Play but the Orphan Mrs Thurmond having left us

Event Comment: Never acted there before. Written by the late Mr Addison, author of Cato

Event Comment: This farce of Lethe was wrote some years ago and play'd with Success, & was reviv'd this Night with great Alterations, & was but indifferently receiv'd by the Audience (Cross). The Poet, Frenchman, & Sot Mr Garrick perform'd most inimitably (Charles Adams to John Gilbert-Cooper, Theatre Notebook, XI (1957) p. 138). No After Money will be taken, and no Persons will be Admitted behind the Scenes (General Advertiser). Receipts: #180 (Cross); #186 7s. (Powel). N.B.: Mr G-k is the author of Lethe and did receive #36 8s. 6d. for this night which is the overplus after the charge of #63 for the House is paid, and which I must subtract from the rest (Powel). [A letter appeared in the General Advertiser this day giving advance notice and approval of a performance of Cato to be put on at Leicester House 7 Jan. by members of the Royal Family. The author noted that "proper Habits are absolutely in the making," and that the Princes would learn the principles of liberty from the lines of the play.

Event Comment: [P$Potter reprinted his letter of 18 Jan., and added the footnote: "The person who took the House was a man of genteel appearance, said his name was William Nicholls, and directed letters to be left for him at the Bedford Coffee House, Covent Garden."] [The Prologue and Epilogue spoken by the children of the Prince of Wales on their performing Cato at Leicester House, printed in the General Advertiser.] [This day published] A Letter to Mr G-k, relative to his treble Capacity of Manager, Actor, and Author; with some remarks upon Lethe. All Three! All three! Gay. Sold by W. Reeve in Fleet St.; and A. Dodd, at the Peacock opposite St. Clements Church in the Strand (General Advertiser). [This day published] Lethe, A Dramatick Satire, by David Garrick as it is perform'd at Drury Lane. Printed for P. Vaillant, facing Southampton Street in the Strand. Receipts: #140 (Cross); #144 17s. 6d. (Powel)

Event Comment: This day is publish'd a Guide to the Stage; or Select Instructions and Precedents from the best Authorities towards forming a polite Audience; with some account of the Players, &c. Printed and sold by D. Job, at the Spread Eagle in King St. [An ironical post-Addisonian quip at theatrical behavior]: I boldly enter the lists as the first champion for theatric decorum. The next thing to be consider'd is disapprobation, which I think may be sufficiently shewn, by an attention to something else, by loud discourse, profuse laughter, and the like. I cannot help thinking it a little out of character, for a polite audience to distort their features by a hiss: however for the sake of some ambitious youths, who thus love to signalize themselves, I shall leave a new play to their mercy. They then are at liberty to exercise their several talents whether they hiss or groan most successfully, or have a greater genius for the cat-call. If you desire to know when you are to shew your dislike, my answer is, when anything displeases you, or in fine when you will provided you have a strong party to second you; for the best hiss or groan in the universe may be drown'd in a general applause. [Never laugh at what passes on stage save it be an error, blunder, or accident. In tragic scenes avoid being visibly moved by humming a tune, regarding the audience, engaging in conservation, or turning your back to the stage. When a female social rival calls attention to herself and away from the stage, let fall your handkerchief into the pit, or call out to an acquaintance in the opposite box, or burst into loud and unexpected laughter. You'll know when to applaud, for the actors will tell you.] On these occasions Cato looks more than unusually big, Hamlet stares with great emphasis, Othello has a most languishing aspect, Monimia is all sighs and softness, Beatrice will bridle, and pretty Peggy Wildair leers you into a clap. Receipts: #170 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Pritchard (Cross). Mainpiece: Not acted these 30 years. This day publish'd. Price 1s. Reflections upon Theatrical Expression in Tragedy. [By Roger Pickering. This is a defense of the theatrical profession, "which in all countries is considered low and contemptible." Author's thesis: "A master of theatrical expression in all its extensive significancy must be possess'd of such accomplishments, as to set the profession above all contempt." Garrick is mentioned as best example. True tragic expression "requires Genius, Education, Reading, Experience...and a solidity of thought which never accompanies abject morals" (p. 11). Includes an interesting treatise on acting-sections on figure, voice, ear, memory, management of feet and legs. Comments on costume: "Taste in dress demands that an actor be conversant in the mode of dress ancient and modern, in other countries as well as in our own...Alexander and Cato were not masters of the snuff box, nor Greek women of French heels." The appendix asks why all our plays are not dressed in character in point of time and place, and why they do not contain at least one "scene" proper to the country. The author (p. 61) sees need for variety in acting same role, especially when a play has a continuous run of several nights. He calls (p. 77) for creation of appropriate mood for the play by selection of proper music between the acts. Wants a softening of the prompter's bell. Concludes by damning contemporary audience manners, especially those of the stage loungers (pp. 79-81).] Receipts: #314 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for Aickin. Tickets for Cato will be taken. Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Afterpiece: By Desire