Event Comment: Benefit Chapman. Afterpiece: Not Acted these Seven Years. Written by Mr Christopher Bullock, Comedian. [Tickets at Chapman's, Bow-Street, cg.

Event Comment: Mainpiece [by Christopher Bullock]: Not acted these 20 years. [See 9 Feb. 1737.

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F 2 (?), by John Philip Kemble. Not in Larpent MS; not published]: Taken from Woman's Revenge [by Christopher Bullock]. Kemble Mem.: Trick upon Trick is taken from Bullock's Match in Newgate [i.e. the 2nd title of Woman's Revenge]...my handy-work. Receipts: #200 16s. (172.9.0; 27.11.6; 0.10.6; ticket not come in: 0.5.0)

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but as the play was advertised in the Post Man, 25-27 May 1699, it may have been acted before Easter (9 April 1699), certainly by the end of April. Dedication, to the Countess of Burlington: I...beg your Ladyship's Protection for a Play which stands rank'd amongst the Unfortunate....[A song, Loving and beloved again, with music by Samuel Ackroyde, is in Mercurius Musicus, 1699.

Event Comment: Christopher Rich's Company. The date of the resumption of playing is not certain, for Cibber (see below) beclouds the issue by referring to Easter-Monday in April, whereas the first Monday following Easter fell on 25 March 1694@5. Nevertheless, Monday 1 April 1695 seems the likely date of the resumption of playing, with Rich's Company ready to perform before the seceding company under Thomas Betterton was fully organized. A new song for Abdelazar, Lucinda is bewitching fair, the music by Henry Purcell and sung by "the Boy" (Jemmy? Bowen), is in Thesaurus Musicus, The Fourth Book, 1695. Cibber, Apology, I, 195: [The Patentees] were not able to take the Field till the Easter-Monday in April following. Their first Attempt was a reviv'd Play call'd Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge, poorly written, by Mrs Behn. The House was very full, but whether it was the Play or the Actors that were not approved, the next Day's Audience sunk to nothing. However, we assured that let the Audiences be never so low, our Masters would make good all Deficiencies, and so indeed they did, till towards the End of the Season, when Dues to Ballance came too think upon 'em. [See I, 195-96, for Cibber's account of his Prologue.] A Comparison Between the Two Stages, 1702, p. 7: But in my Opinion, 'twas strange that the general defection of the old Actors which left Drury-lane, and the fondness which the better sort shew'd for 'em at the opening of their Newhouse, and indeed the Novelty it self, had not quite destroy'd those few young ones that remain'd behind. The disproportion was so great at parting, that 'twas almost impossible, in Drury-lane, to muster up a sufficient number to take in all the Parts of any Play; and of them so few were tolerable, that a Play must of necessity be damn'd that had not extraordinary favour from the Audience: No fewer than Sixteen (most of the old standing) went away; and with them the very beauty and vigour of the Stage; they who were left behind being for the most part Learners, Boys and Girls, a very unequal match for them who revolted. According to a statement made in litigation, the company in Drury Lane acted 84 times between 25 March 1694@5 and 7 July 1695; and the Young Actors played 68 times from 6 July 1695 to 10 Oct. 1695 to 10 Oct. 1695. See Hotson, Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, p. 308

Event Comment: Christopher Rich's Company. The date of this revival is not certain. Apparently the revival was in preparation before the division of the company, but the publication of the Songs in 1695 confines the production to the period between mid-April and the late autumn. For the opera, see The Works of John Dryden, Vol. VIII: The Plays, edited by John Harrington Smith and Dougald MacMillan (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1692), pp. 325-30; Moore, Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre, Chapter VI;and Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, Vol. XIX. The Songs (1695), the music by Henry Purcell, lists the following pieces and singers: I, Wake, wake, Quivera, sung by Freeman. I, Why shou'd men quarrel, sung by The Boy, with Flutes. Their looks are such that mercy flows, sung by Freeman. II, I come to sing, sung by Freeman. Scorn'd Envy here's nothing, sung by Freeman. Begone, curst Feinds of Hell, sung by Freeman. III, Ah, how happy we are, sung by Freeman and Church. I attempt from Love's sickness to fly, sung by Mrs Cross. IV, They tell us that you mighty powers above, sung by Mrs Cross. In addition, other parts of the opera appeared elsewhere: Act V, a Masque, set by Daniel Purcell, O Bless the Genial Bed with chast delights, in Deliciae Musicae, First Book of the Second Volume, 1696. [The others, since they do not name the performers, are omitted here.

Event Comment: A New English Opera after the Italian Manner. [Text by Henry Carey. Set to Musick by John Christopher Smith.] Pit and Boxes put together at 5s. First Gallery 3s. Upper Gallery 2s. 6 p.m. Receipts: For Mr Arne

Event Comment: Taken from a Midsummer Night's Dream written by Shakespear. The Songs from Shakespear, Milton, Waller, Dryden, Lansdown, Hammond. Music-Smith. [First edition Text by John Christopher Smith; see Garrick to James Murphey French, Dec. 1756; H. Walpole to R. Bentley 23 Feb. 1755.] Besides our own Singers, we had Sg Guadagni, Sga Passerini, Miss Potier [i.e., Mrs Vernon], and Savage's Boys. Very great Applause; Sabatini danced after it and fell down, not hurt (Cross). [See A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Hands of Garrick and Colman, G. W. Stone Jr, PMLA (June 1939).] Receipts: #200 (Cross)

Event Comment: Receipts: #63 12s. [For Rich's operation of both cg and lif simultaneously, see Hughes and Scouten, John Rich and the Holiday Seasons of 1732-33, pp. 46 -52.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted there before. New Decorations incident to the play (General Advertiser). Advanc'd towards purchasing Mr Smollet's copy of Alceste #100 (Account Book). Handel remov'd to Covent Garden, and entered into some engagements with Rich, the particulars of which are not known, save that in discharge of a debt that he had contracted with him in consequence thereof, he some years after set to music an English opera entitled Alceste, written by Dr Smollet, and for which Rich was at great expense in a set of scenes painted by Servandoni; but it was never performed (Hawkins, General History of Music, V, 324). [For additional information on Alceste, see Deutsch, Handel, pp. 679-81. See also cg 14 Feb. 1749.] Receipts: #155 18s. 6d

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Frederick Reynolds. Prologue by William Thomas Fitzgerald. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]: With new Scenes and Dresses. [In mainpiece the playbill lists Mrs Esten, but "Previous to the play an apology was made in behalf of Mrs Davis, who had undertaken Mrs Esten's character in consequence of the indisposition of the latter lady. [After considerable objection] Mrs Davis was well received in the part" (Thespian Magazine, June 1793, p. 4).] Public Advertiser, 3 May 1793: This Day is published How to Grow Rich (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #257 17s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit John and Ch. Rich. At the Desire of several Persons of Quality. Mainpiece: Written by Mr Estcourt. Receipts: #36 8s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit J. and Ch. Rich. Receipts: #98 14s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit J. and Ch. Rich. Receipts: #44 5s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit J. and Ch. Rich. Receipts: #48 12s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit Cross (Numberer), John and Chr. Rich. Receipts: money #10 13s.; tickets #98 5s

Event Comment: Receipts: #16 2s. Rich's Register lists The Drummer and The Cheats

Event Comment: Benefit John Rich. Receipts: #167 18s. Daily Journal, 9 Jun.: The concourse of People to see it [The Necromancer] was so exceeding great, that many hundreds were obliged to go back again, as not being able to gain Admittance; the Entertainment was wonderful satisfactory to the Audience, as exceeding all the Legerdemain that has hitherto been performed on the Stage

Event Comment: Benefit J. Rich. Receipts: #141 15s. 6d