Event Comment: [For Johnston as Hamlet see cg, 28 Apr. Mr Johnston was from the Dublin theatre.

Event Comment: In II The Grand Triumphal Entry of Alexander into Babylonv. In IV a Grand Banquetv. [Macartney was from the Theatre Royal, Dublin.] Receipts: #222 18s. (218.2; 4.16)

Event Comment: 1st piece [1st time; PREL 1, by Richard Cumberland. Larpent MS 958; not published]. Without insisting on the great Expence that has been incurred in re-building this Theatre (in the erecting of which no other Object has been attempted but the greater ease, safety and accomodation of the Spectators) it appears upon the Books that the Annual Disbursements of the past Seasons have gradually been encreasing from Year to Year, under the Direction of the present Proprietor, to nearly the sum of #10,000 per Annum more than the usual Expenditure of any of his Predecessors; it is therefore trusted the Necessity of the following small Advancement of the Prices of Admission to the Boxes and the Pit will be sufficiently apparent to the Justice of that Public whose Liberality has never yet been doubted. E. Barlow, Treasurer. Boxes 6s. 2nd Price 3s. Pit 3s. 6d. 2nd Price 2s. Gallery 2s. 2nd Price 1s. No Money to be returned. The Office for taking Places for the Boxes is removed to Hart-street. The principal new Entrance to the Boxes is from the Great Portico in Bow-street; from the Small Portico are Entrances to the Pit and Gallery only. In the Old Passage from the Piazza are new Entrances to the Boxes, Pit, and Gallery. Carriages coming to Bow-street Entrances are desired to set down and take up with the Horses' Heads towards Hart-street. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 12 Nov.]. [The audience objected vociferously to the increased prices of admission and to the absence of a 2nd gallery (and see under 19 Sept.). "The Prelude passed off without a syllable of it being heard...Two acts of The Road to Ruin displayed the performers' skill in pantomime, for not a word was heard...The Irishman in London then walked over the stag amidst the same riot and confusion which attended the preceding pieces" (Times, 18 Sept.).] Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for an Infant Orphan Family. Tickets to be had at No. 17, Tufton-street, Westminster; of Appleby, Hosier, Parliament-street; Mrs Cleaver, Cannon-row, Parliament-street; Newcomb, Confectioner, Bridge-street, Westminster; Taylor, Linen-draper, Whitehall; Thomas, Butcher, Charing-cross; Medhurst, Pastry Cook, Russel-court, Drury-lane; Rice, at the Theatre, where Places for the Boxes may be taken

Event Comment: [The Young Gentleman who played Zaphna was Wroughton. "His real name was Rottan, but altered euphonia gratia. He was designed for a surgeon and served his apprenticeship at Bath. The following playbills show that he met with approbation on the stage. He remained with Covent Garden from this time till the end of the season 1785-86. He then played in Ireland one Winter, and was engag'd at Drury Lane Theatre in the beginning of the season 1787-88. This was the occasion of Mr Wroughton's leaving Covent Garden, I mean it was thus conjectured. Mr Lewis had been appointed manager of that theatre for Mr Harris. Mr Lewis and Mr Wroughton lived next door neighbors in Broad Court at the top of Bow Street, and were sworn friends:--they laughed together, lived together--In the season 1784-85 two new performers Mr Holman and Mr Pope, appeared on the Covent Garden Stage--these young men were great favorites with Mr Harris; Mr Holman, attracting at this time very crowded audiences, stood so particularly high in his regard, that his partiality made him guilty of some injustice to older and abler actors in the theatre. Mr Henderson had really cause to complain of neglect; and Mr Wroughton thought himself equally oppressed. At this time we had a Club and met every Wednesday fortnight during Lent at the Long Room in Hamstead at dinner. Our Club consisted of a certain number of us belonging indifferently to either theatre, and two or three other gentlemen who were not actors. Mr King, Mr Quick, Mr Farren, Mr Mattocks, myself, etc., etc. When the bottle had a little warmed Mr Wroughton he threw out some sarcasms on his Friend Mr Lewis's management; Mr Lewis retorted; Their tempers grew hot, their words grew aggravating; Mr Wroughton struck Mr Lewis; Mr Lewis returned the blow. They were parted; all the pleasures of the day were over, and the Club broke up in confusion. I was not present this day, but have related what Mr Siddons told me of this Quarrel, and I imagine that Mr Wroughton's attack on Mr Lewis sprang from a suspicion that he was too willing to execute Mr Harris's designs in favour of Mr Holman. Be this as it may, Mr Wroughton was discharged from cg at the expiration of his Articles with Mr Harris."--Hopkins MS Notes.] Receipts: #186 3s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: The opening of the season was originally announced for 21 Dec. 1799, but on that day the Morning Chronicle carried the following notice: "The Nobility and Gentry, Subscribers to the Opera, and the Public, are most respectfully informed that the opening of this Theatre is unavoidably postponed to Saturday next, the 28th instant, on account of the indisposition of one of the principal Performers." But on the 28th the opening was again postponed to 4 Jan. On 6 Jan. a notice appeared in the Morning Herald, as follows: "King's Theatre, Saturday Evening, January 4, 1800. The Directors beg leave respectfully to inform the Nobility and Gentry (Subscribers) and the Public in general that the Theatre was advertised to be opened This Evening, with the concurrence and approbation of the Trustees, and it was not until this afternoon that they heard of an unforeseen difficulty having arisen with respect to issuing the License. It was then too late to advertise by means of the Public Newspapers the necessary postponement of the opening; but every effort was made on the part of the Direction to apprise the Subscribers, by sending to their respective houses, and by distributing a hand-bill in all the principal streets; notwithstanding which, they lament to find that many Ladies and Gentlemen were disappointed. The Directors humbly hope that on this statement of the fact they shall stand acquitted of all disrespect to the Subscribers and the Public, who shall have the earliest notice of the conclusion of all the arrangements for the immediate opening of the Theatre and performance of Operas for the season." See 11 Jan. A copy of the hand-bill referred to above, making mention of the "unforeseen circumstances," is attached to the Kemble playbill of dl, 4 Jan.

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Sims. Mainpiece: As altered from Wycherley by David Garrick, Esq. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30. Tickets to be had of Sims, the Theatrical Register, Wrekin Tavern, Broad-court, Long-acre; at the Blue Post Coffee-house, Charlotte-street, Rathbone-place; the Tun, Goodge-street, Middlesex Hospital; the Green Man, Union-street, Middlesex Hospital; the Wheat Sheaf, Rathbone-place; of Price, at the Coach and Horses, Holborn; at the Duke of Clarence Coffee-house, Haymarket; Spencer's, Two Blue Posts, Southampton-buildings; and of Rice at the Theatre

Event Comment: A new Comic Opera. The music entirely new by Sacchini. With entire new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations both for the Opera and Dances. Pit 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. By Their Majesties' Command, no person can be admitted behind the Scenes. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [see 5 June 1779]. To prevent Inconvenience to the Nobility and Gentry in getting to their Carriages they are respectfully intreated to give positive orders to their Servants to set down and take up with their Horses Heads towards Pall-mall. The door in Market Lane for Chairs only. Public Advertiser, 31 Oct.: To prevent mistakes Ladies who have not honoured the Director with the names of the Subscribers to their Boxes are particularly requested to send them as early as possible to Johnson, at the Office of the Theatre, in order to [permit] their Tickets being engraved. The Renters' Shares proposed to be granted on this Theatre are now made out, and particulars prepared, at Messrs Wallis and Parker's, Norfolk-street, Strand, who are impowered by the Proprietors to dispose in single Shares of those which remain unsubscribed for. The annual Subscriptions are receiving by Johnson at the Office of the Theatre in Union-court, Haymarket

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: It is possible that Katherine Phillips' Pompey, which was given in Dublin in February 1662@3, may have been presented in London in the late spring of 1663. Sir William Davenant's The Playhouse To Be Let, which apparently appeared in London in the late summer of 1663, has in Act V some elements of travesty upon Pompey. It is unlikely that its appearances in Dublin would make satire upon it have much point to London audiences without a performance in London; the spring of 1663 would be the most likely time for a presentation in London

Event Comment: The following Italian Singers have arrived in Dublin: Giuseppi Giordani, Francisco Giordani, Sga Marina Giordani, Sga Nicolina Giordani, Spiletta (Daily Advertiser). [Engaged for the Dublin season.

Event Comment: [Halpin is identified in MS list in Kemble playbills of new performers for this season. This was not his first appearance; he had acted previously in Dublin (Monthly Mirror, Nov. 1796, p. 437; Hibernian Journal (Dublin), 16 Dec. 1789, 20 Jan. 1790). For the naming of the characters in mainpiece, as they were called originally, see 23 Feb. 1792.] Receipts: #255 (193.11.6; 58.4.6; 3.4.0)

Event Comment: Benefit Dr Clancy. "The Day returns, but not to me returns," Milton. This Gentleman being deprived of the Advantages of following his profession; and as the writing he had produced for the stage could not be brought out this season, the Master of the Playhouse has been so kind as to favour him with a Benefit Night: It is therefore hoped, that as this will be the first instance of any person laboring under so heavy a deprivation, performing on the stage, the Novelty, as well as the Unhappyness of his case, will engage the favour and protection of a British Audience. Note: Tickets to be had at the Temple-Exchange Coffee House in Fleet Street; Tom's Coffee House in Cornhill; St. James Coffee House, St. James's Street; Child's Coffee House, St. Paul's Churchyard and the Chapter Coffee House in Paternoster Row. Places for Boxes to be Taken at the Stage Door of the Theatre. [General Advertiser, 4 April, publish'd a fifty-six Prologue (licensed) Intended for Oedipus, acted for the Benefit of the Very Ingenious Dr Clancy, written by Mr Lockman.

Event Comment: Benefit for ye Author (Cross). Tickets to be had of the Author at his lodgings the Angel in King's Street, Covent Garden; A Millar, over-against Catharine Street, in the Strand; and at the Stage Door of the theatre, where places may be taken (playbill). We hear Mr Ross is to perform the part of Romeo in the Play Romeo and Juliet for his benefit, which is to be on Thursday, the 31st of March (General Advertiser). Receipts: #200 (Cross)