Event Comment: Benefit for Johnstone. [Forster is identified by MS annotation on hay playbill now at Harvard.] Morning Chronicle, 25 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Johnstone, No. 19, Piazza, Covent Garden

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time: C 5, by George Colman ynger. Prologue by the Hon Francis North (see text, which also gives the names of the speakers of both Prologue and Epilogue). Epilogue by the author (London Chronicle, 18 July)]. "The force and feeling which [Aickin] gave to the amiable character of Stedfast-a character, indeed, strongly resembling his own for many bearing, probity and truth-must, we are persuaded, [make] a strong, indelible impression on the minds of all as have had an opportunity of witnessing his performance of that part" (+Dramatic Censor, III, 3)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Waldron, prompter. Mainpiece [1st time; TC 5, by Francis Godolphin Waldron. Larpent MS 1094; not published]: Founded on Shakespeare and Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen, by the Continuator of Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd. With new Music composed by Dr Arnold. Copies of the Songs will be delivered gratis at the Theatre. Afterpiece [1st time; C 3, by Francis Godolphin Waldron, abridged from his The Maid of Kent. Larpent MS 1095; not published]: Written by the Author of Heigho for a Husband. Tickets and Places for the Boxes to be had of Waldron, No. 54, Drury-lane, and of Rice, at the Theatre

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: The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 3 May 1790]. Paid Say for Tallow Candles last Season #88 6s. 3d. "That beautiful and best drawn character that the world ever saw, Sir John Falstaff, was mangled by Ryder. He substitutes savageness to jollity, and stiff mimicry to the natural debauchery that should hang as easily on Sir John as the Roomy mantle he moves in...Lewis gave us more the manner of the pretty man of fashion than of a dissipated hero" (Prompter, 4 Nov.). Receipts: #168 1s. 6d. (164.12.6; 3.9.0)

Event Comment: [Mrs Johnson was from the Park Theatre NewYork.] Afterpiece: Compressed into Two Acts. "Munden's Sir Francis Wronghead was a very pleasing display of comicality; but he should have contented himself with what was set down by the author, without introducing his own common place allusions to the fashions of the present day" (Morning Herald, 29 Sept.). Receipts: #200 17s. 6d. (195.19.6; 4.18.0)

Event Comment: Three Brothers of ye Delavals play'd ye Eldest Othello, ye next Iago, ye next Cassio--+Brabantio & Lodovico Mr Pine Roderigo-Cap. Stevens and Wife Emelia $Mrs Quan did Desdemona, the performance was very decent & met with great applause the Audience from ye Boxes to the upper Gallery were fill'd with people of ye first rank & make a most brilliant appearance. & ye greatest Crowd at ye Doors I ever saw. their Agreement for ye House was a receipt of one of the Alfred Houses upon an Averidge. they had all new cloaths, & very nicely ornamented with Diamonds (Cross). [See eulogy and criticism in some detail concerning the acting, by John Hill, Inspector No 3.] All Gentlemen and Ladies who intend going in coaches this evening to Drury Lane Theatre, are desired to order their coachmen to drive thro' Covent Garden, and stop at Bridges St. Door, and as soon as they have set down the company to drive off directly towards the Strand.--Those who go in chairs, are requested to order the men to the New Door in Russel St., and to prevent the avenues being stopt up no person will be admitted to either passage without first showing their tickets at the outward door (General Advertiser). Tickets Lost. If any person has found three tickets (numbers forgot) for the private play this night at Drury Lane, and will be so kind as to bring them to the Bar of the Rainbow Coffee House, Ironmonger Lane, shall receive 15s. for the whole, or in proportion for one or two of them (General Advertiser). Tomorrow Morning at 8 o'clock will be published' (price 6d.) by Thomas Carnan, at Mr Newberry's, at the Bible and Sun in St Paul's Churchyard; An Occasional Prologue and Epilogue to Othello, as it will this night be acted at the theatre-Royal in Drury Lane, by Persons of distinction, for their diversion. Written by Christopher Smart, A.M., Fellow of Pembroke Hall in the University of Cambridge. To be had at the place above mentioned, and at the pamphlet shops at the Royal Exchange and Charing Cross. This Prologue and Epilogue will be entered in the Hall Book of the Company of Stationers, and whoever presumes to pyrate them, or any part of them, will be persecuted as the Law directs (General Advertiser). [Both pieces by Christopher Smart, according to the Daily Advertiser. See two exceedingly favorable critical comments and one derogatory reprinted in the Gentleman's Magazine, March 1751 (pp. 119-22): "The greatest part of the play was much better performed than it ever was on any stage before. In the whole, there was a face of nature that no theatrical piece, acted by common players ever came up to." Macklin was Delaval's dramatic coach, according to one of these articles.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 7 years. No joke ever raised such loud and repeated mirth, in the galleries, as Sir John 's labour in getting the body of Hotspur on his back...At length this upper-gallery merriment was done away [with] by the difficulties which Henderson encountered in getting Smith on his shoulders. So much time was consumed in this pick-a-pack business that the spectators grew tired, or rather, disgusted. It was thought best, for the future, that some of Falstaff 's ragamuffins should bear off the dead body" (Davies, I, 273-75). [For Henderson as Falstaff see hay, 24 July 1777.] Receipts: #207 10s. 6d. (185.6.0; 20.7.0; 1.17.6)

Event Comment: [Prologue by John Peter Roberdeau (European Magazine, Aug. 1791, p. 141).] "Of Palmer Sen.'s? acting the chief fault is...a manner by far too juvenile. He has very much the turn of countenance and mode of speech suitable to Falstaff, but his gait has no appearance of debility or infirmity, and is such as any man might use, incumbered by the same dress" (Gazetteer, 21 June)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Prince Hoare. Prologue by Richard Cumberland; Epilogue by John Taylor (see text)]. Receipts: #220 16s. 6d. (163.9.0; 56.6.6; 1.1.0)

Event Comment: Receipts: #58 4s. Paid for sundries for Mr Ross, viz.: a hat at #1 1s. and a pair of shoes at 14 shillings for Essex; a pair of black shoes at 14 shillings and a pair of black shammy shoes at 10s. 6d. for Hamlet (Account Book). [See Hamlet in Shammy Shoes, by John Yoklavitch, Shakespear Quarterly, III (1952), pp. 209-18.

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Holcroft, adapted from Le Complaisant, by Antoine de Feriol comte de Pont-de-Veyle, and from Clavigo, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It has been attributed to John Fenwick (Genest, VII, 360-61; London Chronicle, 14 Feb. 1798). But for Holcroft's acknowledgment of authorship see his Life, ed. Elbridge Colby, 1925, II, 170. Author of Prologue unknown. Epilogue by the author (Knapp, p. 88)]. Times, 12 Apr. 1798: This Day will be published He's Much to Blame (2s.). "Mrs Mattocks has of late habituated herself to a constant titter, which destroys the effect of her best scenes" (Times, 14 Feb.). Receipts: #249 1s. (240.5; 8.16)

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the Prologue refers to The World in the Moon, suggesting a premiere during (or shortly after) the run of that opera. Since The Innocent Mistress was advertised in the Post Boy, 29-31 July 1697, this fact points also to a late June premiere. A song, When I languished and wished, set by John Eccles and sung by Mrs Hodgson, is in Wit and Mirth, Second Edition, 1707. Gildon, English Dramatick Poets, p. iii: This is a diverting Play, and met with good Success, tho' acted in the hot Season of the Year. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 20: Tho' the Title calls this Innocent, yet it deserves to be Damn'd for its Obscenity

Event Comment: London Evening Post, 17 Nov.: Yesterday the Court of King's Bench granted a Habeas Corpus, directing the Keeper of Tothill-Fields Bridewell, to bring up the Body of John Harper, one of the Haymarket Comedians; and he is accordingly to be brought up on Monday next . . . that he may be admitted to Bail

Event Comment: For the Entertainment of Tomo Chachi . . . Senauki his Queen, Prince John Tooanahowi, and the rest of the Indians. Benefit a Family under Misfortunes. Mainpiece: Written by Shakespear

Event Comment: At the Desire of several Persons of Quality. Mainpiece: Written by the late Sir John Vanbrugh and C. Cibber, Esq; Poet-Laureat. Afterpiece: Intermix'd with Dances and Songs made to Ballad Tunes. Admission: 5s., 3s., 2s., 1s

Event Comment: Benefit for Macklin. Afterpiece: A New Dramtic Satire in two acts. N.B. As several of the Town have prejudged the Pit the Boxes and Galleries acting their own parts themselves for their diversion, to be of the same species of the Lick at the Town last year; and that it can mean only the ordinary Approbation or Disapprobation of the Audience, Signor Pasquin thinks it incumbent on himself to assure to Publick that all those conjectures are groundless; And farther, he assures them that the Pit, &c. acting their parts has no other meaning than the common literal sense; and that the Audience are really interwoven in the piece; and are to be bona fide part of the Dramatis Personae; and he makes no doubt but that he shall make them perform their parts to a numerous and polite audience, and with universal Applause. But he begs that those Ladies and Gentlemen who intend to perform in the Pit and Galleries will be at the Theatre betimes, for particular reasons; and those who are to act in the Boxes are requested to send their servants to keep their places by three o'clock. Signor Pasquin has received the letters sent by the Town and the Village, and they may depend upon having Places kept for them upon the Stage. The Hiss concerning the Robin Hood Society will be complied with (General Advertiser). [The parts were: Pasquin, Marforio, Sir Eternal Grinn, Sir Conjecture Positive, Sir Roger Ringwood, Bob Smart, Soloman Common Sense; Count Hunt Bubble, Sir John Ketch, hic and Hac (Scribblers), Hydra, Lady Lucy Loveit, Miss Diana Singlelife, Miss Brilliant, Miss Bashfull (Larpent MS 96).

Event Comment: By Particular Desire. Benefit for Cibber. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. To begin at 6:30 p.m. To prevent any interruption in the Performance, there will be no Building on the Stage. Afterpiece: The Dramatick Piece of Two Acts...is taken from the inimitable comic Scenes of Shakespeare, which contain the Humours of Antient Pistol, Justice Shallow, Sir John Falstaff, Justice Silence, the Hostess Doll Tearsheet, and the Recruits, etc. (Daily Advertiser). On Tuesday the 2d of July Mr The: Cibber had a play at Drury Lane, ye Busy Body, & farce from ye 2d pt of Henry 4th. & had 140 pounds in Money & 66 in Tickss (Cross)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [See 27 Nov. 1765. Hogan noted the following additions from the 1770 edn.: Mortimer-Lewes; Glendower-Morris; Prince John-Miss Cockayne; Northumberland-Redman; Gadshill-P. Smith; Peto-Wild.] Receipts: #149 17s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit for Lewis. Afterpiece: As performed at the Theatre Royal in the Haymarket [beginning 6 Aug. 1779]; by the Author of the Son-in-Law, the Agreeable Surprise, &c. [John O'Keeffe]. [Prologue by George Colman, the elder.] Receipts: #195 9s. 6d. (161/11/6; tickets: 33/18/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Munden. Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Thomas Hurlstone. Text (J. Debrett [1792]) gives cast for season of 1792-93. Poetical Sketch by John Wolcot (Morning Herald, 11 May)]: With new Scenery, Dresses, and other Decorations. The Overture and Music entirely new, composed by Carter. Morning Herald, 13 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Munden, No. 15, Catherine-street. Ibid, 1 Dec. 1792: This Day is published Just in Time (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #415 3s. (126.4.6; 4.9.6; tickets: 284.9.0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. [Afterpiece in place of The Doctor and the Apothecary, advertised on playbill of 12 Jan.] Receipts: #145 10s. 6d. (125.10.0; 19.8.0; 0.12.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years [and in place of Know Your Own Mind; afterpiece in place of The Doctor and the Apothecary, both advertised on playbill of 21 Oct.]. Receipts: #161 7s. (105.8.0; 54.4.6; 1.14.6)