Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. To prevent Confusion, Ladies and Gentlemen are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'Clock. Mainpiece: In I The Cardinal's Banquet. In II the Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine. In V a Grand Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Morning Herald, 7 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. Receipts: #493 16s. (258.15.6; 25.13.0; 1.16.0; tickets: 207.11.6) (charge: #159 8s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Mattocks. [1st piece: Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews.] 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by Eliza Parsons, based on Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, by Moliere]. Morning Herald, 27 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Mattocks, No. 8, Great Russel-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #269 11s. 6d. (174.14.0; 4.16.6; tickets: 90.1.0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: From the Small Portico are Entrances to the Pit and One Shilling Gallery only [and see 19 Sept.]. In the Old Passage from the Piazza are new Entrances to the Boxes, Pit and Two Shilling Gallery. The only Entrance to the Two Shilling Gallery is in the Passage from the Piazza. [Beginning with 5 Oct. the playbills have: Upper Gallery 1s. 2nd Price 6d.] Receipts: #336 4s

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Receipts: #401 10s

Event Comment: 1st piece: With Alterations; Not acted these 6 years [acted 18 May 1792]. [The playbill announces this performance as "By Command of Their Majesties," but they, "who had been expected here last night, did not arrive; the indisposition of two of the Princesses having detained them at Windsor" (Morning Herald, 16 Apr.). "After the Relief of Williamstadt [which is not listed on the playbill, but which on 13 Apr. is called '8th Time,' and on 16 Apr. '10th Time'], the Irishman in London...was attempted to be performed; but after many unsuccessful apologies, the piece was not suffered to proceed, and the farce originally intended for representation, The Lying Valet, not without considerable difficulty, many of the performers having quit the theatre, was gone through with, to the gratification of a part of the audience who appeared determined rather to exercise their power than adhere to propriety" (Public Advertiser, 16 Apr.).] The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [same for rest of season]. Receipts: #345 5s

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of NOTORIETY, advertised on playbill of 23 Oct.] Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2 , by Mrs Burke. MS: Larpent 992; not published]: With new Music [by Tommaso Giordani (Morning Herald, 25 Oct.)). Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #228 0s. 6d. (206/10/6; 21/10/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [acted 21 Jan. 1789. Mrs Esten has 1st acted Belvidera at Bath in the season of 1786-87]. Afterpiece [1st time; M. INT 2, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 883; not published. Prologue by John Taylor (his Taylor, Poems, I, 43). Rees' 1st appearance at this theatre was on 14 May 1788]: The Overture and the whole of the Music by Dibdin. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [Most of these songs had originally appeared in Dibdin's "table entertainment," The Oddities, 1st performed at the Lyceum, 7 Dec. 1789.] Receipts: #244 18s. 6d. (234.8.0; 10.10.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. "At the conclusion of the Play, there was a division in the Audience about Rule Britannia and Lewis's Epilogue [not listed on playbill; by Miles Peter Andrews], which was, after some time, decided in favour of the latter" (World, 19 Dec.). Receipts: #491 19s. 6d. (479/13/6; 12/6/0)

Event Comment: [Mrs Twistleton, who was from the Liverpool theatre, is identified by Genest, VII, 159. "Her voice wants variety, and, possibly from too much exertion, in order to fill so large a theatre, it came upon the ear with a loud monotony, destructive of all possibility of pathetic effect" (European Magazine, Feb. 1794, p. 136). As afterpiece the playbill announces THE MIDNIGHT WANDERERS, but "Rosina succeeded the play. The Midnight Wanderers was to have been the entertainment; and we could not but lament that Mrs Mountain's indisposition should have prevented its representation" (Mormng Herald, 3 Feb.). The Account-Book notes the same change.] Receipts: #405 14s. 6d. (392/15/6; 12/19/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In Act I The Cardinal's Banquet. In Act II The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine. In Act V a Grand Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Paid Charles Smith on Acct. of Upholders Work at Drury Lane Theatre #400. Powell: Henry VIII rehearsed at 10 (for Packer, lame, and Mrs Siddons); Siege of Belgrade music at 12 (for Storace, Bannister Jun., Crouch, Davis, Danby). The Iron Curtain being finish'd was this Evening exhibited for the first Time with the Epilogue [and see 21 Apr.]. "On the 24th February, 1809, this theatre was burnt down . . . Every care had been taken to guard against such a calamity. Two large reservoirs for water, on the top of the house, happened, unfortunately, at this crisis to be empty; and an iron curtain, intended to separate the auditory from the stage, for the purpose of saving a part of the edifice in case of conflagration, was, with its machinery, so much out of order as to be useless; it was, in fact, utterly immoveable" (Brayley, p. 8). Receipts: #451 8s. 6d. (389/4/0; 56/5/0; 4/6/6; tickets not come in: 1/13/0)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; T 3, by Henry James Pye. Authors of Prologue and Epilogue unknown]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. Morning Chronicle, IO June 1794: This day is published THE SIEGE OF MEAUX (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #125 9s. (117/2; 8/7)