Event Comment: Never Acted before. [By Elizabeth Cooper.]

Event Comment: [This New Comedy (by Mrs Elizabeth Griffith) seems not to have been performed this night, according to the author's Preface to her Edition of 1772. Shuter had been unattentive and absent from many rehearsals]: At length though late [in the season] a day was appointed for the representation, and on that morning Mr Shuter appeared at rehearsal, pretty much in the same state as before, and confessed himself incapable of performing his part, that night. Upon which the play was oblig'd to be further postponed, and handbills were sent about at noon, to advertise town of the disappointment....A further final day was afterwards determined on, but the audience being out of humour at their former disappointment, called Mr Shuter to account for it, on his first appearance; which threw him into such confusion, that he was not able to get the better of it, throughtout the whole performance...in the hurry of his spirits the actor not only forgot his part, the deficiency of which he endeavoured to supply with his own dialect, but also seemed to lose all idea of the character he was to perform; and made the Governor appear in a light which the author never intended: that of a mean, ridiculous buffoon. [Mrs Griffith concluded her preface by relating how her friends stood by the piece, but two or three in the gallery, when it was given out again objected and threw an apple at the chandeliers, which so perturbed the management that the play was withdrawn. She therefore published it by subscription, prefixing the names of about 440 subscribers, persons of the first quality, including James Boswell, Edmund Burke, Col. Burgoyne, the Duke of Devonshire, David Garrick, Mrs Montague, William Richardson, and a host of writers, players, and people of fashion. This list provides a pretty good roster of those who filled the boxes and part of the pit of both theatres at the time.] Paid Younger #2 2s. for the license for A Wife in the Right (Account Book). Receipts: #218 12s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Elizabeth Richardson. Larpent MS 478; not published]. Receipts: #137 3s. (119.12; 13.18; 3.13)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Elizabeth Griffith, based on Le Bourru Bienfaisant, by Carlo Goldoni. Author of Prologue unknown; Epilogue by Horace Walpole (Works, 1798, IV, 402-3)]: With new Dresses and Scenes. Receipts: #199 16s. (184.17.0: 14.11.6; 0.7.6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by Elizabeth Inchbald; text, unauthorized (Dublin: For the Booksellers, 1788), assigns no parts]: With new Scenery, Machinery and other Decorations

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Prologue and Epilogue by Geoge Colman, the elder (see text, which also gives names of the speakers)]. Morning Chronicle, 25 July 1786: This Day is published I'll Tell You What (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: 2nd piece: Written by the Author of I'll Tell You What [Elizabeth Inchbald]

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Prologue by Edward Topham (London Chronicle, 26 Aug. 1786)]. Account-Book, 5 June 1786: Paid Mrs Inchbald in full for Appearance is against Them #50. Public Advertiser, 11 Nov. 1785: This Day is published Appearance is against Them (1s.). Receipts: #207 2s. (204/10/6; 2/11/6)

Event Comment: [Home, who was from the Bristol theatre, is identified in Morning Herald, 21 June.] Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by Elizabeth Inchbald, based on L'Heureuse Erreur, by Joseph Patrat. Prologue by Thomas Holcroft (see text)]. Morning Chronicle, 15 Aug. 1786: This Day is published The Widow's Vow (1s.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Prologue by Thomas Vaughan. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text). Public Advertiser, 14 Feb: Part of Andrews's Epilogue to Eloisa [see 20 Dec. 1786]...was blended with Epilogue spoken on first representation of Such Things Are]: With new Scenes, Dresses, &c. Public Advertiser, 1 Dec. 1787: This Day is published Such Things Are (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #214 10s. (212.10; 2.0)

Event Comment: Artaxerxes [announced on playbill of 21 May] is obliged to be deferred on account of the Indisposition of a principal Performer. Afterpiece [1st time; C 3, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Prologue by Henry Sampson Woodfall, Jun. (see text)]: Taken from the celebrated piece called Guerre Ouverte; ou, Ruse Contre Ruse [by Antoine Jean Bourlin, dit Dumaniant]. Public Advertiser, 1 Dec. 1787: This Day is published The Midnight Hour (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #74 5s. (70.2; 4.3)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Larpent MS 789; not published. Prologue by Henry Sampson Woodfall Jun. (London Chronicle, 17 Dec.); Epilogue by Frederick Pilon (Public Advertiser, 19 Dec.)]. [Miss Blower had 1st appeared at dl, 27 Apr. 1782, and thereafter in Dublin.] Receipts: #180 7s. 6d. (169.19.0; 10.8.6)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; C 3, by Elizabeth Inchbald, said to be translated from a French comedy. Prologue by Henry Sampson Woodfall (World, 30 Apr.). Text 1st published, Dublin: C. Lewis, 1789; it assigns no parts]. [3rd piece in place of The Guardian, advertised on playbill of 28 Apr.] Receipts: #158 0s. 6d. (149.14.6; 8.6.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 4, by Elizabeth Inchbald, adapted from Zelie; ou, L'Ingenue, by Stephanie Felicite Ducrest de Saint Aubin, Comtesse de Genlis. Beginning with 6 Dec. this was reduced to an afterpiece of 3 acts. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 12 Dec. 1788: This Day is published The Child of Nature (price not listed). Afterpiece: Reduced [from 5] into 3 acts. Receipts: #150 15s 6d. (139.10.0; 11.5.6),

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 3, by Elizabeth Inchbald, based on Le Philosophe Marie, by Philippe Nericault, dit Destouches]. Public Advertiser, 1 Aug. 1789: This Day is published The Married Man (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Prologue by the Rev. Robert Nares. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 16 Feb. 1793: This Day is published Every One has His Fault (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #306 19s. 6d

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Author of Prologue unknown]: With new Dresses, Scenery, &c. Morning Herald, 4 Apr. 1797: This Day is published Wives as they Were, and Maids as they Are (2s). "The Manager of Covent Garden Theatre gives Mrs Inchbald #500 for her new Comedy" (True Briton, 13 Mar.). Receipts: #302 13s. 6d. (295.9.0; 7.4.6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MF 2, by John Cartwright Cross, altered from The Hue and Cry, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Larpent MS 1184; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Herald, 14 Nov.]: The Overture and Music composed by Reeve. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #268 4s. (264.4; 4.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald, based on Das Schreibepult; oder, Die Gefahren der Jugend, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Prologue by Charles Moore (MS annotation by J. P. Kemble in Kemble-Devonshire copy in Huntington Library); Epilogue by John Taylor (see text)]: With New Dresses and Scenes. Morning Chronicle, 17 Dec. 1799: This day is published The Wise Man of the East (price not listed). Receipts: #323 14s. 6d. (321.12.6; 2.2.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Murray. 2nd piece: Compressed into Two Acts by the Author [Elizabeth Inchbald. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews]. Morning Chronicle, 8 Apr: Tickets to be had of Miss Murray, No. 77, Long Acre. Receipts: #393 9s. 6d. (159.5.6; 24.14.6; tickets: 209.9.6)

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: My wife and I and Sir W. Pen to the King's playhouse, where the house extraordinary full; and there was the King and Duke of York to see the new play, Queen Elizabeth's Troubles, and the History of Eighty Eight. I confess I have sucked in so much of the sad story of Queen Elizabeth, for my cradle, that I was ready to weep for her sometimes; but the play is the most ridiculous that sure ever come upon the stage; and, indeed, is merely a shew, only shews the true garbe of the Queen in those days, just as we see Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth painted; but the play is merely a puppet play, acted by living puppets. Neither the design nor language better; and one stands by and tells us the meaning of things: only I was pleased to see Knipp dance among the milkmaids, and to hear her sing a song to Queen Elizabeth; and too see her come out in her night-gowne with no lockes on, but her bare face and hair only tied up in a knot behind; which is the comeliest dress that ever I saw her in to her advantage

Event Comment: Paid Tallow Chandler's 4th Bill #41 6s. 5d.; Spermacetti Candles, #132 18s. Mr Tomlinson for Men's cloaths #11 11s.; Mr J. French on acct #20; Miss Hopkins, 15 nights (19th Dec. incl.) #3 15s. (Treasurer's Book). [The sixth edition of Wm. Law's Absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Representations was published this year (1st. edn. 1726) This day was published the Preliminary Number of the Westminster Magazine, which, monthly, included a section called The English Theatre, which observed generally on the state of the Stage, and commented specifically on new plays. Its view of the stage in general was not as sanguine as had been that of the writer for the Town and Country Magazine (1 April 1772). "We are of opinion, that the English Theatre is now in its decline. Whether it is that the stores of Dramatic Subjects or of Dramatic Genius are exhausted, is not immediately obvious; but there is a fault somewhere....We have seen the Morning star of Wit--the Noon too is past; we have now arriv'd at its evening...There is in Arts, as in Empires, a progress which leads to Refinement; and this refinement leads to Ruin." According to the writer the meridian glory of the English stage was during the reign of Queen Anne. Reviewer damns the Irish Widow, refuses to discuss the Gamesters (revived), damns the Rose and praises the Garrick alteration of Hamlet. This year also appeard Granny's Prediction, a 53-page pamphlet attack on Mrs Barry, condemning her on moral grounds (polygamy) and on aesthetic grounds, commenting on each of her characters. By a spiteful female relative Elizabeth Franchetti.] Receipts: #142 10s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: [In Afterpiece Elizabeth was originally called Miss Doiley.] Receipts: #238 (191.7.0; 44.18.0; 1.7.6; tickets not come in: 0.7.6)

Event Comment: [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Queen Elizabeth was at Liverpool, 10 Sept. 1777.] Receipts: #317 9s. 6d. (334.2.6; 36.2.0; 1.2.0; ticket not come in: 0.3.0)

Event Comment: "...Richard III, which I saw performed at Drury-lane theatre at the beginning of the present season...The dresses of the characters which here make their appearance are in the usual half-and-half mode, made up from portraits of Charles I's reign, and from unrestrained fancy. Richard's habit, indeed, shews a faint hint, at the costume of his day; but how modernized! A fancy cap and feather,with a milliner's white-ribband rose, sewed thereon. A deep ruff, of that make not known until the reign of James I From the neck depends a ribband With the George: this decoration never seen in paintings till about the fashions of the abovementioned monarch's court. On his legs and feet, white silk stockings, white shoes, and red roses. These latter ornaments unknown before Elizabeth or James I's modes of dress prevailed; at any rate, they should have been white ones to have accorded with the party-badge in his cap." Writer signing himself "An Artist and an Antiquary" in Gentleman's Magazine, Apr. 1800, p. 319. Receipts: #225 16s. 6d. (178.3.6; 47.12.0; 0.1.0)