Event Comment: Benefit for Mme Rose. The Opera [will be performed] instead of Antigona, already announced in the papers of yesterday, it having been found impossible to get ready the machinery of the new Ballet after the performance of the Serious Opera. Mme Rose having been presented with an Engraving Ticket for her night, she proposes to give one with each Ticket, separately from the Ticket which will be admitted at the door. The Nobility and Gentry are respectfully entreated not be on that part of the stage where the mountain stands, as the machinery of the Ballet will be attended with danger. Tickets to be had of Mme Rose, No. 9, Hay-market. "The most bewitching dance we ever witnessed, for novelty of idea, charm of fancy, and delicacy of passion was performed last night. Not content with the common praise, the audience called forward the author, Didelot, and paid to him the tribute due to original and inventive talents. The ballet was entitled L'Amour Vange. The invention, which was perfectly new, was that of bands of Cupidsv floating in air-suspended seemingly on their own wings, without the intervention of any grosser medium" (Morning Chronicle, 3 June)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of Alive and Merry, advertised on playbill of 3 June.] Receipts: #118 17s. (76.3.6; 36.16.0; 5.17.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Caulfield, Phillimore & Johnston. 2nd piece [1st time; M. INT 1]. 3rd piece: Not acted these 5 years. To conclude with a superb Prospect of the Infernal Regions, and a Rain of Fire. Morning Herald, 4 June: Tickets to be had of Caulfield, No. 2, William-street, Adelphi [others not listed]. Receipts: #122 17s. (55.17.0; 51.16.6; 5.9.6; tickets: none listed; odd money: 9.14.0) (charge: #211 8s. 2d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Widow and Three Orphan Children of the late Mr Benson. [Address by John Taylor, Poems, I, 62.] "Benson [who committed suicide on 19 May] was remarkable for a very retentive memory, which enabled him on the slightest notice to become a substitute for almost any performer who might be suddenly disabled from appearing" (European Magazine, June 1796, p. 397). The house was a very good one, but it has been said that Sheridan went to the Treasury and carried off the money, so that Benson's widow and children never got a sixpence" (Genest, VII, 245). Receipts: #678 10s. 6d. (319.8.0; 66.3.6; 2.19.0; tickets: 276.6.0; odd money: 13.14.0) (charge: #212 15s.)

Event Comment: "Though not equal to Macklin [Palmer, whose 1st appearance as Shylock was at Liverpool, 2 July 1773] was respectable. He differed from the usual readings in some parts, particularly in the following: 'Many a time-and oft On the Rialto-you have rated me, &c.' This is certainly better...by uniting the oft with the Rialto, which is the most public place in Venice, it gives the observation additional force" (Monthly Magazine, June 1796, p. 408)

Event Comment: [2nd piece in place of Katharine and Petruchio, advertised on playbill of 18 June.] 3rd piece: Not acted these 2 years

Event Comment: [1st piece in place of The Purse; 2nd piece of Bannian Day, both advertised on playbill of 25 June.

Event Comment: 3rd piece: Not acted these 3 years [acted 10 July 1794]. [In 2nd piece the playbill retains Fawcett as Gregory Gubbins, but "An apology for Fawcett, whose character (Gregory Gubbins) was filled by Wathen, occasioned a general murmur" (Monthly Magazine, July 1796, p. 494). It also assigns the Corporal to Wathen (1st appearance in that character). The part was probably acted by Burton, as on 13 June.

Event Comment: [3rd piece in place of Peeping Tom, advertised on playbill of 29 June.

Event Comment: Benefit for Didelot. Tickets to be had of Didelot, No. 9, Haymarket. Both dances composed by Didelot; the music by Bossi. With new Scenery, Machinery and Decorations [by Liparotti]. [Synopsis of action of 1st ballet in Cyril W. Beaumont, Complete Book of Ballets, 1941, pp. 19-21, where it is stated that "Flore et Zephire is noted for being the first ballet in which wires were used to enable the dancers to simulate aerial flight." This is not stricdly accurate; see note under L'Amour Vange, 2 June.

Event Comment: [Murray's 1st appearance as Dr Caius was at Bristol, 11 June 1787. In adterpiece the playbill retains Incledon, but "Last night at Covent Garden an apology [was] made for the indisposition of Incledon, and a request that Bowden might sing the Hunting Song in his stead" (Morning Herald, 29 Dec.).] Receipts: #216 15s. 6d. (208.17.6; 7.18.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 9 years. [Mrs Worthington is identified in MS list in Kemble playbills of new performers for this season.] Ballet: 1st time; composed by Giacomo? Gentili. Afterpiece [1st time: ENT 1, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan; acted in place of The Prize, advertised on playbill of 4 Mar. Text (C. Lowndes, 1797)]: Altered from a Dramatick Entertainment performed 1794 [The Glorious First of June]. In the course of which will be introduced a representation of the late Glorious Engagement between the British and Spanish Fleets on the Fourteenth of February [1797, under Sir John Jervis, off Cape St. Vincent]. Receipts: #253 9s. (151.2.6; 100.17.0; 1.9.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Johnstone. 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by Thomas Knight; incidental music by William Reeve]: Partly taken from The Committee [by Sir Robert Howard]. Morning Herald, 21 June 1797: This Day is published [by G. Cawthorn] The Honest Thieves (1s.). True Briton, 25 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Johnstone, No. 19, Piazza, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #434 7s. 6d. (210.4.0; 11.18.0; tickets: 212.5.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Martyr. 2nd piece [1st time; ENT 1, by John Cartwright Cross (see Monthly Mirror, June 1797, p. 370). Larpent MS 1166; not published]; With a striking Representation of the Conflagration of the Spanish Fleet in the Gulph of Pariav, the Island's Capitulation and the Departure of its Garrison, Prisoner of War [on 18 Feb. 1797]. True Briton, 1 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Martyr at her house, No. 16, Martlett Court, Bow-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #359 14s. (185.5; 8.2; tickets: 166.7)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. [In mainpiece the playbill retains King as Sir Peter Teazle, but "Murray, on account of the indisposition of King, was the Sir Peter to Mrs Jordan's Lady Teazle" (Monthly Mirror, May 1797, p. 311).] Tickets delivered for the 15th [for which day the benefit was first announced] will be admitted. "On the whole, Mrs Jordan's Lady Teazle, if not excellent, was respectable; and at a time when it was thought that it would be impossible to personify her Ladyship [i.e. after the retirement of Miss Farren], Mrs Jordan is commendable in having endeavoured it...[Sir Peter] was a part well suited to Murray, who excels in the still and the pathetic...In the screen scene his mirth in revealing to Charles the story of the French milliner, and his amazement the moment after when Charles, throwing down the screen, presented that milliner in the shape of Lady Teazle, must confirm the reputation of Murray. 'Lady Teazle!' (exclaimed he, turning from her towards the door, and in an accent alarmingly impressive), 'Lady Teazle, by all that is damnable!" (Monthly Visitor, June 1797, pp. 531-32). True Briton, 6 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #550 3s. (232.4.0; 72.2.0; 7.10.6; tickets: 238.6.6) (charge: free)

Event Comment: The School for Scandal [advertised on playbill of 2 June] is obliged to be deferred on account of Mrs Jordan's Indisposition. Receipts: #125 10s. 6d. (75.7.0; 46.11.6; 3.12.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Follett. [Egerton was from the hay (see 23 Jan.).] 2nd piece: In one Act. 3rd piece: Two new Scenes, as 17 Apr.; Procession, as 26 May. Morning Herald. 5 June: Tickets to be had of Follett, No. 46, Drury-lane. Receipts: #360 18s. (116.13.6; 3.11.0; tickets: 240.13.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Sedgwick. 2nd piece: Never performed here. True Briton, 2 June: Tickets to be had of Sedgwick, No. 22, corner of George-street, Adelphi. Receipts: #409 1s. (91.8.6; 67.5.6; 2.10.6; tickets: 247.16.6) (charge: #211 19s. 5d.)