Event Comment: Benefit for Barrymore. Mainpiece: In IV a Masquerade Scene. Afterpiece: To conclude with a Superb Prospect of the Infernal Regions and a Rain of Fire. True Briton, 12 May: Tickets to be had of Barrymore, No. 59, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Receipts: #337 11s. (62.18; 72.12; 5.17; tickets: 196.4) (charge: #216 1s. 5d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for R. Palmer and Russell. [Miss Dorell is identified in MS list in Kemble playbill of new performers for this season.] True Briton, 31 May: Tickets to be had of R. Palmer, No. 28, Lower Eaton-street, Pimlico; of Russell, No. 46, Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury. Receipts: #290 13s. (65.13.0; 52.7.6; 4.3.0; tickets: 168.9.6, of which R. Palmer sold 107.9.6, and Russell 61.0.0) (charge: #225 9s. 3d.)

Event Comment: [This was Mrs Abington's 1st appearance on the stage since 12 Feb. 1790, except for 14 June 1797, when she spoke an epilogue at a charity benefit.] "Her former Beatrice was a chaste, animated, unaffected and captivating performance; but her Beatrice of this night was, for the greater part, languid and unattractive. Her deportment, however, is easy and graceful; but her person is too big and heavy to give any effect to the more gay and sprightly scenes. We conceive it to be the height of folly and imprudence in her to come forward in the present advanced period of her existence; and that too, with a person so ill calculated for the department, and attempt characters which demand all the vigour and activity of youth" (Monthly Visitor, Oct. 1797, p. 352). [Address by George Colman, ynger (London Chronicle, 7 Oct.).] Receipts: #348 2s. (336.18; 11.14)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Acasto to Murray, but "An apology was made for Murray, who was prevented by illness from playing Acasto, which, at a short notice, was taken by Hull" (True Briton, 14 Oct.).] "This whole of [Mrs Spencer's] performance was marked by such unaffected simplicity that it was almost impossible to consider it as the mere fiction of the scene. This lady is really a great aquisition to the house" (True Briton, ibid). Receipts: #254 6s. 6d. (244.18.6; 9.8.0)

Event Comment: Notwithstanding the great demand for places for The Castle-Spectre, the system of giving as much Novelty as possible at this Theatre necessarily prevents its repetition till Monday next. Receipts: #381 1s. (329.17.6; 50.12.6; 0.11.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. [Epilogue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.] Times, 9 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. Receipts: #508 8s. 6d. (296.10.0; 58.2.0; 3.12.0; tickets: 150.4.6) (charge: #212 3s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer. Times, 23 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Palmer, No. 39, Great Pulteney-street, Golden-square. Receipts: #274 5s. 6d. (86.1.6; 64.18.6; 0.18.0; tickets: 122.7.6) (charge: #245 3s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Mattocks. 1st piece [1st time; INT 1, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 1213; not published]. Genest, VII 365, states that the Epilogue Address "was in all probability the Epilogue to Alonzo [by David Garrick]." 3rd piece: conclude with a Rural Procession: Four Lads bearing Streamers-Plough decorated with Flowers-Four Countrymen bearing a May-day Garland-Four Lasses Bearing Implements of Husbandry-Country Girls leading a Lamb, decorated with Flowers-Four Lasses bearing a Garland-a Chorus and Finale. Tickets delivered for Every One has His Fault will be admitted. Times, 17 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Mattocks, No. 8, Great Russell-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #259 16s. 6d. (124.7.0; 2.13.0; tickets: 132.16.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. [Mrs Jordan's 1st appearance as Lady Bell was at this theatre, 21 Apr. 1789.] 3rd piece: To conclude with a Prospect of the Infernal Regions, and a Rain of Fire. Times, 4 May: Tickets to be had of Miss Pope, No. 63, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Receipts: #318 11s. 6d. (78.0.6; 84.18.0; 4.12.6; tickets: 151.0.6) (charge: #216 8s. 1d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Betterton, 2nd piece [1st time; ENT 1]. Times, 26 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss Betterton, No. 47, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Receipts: #184 8s. 6d. (87.0.0; 8.17.6; tickets: 88.11.0)

Event Comment: [Huddart, whose 1st appearance on the stage was at the Crow Street Theatre Dublin, on 14 May 1798, is identified in European Magazine, Oct. 1798, p. 258.] "In the gentle and tender scenes [Huddart] was impressive...but in the impassioned parts he was often too boisterous, and from his too eager exertion, he exhausted himself, in a great measure, before the conclusion of the piece" (Morning Herald, 16 Oct.). [Mrs Pope, as Miss Campion, had 1st appeared as Desdemona at the same theatre, 11 Mar. 1790. Mrs Wybrow was from the Royal Circus. She had appeared at cg on 6 June 1798.] Afterp iece [1st time; BALL. PI, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 1228. Text (i.e. synopsis of the ballet, and the songs) in his Circusiana (Lackington, Allen & Co., 1890), Vol. 1; it lists the cast for the Royal Circus]: Taken chiefly from the favourtie Piece of the latter Title [1st acted at the Royal Circus, 9 Apr. 1798], with Alterations and Additions by the original Author. The Music by Sanderson, and Scenery by Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, Blackmore, &c. Receipts: #294 15s. 6d. (290.8.6; 4.7.0)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. [In Percy A. Scholes, The Great Dr. Burney, 1958, II, 351, the title of the new song (misdated 1799) is given as Song on the Naval Victories.] Receipts: #439 (433.17.6; 5.2.6)

Event Comment: "When Euphrasia stabs Dionysius, she exclaims, 'A daughter's arm, fell monster, strikes the blow, Yes, first she strikes...' All, or at least the greatest part of this seems to be intended to precede the blow; and yet probability requires that the blow of a woman that kills an armed warrior should be unforeseen and sudden. Mrs Siddons felt the force of this. She strikes Dionysius without speaking a word, and repeats the passage over him as he lies on the ground" (Monthly Mirror, July 1800, p. 41). Receipts: #154 11s. 6d. (90.17.6; 62.8.0; 1.6.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs H. Johnston, Morning Chronicle, 21 Feb.: Tickets to be had of Mrs H. Johnston, No. 47, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Receipts: #401 15s. (255.14.6; 15.7.0; tickets: 130.13.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Mainpiece: Mr Colman's Last New Comedy. [He was the author of the Epilogue, which was spoken by the Dramatis Personae. In afterpiece the playbill retains Mrs H. Johnston as Malvina, but she "being indisposed, her part was performed with great effect by Madame [sic] St.Amand" (London Chronicle, 15 Mar.).] Receipts: #379 16s. (378.3; 1.13)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years [not acted since 15 Apr. 1777]. Morning Chronicle, 3 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss Pope, No. 62, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Receipts: #318 (89.7.6; 50.1.6; 0.16.6; odd money: 0.18.6; tickets: 176.16.6) (charge: #234 7s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for H. Johnston. Mainpiece: 1st time at this Theatre; by Permission of Mr Colman. Morning Chronicle, 9 Apr.: Tickets to be had of H. Johnston, No. 47, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Receipts: #334 3s. 6d. (174.7.6; 1.14.0; tickets: 158.2.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Rose Didelot. Tickets to be had of Mrs Rose Didelot, No. 8, Haymarket. 2nd ballet: 1st time; composed by J. D'Egville. [In all subsequent performances this was billed as Tarare.] "D'Egville, Laborie, and St.Pierre are excellent dancers and fine manly figures. Laborie possesses more elegance than St. Pierre; but the latter greater animation. D'Egville displays much taste and poetical spirit in the invention of ballets...[which] are far richer in naive situations, and possess a more free poetical spirit than those of Paris" (Goede, 265-66)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, adapted from Die Spanier in Peru, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Prologue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (consisting of the 1st 30 lines and the concluding couplet of his Prologue to The Miniature Picture); Epilogue by the Hon. William Lamb (see text). For publication see 1 July]: The Scenery, Dresses, and Decorations entirely new. The Musick, Airs and Chorusses incidental to the Piece composed and selected [from Gluck, Sacchini, &c. (Morning Chronicle, 25 May)] by Kelly. The Symphony preceding the Play, and those between the Acts, composed for the occasion by Dussek. The Scenery designed and executed by Marinari, Greenwood? Jun, Demaria, Banks, Blackmore, &c. [See Theatre Notebook, XX, 30-32, for suggestion that one scene was designed by DeLoutherbourg.] The Machinery, Decorations, and Dresses under the direction of Johnston, and executed by him, Underwood, and Gay. The Female Dresses designed and executed by Miss Rein. Account-Book, 14 May: Paid Miss Anne? Plumtree [i.e. Plumptree] for Spaniards in Peru #25. [It was this translation of Kotzebue's play that Sheridan adapted for the stage as Pizarro. For an account of the relationship between the translation and its adaptation see Marcella Gosch, "'Translators' of Kotzebue in England," Monatshefte fur deutschen Unterricht, XXXI, 178-83.] Paid Johnston [on this and other days] for sundries for Pizarro #135 14s. "It requires certainly more than English patience and spirits to sustain any Play of five hours in length. It is not one of the worst features of Pizarro that it contains a great deal which may be spared, without injury to the piece [see 25, 27 May]" (Morning Chronicle, 25 May). Receipts: #540 3s. 6d. (406.0.6; 17.5.0; 0.4.0; tickets sold by Fosbrook's Office: 116.14.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Morning Chronicle, 20 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. Receipts: #439 12s. 6d. (228.14.6; 40.6.0; 0.16.0; tickets: 169.16.0) (charge: free)