Event Comment: The Manager of the Opera House hopes for the Indulgence of the Public, in laying before them the great Complaints which have been made to him, on account of Invoncenience in the Entertainments, arising from the enormous Caps and Bonnets which several Ladies make it a Practice to appear in, within the Pit of this Theatre, excluding thereby that Part which is presentdd from the Dancing in a great Degree. The Manager is therefore under the Necessity of soliciting the Ladies to take the same into their Consideration, and humbly presumes for their Indulgence on the Occasion. Receipts: #246 8s. [non-subscription]

Event Comment: Benefit for Pope. "Desdemona was happily pourtrayed by Mrs Pope, particularly...her manner of receiving the blow from Othello, by shewing she felt it as for the loss of her husband's affection rather than the indignity offered her sex" (Public Advertiser, 21 Apr.). Public Advertiser, 31 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Pope at his house in Half-Moon Street, Piccadilly. Receipts: #184 9s. 6d. (125.10.0; 3.13.6; tickets: 55.6.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Fosbrook, box book and house keeper. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. Receipts: #297 12s. 6d. (37.17.0; 7.17.6; 0.17.0; tickets: 251.1.0) (charge: #109 2s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Places for the Boxes to be taken of Fosbrook, at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 5.30. To begin at 6:30 [see 3 Nov.]. [No playbill this season lists the various prices of admission; they were probably, as usual: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s.] Afterpiece: To conclude with a Grand Representation of Regattav. Kemble Mem.: No Manager [i.e. King had resigned as acting manager; but see 23 Sept.]. Ivory Tickets introduced. [These tickets, also called "bones," were for the use of actors and other members of the company in gaining admission for themselves or their friends to the front of the house. They replaced paper orders (World, 18 Oct. 1788).] Receipts: #112 3s. 6d. (75.6.0; 35.10.0; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: On Account of the Numerous Complaints which have been made by the Frequenters of the Theatre, of the Interruption given to the Performances by the Persons insisting on having the Doors of the Boxes or the Pit opened after the House is apparently filled, and also to prevent many other Inconveniences to the Audience, the Public are requested to observe that No Money received can be returned at any of the Offices. [Throughout the season the playbills carry the notice: "No money to be returned."] Hamlet [advertised in Public Advertiser, 15 Sept.] is obliged to be deferred on Account of the Indisposition of Kemble. Receipts: #109 18s. 6d. (71.17.0; 37.3.6; 0.18.0)

Event Comment: A New Comic Opera (never performed [in London; 1st performed at Vienna, 1786]); the Music by Martini [i.e. Martin y Soler], under the direction of Mazzinghi. Pit 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. Those Subscribers of last season who have not yet signified their intention respecting the retaining of their Boxes are respectfully requested to send their names, in writing, to the Treasurer's office in Union-court, Hay-market, on or before Thursday next, the 15th inst., or the Manager will be under the necessity of disposing of the Boxes. Subscriptions are received and Tickets delivered as usual, at Messrs Ransom, Morland and Hammersley, No. 57, Pall-Mall. All persons claiming admission into the Opera House by Silver Tickets or Renters' Shares are requested to send the same to the Treasurer's Office as early as may be, that they may be examined and properly certified, otherwise they cannot be admitted. The Doors to be opened at 6:30. To begin at 7:30 [same throughout opera season]

Event Comment: Benefit for Ryder. Public Advertiser, 20 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Ryder at his house, No. 5, Bow-street, Covent-garden. 1st piece: The Overture, Airs, &c. by Dr Arnold. The selected by Handel, Vento, Giordani, Giardini, Bertoni, Dr Arne, Carolan the Irish Bard. 2nd piece: 1st time Here. Translated from the French of La Bonne Mere, by Horatio Edgar? Robson, and at this Time reading with great success and general applause by LeTexier in Lisle-Street [and 1st acted at the hay, 22 Aug. 1788]. 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by Thomas Ryder, altered from The Man of Parts, by Isaac Jackman; not published]. Receipts: #271 0s. 6d. (191.15.6; 5.7.0; tickets: 73.18.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [C 5, by the Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, adapted from Les Dehors Trompeurs; ou, L'Homme du Jour, by Louis de Boissy; incidental music by Michael Kelly. Prologue by the author. Epilogue by John Burgoyne (see text)]: 1st time at a public theatre. With new Scenes and Dresses. [This was 1st acted on 31 May 1788 at the private theatre in the town house of the Duke of Richmond, which was situated on what is now Richmond Terrace, Whitehall. It was demolished in 1819.] Diary, 16 June 1789: This Day is published False Appearances (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #138 3s. (114.15.0; 22.5.6; 1.2.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Aickin. [Meredith is identified in European Magazine, May 1789, p. 410, which also states address was written by a Mr Vardill.] Mainpiece: End of Act II the Grand Triumphal Entry of Alexander into Babylon. Public Advertiser, 24 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Aickin at his house, No. 5, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #228 4s. 6d. (155.17.6; 8.2.0; tickets 64.5.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Farren. Public Advertiser, 6 May: Tickets to be had of Farren, No. 73, Gower-street. Account-Book, 16 May: Received Farren's benefit deficiency #33 7s. 6d. [Reckoned as follows: Farren disposed of #209 12s. in tickets; this sum he kept. Money [i.e. tickets sold at the doors of the theatre] amounted to #71 12s. 6d. From this money he was obliged to meet the house charge of #105, and hence owed the treasury the amount stated above.] Receipts: #281 4s. 6d. (69.".0; 2.10.6; tickets: 209.12.0)

Event Comment: A new Serious Opera [1st time; SER 2, by Carlo Francesco Badini, based on Alessandro nell'Indie, by Metastasio]; the Music new by Tarchi. "The House was so pleased with it that they did as is done in foreign Theatres--they gave the Composer specific applause, 'Bravo Tarchi', 'Bravo Maestro'" (World, 3 June)

Event Comment: Benefit for Brandon, box-book and house-keeper. Receipts: #360 4s. 6d. (78.10.6; 5.10.0; tickets: 276.4.0)

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for Palmer. The Proprietors having liberally granted to Palmer (for One Night) the Use of the Theatre, and his Brethren having kindly consented to perform for him, the Public is most respectfully informed that this Evening will be presented...[as above]. Receipts: #131 11s. 6d. (104.15.0; 25.16.0; 1.0.6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #45 15s. 2d. [Account-Book: House charge given him]). Account-Book, July-Sept.: Paid Renters #20 14s. apiece; 5 Sept.: Paid Duke of Bedford One Yrs. Rent #343 5s. 1d

Event Comment: [In 3rd piece the playbill retain Iliff, but "On the fifth night of the representation, while R. Palmer was reading the part of Lord Megrim (Iliff being ill) an alarm of fire occasioned a disgreeable tumult; the performers assured the audience there was no danger, it being the opposite theatre (the Opera House, which was consumed) that was in flames. The Ladies, however, still retained their apprehensions, and all were eager to depart; happily this anxiety produced no accident" (Oulton, 1796, II, 52). Iliff perhaps did not act in Vimonda.

Event Comment: From the late unfortunate calamity at the King's Theatre [see 16 June], the Subscribers are respectfully acquainted that as many Operas will be represented at this Theatre as can from this Evening to the 11th of July, the day on which most of the Performers' Contracts expire. Mr Gallini humbly requests it may be observed that on account of there not being Boxes enough to accomodate the Subscribers, as at the late Opera House, in order to avoid partiality, no particular Places or Boxes can be allotted to the respective Subscribers. The Entrance into the Theatre will be from Covent-Garden and Hart-street only, the doors from Bow-street will, from necessity, be shut up. Pit and Boxes 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. "Covent--Garden, on Saturday night, had the honour of entertaining this noble Foreigner--but by some accident they did not agree...The Gallery, only, was filled" (World, 29 June)

Event Comment: Paid 1@2 Years Land and House Tax #106 2s. 7d. Receipts: #187 1s. (182.6.6; 4.14.6)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Careless Husband, advertised on playbill of 22 Dec.] Paid House & Window tax, 1@2 Yr., #56 13s. 8d. Public Advertiser, 24 Dec.: [Pearce, who was from the Bath theatre, has] a clear bass voice, which he occasionally relieves by a falsetto...His first song was encored though sung much out of tune. Receipts: #113 4s. (77.2; 35.12; 0.10)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. Part of the Pit [9 rows (World, 23 Mar.)] to be laid into the Boxes. Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, probably by Isaac Bickerstaffe, but also ascribed to Mrs Jordan and to Richard Ford. Text 1st published (unauthorized), Dublin, 1799]. Kemble Mem.: The Farce is written by Mr Bickerstaffe. World, 29 Apr. 1790: The Spoil'd Child was sent to Mrs Jordan from Bickerstaffe in Italy, where her fame had reached. Public Advertiser, 13 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan at her house, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #352 18s. 6d. (137.13.0; 12.4.6; 1.7.0; tickets: 201.14.0) (charge: #111 6s. 11d.)