Event Comment: Benefit for the Widow Jona and her Five Children. Tickets to be had at Arthur's Chocolate House, St James's St.; Prince of Orange's Coffee House, Haymarket; Forrest's Coffee House, Charing Cross; the Rainbow Coffee House in Cornhill; and Places for Boxes to be taken of Mrs Jona in Little Warwick St., Charing Cross, and of Mr Crudge at the stage Door

Event Comment: [This month published Observations on the Use of Theatres, their present regulations and possible improvements. Price 1s. Printed for Cooper. See review in Gentleman's Magazine (p. 232). Proposal is that the "conduct of theatrical entertainments be for the future taken under the care of the goverment, and a person of judgment and integrity appointed by the name of comptroller, or conductor of the stage, who alone shall determine what old plays shall be acted, and what new ones received; and who shall take charge of the money received, and defray the necessary expenses, accounting for the remainder to the public. The author seemingly Dr John Hill, lately (see 21 Dec. 1758) upset by the failure of his farce, The Rout. (Winston MS 8). Receipts: #108 (Cross); #122 6d. (Winston MS 8)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bellamy. Mainpiece: Reviv'd Tragedy [John Banks]

Event Comment: Paid John Sutherland for playing the bagpipes in Midas 3 nights 15s. Paid Samuel Norman, carver, for 4 Grand state chairs #63 (Account Book). Receipts: #194 11s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Paid Doe, Claridge and John Smith each 15s. for performing 6 nights in the Ass and Hog [Mother Shipton] to the 18th inst. (Account Book). Receipts: #32 3s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: [Nicoll, III, 280, 390, states that this was an alteration of Shakespear's play by John Lee.] Receipts: #174 5s. (173.10.6; 0.14.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Reddish [and his last appearance on the stage]. Tickets sold at the Doors will not be admitted. Public Advertiser, 1 May: Tickets to be had of Reddish, No. 14, near the Turnpike, Tottenham Court Road. "Poor Reddish, on the 5th of May, had a benefit, and it was resolved to try whether he could not go through the character of Posthumus. He was now infirm; in common occurrences imbecile, but to be exited by his former profession, or nothing. The late John Ireland gave an affecting detail of this attempt. He met his friend an hour before the performance began. Reddish entered the room with the step of an idiot, his eye wandering, and his whole countenance vacant. Mr Ireland congratulated him, that he was sufficiently recovered to perform his favourite Posthumus. 'Yes', said he, 'and in the garden scene I shall astonish you.' 'The garden scene! I thought you were to play Posthumus?' 'No, Sir, I play Romeo.' His friend assured him that Posthumus was the part he was to act--and he walked to the theatre, reciting Romeo all the way. When dressed for Posthumus, and in the green-room, it was still hard to undeceive him--at length he was pushed upon the stage....The instant he came in sight of the audience his recollection seemed to return; his countenance resumed meaning, his eye became lighted up, he made the modest bow of respect, and played the scene as well as he had ever done. But Romeo again met him in the green-room, and it was only the stage cue that had the power to unsettle this delusion; and that never failed to do it through the whole play. Mr Ireland thought him, on this occasion, less assuming and more natural than he had seemed in the full enjoyment of his reason" (Boaden, Kemble, I, XVI-XVII; Ireland, 58-60)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by John O'Keeffe; MS: Larpent 577; not published. The following season this was altered, and acted successfully as The Castle of Andalusia]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. A new Overture, and the whole of the Music under the Direction of Dr Arnold. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 29 Nov.: The admirable first scene, the subterraneous Receptacle of the Banditti, is the production of the ingenious Mr Richards. Receipts: #182 10s. (180/12/6; 1/17/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Henderson. Pit and Boxes will be laid together. Ladies and Gentlemen are most earnestly requested to come early, to prevent Inconvenience in getting to their Places, and to send their Servants to keep them by Four o'clock. [Prologue by Arthur Murphy {Works, 1786, VII, 369).] Morning Herald, 14 Feb.: Tickets to be had at the house of the late Mr Henderson [see 8 Nov. 1785], Buckingham-street, York Buildings. "The poetical address delivered by Mrs Siddons before the play was written by Murphy, and was so very dull that we will charitably suppose his feelings obstructed the operation of his fancy" (General Advertiser, 27 Feb.). Receipts: #141 9s. 6d. (140/15/0; 0/14/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Billington. Tickets delivered for Monday the 8th of February will be received. Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by John O'Keeffe. Text 1st published in his Dramatic Works, Vol. III (T. Woodfall, 1798). Season of 1790-91 acted as The Fugitive]: With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. The Music selected and composed by Shield, and consists of several Russian Melodies, and compositions of Handel, Sacchini, Pleyel, Rauzzini, Guglielmi, Weichsel, Dalayrac, Callcott, Reeve, Prati and Shield. Receipts: #366 9s. 6d. (255.2.6; 3.5.0; tickets: 108.2.0)

Event Comment: 2nd piece: Not acted these 8 years [acted 1 Dec. 1784]. With some Alterations and Additions by the Author [Arthur Murphy]. Receipts: #241 1s. 6d. (237.8.6; 3.13.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Martyr. 3rd piece [1st time; M. INT 1, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 1124; not published]: Founded on the recent and glorious Achievement, at the above French Fort, of Sir Sydney Smith. [On 17 Mar. 1796 a force under Sir William Sydney Smith had destroyed six French vessels in the Bay of Herqui.] To conclude with the British striking the French Colours on the Fort, burning their Corvettes in the Harbour. The new Music by Shield. Oracle, 29 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Martyr at her house, No. 16, Martlett-court, Bow-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #384 11s. 6d. (192.14.0; 10.1.0; tickets: 181.16.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Pope. 1st piece [1st time; D 4. Larpent MS 1249; not published synopsis of plot in Universal Magazine, Apr. 1799, p. 273]: Translated from [Der Graf von Burgund, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von? Kotzebue (Author of The Stranger, Lover's Vows, &c.) by Miss Anne? Plumptre, and adapted to the English Stage by Alexander? Pope. Morning Chronicle, 25 26 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Pope at his house, No. 5, Half Moon-street, Piccadilly. [This was Mrs Abington's last appearance on the stage.] "The perpetuated evidence of youth was in character with her person and her powers; the slimness of her figure, the fulness of her voice, the freshness of her spirits, the sparkle of her eye, and the elasticity of her limbs, savoured alike of a juvenility that puzzled the mind, whilst it pleased it: of her it was justly said that 'she had been on the stage thirty years; she was one-and-twenty when she came, and one-and-twenty when she went!'" (John Bernard, Retrospections of the Stage, 1830, II, 228-29). Receipts: #334 19s. 6d. (194.1.0; 2.5.0; tickets: 138.13.6)

Event Comment: [Comedies of three acts and two acts respectively, by Arthur Murphy never acted before.

Event Comment: By Arthur Murphy from 3 Moliere Plays (Genest, V, 131). Receipts: #195 9s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Benefit for Mrs Abington. Part of Pit laid into boxes. House Charges #64 4s. [Profit to Mrs Abington #166 2s. 6d.] [The Farce-2 acts all from the comedy 'What we must all Come to' by Arthur Murphy, The airs by Hook.] Paid Blake (hosier) bill #3 15s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #230 6s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Barry. King Arthur oblig'd to be deferr'd on account of Mr Barry's illness. Tickets deliver'd for The Distressed Mother will be taken. Pit and Boxes are laid together. Send servants by Four o'clock. Afterpiece: Not acted these seven years. [See 21 April 1760.] The Farce hiss'd. Mrs Barry Sir Harry (Hopkins Diary). Paid Salary list #333 19s.; Mrs Abington's Cloaths Acct, #1; Mr S. French 6 days, #1 10s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #296 14s. Charges: #65. Profit to Mrs Barry: #231 14s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New Tragedy [by Arthur Murphy] never performed The Music by Dr Arne. The Characters New Dress'd. [Long account and generally unfavorable review of Alzuma in the Westminster Magazine for March.] Receipts: #206 18s. 6d

Event Comment: Mainpiece [tragedy by Arthur Murphy]: Never acted there. New Dresses, Scenery, and Decorations

Event Comment: Benefit for Lewis. Last Night of performing before the Holidays. [See first version of this afterpiece under title What We Must All Come To, 9 Jan. 1764. It was damned then but now met with success. A Comedy by Arthur Murphy. The reviewer for the Westminster Magazine for April stamped the afterpiece with his approval.

Event Comment: Prelude [1st time; PREL 1, by Arthur Murphy]. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years [acted 21 Nov. 1772]. The Doors to be opened at 5:3O. To begin at 6:3O [see 11 Nov.]. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Sarjant (only) at the Stage-door. No persons admitted behind the Scenes, nor any Money returned after the Curtain is drawn up. Receipts: #214 17s. 6d. (214.15.O; O.2.6.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never acted there. With Alterations and Additions by the Author [Arthur Murphy. London Chronicle, 7 Nov., prints a detailed synopsis of the alterations.]. The Characters entirely new dressed; with New Scenery and Decorations. [Morning Chronicle, 7 Nov.: Mrs Barry entered into the character of Mandane with all that strength of conception which characterizes her acting in general. Many of the passages received additional force from the judicious breaks and sudden transitions in her manner of giving them.] Receipts: #200 3s. (199.6; 0.17)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Thomas Hull, altered from The School for Guardians by Arthur Murphy. Not in Larpent MS; synopsis of plot in Public Advertiser 19 Nov.]: With New Dresses, &c. The Music chiefly compiled; the rest composed by Dr Arne, Sacchini and Fisher. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 18 Nov. 1777: This Day is published the Airs in Love Finds the Way (6d.). [Miss Courtenay is identified in the Airs.] Receipts: #233 8s. 6d. (232.5.0; 1.3.6)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of King Arthur; afterpiece of The Lyar, both announced on playbill of 30 Oct.] Receipts: #202 12s. (155/7/0; 47/0/6; 0/4/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Booth. Mainpiece: Banquetv, Processionv, Christeningv as 26 Mar. [Afterpiece: Epilogue by Arthur Murphy.] Receipts: #262 10s. (140.14.6; 2.3.6; tickets: 119.12.0)