Event Comment: Benefit for Brandon, box-book and housekeeper. Mainpiece: Grand Triumphal Entryv, as 22 Oct. 1787, but omitted: Vocal Parts. Receipts: #374 19s. (82.9.6; 8.1.6; tickets: 284.8.0)

Event Comment: Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Anselmo, Mrs Brandon, Byrn, Evatt, Hall [box-keeper], Ledger, Marks, Ratchford, Rye will be admitted. Receipts: #295 18s. (39.8.6; 4.7.6; tickets: 252.2.0)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of Midas, advertised on playbill of 15 June.] Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Brandon, Green, Robson, Egan, Clarridge, Blurton, Coombs, Wilkins, Wyatt, Rock, Gray, Doe, Watts, Boswell, Iredale, Turtle, Dosel, Helme will be admitted. Receipts: #371 2s. 6d. (34.7.6; 4.14.0; tickets: 332.1.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In I a Masquerade Scene incident to the Play. [This was included in all subsequent performances.] No Money to be returned. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 2 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.] Receipts: #255 6s. (253.11.6; 1.14.6)

Event Comment: Tickets delivered for King Lear will be admitted. Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Mrs Lampe, Clarke, Plank, Linton, Mrs Booth, Brandon, Longley, Dalby, Furkins, Pilbrow, Anselmo, Byrne, Copland, Rye, Jealous, Pugh, Berecloth, the Band will be admitted. Receipts: #405 5s. (69.12; 6.7; tickets: 329.6)

Event Comment: Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Brandon, Longley, Furkins, Pilbro, Anselmo, Copland, Rye, Pugh, Robson, Jealous, Noble, Varley, Wilkinson, Little, Lamp, Plank, Linton, Standen, the Band will be admitted. Receipts: #366 12s. (43.13.6; 7.4.6; tickets: 315.14)

Event Comment: The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 15 Nov.]. No Money to be returned. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Theatre. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Receipts: #176 9s. 6d. (169.16.0; 6.13.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Brandon, box-book and house-keeper. Tickets delivered for The Rivals will be taken. Tickets sold at the Doors will not be admitted. Receipts: #358 5s. 6d. (73.16.6; 12.4.0; tickets: 272.5.0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Tickets delivered for She Stoops to Conquer will be admitted: Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Brandon, Curteen, Furkins, Anselmo, Robson [door-keeper], Paskin, Gawdry, Sturgeon, Roberts, Linton, Standen, Rye, Doe, Berecloth, Gray, Ledger will be admitted. Receipts: #426 13s. 6d. (59.19.6; 5.2.0; tickets: 361.12.0)

Event Comment: 1st piece [1st time; PREL I, by Thomas Holcroft, based on The Covent Garden Tragedy, by Henry Fielding. Larpent MS 1039; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Herald, 16 Sept.]. "The two Queens are represented by Munden and Fawcett, who are dressed up fantastically, wearing as Crowns Models of the two Theatres" (Morning Chronicle, 16 Sept.). Covent-Garden was crowned with a triangular representation of the Piazza; Drury-Lane with her own Theatre, surmounted by Apollo" (Morning Herald, 16 Sept.). [This was Burton's 1st appearance in London; he was from the Norwich theatre. Miss Cornelys was from the Dublin theatre.] No Money to be returned. Boxes 6s. Second Price 3s. Pit 3s. 6d. Second Price 2s. Gallery 2s. Second Price 1s. Upper Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Office in Hart-street. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 30 Oct.]. Receipts: #305 1s. 6d. (296.10.6; 8.11.0)

Event Comment: [Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Brandon, Hill, Mrs Masters, Gillet, Mrs Norton, Finley, Ashwin, Simmons will be admitted.] Receipts: #447 4s. (55.7.6; 6.16.0; tickets: 385.0.6)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Force of Ridicule; afterpiece of Richard Coeur de Lion, both advertised on playbill of 28 Nov.] "The new Comedy last night was deferred upon the pretext of Miss Farren's illness...The Manager sent after Mrs Siddons, who was found at Covent-Garden Theatre, seeing Abroad and at Home. Brandon, however, ordered her a chair, and she kindly performed Isabella. Wroughton read the Father" (Oracle, 30 Nov.). "For near an hour the audience waited patiently...At half past seven Palmer addressed the audience" He said that Miss Farren was ill, that to those who preferred to leave the theatre their money would be returned, and that instead of the new play Mrs Siddons would act Isabella, "as soon as the dresses could be prepared for that purpose. This address was by no means favourably received, and hundreds of persons immediately left the house. A few minutes after eight, the Curtain drew up to the tragedy, which was well performed, and much applauded by the few who remained to witness it" (Morning Herald, 30 Nov.). "November 30. Miss Farren last night refused to appear in a new Play at Drury Lane which made much confusion in the House. The cause assigned was indisposition but that was not believed by the audience; and the fact Lysons says is, that as she cannot obtain payment from the Theatre, she resolutely told them she wd. not appear unless her demands were paid...Such is the unprincipled conduct of Sheridan" (Diary of Joseph Farington, 1922, I, 174). [On 1 Dec. Morning Herald prints a letter from Miss Farren, from Green-street, Grosvenor-square. saying that she really was ill. The editor of the paper adds a note in which he affirms his positive knowledge that rumours about a dispute as to Miss Farren's unpaid salary were without foundation.] Receipts: #134 2s. (82.2; 50.18; 1.2)

Event Comment: Benefit for Fawcett. 1st piece: Not acted some years [acted 30 Oct. 1790]. 2nd piece [1st time: ENT 1]. 3rd piece: By Permission of George Colman, Esq., and for that Night only. Tickets and Places to be had of Fawcett at his house, No. 10, Golden Square, and of Brandon, at the Theatre. "To the Public, May 16, 1797. In consequence of repeated Forgeries of Tickets on Benefit Nights, particularly those of Miss Wallis, Mr Incledon, Mr Holman, and Mrs Mattocks, it has been found necessary to offer a large Reward for the Discovery of the Person or Persons concerned in this unjust and cruel Practice. Mr Fawcett, therefore, thinks it his Duty to warn his Friends and the Public from purchasing Tickets for his Night of Strangers, especially those Persons who sell them in the Avenues of the Theatre, as all such will be stopt at the Doors, and if forged the Persons offering them for Admittance will be drawn into a disagreeable dilemma" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill). Receipts: #462 5s. (189.12; 8.13; tickets: 264.0)

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for General Lying-In Hospital, Bays-water. Under Patronage of Her Majesty. The Proprietor of Theatre has liberally given Use of House on the above Occasion [i.e. he levied no charge]. The Orchestra under direction of Mountain. Principal Oboe by W. Parke. The Curtain to rise exactly at 7:00. Tickets to be had of Mess. Longman and Broderip [music publishers, No. 13, Haymarket]; at Hospital, Bayswater; and of Brandon at Theatre. Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: [The King's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but a letter--see 2 Jan. 1670@1--indicates that the first part had been acted before that date and that Part II was to be shortly staged. The point of the Prologue spoken by Ellen Gwyn seems to have derived from an incident at Dover (see Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 20) in May 1670, when James Nokes attired himself in a ridiculous fashion, including "Broad wast Belts." The speakers of the Epilogue and the Prologue to the Second Part are mentioned in Sir William Haward's MS (Bodl. MS Don. b., pp. 248-49); see The Poems of John Dryden, ed. James Kinsley (Oxford, 1958), IV, 1848-49. In Part I a song Beneath a myrtle shade, with music by John Bannister, is in Choice Songs and Ayres, First Book, 1673. Another, Wherever I am, with music by Alphonso Marsh, is in the same collection, as is also How unhappy a lover am I, the music by Nicholas Staggins. Mrs John Evelyn to Mr Bohun, ca. Jan. 1670@1: Since my last to you I have seen The Siege of Grenada, a play so full of ideas that the most refined romance I ever read is not to compare with it; love is made so pure, and valour so nice, that one would image it designed for an Utopia rather than our stage. I do not quarrel with the poet, but admire one born in the decline of morality should be able to feign such exact virtue; and as poetic fiction has been instructive in former ages, I wish this the same event in ours. As to the strict law of comedy I dare not pretend to judge: some think the division of the story is not so well if it could all have been comprehended in the day's actions (The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, ed. William Bray, IV, 25). According to John Evelyn--see 9 Feb. 1670@1--Robert Streeter did some of the scenes for this play. In the Preface to The Fatal Discovery, ca. February 1697@8, George Powell, in discussing revivals of Dryden's plays, stated: In relation to our reviving his Almanzor...very hard crutching up what Hart and Mohun could not prop

Event Comment: Receipts: #157 15s. [The Account Book lists the payment of 2s. per acting night to each shareholder: @Shareholder Mrs Martha Bedwell No. Share 1@No. Nights 36@Payment #3 12s.@Shareholder Mrs Creighton No. Shares 1@No. Nights 36@Payment #3 12s.@Shareholder Mr Francis Bedwell No. Shares 1@No. Nights 37@Payment #3 14s.@Shareholder Mr Robert Griffin No. Share 1@No. Nights 37@Payment #3 14s.@Shareholder Mr John Mitchell No. Shares 1@No. Nights 87@Payment #8 14s.@Shareholder Mrs Mary Michell No. Shares 1@No. Nights 87@Payment #8 14s.@Shareholder Mr John Walsh No. Shares 1@No. Nights 86@Payment #8 12s.@Shareholder Mr Lucuss No. Shares 1@No. Nights 54@Payment #5 8s.@Shareholder Col. Wade No. Shares 1@No. Nights 8@Payment 16s.@Shareholder Sir Arthur Croft No Shares 1@No. Nights 8@Payment 16s.@Shareholder Mr John White No. Shares 1@No. Nights 5@Payment 10s.@Shareholder Mr John Croft, Esq No. Shares 1@No. Nights 5@Payment 10s.@Shareholder Mr Rubin Adolphus No. Shares 1@No. Nights 5@Payment 10s.@Shareholder Mr Henry Woodfall No. Shares 1@No. Nights 3@Payment 6s.@Total No. Shares 14@No. Nights 494@Payment #49 8s.@ Winston MS 8 notes that on 1 Feb. dl had only 20 renters at 2s. a night.

Event Comment: Benefit John Roberts, now Confin'd in the Fleet Prison. Mainpiece: Written by the late Sir John Vanbrugh

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Paid Mr Vincent for 3 sets of Abels Symphonies #2 5s. (Account Book). Receipts: #116 11s. (Account Book). This was the last time Mr Beard appeared on the stage. John Beard Esq Buried in the vault (at Hampton) 12 Feb. 1791. This celebrated actor was bred up at the King's Chapel, and was afterwards one of the singers at the Duke of Chandos's Chapel at Canons, where he took a part in Handel's Oratorio of Hester. His first appearance on the stage was 30 August 1737, in the character of Sir John Loverule [Devil to Pay], at Drury Lane. In 1739 he married Lady Henrietta Herbert, daughter of James, Earl of Waldegrave, and Widow of Lord Edward Herbert. Upon this event he quitted the Stage. After a few years he returned to it again, and continued to be a great favourite with the public both as an actor and a vocal performer till 1767, when he finally retired from the theatre. Lady Henrietta Beard died in 1753; and in 1759 Mr Beard married a Daughter of John Rich Esq Patentee of Covent Garden Theatre. On this occasion he removed a second time to that theatre, where he had acted from 1744 to 1748; and on the death of his father-in-law in 1761, was appointed Manager. Mr Beard, who was as much esteem'd in private life as he was admired on the stage, was for many years an Inhabitant of Hampton. See Lysons's Middlesex Parishes, p. 89 and 80. Mr Beard died 4 Feb. 1791, aged 74 years. See his Epitaph, ibidem. See Lady Beard's Epitaph in St Pancreas Churchyard (Hopkins MS Notes)

Event Comment: Last time but one of the Company's performing this season. House. Mr Garrick as before Mr Vernon being hoarse Mr Davies play'd Sr. John Loverule some body in the Pit call'd for Vernon as his Name was in the Bills Mr Davies told them that Mr Vernon had been ill these two day [sic] and it was thought unnecessary to trouble them with an apology they afterwards call'd for the Early Horn Mr Davies told them he did not know of doing the part till after two therefore he was not prepar'd. they call'd out & bid him go on his own way (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble omits the comment on the afterpiece. Song The Early Horn had been traditional for the part of Sir John for over 30 years. See 10 Sept. 1741.] Paid Mr Short, Chorus, 5s.; Blurton 4 days salary in full #1 6s. 8d.; French on acct #100. Receipts: #305 13s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Kemble, being the last Time of her Appearing on the Stage. 1st piece [1st time; T 2, by John Philip Kemble, altered from the same by Philip Massinger. Larpent MS 1040: not published]: In Act I the Triumphal Entry of Domitian into the Capitolv. 2nd piece [1st time; C 3, by John Philip Kemble, altered from The Comical Lovers, by John Dryden and Colley Cibber. Larpent MS 1133: not published. Genest, VII, 243: C. Kemble on being asked, in 1821, if the above cast was right, said that he believed it was, but that he was ill and did not act]. [Address by Bertie Greatheed (European Magazine, June 1796, p. 397).] Morning Herald, 10 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Kemble, No. 13, Caroline-street, Bedford-square. Account-Book: Paid H. S. Hargraves, Box No. 95, his Servant being turn'd out by Force, #1 4s. Receipts: #190 9s. 6d. (130.9.0; 59.10.0; 0.10.0; tickets: none listed; odd money: 0.0.6) (charge: #216 17s.)