Event Comment: The Third Day

Event Comment: The Fifth Day

Event Comment: The Sixth Day

Event Comment: The Seventh Day

Event Comment: The 8th Day

Event Comment: At Harris and Godwin's Booth, next Duck Lane, West Smithfield. To begin at twelve every day of the Fair. Praces: 1s. 6d., 1s., 6d., 3d. Afterpiece: With the Escapes of Harlequin into a Quart Bottlev (Daily Advertiser)

Event Comment: MMrs Pritchard and Mr Havard continuing ill the plays which were lately bespoke and designed to be acted at Drury Lane are oblig'd to be deferr'd for some days. Receipts: #140 (Cross)

Event Comment: MMrs Mariet our Columbine ran away with some Gentleman (Cross). Mr Havard, the Comedian, who a few days ago was so well recover'd from his illness as to come abroad, is relapsed (General Advertiser). Receipts: #140 (Cross)

Event Comment: This Day is Publish'd at 2s. sew'd The British Theatre. Containing the lives of the English Dramatic Poets, with an Account of all their plays. Together with the Lives of all of most of the principal Actors, as well as Poets. To which is prefix'd a short view of the Rise and Progress of the English Stage. Printed for R. Baldwin

Event Comment: TThe Siege of Damascus is reviving at Covent Garden (in which Mrs Cibber is to perform the part of Eudocia , and Mr Barry that of Phocyas , it being the first time of his appearing in that character). As is also the Masque of Pyramus and Thisbe as set to Music by the late Mr Lamp; they will be performed some day this week

Event Comment: [No Public Advertiser this day.

Event Comment: Afterpiece: An Interlude. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no person to be admitted without tickets, which will be deliver'd this day, at the office in Covent Garden theatre at half a guinea each. First Gallery 5s. Second Gallery 3s. 6d. Galleries to be opened at half an hour after Four O'clock. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an hour after Si(

Event Comment: To begin exactly at 6:00 o'clock. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be had of Mr Varney at the Stage door. [Repeated throughout the season.] Ye Naturalizing Bill having made some Noise against the Jews, some people call'd out for ye Merchant of Venice, & a Letter was thrown upon ye Stage desiring that play instead of the Opera, but we took no Notice of it, some little hissing but it dy'd away (Cross). [Sometime in the calendar year 1753, Lacy and Garrick drew up a mortgage on the Drury Lane property for #10,000, to be amortized to James Clutterbuck over a period of twenty-one years at the rate of #4 per acting night, and permission to grant free seats in any part of the theatre (except the stage, scenes and orchestra) to forty persons. These latter to be named and seats assigned ten days prior to the opening of any season. This thirteen-page document, which describes accurately the bounds of the 13,134 square feet of land on which the ten buildings comprising Drury Lane Theatre stood, contains protective clauses for Clutterbuck, to the effect that Garrick and Lacy will exhibit nowhere else in London without the #4 nightly payment and for Garrick and Lacy, to the effect that arrears in payment could be collected solely from Drury Lane property, and not from the individual incomes of the mortgagees. It was not signed, so apprently was not executed. (See Havard, Collection of Documents dealing with affairs of Drury Lane, No 2, fMS, Thr 12.)] Receipts: #150 (Cross)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: By desire. This day publish'd Virginia, a Tragedy as it is acted at Drury Lane. Printed for J. and R. Tonson. Receipts: #140 (Cross)

Event Comment: For one night only, being desired by several Persons of Quality. Benefit for Mr Arne. Done in the manner of an Oratorio. To begin at 6.30 p.m. Boxes half a guinea. Pit 5s. Gallery 3s. Upper Gallery 2s. Tickets to be had of Mr Arne near the Roe Buck in Bow St., Covent Garden, and of Mr Varney at the Stage Door where Places may be taken for the Boxes only. Published for 1s. this day Alfred the Great, a Drama for Music, as it is to be performed this evening at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. Printed for A. Miller in the Strand

Event Comment: [The horror of the piece seemed too much for the sensibilities of Mrs Bellamy, so the part of Eurydice given to Mrs Vincent. See Genest, IV, 420. See also Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy, written by herself (4th ed., 1786), III, 30.]. This day publish'd at 2s. 6d. Coriolanus; or, The Roman Matron, taken partly from Shakespear and partly from Thomson, as it is now performing at Covent Garden. To which is added the Order of the Ovation. Printed for A. Miller in the Strand

Event Comment: Pit and Boxes put together, and no persons to be admitted without tickets, which will be deliver'd this day at the Office in the Theatre at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5s. Second Gallery 3s. 6d. Galleries to be opened at half an hour after four o'clock. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at exactly half an hour after Six

Event Comment: The Shakespeare Society will meet this day at Tomkyn's, in the Piazza, Covent Garden. Dinner to be on the table at Three. None to be admitted without tickets

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Pritchard (Cross). Mainpiece: Not acted these 30 years. This day publish'd. Price 1s. Reflections upon Theatrical Expression in Tragedy. [By Roger Pickering. This is a defense of the theatrical profession, "which in all countries is considered low and contemptible." Author's thesis: "A master of theatrical expression in all its extensive significancy must be possess'd of such accomplishments, as to set the profession above all contempt." Garrick is mentioned as best example. True tragic expression "requires Genius, Education, Reading, Experience...and a solidity of thought which never accompanies abject morals" (p. 11). Includes an interesting treatise on acting-sections on figure, voice, ear, memory, management of feet and legs. Comments on costume: "Taste in dress demands that an actor be conversant in the mode of dress ancient and modern, in other countries as well as in our own...Alexander and Cato were not masters of the snuff box, nor Greek women of French heels." The appendix asks why all our plays are not dressed in character in point of time and place, and why they do not contain at least one "scene" proper to the country. The author (p. 61) sees need for variety in acting same role, especially when a play has a continuous run of several nights. He calls (p. 77) for creation of appropriate mood for the play by selection of proper music between the acts. Wants a softening of the prompter's bell. Concludes by damning contemporary audience manners, especially those of the stage loungers (pp. 79-81).] Receipts: #314 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author. This Day Publish'd Athelstan, a Tragedy, as it is acted at Drury Lane, by the author of Barbarossa, Printed for Lockyer Davis, and Charles Reymers, against Grays Inn Gate, Holborn, and at Lord Bacon's Head in Fleet St. (Public Advertiser). This month was published Critical Remarks on the Tragedy of Athelstan, 6d. Cooper (Gentleman's Magazine). Receipts: #140 (Cross)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: With Alterations. Not acted for 20 years. [See 28 April 1747. Some slight alterations were made by Dr Hawksworth (Genest, IV, 478).] The songs of the Interlude will be printed and deliver'd gratis at the Doors. This Day Publish'd Lilliput, a Dramatic Entertainment as it is performed at Drury Lane. Printed for Paul Vaillant, facing Southampton St. in the Strand, 1s. Receipts: #120 (Cross)

Event Comment: This day is publish'd at 1s. Amphitryon; or, The Two Sosias, a Comedy altered from Mr Dryden, as it is now perform'd at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. With a New Interlude of Music, an Occasional Prologue, and some account of the Alterations. Printed for J. Payne, at Pope's Head in Paternoster Row. Receipts: #180 (Cross)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Farquhar. Receipts: #79 19s. (Account Book). [At this point Account Book, Egerton 2270, showed a deficit of #27 19s. 7d., which was wiped out by bringing over a balance of #290 5s. 6d., form the Journal, &c. No 21, Folio 186, a record which seems not now to be extant. This transfer of funds allowed Rich to meet the payroll of #251 17s. the following day.

Event Comment: Tomorrow Mariamne. This day publish'd at 6d. The Prophetess; or, The History of Dioclesian, a Dramatic Opera as it is performed at Covent Garden. Printed for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand. Receipts: #160 3s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Receipts: #135 16s. Paid Col. Philip Honywood one night's rent of one share commencing this day 2 shillings (Account Book)