Event Comment: Benefit Banberry. Afterpiece a Farce, never acted there before, wrote by Mr Sheridan, the Player. [No prices in Daily Advertiser or General Advertiser.

Event Comment: YYeates senior and Bennet's Booth, facing the Hospital Gate, West Smithfield. Wrote by Thomas Sheridan, The Player. Noon to 10 p.m. [Notice repeated 26, 27 Aug.

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. The Comedy in 2 acts taken by Miss Pope from Mrs Sheridan's Discovery. House charges #64 17s. [Profit to Miss Pope #115 5s.] Paid B. Johnson's Head bill 18s. 7d.; Manager's subscription for St George's #10 10s.; Soldier's practice for Alexander 8s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). [Neville attended this night and in his Diary compliments all the performers and dancers. I am afraid Vernon's attempt to imitate old Shuter will prove vain. He added something to the introduction to the Cries tonight."] Receipts: #180 2s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2 (?), by Thomas King. MS not in Larpent; not published; synopsis of action in Public Advertiser, 27 Dec.]: With Variety of new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. With a Grand View of the Cumberland Fleet sailing for the Cup, and a Song and Chorus in Honour of the Institution. To conclude with a Pageant Rural and Pantomimical. [These were included in all subsequent performances.] The Music partly new and partly compiled [by Thomas Linley Sen.] from the best Masters. The Paintings by Greenwood and other eminent Artists. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. Account-Book, 17 Feb. 1783: Paid King in full for Harlequin's Wedding #47 1s. Receipts: #231 (225/10; 5/10)

Event Comment: [Kemble's 1st appearance as Osman was in Dublin (Genest, VI, 295).] Afterpiece [1st time; P 2 (?), by James Cobb and Thomas King]: Partly formed on the Plan of the Italian Comedy, and embellished with Music and Machinery. The paintings by Greenwood. The Music compiled and composed by Linley [Sen.]. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. Books of the Songs [which assign no parts], Introduction, &c. to be had at the Theatre. [Synopsis of action in Universal Magazine, Dec. 1785, p. 335.] Account-Book, 31 Jan. 1786: Paid King for Hurly-Burly #165. Receipts: #181 2s. (174/17; 6/5)

Event Comment: Benefit for R. Palmer and Russell. Morning Chronicle, 16 Apr.: Tickets to be had of R. Palmer, No. 12, King's Row, Pimlico; of Russell, No. 8, Broad-court, Bow-street. Receipts: #507 15s. 6d. (111.13.0; 69.19.6; odd and after-money: 11.6.0; tickets: 314.17.0) (charge: #219 12s. 5d.)

Event Comment: By Permission [of the Lord Chamberlain]. Benefit for a Gentlewoman. Mainpiece: Not acted these 7 years. [Author of Prologue unknown.] Afterpiece: Written by Thomas King, Esq. The Doors to be opened at 5:00. To begin at 6:30. The Public may be assured that the principal Performers in the above play and farce are Persons accustomed to the Stage, and that the utmost Attention will be paid to the credit of Performance. Tickets delivered by Mrs Lefevre and Blackburn will be admitted

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Bernard. Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, author unknown. Larpent MS 909; not published]: With proper Scenery, Dresses, and Decorations. The Music entirely new, composed by M. P. King. Morning Chronicle, 20 May: Tickets to be had of Bernard, No. 35, Bow-street. Receipts: #299 2s. 6d. (120.10.6; 11.8.0; tickets: 167.4.0)

Event Comment: Benefit Woodward. [Receipts: #81 3s. 6d., plus #59 9s. from tickets. Charges #63.] Paid Servandoni #10 10s. Paid Price a bill for carpenter's work at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre last week #2 19s. 9d. Tickets to be had of Woodward at his lodgings in King St. (near the Churchyard Gate) Covent Garden; at the Bedford Coffee House; at the Salutation Tavern in Nicholas Lane; and of Page at the stage door. Tomorrow The Distress'd Mother and Miss in her Teens, the part of Fribble by Garrick.--General Advertiser. Daily Advertiser: By Particular Desire of several Persons of Quality. [On 13 April Woodward published a letter of thanks to the former schoolfellow who sent him this speech, promised to present it, and assured him that no copy would be made. See Theatrical Clippings, Folger Library.

Event Comment: This day at noon will be published at 6d. A Letter to Mr Henry Woodward, Comedian, occasioned by his letter to the Inspector. by Simon Partridge, the facetious Cobbler of Pall Mall, and son to the late Mr Partridge, famous for his dispute with Isaac Bickerstaff. "Barbarian to attack, a chymist, Critick, Journalist, and Quack" (Anon). Printed for H. Jeffrey in Pope's Head Alley, Cornhill. [Another mock defense of Hill, casting opprobrium on him in the manner of the eightenth-century bully boys of the bathroom. A second edition of Sampson Edwards' Letter to Woodward appeared this day. See Comment, 9 Dec.] Receipts: #130 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of the brave Men who fell in the late Glorious Actions [on 1 June 1794], under Earl Howe. The Whole Receipt of the Night to be applied to the above Fund. Under the Patronage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence. The Tickets for the Boxes at Half-a-Guinea each, are issued under the Direction of a Committee consisting of the following Noblemen and Gentlemen, who have obligingly undertaken to attend to the arrangements of the Evening: The Duke of Leeds, The Duke of Bedford, The Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Mulgrave, Lord William Russel, The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor [Paul Le Mesurier], Mr Alderman Coombe, Hon. Thos. Erskine, J. Nesbit Esq., I. B. Church Esq., W. Devaynes Esq., J. Taylor Vaughan Esq., J. J. Angerstein Esq., R. B. Sheridan Esq. Tickets and Places for the Boxes, not disposed of by the Committee, to be had of Fosbrook, at the Box-Office, Little Russel-Street. Tickets also to be had at the Bar of Lloyd's Coffee House. Afterpiece [1st time; ENT 2, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and James Cobb; with songs written by the Duke of Leeds, the Earl of Mulgrave, Mary Robinson, Joseph Richardson, &c. In 1797 altered as CAPE ST. VINCENT. Prologue by Joseph Richardson (London Chronicle, 4 July). Epilogue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan]: The Music composed and selected by Storace [with one song each by Reeve. Linley Sen., Michael Kelly]. The Dresses, Scenery and Machinery entirely New. "This piece is a sort of continuation of No Song No Supper...hastily put together for the occasion" (European Magazine, July 1794, p. 60). "The Theatre this Evening was crowded in every Part, the receipt amounting to something better than 1300 Guineas" (Powell). Powell, 1 July: Country Girl rehearsed at 10; Glorious First at 12 and at night. 2 July: Glorious First rehearsed at 10. Receipts: #1,526 11s. (450/6/0; 41/13/0; 0/12/6; tickets in boxes: 954/0/0; tickets in pit: 80/0/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Genest, VII, 88: On this evening there was not any play performed, from respect to the memory of the unfortunate monarch, Louis 16th, who was murdered in Paris on that day [sic] -Kemble, without consulting Sheridan, closed the theatre -Sheridan, who was out of town, arrived late that evening, and finding there was no play, was highly incensed at the shutting up of the theatre upon such an occasion; for, he said, it was an invariable maxim with him, that neither politics nor religion should be taken notice of in his playhouse, yet no man deplored the tragical event more sincerely than he did. (Kelly, Reminiscences, II, 37). [The playbill of 23 Jan. advertises Cymon and The Ghost for this present evening.

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but a licensing date of 28 March 1678 suggests a first performance not later than February 1678. One song, One night while all the village slept, with music by Louis Grabu and words by Sir Car Scroop, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, The Third Book, 1681. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 17): Major Mohun...[in] Mithridates, &c. An Eminent Poet seeing him Act this last, vented suddenly this Saying: Oh Mohun, Mohun! Thou little Man of Mettle, if I should write a 100 Plays, I'd Write a Part for thy Mouth; in short, in all his Parts, he was most Accurate and Correct. [Downes, p. 12, gives an identical cast except for omissions.] Princess Anne apparently played Ziphares and Frances Apsley played Semandra in a production of this drama, probably at St James's Palace or at Sir Allen Apsley's house in St James's Square, between January 1677@8 and August 1679. See Benjamin Bathurst, Letters of Two Queens (London, 1924), p. 61

Event Comment: By Command of Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales [who were present]. Mainpiece: Written by Beaumont and Fletcher. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop. [For a letter on the disputes between the footmen and the gentlemen, see Grub St. Journal, 17 March.] [There is in the Bennett Collection, I, 93, in the Birmingham Library, an exceptionally curious advance notice for a performance to be given at Drury Lane soon after Easter of The Conscious Lovers and The Devil to Pay, with no cast for either play in the bill. The announcement appears to refer to the spring of 1737 and presumably appeared around the middle of March. It is intended for the benefit of a Widow under Misfortunes and the bill bears the heading: Gift and Pleasure. According to the announcement, the widow has been left Italian pictures, antiqees, jewels, and precious stones; and she intends, for the encouragement of her benefactors, to make a gift of all the objects, which will be placed in three hundred parcels. Tickets for the performance are advertised at five shillings, and no one is to be admitted without a ticket. The pit and boxes are to be put together at two tickets for each person, and the first and second galleries are placed together at one ticket for each spectator. The tickets are not to be left with the door-keepers as usual, but only shewn and kept. On the day following the benefit a raffle will be held, by Mr Foubert's Patent Mathematical Machine, at Hickford's Great Room in Brewers Street, Golden Square, and only holders of tickets will be admitted to the raffle, After this entry was set, an advertisement was found in the Daily Advertiser, 18 April 1738, announcing this performance for 13 May 1738. The Daily Advertiser on 5 May 1738, however, announced that the proposed performance had been cancelled.

Event Comment: At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Mainpiece: As written by Shakespear. [Daily Post, 2 Feb., has a letter from a writer who promises to discuss theatrical affairs in the form of The Domestic Courier; this issue includes four short essays.

Event Comment: Benefit a Gentleman who has wrote for the Stage. [Professor John B. Shipley of the University of Colorado has called to my attention a letter written by James Ralph to Thomas Birch, dated 14 February 1741, in which he states that this benefit is to be for Ralph. See B.M. Add. MSS. 4317, fol. 94.

Event Comment: By particular Desire. Benefit Ryan. Receipts: money #59 0s. 6d.; seals #100 6s. (Account Book); #150 (Rylands MS.) [Ryan received a Free Benefit. See also an Exchange of letters in the London Daily Post and General Advertiser, 9 and 10 March, concerning the alleged indecency of Blunt's undressing before the audience.

Event Comment: At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality. [For letter on pantomime, see British Journal, 18 March.