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 for King. [This was Smith's last appearance on the stage, from which he had officially retired on 9 June 1788.] Broadside in Kemble playbills announcing this benefit: Mr King most respectfully informs the Public that his Night is fixed for Friday the 18th of May, when will be presented The School for Scandal. Mr King has the pleasure to add that Mr Smith, who was so long and so worthily applauded by the Public, and was the original performer of Charles Surface in the above, distinguished Comedy, at the particular request of Mr King, backed by a strong assurance from many admirers and encouragers of the Drama that it will not only add to Mr King's emolument but highly gratify the Town, has kindly consented to return to the Theatre for one night, and resume his favourite Character. "We had been told that Smith pourtrayed the Manners of a finished gentleman with more delicacy and characteristic propriety than any actor of his day; but this did not appear to us to be his particular excellence; he stands too wide to be graceful, and his deportment gains no advantage from a perpetual application of his hand to the lower part of the waist. These habits are far from elegant. His Charles, however, is a favourable specimen of that sort of acting which commonly falls under the denomination of the old school: light, airy, and natural; which excites applause without any anxious endeavour to produce it; which suffers the points to tell of themselves, and does not place them as so many traps to ensnare the injudicious part of the audience" (Monthly Mirror, May 1798, p. 299). "He was received with the most heart-felt gratulations by an audience who did not expect any apology for such acting, though he saw fit to deliver one at the conclusion of the play" (Monthly Visitor, May 1798, p. 72). Times, 4 May: Tickets to be had of King at his house, New Store-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #674 6s. (388.0.6; 55.17.6; 2.0.0); tickets: 228.8.0) (charge: #212 5s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Prologue by David Garrick. Epilogue by George Colman elder (London Chronicle, 9 May). Text 1st published (unauthorized), Dublin, 1780]: With New Scenes and Dresses. "No modern theatrical piece ever met with a fuller success, nor deserved it more... The performers deserve every sort of commendation for their spirited exertion in supporting the respective characters, especially Smith, King and the incomparable Mrs Abington" (Gazetteer, 9 May). "To my great astonishment there were more parts performed admirably in The School for Scandal than I almost ever saw in any play. Mrs Abington was equal to the first of her profession, Yates (the husband), Parsons, Miss Pope, and Palmer, all shone. It seemed a marvellous resurrection of the stage. Indeed, the play had as much merit as the actors. I have seen no comedy that comes near it since The Provoked Husband" (Walpole [13 July 1777], X, 82). Receipts: #224 10s. (215.12.0; 8.14.6; 0.3.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5]: By the celebrated Henry Fielding; and never yet performed or published. With new Scenes, Dresses, &c. [and incidental music by Michael Arne. Prologue by David Garrick. Epilogue by the same (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 12 Dec. 1778: This Day is published The Fathers (1s. 6d.). "This play was written by Mr Henry Fielding, some years before his death. Mr Garrick saw it at that time. Mr Fielding gave the only fair copy he had of it to his friend Sir Charles Williams, of whose judgment he entertained a high opinion. Sir Charles soon after went abroad, and the comedy was mislaid. Mr. Fielding communicated this circumstance to his family on his death-bed; and enquiry was made for it, but without effect. At length Mr Thomas? Johnes, Member for Cardigan, looking over Sir Charles's books, found a comedy in manuscript, which he read, and, approving, had it transcribed and sent to Mr Garrick for his opinion, who, like Archimedes, cried out, 'This is the lost sheep! This is Mr Henry Fielding's play!' Mr Garrick communicating it to Mr Johnes, Mr Johnes immediately sent the original manuscript, which was in Mr Fielding's hand-writing, to the family, with his best wishes for its success, promising to assist it to the utmost of his power" (Gentleman's Magazine, Dec. 1778, p.586). See also, for corroboration of the above and for other details, Wilbur L. Cross, The History of Henry Fielding, 1918, III, 99-104. Receipts: #210 11s. 6d. (186.6.0; 23.19.6; 0.6.0)

Event Comment: The United Company. A somewhat puzzling entry in the Reverend Robert Kirk's description of London in 1689 implies a performance of The Committee undertaken but not completed: At a play in Whitehall King Charles, his trage-comedy, when the actors were come to that part of seducing King Charles II, some Williamites in the pit below hissed at it (as if the play had meant the like of King James in Ireland). At this there sprang such huzzas and holloes above applauding that part of the play, that it was in a confusion, and they durst pursue it no further, lest the two parties made violence one upon another. Two or three noblemen were remarked to be forward in the acclamations of joy, and therefore are looked on as Jacobites. The Play's name is The Committee, November 28, 1689 (Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archeological Society, New Series, VI, 655)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs King. Paid Paccini in lieu of benefit #80 (Treasurer's Book). Mainpiece: With a Medley Overture of favourite Sea-Tunes. Receipts: #78 9s. 6d. Charges: #67 16s. Profits to Mrs King: #10 13s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Edition of 1660: A Tragy-Comedy. Relating to our latter Times. Beginning at the Death of King Charles the First. And ending with the happy Restaurant of King Charles the Second. Written by a Person of Quality. [This work was probably not acted. The British Museum copy (E 1038) has a MS date 8 Aug. 1660.

Event Comment: Benefit the Author. Tickets as before. Regulus publish'd. As it is acted by his Majesties Servants at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, by Mr Havard, Author of King Charles the First. Inter omnes suos laudabiles & Virtutum insignibus illustres Viros, non preferunt Romani meliorem; quem neque Felicitas corruperit, nam in tanta Victoria, mansit pauperrimus; Nec Infelicitas fregerit, nam ad tanta Exitia revertit intrepidus. (St. Aust. de Regulo. Lib I. de Civitat. Dei.) Printed for H. Woodfall, Jr. in Little Britain, by Paul Vaillant facing Southampton Street in the Strand. J. Watts and B. Dodd also advertised King Charles the First, an Historical Tragedy, written in imitation of Shakespear, and Scanderbeg, a Tragedy. Both written by Mr Havard, author of Regulus

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 14 Nov.]. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. In drinking health to the King at the supper table in the farce, Baddeley introduced very appositely an allusion to his Majesty's late fortunate escape [on 2 Aug., when Margaret Nicholson attempted to assassinate him], which was received with three plaudits" (London Chronicle, 19 Sept.). Receipts: #260 13s. (224.2; 36.6; 0.5)

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: To the King's playhouse, where two acts were almost done when I come in; and there I sat with my cloak about my face, and saw the remainder of The Mayd's Tragedy; a good play, and well acted, especially by the younger Marshall, who is become a pretty good actor, and is the first play I have seen in either of the houses since before the great plague, they having acted now about fourteen days publickly. But I was in Mighty pain lest I should be seen by any body to be at a play. Elegy on that Worthy and Famous Actor, Mr Charles Hart, who departed this Life Thursday August the 18th., 1683: @Such Pow'r He had o'r the Spectators gain'd,@As forc'd a Real passion from a Feign'd.@For when they saw Amintor bleed, straight all@The House, for every Drop, a Tear let fall;@And when Arbaces wept by sympathy,@A glowing Tide of Wo gush'd from each Eye.@ [Reprinted in Thorn-Drury, A Little Ark, pp. 47ff; Sprague, Beaumont and Fletcher, p.38.

Event Comment: Mrs King from the York Theatre made her first appearance on this stage in Rosalind. She is very Tall and would look well enough if she did not paint her face so much with white and Red. She has a course Voice-and does not speak very Naturally. She was received with great applause (Hopkins Diary). [Genest, V, 479, suggests Mrs King was used to offset and upset Miss Younge.] Paid Watch tax and Beadle for half a year #18 15s.; Mr Levy Fredrick bill for silks #154 1s. 6d. Receipts: #132 16s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: This farce of Lethe was wrote some years ago and play'd with Success, & was reviv'd this Night with great Alterations, & was but indifferently receiv'd by the Audience (Cross). The Poet, Frenchman, & Sot Mr Garrick perform'd most inimitably (Charles Adams to John Gilbert-Cooper, Theatre Notebook, XI (1957) p. 138). No After Money will be taken, and no Persons will be Admitted behind the Scenes (General Advertiser). Receipts: #180 (Cross); #186 7s. (Powel). N.B.: Mr G-k is the author of Lethe and did receive #36 8s. 6d. for this night which is the overplus after the charge of #63 for the House is paid, and which I must subtract from the rest (Powel). [A letter appeared in the General Advertiser this day giving advance notice and approval of a performance of Cato to be put on at Leicester House 7 Jan. by members of the Royal Family. The author noted that "proper Habits are absolutely in the making," and that the Princes would learn the principles of liberty from the lines of the play.

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but the play was entered in the Term Catalogues, June 1670, and the Prologue refers to the arrival of French royalty at Dover (May 1670); hence, it is likely that the play was first produced in the late spring. Edition of 1670: Written in French by Moliere; and rendered into English with much Addition and Advantage By Mr Medbourne, Servant to His Royal Highness

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: Benefit a Gentlewoman. For the Entertainment of Tomo Chachi, Micho or King of the Yamicraw, Senauki his Wife, and the rest of the Indians. Admission: 5s., 3s., 2s., 1s

Event Comment: Benefit a Family in Distress. For the Entertainment of Che-sazan Outsim, Hindy-Gylesangbier, Charadab-sina, Gulgulachem-Chemaunim, and Tichucbactey Ormophan, Sacheoutzim-Sinadab Caocormin, the Chineze Mandarines, lately arrived in England, on a Tour through Europe, being the only People of that Nation, who have been in England since the Reign of King James I. Mainpiece: Written by Colley Cibber, Esq; Poet-Laureat

Event Comment: By His Majesty's Command. Mainpiece: Written by the late Mrs Centlivre. 'Tis humbly hop'd no Person will take it ill their being refused Admittance to the Music Room; the Dances depending greatly on the same being kept entirely clear. Receipts: #173 (Account Book); #200 (Rylands MS.). [King, Duke, and Princesses Amelia, Caroline, and Louisa present.

Event Comment: Benefit for Hobson. Tickets and places of Hobson at the stage door of the Theatre. Presentment of the Grand Juryv for the County of Middlesex: We the Grand Jury sworn to enquire for our Sovereign Lord The King, and the body of this county, have observed from most of the presentments delivered to us by the Constables of this County, that they have been, as we apprehend and fear, very remiss in their duty, by returning their several districts to be quiet and in good order. Whereas the contrary does most manifestly appear, in many instances as well from the accounts or advertisements we read in the daily Papers, printed and dispersed within the County (inviting and seducing, not only the inhabitants, but also all other persons, to several places kept apart for the encouragement of Luxury, Extravagance, and Idleness, and we fear other wicked, illegal purposes, which by such means go on with impunity, to the destruction of many families) as otherwise to the great Dishonour of the Kingdom...especially at a time when we are engaged in expensive Wars, and so much overburdened with Taxes of all sorts, both Parliamentary and Parochial, that it is much as a prudent man can do, without a taste to extravagant and illegal pleasure to support himself and family according to his degree and station in life under the most regular economy. [If unchecked this bad example will lead to National destruction]. We do accordingly hereby present as places riotous, of great extravagance, luxury, idleness, and ill fame, the several house &c following: [lists two gambling houses, then the Proprietors of the avenues leading to the several playhouses for not preventing wicked loose and disorderly persons from loitering at the front of their several houses on nights of the play to the prejudice of playgoers.] 4. Saddlers Wells, near Islington; 5. New Wells, Goodman's Fields; 6. New Wells, Clerkenwell; 7. The Proprietors of a Place call'd Hallam's New Theatre at Mayfair. Prays that the court will close all listed. N.B. Many people believed that after this presentment, the places mentioned would be shut up or reformed, but they advertise and continue the same diversions as before.-Gentlemen's Magazine (May, 1744), pp. 278-79

Event Comment: With proper Decorations. Afterpiece, Containing His Surprizing Victory over Glumdalca, Queen of the Giants; His Magnificent reception in King Arthur's Courtv; His Marriage with the Princess Huncamunca; With the fatal Jealousy of Queen Dollalolla, and many other Historical Passages. [This notice accompanies subsequent announcements of Tom Thumb this season and will not be further recorded.] General Advertiser: Yesterday it was falsely and injuriously inserted in the Daily Papers, that a great quantity of arms was secreted in Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, which seem'd calculated only to Prejudice the Proprietor of that House, having no other foundation than his having the said Theatre as a Guard Room for the Service of the Government

Event Comment: Benefit At the particular desire of several persons of quality for Mr Cibber. Mainpiece: Not acted these 8 years [see 15 Feb. 1746]. N.B. The Boxes not being equal to the demand for places, Servants will be allow'd to keep places on the stage, which for the better accommodation of the Ladies, and to preserve the Decorum of the Play, will be enclosed in the manner of an amphitheatre. Ladies are desired to send servants by 3 o'clock. Tickets to be had at White's Chocolate House, St James's, and at the stage door (playbill). For Th: Cibber a prisoner in ye King's Bench--he did Wolf and ye Epilogue of Nobody. Receipts: #220 (Cross)

Event Comment: By Particular Desire [i.e., done in honor of the King's birthday]

Event Comment: N.B. Mr King Being indisposed, Mr Vernon has obligingly undertaken (at a short notice) to play his part in the Masque this evening. Paid Garter Supers, 10 nights #46 3s.; Paid Mr Weston's note to Glascot, paid to Greenwood #9 10s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #132 3s. (Treasurer's Book)