Event Comment: Benefit for Suett and Chapman. Public Advertiser, 22 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Suett, No. 24, King Street, Holbourn; of Chapman, No. 49, Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Afterpiece: Not acted these 4 years. The Music by Barthelemon. Receipts: #160 15s. (39/5; 10/4; 0/4; tickets: 111/2) (charge: #108 18s. 8d.)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Staunton as King John, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes L'Estrange.] Receipts: #223 13s. (211/18; 11/15)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [acted 15 May 1782]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years [not acted since 25 Mar. 1775]. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Banquo to Bensley, but "Poor Bensley's illness last night took him off; but on another night he will give and take in the triumph" {Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). In afterpiece he is assigned to The Guardian. On the Kemble playbill in both cases his name is deleted and MS annotations substitute Hull's.] "Macbeth at Drury-lane will. . . gag the drivellers who, on the failure of Constance [in King John], ventured a sweeping prophecy of condemnation that 'the Siddons never could play Shakespeare.' Would it not have been better to have borrowed Farren, rather than Hull, for Banquo?" (Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). "'Why,'say some of the critics, 'should Mrs Siddons wear a white dress in her last scene of Lady Macbeth? She is supposed to be asleep, not mad.' What reason except custom can be given for a mad heroine appearing in white we know not [and see DL, 20 Dec. 1782]. Yet there is an obvious reason why a person walking in their sleep should wear a white dress of the loose kind worn by Mrs Siddons ... It [is] the nearest resemblance which theatrical effect will admit, to the common sort of night-dresses" (Public Advertiser, 7 Feb.). Receipts: #346 16s. (198/10/0; 7/2/6; 0/8/6; tickets: 140/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: [The playbill announces The Country Girl and Hurly-Burly, but "in consequence of poor King and his gout, and the absence of Grimaldi, the Country Girl and the Pantomime were changed, and into something better, viz. Twelfth Night and the Romp" (Morning Chronicle, 5 Jan.).] Receipts: #194 17s. (178/13; 15/1; 1/3)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss George. Morning Herald, 8 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss George, No. 23, King-street, St. Ann's, Soho. Receipts: #284 5s. 6d. (114/15/0; 26/0/0; 1/7/6; tickets: 142/3/0) (charge: #109 5s. 4d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Leonard Macnally, adapted from the same, by Michel Jean Sedaine. Not in Larpent MS; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Chronicle, 17 Oct. For text of abridged version see 21 Oct.]: Taken from the celebrated French Opera of that Name. With the original Overture, Airs, Duetts, Trios, Chorusses and Finale, by the celebrated Gretry. To which are added Compositions by the following Masters; Anfossi, Bertoni, Duni, David, Rizzio, Carolan, Tenducci, and Shield. With new Dresses, Scenery and other Decorations. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [The printed score (Longman & Broderip, c. 1786) indicates that the music was adapted by Shield; it does not refer to Duni, Rizzio or Tenducci, but includes Philip Hayes and John Wilson. After the 1st 4 performances the mainpiece was reduced to an afterpiece of 3 short acts; see 21 Oct.] Account-Book, 28 Nov.: Paid Macnally in full for Coeur de Lion #121 18s. 6d. "Inchbald we thought [was] rather hardly dealt with. His voice happened to fail him in a particular turn of the tune he was singing, and some of the audience were ungenerous enough to disconcert him so far that he made a modest bow and retired [leaving his part unfinished. In consequence of this] a duet that was to have been sung by the King from the battlements of the castle, and Blondel without the walls, on which the turn of the fable hinged, was omitted; a circumstance that could not but materially affect the intrinterest, as it destroyed the connexion of the fable" (Morning Chronicle, 17 Oct.). [The following day Inchbald withdrew from his engagement at cg.] Receipts: #249 12s. 6d. (247.11.6; 2.1.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Wilson. Public Advertiser, 1 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Wilson, No. 13, King-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #196 4s. 6d. (30.13.0; 22.10.6; 1.5.0; tickets: 141.16.0) (charge: #106 6s. 11d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Browne. [Miss Eccles, who was from the York theatre, is identified in European Magazine, July 1787, p. 64.] Public Advertiser, 16 July: Tickets to be had of Browne, No. 13, King-street, Covent Garden

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Account-Book: Paid Yeomen of the Guard #2 2s., King & Queen's Servants #3 9s. Receipts: #290 6s. (280.3.6; 10.2.6)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of King Richard III, advertised on playbill of 12 Jan.] Receipts: #144 5s. 6d. (109.16.0; 33.5.6; 1.4.0)

Event Comment: [As mainpiece the playbill announces The Heiress, but "on the sudden indisposition of Kemble, the play was changed to The Wonder, where Miss Farren, King and Miss Pope had much applause" (World, 26 Jan.).] Receipts: #130 17s. (109.6; 20.17; 0.14)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons (the last Night of her Engagement). [She had 1st acted Juliet at Birmingham, 6 Sept. 1776, and 1st recited the Ode, written by Robert Merry (European Magazine, Apr. 1789, pp. 335-38), at the King's on 21 Apr.] Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes, To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'Clock. Public Advertiser, 29 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford Square. "The pouting Scene with the old Nurse was the cleverest thing I ever saw--so pretty, so Babyish, so charming" (Thraliana, II, 748). On this and every Evening for the Remainder of the Season the Doors will not be opened till 5:30, and the Performance will commence exactly at 6:30. Receipts: #320 6s. 6d. (112.12.0; 11.12.0; 1.7.6; tickets: 194.15.0) (charge: #112 13s. 7d.)