Event Comment: [The title alone had a certain startling appeal. The General Advertiser reminded its readers twenty years before (11 Nov. 1748) "Clandestine marriages are illegal and punishable by the Statute of the 7th and 8th of King William, Chap. 35 under which Law the Parson shall forfeit One Hundred Pounds; and every man married without Banns or Licence shall forfeit ten Pounds, to be recovered with costs, by any Person that shall inform."

Event Comment: Benefit for King. Afterpiece, Not acted in 14 years. [But see 1 Feb. 1758.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never perform'd. New Scenes and Dresses (playbill). This Comedy was written by Mr Obrien. It was very much hiss'd from the 2d Act & with the greatest difficulty we got thro' the Play amidst Groans hisses &c. They would not Suffer it to be given out again. After many Altercations between the Audience Mr G. & Mr King by the Author's Consent the Play was withdrawn (Hopkins Diary). [Macmillan's note from Kemble briefer. See long review of The Duel in British Theatre article, London Magazine, Dec. 1772, and Town and Country same month.] Paid Mr Scott (c[opper] laceman) #83 9s.; Mr Waller (hosier) #17 18s. 6d.; Mr Hatsell (mercer) #80 19s.; Mr Barrow & Co. for oil, #45 13s.; Mr Cropley (linen draper) #73 14s.; Mr Cubitt (tinman) #15 19s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #241 4s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mr Reddish who has to perform the part of Alonzo was not come to begin the 3d Act, which put us in great Confusion, at Length Mr J. Aickin consented to read the part, & we Cut Mr Aickins part quite out-An Apology was made to the Audience that Mr Reddish was not come, nor had he sent any Message-The Play went on;-before the play was finish'd Mr Reddish came to the House when the Play was over Mr King & Mr Reddish went on the Stage Mr King apologis'd the Audience in behalf of Mr Reddish & told them that Mr R. was ready to make oath that he had entirely forgot that it was a play Night, & that it was by meer chance he came to the House at all-his looks were so truely pitiable, the Audience had Compassion & excus'd him (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly. Genest, V, 353, notes that the rebellion of the audience was quelled by an offer of return of entrance money to those wished to leave. He also notes that Reddish on the eleventh published an affidavit in confirmation of his statement, begging Pardon for disappointing the public.] Paid Mr Wright per order Mr G. G. #13 5s. 2d. Receipts: #143 7s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Benefit for King. Part of pit will be laid into Boxes. The Entertainment By Desire and for the only night this season. Receipts: #254 6s. 6d. Charges: #65 12s. Profit to King: #188 14s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Paid 3 day's salary list at #76 14s. 1s. per diem, #230 2d. 3d.; Mrs Greville on note #21; Tallow chandler's 1st bill #24 8s. 5d.; Lampmen #2; Bill stickers #3 12s.; Handbills 8s.; Carpenter's Bill #13 3s. 10d.; Taylor's Bill #6 13s. 6d.; Mantua maker's Bill #4 6s. 2d.; J. Stevens 18s.; Mr King's extra salary #1 10s.; Mrs Abington's Cloaths #1; Painters salaries #14 2s.; Mr J. French on Acct #15 5s.; Hire of Violin &c. 7s.; candlemen #1 13s. (Treasurer's Book). [The following items of those listed among the above Saturday expenditures were constant. The averages and total payments for them will be given in the following table, and no further itemization of them will be made]: @Item: Weekly Average Total Season Payment@Lampmen #4 8s. #162 16s.@Billstickersers #2 14s. #99 18s.@Handbills 12s. #22 4s.@Carpenters #9 10s. #351 10s.@Taylors #9 5s. #342 10s.@Mantua Makers #3 #111@J. Stevens 18s. #33 6s.@Mr King (extra as a deputy Manager?) #3 #111@Mrs Abingtons Clothes #1 12s. 4d. #60@Painter's Bills #10 10s. #388 10s.@Candlemen & extras #8 14s. #313 4s.@ Neither Carver or Royee is listed this season, but the amount customarily paid them for the two preceding seasons is made this season as a constant outlay, but "To Painters." DeLoutherbourg receives his first payment 14 Oct.

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: Mainpiece: Not acted in 10 years. [See 20 Dec. 1764.] Mrs King and Mrs Greville Imperfect (Hopkins Diary). Receipts: #107 11s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for King. Not acted in 10 years. [See 10 May 1762.] Considerable alterations to the mainpiece. Part of Pit laid into Boxes. Receipts: #143 17s.; Charges: #66 10s. 6d.; Profits to King: #77 6s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

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: Afterpiece [1st time at a public theatre; C 3, by Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven, afterwards Margravine of Anspach, 1st acted privately at the Town-Hall, Newbury, 6 Apr. 1780. Text (G. Riley, 1781) assigns no parts. Prologue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Epilogue by Joseph Jekyll (see text)]: With new Dresses, &c. "The Prologue [the first 30 lines and the concluding couplet of which were used by Sheridan as the Prologue to Pizarro (see dl, 24 May 1799)] was so much admired that at the request of the Duchess of Devonshire and several other of the nobility it was respoken after the piece; but as King was absent from the theatre, it was delivered by Palmer" (Town and Country Magazine, May 1780, p. 23 ). "The chief singularity was that [Lady Craven] went to it herself the second night, in form; sat in the middle of the front row of the stage-box, much dressed, with a profusion of white bugles and plumes, to receive the public homage due to her sex and loveliness. The Duchess of Richmond, Lady Harcourt,...Mrs Damer, Lord Craven,...and I were with her. It was amazing to see so young a woman entirely possess herself-but there is such an integrity and frankness in her consciousness of her own beauty and talents, that she speaks of them with a naivete as if she had no property in them, but only wore them as gifts of the gods. Lord Craven on the contrary was quite agitated by his fondness for her and with impatience at the bad performance of the actors, which was wretched indeed, yet the address of the plot, which is the chief merit of the piece, and some lively pencilling carried it off very well, though Parsons murdered the Scotch lord, and Mrs Robinson (who is supposed to be the favourite of the Prince of Wales) thought on nothing but her own charms, or him. There is a very good though endless prologue written by Sheridan and spoken in perfection by King, which was encored (an entire novelty) the first night: and an epilogue that I liked still better and which was full as well delivered by Mrs Abington, written by Mr. Jekyl. The audience, though very civil, missed a fair opportunity of being gallant, for in one of those ----logues, I forget which, the noble authoress was mentioned, and they did not applaud as they ought to have done, especially when she condescended to avow her pretty child and was there looking so very pretty...Yet Lady Craven's tranquillity had nothing displeasing;...and it was tempered by her infinite good nature, which made her make excuses for the actors instead of being provoked at them" (Walpole [28 May 1780], XI, 178-80). Public Advertiser, 14 July 1781: This Day at Noon will be published The Miniature Picture (price not listed). Receipts: #144 9s. (94.9; 48.3; 1.17)

Event Comment: "Palmer and Bannister having withdrawn from the theatre, The School for Scandal and The Quaker, which were intended for the opening pieces, were changed" (Town and Country Magazine, Oct. 1787, p. 445). [These two actors thought themselves ill-used because of the refusal of the dl management to acknowledge their right to open the Royalty (see 20 June 1787). Oulton, 1796, II, 1-8, prints an exchange of letters between Palmer, Bannister, and King (the dl acting manager) relating to this situation.] "Some twenty of thirty bars of Handel, on the approach of the court to the play [in III. ii of mainpiece]...made a fine preparation for the scene which followed" (World, 19 Sept.). Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. 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 13 Nov.]. Receipts: #186 5s. 6d. (151.0.0; 35.4.6; 0.1.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Jones. Tickets to be had of Jones at the White Horse, Parson's Green; at the King's Arms, Fulham; Ship, Fulham; and the George, Walham Green. Afterpiece: It is hoped that the greatest Attention will be paid, as it is impossible for the Company to cogitate throughtout the Cogibundity of Cogitations, unless the most profound Profundity of Thought is observed. Pit 2s. Gallery 1s. Good Fires in the Pit

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of King Lear, advertised on playbill of 14 Oct.] Receipts: #217 6s. 6d. (215.16.0; 1.10.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in Kemble Mem., but not on the playbill. In mainpiece the playbill retains King, but "Mr King being ill I acted his Part to-night" (Kemble Mem.).]. Account-Book, 12 May: Author's Charge 3rd night of Fugitive enter'd short by error #12 16s. Receipts: #408 5s. (365.1; 41.0; 2.4; tickets: none listed) (charge: #147)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: With new Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. [This was the version, altered probably by Joseph George Holman, in which he appeared in Dublin on 29 July 1794, on which occasion the playbill reads, "Dressed in the Habits of the Times, and with other Alterations, adopted in its Representations 19 [recte 11] Nights last Winter, at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden." It further states that the part of Ophelia would be performed "without the Airs, and with a considerable Restoration of the Text." No record of what these alterations consisted of has come to light. In III.iv Hamlet's father was represented by a life-sized portrait that hung over the chimney, and the Queen wore a large miniature of Claudius on her arm as a bracelet (London Chronicle, 10 Oct.). The words of the Dirge are printed in European Magazine, Nov. 1793, p. 393; they are stanza X of Shakespeare's Passionate Pilgrim. Miss Poole had appeared as a singer at king's and at Vauxhall in 1787 and at the cg oratories in 1791.] Afterpiece: Not acted these 2 years [and in place of The Prisoner at Large, advertised on playbill of 8 Oct.]. Receipts: #332 4s. (330.3; 2.1)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece: Prologue by George Colman, the elder.] Powell: Love a-la-mode rehearsed at 10 (for King); Lodoiska music at 11 (for Kelly, Storace, Crouch); Natural Son at 12 (King, Moody. Miss Farren one scene). Receipts: #347 15s. 6d. (283/0/0; 53/13/6; 7/2/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for King. [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Gertrude was at Liverpool, 23 July 1777; Mrs Jordan's as Ophelia at Richmond, 19 Aug. 1795.] Morning Herald, 28 Apr.: Tackets to be had of King, No. 56, Store-street, Bedford-square; 30 Apr.: The dresses [in Hamlet] were all modern. Receipts: #498 17s. 6d. (284.11.6; 55.9.0; 2.5.0; tickets: 156.12.0) (charge: #232 7s. 6d.)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. [On this night an unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate the King. As he entered his box he was shot at by James Hadfield, who was in the pit. The royal family remained in the theatre throughout the performance, during which God save the King was sung on four different occasions. Hadfield was subsequently adjudged insane. See Gentleman's Magazine, May 1800, pp. 478-80.] Receipts: #438 13s. 6d. (345.15.6; 87.9.0; 5.9.0)

Event Comment: See Herbert, Dramatic Records, p. 116. The King's Company. An edition of this play, published in 1661, lists no cast, no prologue, no epilogue

Event Comment: The King's Company. This marks the opening of the new Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, Drury Lane, to which Killigrew moved his company from Vere Street. Downes erroneously gives the opening date as 8 April, a fact which led to the creation of the famous spurious playbill for Bridges Street, Thursday, 8 April 1663. See Montague Summers, The Restoration Theater (London, 1934), p. 15. Pepys, Diary: This day the new Theatre Royal begins to act with scenes the Humorous Lieutenant, but I have not time to see it, nor could stay to see my Lady Jemimah lately come to town, and who was here in the house. Downes (p. 3): Note, this Comedy was Acted Twelve Days Successively

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. L. C. 5@139, p. 125, lists it for 3 March, but as this date falls on Sunday, it is probably an error in dating. The play was licensed on 22 May 1667. Pepys, Diary: To the Duke's playhouse...and I in and find my wife and Mrs Hewer, and sat by them and saw The English Princesse, or Richard the Third; a most sad, melancholy play, and pretty good; but nothing eminent in it, as some tragedys are; only little Mis. Davis did dance a jig after the end of the play, and there telling the next day's play; so that it come in by force only to please the company to see her dance in boy's clothes; and, the truth is, there is no comparison between Nell's dancing the other day at the King's house in boy's clothes and this, this being infinitely beyond the other. Downes (p. 27): Wrote by Mr Carrol, was Excellently well Acted in every Part;...Gain'd them an Additional Estimation, and the Applause from the Town, as well as profit to the whole Company

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. lists at Harvard. See VanLennep, "Plays on the English Stage", p. 16. Whether this is the premiere is not known. A song, Amintas that true-hearted swain, with music by John Bannister, is in Choice Ayres, Songs, and Dialogues, 2d. Ed., 1675. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 34: The Jealous Bridegroom, Wrote by Mrs Bhen, a good Play and lasted six Days; but this made its Exit too, to give Room for a greater. The Tempest. Note, In this Play, Mr Otway the Poet having an Inclination to turn Actor; Mrs Bhen gave him the King in the Play, for a Probation Part, but he being not us'd to the Stage; the full House put him to such a Sweat and Tremendous, Agony, being dash't, spoilt him for an Actor

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 2. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 347. The same cast is listed in the Yale MS. See Davenant's Macbeth from the Yale Manuscript, ed. Christopher Spencer (New Haven, 1961), p. 78. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, p. 34: Mr Nat. Lee, had the same Fate [as Otway in undertaking the King in Behn's The Jealous Bridgeroom] in Acting Duncan in Macbeth, ruin'd him for an Actor too