Event Comment: Afterpiece: By Desire. Boxes #62 10s. 6d.
Macklin's fifth above charges came to #25 2s. 11d. Paid for sundry clothes from
Voelcher #30 10s. Paid
Blackmore a Bill for
Rich #29 10s. and a Bill for the Theatre from 19 April last: #84 (Account Book). [On 1 Feb. one
H. F. of the
Middle Temple wrote to Macklin suggesting two things to insure the success of the
Married Libertine. The first was practical, "bring in a claque of friends to counteract the noise of the Scots Lords who are opposing it." The second was revisional: "The play is too long,--shorten it and give the house notice that you have so done. The scenes wherein
Lady Belville is solemn, grave, complaining and moral may be much abbreviated; this will...take away that heavy, lazy and sleepy (
however just) part which makes your friends languish and grow cold, and gives your enemies an opportunity to improve their rancor and malignity. This observation may be applied to every recital, narrative or description which is not absolutely necessary or descriptive,--I mean necessarily connected with the frame, contexture & execution of the drama, or something designed or painted with uncommon poetic fire and enthusiasm. Pray consider whether that serious, moral and sentimental part in the character of
Angelica might not be curtailed, or entirely omitted. I would have your young captain fully employed in action without ever standing still to moralize or harangue,
however sensibly and poignantly he may do it. After all this there will remain a rich and uninterrupted vein of true comic humour and lively representation in short, a well connected series and succession of business which I am convinced would keep the audience so attentive and so entirely possessed that there would be no room for languor or malice to produce any effect to your detriment." (
Memoirs of Macklin [
Harvard Theatre Collection, extra-illustrated edition, I, part 2, p. 414.] Receipts: #188 14s. 6d. (Account Book)