Event Comment: Both pieces By command of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince George, Prince Edward, Prince William, and Prince Henry, the Lady Augusta and Princess Elizabeth. Present the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princes George, Edward, William, & Henry, with The Lady Augusta, and Princess Elizabeth (Account Book). Receipts: #202 9s. 6d

Event Comment: This play is alter'd by Mr Cumberland was very well receiv'd Mr & Mrs Barry play'd very well Alcibiades was perform'd by Mr Crofts being his first appearance upon any Stage bad figure bad voice & Play'd bad (Hopkins Diary). New Scenes, Decorations &c. Mr Crofts-a stationer in the Temple (Winston MS 10). Theatrical Review, 4 Dec.: We think ourselves oblig'd to declare that this gentleman (Crofts), by no means answered the expectations we had formed, from the accounts we had heard of him.--His voice is not bad, though it is not much above the level of common conservation; --his deportment is aukward and void of grace to an extreme; and he labors under the disadvantage of having a face destitute of expression. His gestures are extremely ungraceful, and the whole of his execution is glaringly untutored, and misconceived. His persons is very ill formed, and therefore it makes greatly against him, especially as he is the representative of Alcibiades, who was the handsomest man in all Athens, and we never remember any one's attempting to set out as a capital performer with so few requisites for the support of such an undertaking as this gentleman appears to have. Paid Dr Nares & Mr Cooke's 8 boys in the Garter, 12 nights (30th ult. incl.) #36; Master Brown 7 nights (2nd inst. incl.) #2 12s 6d.; Licence for Timon, #2 2s. (Treasurer's Book). [Larpent MS 328 of Cumberland's Timon, is one of the earliest to include scenic descriptions: "A Hall in Timon's House. The Flat Scene represents stately Folding Doors. Scene two, the Back scene is hastily drawn back and discovers a magnificent Levee Room or Salon. &c."] Receipts: #243 1s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Delpini. [1st piece in place of The School for Arrogance, advertised on playbill of 8 June.] 2nd piece [1st time; BALL. P 1, author unknown]. 4th piece: To conclude with a View of the Temple of Magic. True Briton, 2 June: Tickets to be had of Delpini, No. 27, Maiden-lane, Southampton-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #211 0s. 6d. (105.5.6; 13.11.6; tickets: 92.3.6)

Event Comment: [This is the first playbill to assign parts to actors in The Brothers, or to suggest parts in the Spanish Lady.] Receipts: #185 3s. 6d

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Altered from [The Scornful Lady, by] Beaumont and Fletcher [1st time; c 5, by William Cooke; incidental music by Michael Arne. Prologue by the alterer. Epilogue by George Colman, the elder (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 27 Jan. 1783: Wednesday Morning [29 Jan.] will be published The Capricious Lady (price not listed). "The costume of James's reign was strictly attended to in the dresses of the characters; and I remember the enjoyment of Mrs Abington, in a high ruff and a rich silver silk edged with black velvet" (Boaden, Siddom, I, 371). Receipts: #228 4s. 6d. (218/10/6; 9/14/0)

Event Comment: "The appearance of Mrs Abington in the two characters of the Capricious Lady and Lady Bab Lardoon cannot fail of being considered as a high Treat ... as the first exhibits the coy, formal Manners of the last Age, and the latter the free degagee Breeding of the present" (Public Advertiser, 13 Feb.). Receipts: #227 12s. 6d. (211/10/0; 16/2/6)

Event Comment: The King's Company. In L. C. 5@139, p. 129, the play is given on one list as The Silent Woman on another list for the same day, The Scornful Lady. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 343

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: And my wife, and by coach to the King's playhouse, and meeting Creed took him up, and there saw The Scornfull Lady well acted; Doll Common [Mrs Corey] doing Abigail most excellently, and Knipp the widow very well, and will be an excellent actor, I think. In other parts the play not so well done as used to be, by the old actors. Anon to White Hall by coach, thinking to have seen a play there to-night, but found it a mistake, so back again

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the fact that the Dedication of the play is dated 15 Jan. 1696@7 suggests that it was probably first acted not later than December 1696. The play was advertised in the Post Man, 21-23 Jan. 1696@7. The music was set by John Eccles. Dedication, Edition of 1697: I make you a Present of a Play, that miscarri'd on the first Nights Performance; tho' afterwards, without any farther Discouragement, it kept it self alive till the third day was over, and then I must confess the City Lady expir'd....This I am confident on, that the like Unfortunate Accidents which attended this Comedy, wou'd have been sufficient to have Dam'd a much better Play. The tedious waiting to have the Curtain drawn, after the Prologue was spoke, occasion'd by Mr Underhill's violent Bleeding, put the Audience out of Humour, and made it susceptible of the least Disgust; and when once the Torrent of its Displeasure break bounds, nothing cou'd put a stop to his Vehemence. After Mr Underhill was no longer able to come upon the Stage, scarce any thing was done but by Halves, and in much Confusion; in the midst of which, I think my self oblig'd to applaud the Justice I receiv'd from the Incomparable Mrs Barry. I very well know that the Ode in the third Act seems to be introduc'd something unseasonably. It was made and set long since, in hopes of having it perform'd before the King, at his return from Flanders; and the Music being so finely compos'd by Mr John Eccles, I was loath it shou'd be wholly lost to the Town. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 20: Damn'd

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the first performance is not known. A contract between Cibber and Rich was signed on 29 Oct. 1696 (L. C. 3@73, in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, pp. 381-82), with an agreement that it was not to be printed until a month after it was acted. Since the play was advertised in the Post Man, 20-23 March 1696@7, it may have been acted as early as January 1697, certainly not later than February 1697. Possibly Leveridge set the music for a song, Tell me, Belinda, prithee do, which is in A New Book of Songs by Mr Leveridge, advertised in the London Gazette, No. 3293, 3 June 1697. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 18: Lady in Fashion, by a Player, Damn'd. Preface, Edition of 1697: Not to miss the Advantage of Mr Doggett's Excellent Action; I prepar'd a low Character

Event Comment: CCross: (Pam: publish'd). Play dislik'd. Hiss'd much. [The pamphlet referred to was "Mr Garrick's Conduct as Manager of TRDL considered in a Letter Addressed to him," by E. F. 18 Oct.: As a manager, Sir, it is your business not only to prepare the Evening's Entertainment, but to prepare it in the best manner you are able; and the manager who does otherwise uses his customers ill." The burden of the author's complaints was: (1) the theatre has been operating for a month yet Garrick has appeared in only one character; (2) that he should buy himself off with speaking a prologue only, then sell that to the public at 6d. shows vanity, avarice, and lack of managerial responsibility; (3) that plays such as Albumazar (simple and poorly cast) and Scornful Lady, (with irreligious and atheistical parts) should not have been passed off on the public, whose expectations were raised high at the thought of Garrick's management. Macklin even had to apologize to the audience as he played the part of Sir Roger in the latter play. E. F. closed by urging: "Get up the best of our English Tragedies and Comedies; encourage the rising Wits and be under no apprehesion of the want of success." If you use common sense in casting your actors, as your former managers did (with all their other faults) in casting you, you will not yourself have to play every night. Above all remember your responsibility to the public.] Receipts: #100 (Cross); #127 4s. 6d. (Powel)