Event Comment: Mainpiece: With Alterations [by John Philip Kemble. In his version, as published in 1793, Lewis is assigned to Barrymore, Helena to Mrs Siddons, the Countess to Mrs Ward, Diana to Mrs Powell. Genest lists the present cast; it appears to be reliable. He omits Phillimore, who is assigned in the text, and Miss Tidswell]. A new Edition of All's Well that Ends Well to be had in the Theatre. Afterpiece: With a Sea Fightv. Powell: Drummer rehearsed at 10; Critic at 11:30; Cherokee at 1. Receipts: #282 1s. (178.19; 99.16; 3.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Suett and Barrymore. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Valentine to Barrymore and Scandal to Bensley, but "previous to the play an apology was made for the appearance of Whitfield in Valentine, as Barrymore had undertaken Scandal, in consequence of Bensley's being afflicted with a violent hoarseness" (Thespian Magazine, June 1793, p. 2).] Morning Herald, 25 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Suett, No. 21, King-street, Bloomsbury; of Barrymore, No. 11, Bedford-street, Bedford-row. Receipts: #447 10s. (95.19; 43.16; 6.1; tickets: 301.14). (charge: #159 0s. 4d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 5 years [acted 16 Jan. 1789]. Afterpiece [1st time at a public theatre (1st acted at Lord Barrymore's private theatre at Wargrave, 13 Apr. 1791); P 2, by Carlo Antonio Delpini. Not published]: With entire new Music, Scenery, Machinery, Dresses, and Decorations. The Music composed by Baumgarten. The Scenes painted by Richards, Hodgins, Pugh, Walmsley, and other assistants. Books of the Songs [W. Woodfall, 1791] to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. "The Piece was last night very incorrectly exhibited...The scenes of the destruction of the cottage by fire, the view of Strawberry-hill, and Blue Beard's infernal palace...are worthy of commendation. The last scene was not grand enough: the wings were by no means in unison" (Public Advertiser, 22 Dec.). Receipts: #279 13s. (249.19; 29.14)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barrymore and Mrs Wilson. Morning Herald, 19 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Barrymore, No. 8, Martlet-court; of Mrs Wilson, No. II, Crown-court, Bow-street. Receipts: #295 13s. (75/6; 15/15; 1/6; tickets: 203/6) (charge: #105 8s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barrymore. [Afterpiece: Prologue by John Dent.] Public Advertiser, 3 May: Tickets to be had of Barrymore, No. 11, Queen-street, Bloomsbury. Receipts: #271 17s. (35.7.0; 14.13.6; 1.2.6; tickets: 220.13.0) (charge: #108 5s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barrymore. 2nd piece: Written by Dodsley. Gazetteer, 29 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Barrymore, No. 11, Bedford-street, Bedford-row. Receipts: #281 3s. (46.5; 21.8; 3.9; tickets: 210.1) (charge: #108 1s. 8d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barrymore. A new Edition of [The Country Girl] to be had at the Theatre. Morning Chronicle, 27 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Barrymore, No. 11, Bedford-street, Bedford-row. Receipts: #305 0s. 6d. (84.4.0; 25.13.6; 5.0.0; tickets: 190.3.0) (charge: #115 6s. 6d.)

Event Comment: [In afterpiece the playbill retains Barrymore and C. Kemble as on 9 June, but "Barrymore being ill, C. Kemble play'd Kera Khan, and Cooke Kajah. Messrs Tett, Horsfall, Pilbrow, Bardeauleau absent from the first Chorus this Evening" (Powell).] Powell: New Ballet [Glorious First of June] rehearsed at 12. Receipts: #158 17s. (96/19; 54/11; 7/7)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by William Henry Ireland; incidental music by William Linley. Prologue by Sir James Bland Burges; Epilogue by Robert Merry (see text)]: With new Scenes, Dresses & Decorations. The Scenes designed and excuted by Greenwood and Capon. The Dresses by Johnston, Gay & Miss Rein. Printed slip attached to Kemble playbill: A malevolent and impotent attack on the Shakspeare MSS. [i.e. those forged by W. H. Ireland, of which this play was one] having appeared, on the Eve of representation of Vortigern, evidently intended to injure the interest of the Proprietor of the MSS., Mr Samuel? Ireland [W. H. Ireland's father] feels it impossible, within the short space of time that intervenes between the publishing and the representation, to produce an answer to the most illiberal and unfounded assertions in Mr Malone's enquiry [i.e. Edmond Malone, An Inquiry into the Authenticity of certain Papers attributed to Shakspeare, Queen Elizabeth, and Henry, Earl of Southampton, 1796]. He is therefore induced to request that Vortigern may be heard With that Candour that has ever distinguished a British Audience. The Play is now at the Press, and will in a very few days be laid before the Public. [But it was not issued until 1799 (see below). See also Bernard Grebanier, The Great Shakespeare Forgery, London, 1966.] 4 Apr., states that the first three acts were listened to with patience, but beginning with the fourth act the play was damned, when "one tremendous yell of indignation from the pit burst simultaneously." "At four o'clock the doors of the theatre were besieged; and, a few minutes after they were opened, the pit was crowded solely with gentlemen. Before six not a place was to be found in the boxes, and the passages were filled...The audience betrayed symptoms of impatience early in the representation; but, finding its taste insulted by bloated terms, which heightened the general insipidity, its reason puzzled by discordant images, false ornaments, and abortive efforts to elevate and astonish, pronounced its sentence of condemnation at the conclusion of the play" (Gentleman's Magazine, Apr. 1795, pp. 346-47). "Irelands play of Vortigern I went to. Prologue spoken at 35 minutes past 6 [see 29 Mar.]: Play over at 10. A strong party was evidently made to support it, which clapped without opposition frequently through near 3 acts, when some ridiculous passages caused a laugh, mixed with groans-Kemble requested the audience t o hear the play out abt. the end of 4th act and prevailed.-The Epilogue was spoken by Mrs Jordan who skipped over some lines which claimed the play as Shakespeares. Barrymore attempted to give the Play out for Monday next but was hooted off the stage. Kemble then came on, & after some time, was permitted to say that "School for Scandal would be given," which the House approved by clapping. Sturt of Dorsetshire was in a Stage Box drunk, & exposed himself indecently to support the Play, and when one of the stage attendants attempted to take up the green cloth [i.e. a carpet which, by custom, was laid on the stage during the concluding scene of a tragedy], Sturt seized him roughly by the head. He was slightly pelted with oranges" (Joseph Farington, Diary, 1922, I, 145). Account-Book, 4 Apr.: Paid Ireland his share for the 1st Night of Vortigern #102 13s. 3d. Morning Chronicle, 29 Mar. 1799: This Day is published Vortigern and Henry the Second (4s.). Receipts: #555 6s. 6d. (528.6.0; 26.9.6; 0.11.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barrymore. Mainpiece: In IV a Masquerade Scene. Afterpiece: To conclude with a Superb Prospect of the Infernal Regions and a Rain of Fire. True Briton, 12 May: Tickets to be had of Barrymore, No. 59, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Receipts: #337 11s. (62.18; 72.12; 5.17; tickets: 196.4) (charge: #216 1s. 5d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Henry James Pye. Prologue by William Sotheby; Epilogue by John Taylor (see text)]: With new Dresses and Decorations. "From the first drawing up of the curtain, till its final fall, we could not discover one single flight of fancy, one solitary scene of woe...It is but justice to add that for a first night the performers, with the exception of Barrymore, were very perfect in their respective parts [and see 27 Jan.]" (Dramatic Censor, I, 175, 181). Receipts: #309 13s. (246.4.6; 61.0.6; 2.8.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Barrymore and Wathen. Morning Chronicle, 12 May: Tickets to be had of Barrymore, No. 20, Judd Place, West, Somers Town; of Wathen, No. 4, Park-row, Knightsbridge. Receipts: #148 (84.18.6; 59.8.6; 3.13.0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #218 12s. 5d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Kemble [who had 1st acted Macbeth at Hull, 30 Oct. 1778]. Public Advertiser, 17 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Kemble, No. 2, Leicester Court, Castle-street, Leicester Fields. [In mainpiece the playbill retains R. Palmer as Malcolm, but "Preceding the play there was an apology, on its appearance evidently exciting doubt and trepidation in the audience [probably for fear that Mrs Siddons would be unable to appear]; but Palmer's fourth word broke the spell. R. Palmer was suddenly prevented attending the house:--what could the house do, but laugh?--Laugh they did;--'and Barrymore will read his part.' The house laughed again. And so Britannia was delivered" (Morning Chronicle, 1 Apr.). The name of R. Palmer's substitute in the afterpiece is not given.] Receipts: #293 3s. (175/2; 9/16; 0/5; tickets: 108/0) (charge: #115 10s. 3d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Baddeley. Public Advertiser, 2 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Baddeley, No. 2, Little Russel-street, Covent-garden. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Ogle to King, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Barrymore.] 2nd piece [1st time: INT I, probably by Robert Baddeley. MS: Larpent 692; not published]. Receipts: #226 3s. 6d. (105/18/0; 30/11/6; 0/16/0; tickets: 88/18/0) (charge: #111 17s. 7d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wrighten, prompter. [In mainpiece the playbill retains Kemble as Orlando, but "I had fallen from the Ladder in my Book-room, and bruised my Leg. Mr Barrymore acted Orlando for me" (Kemble Mem.).] Oracle, 29 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Wrighten, next the Stage-Door. Receipts: #328 18s. (63.0.0; 17.3.6; 2.9.6; tickets: 246.5.0) (charge: #116 16s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 10 years [not acted since 2 Oct. 1780]. [As afterpiece the playbill announces The Sultan, but "On Account of the Sudden Indisposition of Barrymore [it] was put off and the Devil to Pay substituted in its stead" (MS annotation on Kemble playbill) "The Sultan was changed to The Devil to Pay, and as Jordan remained, the matter was rather mended" (Oracle, 8 Nov.).] Receipts: #195 14s. (168.1; 26.3; 1.10)

Event Comment: [In 2nd piece the playbill assigns Scruple to Caulfield, but "Previous to the second piece, an apology was made by Barrymore for young Palmer, who, in consequence of Caulfield's indisposition, read the part of Scruple" (Thespian Magazine, Nov. 1793, p. 311).

Event Comment: Paid for Beer for the Men removing Music Books #2 19s. 6d. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns First Constantia to Mrs Powell, but she "having sprain'd her Ancle [sic] Miss Collins play'd 1st Constantia" (Powell)]. Powell: Chances rehearsed at 10 (Barrymore absent; Caulfield, Cooke, Welsh each two scenes; Trueman one scene). Receipts: #139 6s. 6d. (78/10/6; 57/16/6; 2/19/6)

Event Comment: Powell: Beaux Stratagem rehearsed at 10 (Barrymore three scenes; Aickin one scene; Miss Collins one scene; Mrs Kemble one scene); Lodoiska at 12 (Hamoir one scene; Sedgwick two choruses). Receipts: #209 7s. (126/11/6; 78/14/0; 4/1/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Goodall. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Don Manuel to Parsons, but "At the end of the first act [in which Don Manuel does not appear] Barrymore requested permission of the audience for Waldron to play Don Manuel, Parsons being indisposed,, (Thespian Magazine, Sept. 1794, p. 341).] Morning Chronicle, 7 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Goodall, No. 13, Great Russel-street

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Palmer as Stukely, and in afterpiece retains Trueman, but "Palmer being ill Barrymore play'd Stukely. Trueman being Ill, Banks play'd the Servant in The Wedding Day" (Powell).] Powell: School for Scandal rehearsed at 11. Receipts: #288 12s. (222.5.6; 61.4.6; 5.2.0)

Event Comment: [The playbill assigns Joseph Surface to Palmer, but "Palmer at a late hour sent word that he was unable to attend to his Business this Evening, in consequence of which a messenger was dispatch'd after Mr Barrymore to play Joseph Surface, but he could not be found, Mr Benson was therefore sent for, who, after having an apology made for him, play'd the Part. Banks play'd Surface's Servant " (Powell: Trip to Scarborough rehearsed at 10; Measure at 12. Receipts: #252 16s. (172.13.0; 77.9.6; 2.13.6)

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: Being full of my desire of seeing my Lord Orrery's new play this afternoon at the King's house, The Black Prince, the first time it is acted; where though we come by two o'clock, yet there was no room in the pit, but we were forced to go into one of the upper boxes, at 4s. a piece, which is the first time I ever sat in a box in my life. And in the same box come, by and by, behind me, my Lord Barkeley and his lady; but I did not turn my face to them to be known, so that I was excused from giving them my seat; and this pleasure I had, that from this place the scenes do appear very fine indeed, and much better than in the pit. The house infinite full, and the King and Duke of York was there. By and by the play begun, and in it nothing Particular but a very fine dance for variety of figures, but a little too long. But, as to the contrivance, and all that was witty (which, indeed, was much, and very witty), was almost the same that had been in his two former plays of Henry the 5th and Mustapha, and the same points and turns of wit in both, and in this very same play often repeated, but in excellent language, and were so excellent that the whole house was mightily pleased with it all along till towards the end he comes to discover the chief of the plot of the play by the reading of a long letter, which was so long and some things (the people being set already to think too long) so unnecessary that they frequently begun to laugh, and to hiss twenty times, that, had it not been for the King's being there, they had certainly hissed it off the stage. But I must confess that, as my Lord Barkeley says behind me, the having of that long letter was a thing so absurd, that he could not imagine how a man of his parts could possibly fall into it; or, if he did, if he had but let any friend read it, the friend would have told him of it; and, I must confess, it is one of the most remarkable instances that ever I did or expect to meet with in my life of a wise man's not being wise at all times, and in all things, for nothing could be more ridiculous than this, though the letter of itself at another time would be thought an excellent letter, and indeed an excellent Romance, but at the end of the play, when every body was weary of sitting, and were already possessed with the effect of the whole letter, to trouble them with a letter a quarter of an hour long was a most absurd thing. After the play done, and nothing pleasing them from the time of the letter to the end of the play, people being put into a bad humour of disliking (which is another thing worth the noting), I home by coach, and could not forbear laughing almost all the way home, and all the evening to my going to bed, at the ridiculousness of the letter, and the more because my wife was angry with me, and the world, for laughing, because the King was there, though she cannot defend the length of the letter

Event Comment: [Chapman and Barrymore are identified by MS annotations on Kemble playbill.] Receipts: #82 19s. (62/12; 20/2; 0/5)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular desire. Afterpiece: Never Acted Before. [The Farce by Fielding is a sequel to The Virgin Unmasked.] Forbidden soon by the Lord Chamberlain. It being supposed that a particular man of quality was pointed at in one of the characters. The prohibition short of duration (Genest, III, 652). See A Letter to a Noble Lord to whom it alone belongs, occasioned by a representation at Drury Lane of a Farce call'd Miss Lucy in Town (1742), [a 20 page pamphlet criticizing the Lord Chamberlain for allowing this farce. Author gives a scene by scene account emphasizing the bawdry and discounting the pious conclusion. He concludes with remarks on theatrical dancing]: As to Dances, I think your province of prohibition does not extend; so the Public cannot owe their gratitude to you for several. I appeal to those who have been on the coast of Malabar and the banks of the Ganges whether we have not had some that have exceeded on posture, or anything of that kind so common amongst the polite Indians of Indostan. Afterpiece: Mrs Clive mimics the Muscovita admirably, and Beard Amorevoli intolerably (H. Walpole to H. Mann, 26 May).-Horace Walpole Correspondence with Sir Horace Mann, I, 435. Receipts: #70