Event Comment: Tickets delivered by Wilson, Darley, Thompson, Helme, Mrs Hamilton, and the Orchestra will be admitted (Account-Book). [Afterpiece in place of The Positive Man, announced on playbill of 22 May.] Receipts: #254 7s. 6d. (89/16/6; 1/2/0; tickets: 163/9/0)

Event Comment: The last Subscription Night [but see 29 May]

Event Comment: Tuesday [25 May] was, by mistake, advertised as the last Subscription, which closes only This Evening

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for Wild. Wild respectfully informs the Public, on account of the Loss he sustained by his former Night [see 17 May], the Managers of Covent Garden and Hay-market Theatres, as well as the several Performers, have granted him their free Assistance. Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: Benefit for Sga Sestini [who had 1st acted Phebe at CG on 13 Mar. and 10 May 1784]. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. Afterpiece: Never perform'd here

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time in London; T 3, by William Hayley, 1st acted at Chichester, late in May 1784. Text in his Plays . . . for a Private Theatre (T. Cadell, 1784). Prologue by George Colman, the elder (European Magazine, Aug. 1784, p. 165). Contrary to the usual custom on the 1st night of a new play, the parts on this occasion are assigned]. "Palmer had done with Lord Russel as he did with many other characters, that is, totally neglected to study the words of the part . . . Whenever he felt himself at a loss he dexterously introduced some passages from The Earl of Essex, which he contrived to fit into the cues received by Lord Russel." His brother, R. Palmer, who told this anecdote to Boaden, said that the audience suspected nothing amiss (Boaden, Kemble, I, 193)

Event Comment: [Mrs Gordon is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill. Her 1st appearance on the stage was at the HAY, 30 May 1781, as Miss Lyon.]

Event Comment: Account-Book, 21 Oct.: Paid Lee Lewes on cancelling his engagement #21. [Lee Lewes acted on the night of his benefit, 9 May 1785, but not again this season.] Receipts: #104 0s. 6d. (78/7/0; 25/12/0; 0/1/6)

Event Comment: The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin exactly at 6:15 [see 2 May 1785]

Event Comment: The Doors will be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 2 May 1785]. Receipts: #216 13s. 6d. (193/4/0; 22/19/6; 0/10/0)

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: Benefit for Edwin. Public Advertiser, 29 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Edwin, No. 19, Piazza, Covent Garden. Mainpiece: Altered from Beaumont and Fletcher [i.e. from Fletcher alone]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 28 May 1782]

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Under the Direction of Delpini. 1st piece: With a Kitchen Scene. [The new pantomime is identified in Public Advertiser, 16 Apr. The same newspaper on 2 Apr. states that it was the same as that produced at DL for Delpini's benefit in 1782 [10 May].]

Event Comment: Benefit for Booth. Mr Booth respectfully hopes his close Attention to the several Departments he occupies in the Theatre will be a sufficient Excuse for his not personally waiting on his Friends. [Public Advertiser, 22 Mar., notes that since Wild's accident [see 11 May] Booth had been acting as prompter.] Public Advertiser, 14 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Booth at his house in Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields. 2nd piece [1st time; M. INT I, compiler unknown]: The Music compiled from the most eminent Masters

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Greville. Tickets and places to be had of Mrs Greville, No. 1, Queen's-court, King-street, Covent-garden. [This was Mrs Pinto's last appearance on the stage (but see 12 May 1786).]

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Public Advertiser, 18 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. 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. "The mournful tone, the pathetic countenance, and the long-drawn expression pervaded the sprightly scenes of Rosalind as effectually as if the play had been Isabella" (Public Advertiser, 2 May). Receipts: #327 8s. 6d. (150/1/9; 9/11/6; 0/6/0; tickets: 167/10/0) (charge: #106/15/10)

Event Comment: Benefit for Dignum and Mrs Wilson. Public Advertiser, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Dignum, Little Wild-street, Drury-lane; of Mrs Wilson, No. 2, Catherine-street, Strand. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. Receipts: #301 19s. 6d. (33/5/0; 15/19/0; 1/2/6; tickets: 251/13/0) (charge: #108 15s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Chapman and Wright. Public Advertiser, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Chapman, No. 47, Carey-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields; of Wright, No. 21, Berner-street, Westminster. Receipts: #224 18s. 6d. (33/19/0; 10/11/0; 0/8/6; tickets: 180/0/0) (charge: #113 9s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Williames and Staunton. Public Advertiser, 3 May: Tickets to be had of Williames, No. 22, Gerrard Street; of Staunton, No. 9, St. Martin's Street. Receipts: #192 8s. 6d. (23/10/0; 11/9/0; 0/11/6; tickets: 156/18/0) (charge: #110 18s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bonnor. 1st piece: Not acted these 5 years. 2nd piece: Translated from La Fete de Campagne; ou, L'Intendant Comedien malgre lui, written by Mons. Dorvigny, and acted in Paris with uncommon applause. 3rd piece: Written by Harry Carey; not acted these 16 years [acted 28 May 1773]

Event Comment: Benefit for Wild [prompter]. Public Advertiser, 7 May: Tickets to be had of Wild, No. 17, Bow-street, Covent Garden. The unfortunate circumstance of breaking his leg . . . has prevented his attending the theatre the whole season [and see 18 Apr.]

Event Comment: Tickets delivered by Lyon, Gardner, Leslie, Finney, Barthrope, Gilles, Sherratt for The Chances [announced on playbill of 20 May] will be admitted. Receipts: #130 3s. (23/18/0; 14/4/6; 0/8/6; tickets: 91/12/0)