Event Comment: Benefit for Bannister. Under the Patronage of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Bland as Ariel , but "Ariel was, on account of the sudden indisposition of Mrs Bland, read by Miss Heard" (Diary, 8 May). Miss Heard may also have substituted for Mrs Bland in the afterpiece.] Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by James Cobb, for whose authorship see Kemble Mem. Larpent MS 982; not published]. Public Advertiser, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Bannister, No. 7, Suffolk-street, Charing Cross. Receipts: #227 8s. (95.17; 7.5; tickets: 124.6) (charge: #90 2s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Powell: Kemble being indisposed from a violent Bruise in his Arm (during the several times of his playing the Part of Macbeth) so as to render him incapable of attending the Theatre this evening, an Apology was made by Wroughton, and the Prologue was omitted. [The playbill retains Miss Menage in afterpiece, but she] being at the Italian Opera this Evening, Master Chatterley play'd her part in the Children in the Wood. Henry VIII rehearsed at 10 (for Banks and Dignum; Packer ill); The Jew at 12 (for Miss Farren and Miss Tidswell). Receipts: #322 5s. 6d. (248/0/0; 67/15/0; 6/14/6; tickets not come in: 0/6/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Revised and Altered [reduced from 5 acts to 4] by the Author [Richard Cumberland; MS of this version: Larpent 1026]. [In afterpiece the playbill retains Bannister Jun. as Robin, but he "being ill, Benson play'd Robin" (Powell).] Powell: Natural Son rehearsed at 11 (Miss Farren absent, Miss Tidswell one scene). Receipts: #149 9s. 6d. (106/6/6; 34/13/0; 8/10/ 0)

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: Wonder rehearsed at 10 (Packer one scene; Miss Farren three scenes). Receipts: #222 12s. (140/14/6; 75/16/0; 5/12/6; tickets not come in: 0/9/0)

Event Comment: [The playbill for this night announces as mainpiece MUCH ADO ABOUT NOT HING, but "The Publick are most respectfully informed that, on account of the sudden indisposition of a Principal Performer, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING cannot be acted. This Evening will be presented AS YOU LIKE IT" (printed slip attached to BM playbill, Harris, Vol. IV). "Mrs Kemble being ill, Miss Collins play'd Celia for Mrs Kemble and Miss Heard Phebe for Miss Collins" (Powell). Since Powell mentions no other changes, it may be assumed that the cast was otherwise the same as on 25 Apr.] Receipts: #208 8s. (127/1/6; 77/0/0; 4/6/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. [Mainpiece: Epilogue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.]Afterpiece: Not acted these 2 years. Morning Chronicle, 17 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss Pope, No. 9, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Receipts: #402 2s. (144.16.0; 76.3.6; 1.12.6; tickets: 179.10.0) (charge: #211 1s. 8d.)

Event Comment: Tickets delivered for this Evening [Account-Book: by Cooke, Evans, Jones, Kelly Jun.,Maddocks, Webb, Rhodes, Whitmell, Pilsbury, W. Banks, Chippendale, Humphries, Beaufort, Miss Butler, Miss Beaufort, Mrs and Miss Smith] will be admitted. Receipts: #83 1s. (47.16.0; 20.6.6; 14.18.6; tickets: none listed)

Event Comment: [As Miss P. Farren Mrs Knight had 1st appaared in London on 15 May 1777 at the hay.] "[Knight's] simplicity is the type of nature, untainted With buffoonery; and what we very rarely meet with, his attention was so wholly engrossed by the business of the scene as to make him appear unconscious of being before an audience" (Morning Chronicle, 26 Sept.). Receipts: #248 3s. 6d. (240.2.6; 8.1.0)

Event Comment: "The shrillness of [Mrs Hopkins's] voice, and the squabbishness of her figure are admirable accompaniments to the peevish expression of her features, and thus as far as natural requisites go, she is perfectly suited to old maids and crabbed aunts" (Monthly Mirror, Aug. 1796, p. 240). [On this evening the following performers appeared both at dl and at the hay: Palmer, Trueman, R. Palmer, Burton, Wathen, Suett, Miss DeCamp.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: As altered from Beaumont and Fletcher. Not acted these 18 years [acted 3 Oct. 1780. For Miss Allingham see 13, 18, 27 Oct.]. Receipts: #152 (143.8.6; 8.11.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Phillimore, Denman, Cooke, Stokes, Miss Tidswell, Miss Heard, Mrs Benson. Morning Herald, 9 June: Tickets to be had of Miss Heard at Mrs Fletcher's, No. 239, Piccadilly; True Briton, 5 June: of Mrs Benson, No. 31, Hart-street, Bloomsbury [no others listed]. Receipts: #78 10s. (35.0.6; 41.2.6; 2.7.0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #224 15s. 3d.)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; D 3, by Henry Neuman, based on Der Opfertod, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Text (R. Phillips, 1799) assigns no parts]. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Rice, at the Theatre. The Theatre, since the last Season, has been newly Decorated. [Beginning with 19 June the playbill: Printed by T. Woodfall, Drury Lane; on 4 Sept.: No. 104, Drury Lane.] Morning Chronicle, 27 June 1799: This Day is published Family Distress (2s.). Gentleman's Magazine, May 1800, pp. 406-8, prints a letter from "J. B." in which strong exception is taken to Kotzebue in general, and this play in particular. "Theatrical entertainments have an extensive influence upon the manners of Society. When well regulated, and the pieces for representation well selected both as to matter and manner, they may be esteemed friendly to morality, and improvers of public taste. But what shall we say when both these ends are disregarded; when moral virtue is banished from the scene, and purity of taste is destroyed by affected language and pantomimical decorations? Improvements in almost every art and science have been within a few years, rapid and important. But that is not the case with the stage; nor can it be, while Kotzebue and his friends usurp the venerable boards of Shakespeare." The writer then, in sarcastic terms, outlines the plot of Family Distress. [Pope and Miss Chapman were both from cg.

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss DeCamp. Mainpiece: The Overture, Chorusses, and new Musick by Dr Arnold. The Scenery by Rooker, Marinari, &c. Morning Chronicle, 9 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Miss DeCamp, No. 14, Tottenham Court Road, near Bedford-square

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Margarita to Mrs Powell, and Clara to Miss Heard, but Mrs Powell "being suddenly indisposed, Miss Heard was her substitute" (Morning Chronicle, 30 Sept.). It is not stated who acted Clara.] Receipts: #245 2s. (150.3.6; 92.18.6; 2.0.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Andrew Franklin]: The Scenery, Machinery, Dresses and Decorations entirely new. The Overture and Musick composed by Florio. The Scenes, designed by Greenwood, and painted by him, Banks, and assistants. The Machinery, Dresses and Decorations designed by Johnston, and executed by him, Gay, and Underwood. The Female Dresses designed and made under the direction of Miss Rein. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "With thy exception of Pizarro, this is one of the most magnificent spectacles the stage has for some time produced. The dresses...are attended with particular accuracy to the costume of the country...and the scenery is locally correct" (Monthly Mirror, Mar. 1800, p. 173). "As a singer [Mme Mara's] powers are indisputable; but as a performer she exhibits herself in a light which alternately provokes our ridicule and pity. Her delivery is an absolute libel on the profession. To the defects of a foreign pronunciation she joins a natural impediment of speech, which partakes too strongly of a lisp to warrant her bearing part in the prose dialogue of a play. What could possibly induce her to appear before the public under such disadvantages, unless she did it in compliment to the composer, we are at a loss to conjecture; nor less are we puzzled to account for the supineness of an audience which can patiently tolerate such puny efforts" (Dramatic Censor, I, 347-48). Morning Chronicle, 14 June 1800: This day is published The Egyptian Festival (2s.). Receipts: #320 18s. 6d. (277.6.6; 42.8.0; 1.4.0)

Event Comment: Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Ledger, Thompson, Klanert, Claremont, Simmons, Wilde, Miss Mills, Miss Sims, Mrs Lloyd, Mrs Masters, Lee, Goostree, Street, Mrs Mills, Mrs Sydney, Abbot, Mrs Egan will be admitted. 3rd piece: Representation of the Battle, as 9 Nov. 1799. Receipts: #424 9s. 6d. (40.13.6; 5.3.0; tickets: 378.13.0)

Event Comment: Rich's Company. The date of the first performance is not known, but the Prologue to Bonduca refers to She Ventures and He Wins. As Bonduca was advertised in the London Gazette, No. 3126, 24-28 Oct. 1695, the play was certainly not acted later than early October 1695, probably not later than September 1695. The Edition of 1696 includes on the titlepage: With A New Entertainment of Musick, Vocal and Instrumental. [The music was composed by Henry Purcell. See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XVI, vii-xiii.] Those songs for which a performer is named are as follows: O lead me to some peaceful gloom, sung by Miss Cross, and Sing ye Druids, all your voices raise, sung by Mrs Ayliff, both in Songs in the Tragedy of Bonduca, ca. 1696. To arms, sung by Freeman and Edwards, is in Thesaurus Musicus, The Fifth Book, 1696

Event Comment: Benefit Miss Younger. At the Desire of several Persons of Quality. Boxes 2s. 6d. Pit 1s. 6d. At 6 p.m

Event Comment: Benefit Topham, Gardiner, Miss Jones. Afterpiece: Which was originally acted at the Haymarket. With Alterations, Additions, and Amendments. Written by Mr Carey

Event Comment: Benefit Ridout, Raftor, Miss Bennet. By Particular Desire. [Tickets for Reed and Master Ferg taken also.

Event Comment: Benefit Julian, Mrs Lamball, Miss Naylor, Miss Haughton

Event Comment: Benefit Winstone, Taswell, Miss Budgell, Miss Cole. Tickets deliver'd for Sir Courtly Nice will be taken. Yeaterday Morning died, after a short illness, Mr Norton, Author of the new Tragedy call'd Mahomet, Perform'd at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.-General Advertiser. On Friday died the Rev. Mr Miller of Roehampton, author of the Tragedy of Mahomet (which was acted last Friday, for the third time at Drury Lane Theatre), the Humours of Oxford, and other Dramatic performances.-Daily Advertiser, 30 April

Event Comment: By Permission Benefit Miss Jenny Cibber. Tickets deliver'd out for the 12th will be taken. By particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality. [T. Cibber says: It was hinted to me, I might, unmolested, take a Benefit for myself, or Daughter, or both.-Serio-Comic Apology, p. 18.

Event Comment: Benefit for the Two Misses Scott. Pit and Boxes to be put together, 5s. Gallery 3s. To begin at half an hour after Six. No persons to be admitted but by printed tickets, which may be had of the two Misses Scott, at Mr Hind's, painter in Silver St., near Golden Square, and at the theatre where places may be taken. Several of the principal performers being engag'd for tomorrow night, the Misses Scott are oblig'd to take this night for their benefit, and humbly hope the Gentlemen and Ladies who intend them the honour of their company will excuse it, and the same tickets will be admitted. Note tickets deliver'd out for the Castle Tavern in Paternoster Row for the 14th of January will be taken