Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted
these 20 years. [See 11 Nov. 1752.] Characters New Dressed in
the Habits of
the Times. This play is alter'd by
Mr Colman and receiv'd with Some Applause, but it don't seem to hit
the present Taste a few hisses at
the End (
Hopkins Diary). [
MacMillan's note from
Kemble differs slightly.] Paid salary list #630 1s. 6d.;
Widow Hunter #2 2s.;
King's glass bill #3 17s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). [Mainpiece reviewed
and contrasted with
the original in
the Westminster Magazine for Jan.: "Upon
the whole we cannot esteem this a striking comedy, even with
the assistance it has now received,--
the fine manner in which it is got up,
and the great expence which
the managers have been at in habiting
the whole dramatis personae in splendid
and characteristic Old
English dresses. All
the actors except
Mr King and Mr Parsons performed but indifferently.
Bensley is
the worst
Old Man we ever saw. He presents
the countenace of a sickly old woman;
and the uniform goggle of his eye, by which he means to express infirmity
and distress is
the look of a man in anguish from
the colic.
Mr Palmer,
Mr Brereton,
and Mr Davis have a bloated vulgarity about
them, which should ever deter
the manager from assigning
them
the parts of cavaliers or men of fashion.
Baddeley, as usual, overdid his part,
and Mr Yates, as usual, was not very perfect in his."] Receipts: #192 11s. (Treasurer's Book)