Event Comment: This [main] Piece, written by Dr Brown, is peculiarly happy in evincing to the world "That Virtue still shall conquer tho' in ruin." Mr Sterne presents his respectful Compliments to the Ladies and Gentlemen of Newington and its Vicinity, and now begs leave to inform them that he has been at a considerable Expence in procuring several Performers, in order that every Performance may give Satisfaction to those Ladies and Gentlemen who have so generously exerted their Interest for him and his Company; and as their Stay will be but very short, he hopes that his Care by obtaining so many fresh Members may meet with the Encouragement of a candid Public. N. B. Any Lady or Gentleman who will honor the Company by bespeaking a Play, their Commands will be thankfully received and attended to by applying to Mr Sterne

Event Comment: Benefit for Morelli. Tickets to be had of Morelli, No. 77, in the Haymarket, and at the Office in Union-court, where orders for the Boxes will be punctually attended to. Receipts not listed

Event Comment: A new Serious Opera (1st time [in London; 1st performed at Venice, 1781]); the music by Sarti, under the direction of Mazzinghi. "At length in the spring arrived the celebrated Marchesi, whose fame had long reached this country, and who had been extolled to such a degree that impatience and expectation were raised to the highest pitch; and on the first night of his appearance the theatre was not only crowed to the utmost in every part, but on the rising of the curtain, the stage was so full of spectators that it was some time before order and silence could be obtained, and with some difficulty that Marchesi, who was to open the opera, could make his way before the audience. Marchesi was at this time a very well-looking young man, of good figure, and graceful deportment. His acting was spirited and expressive: his vocal powers were very great, his voice of extensive compass, but a little inclined to be thick (Mount-Edgcumbe, 66-67). Receipts: #437 15s. 6d., i.e. 560 tickets delivered to Prendergrass [see 8 Dec. 1787], who sold 558; 110 to Toosey, who sold 86; 400 to Butler, who sold 285; 236 to Snelson, who sold 204. Total non-subscription tickets sold: 1133

Event Comment: Places for the Boxes to be taken of Fosbrook, at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 5.30. To begin at 6:30 [see 3 Nov.]. [No playbill this season lists the various prices of admission; they were probably, as usual: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s.] Afterpiece: To conclude with a Grand Representation of Regattav. Kemble Mem.: No Manager [i.e. King had resigned as acting manager; but see 23 Sept.]. Ivory Tickets introduced. [These tickets, also called "bones," were for the use of actors and other members of the company in gaining admission for themselves or their friends to the front of the house. They replaced paper orders (World, 18 Oct. 1788).] Receipts: #112 3s. 6d. (75.6.0; 35.10.0; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. To prevent inconvenience, Ladies and Gentlemen are requested to be early at the Theatre-and to order their Servants to keep Places at Four o'Clock. Receipts: #452 14s. 6d. (438.16.0; 13.18.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. To prevent inconvenience, Ladies and Gentlemen are requested to be early at the Theatre--and to order their Servants to keep Places at Four o'Clock. Receipts: #396 14s. 6d. (394.8.0; 2.6.6)

Event Comment: [Afterpiece in place of The Island of St. Marguerite, advertised on playbill of 2 Feb. Beginning with this night Kemble, as acting manager, rearranged the order of listing the dramatis personae on the playbills, i.e., not, as had hitherto been the universal custom, according to the importance of the character in the play or the importance of the actor, but according to the social rank of each character. See also Genest, VII, 57-58, who remarks, inter alia, that "the vast importance which actors attach to the situation of their names in the bills, and to some other points of theatrical etiquette, must appear ridiculous to every body but themselves."] Receipts: #126 17s. 6d. (89.18.0; 34.10.0; 2.9.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece, who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. "A considerable tumult prevailed last night among the audience of this Theatre, on account of the unavoidable substitution of Miss Chapman and Mrs Harlowe for Mrs Esten and Mrs Wells (who are both indisposed). It was not that the audience objected to the former two, but because the names of Mrs Esten and Mrs Wells were printed in the bills usually sold about the Theatre, though not in those properly issued from the House. [Mrs Esten's name, however (but not Mrs Wells'), is listed in the "House" playbill for this night.] The audience were very violent, and the actors, after having nearly finished the first Act twice, were obliged to begin the Comedy a third time, before it was suffered quietly to proceed" (Morning Herald, 9 Feb.). "The fracas at Covent-garden Theatre on Wednesday evening was occasioned by the dexterity of certain Lottery Office keepers, who, in order to give notoriety to their shops, daily cause spurious Dramatis Personae of the theatres to be circulated; and on the reverse of these bills is conspicuously held forth the advantages of the public paying their cash into their gambling treasuries" (Morning Herald, 10 Feb.). Receipts: #191 17s. 6d. (187.2.6; 4.15.0; tickets: none listed)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Ladies and Gentlemen are respectfully informed that no Places can be kept after their Majesties are seated; in order to prevent confusion they are likewise requested to send their Servants to the Theatre by half past four o'Clock. Receipts: #292 2s. (264.17; 22.12; 4.13)

Event Comment: Anna [advertised on playbill of 26 Feb.] is deferred for a few Days, at the Request of the Authoress, in order to amend those passages which prevented the Piece from receiving throughout that unanimous Applause with which the Audience honoured the Four First Acts. [But Anna was not repeated.] Receipts: #316 12s. (253.16; 56.12; 5.18; tickets not come in: 0.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. "God save the King was several times repeated, and other songs suitable to the circumstances of the night" (World, 21 Nov.). " As the taste of the Royal Family is well known to be equal to the delight they take in encouraging genius, it is, we presume, the Lord Chamberlain that so frequently orders, for their entertainment, a hash of old Pantomimes, which even children cannot relish more than once" (Morning Chronicle, 21 Nov.). Receipts: #521 11s. (514/17; 6/14)

Event Comment: [Mrs Twistleton, who was from the Liverpool theatre, is identified by Genest, VII, 159. "Her voice wants variety, and, possibly from too much exertion, in order to fill so large a theatre, it came upon the ear with a loud monotony, destructive of all possibility of pathetic effect" (European Magazine, Feb. 1794, p. 136). As afterpiece the playbill announces THE MIDNIGHT WANDERERS, but "Rosina succeeded the play. The Midnight Wanderers was to have been the entertainment; and we could not but lament that Mrs Mountain's indisposition should have prevented its representation" (Mormng Herald, 3 Feb.). The Account-Book notes the same change.] Receipts: #405 14s. 6d. (392/15/6; 12/19/0)

Event Comment: Directors of the Oratorios: Linley and Storace. Among the Principal Instrumental Performers are Ashe, W. Parke, Parkinson, Mason, Flack, Ashbridge, &c. Boxes 6s. Pit 3s. 6d. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. No Money to be returned. Books of the performance to be had at the Theatre. [This was the 1st performance held in the new DL theatre]. Under the Management of Mr Kemble. The Box Office, for the present, is in Little Russell-Street, opposite to the Theatre, where Boxes and Places are to be taken of Fosbrook. The Box Doors are in Little Russell Street and Woburn Street. The whole of the Avenues [into the theatre], and the New Street ["which is intended to be called Woburn-street" (Carlton House Magazine, Apr. 1794, p. 136); see next paragraph] not being yet complete, Ladies and Gentlemen are particularly requested to direct their Coachmen to set down in Little Russell Street (where alone the Carriage Box Doors are at present) with the Horses heads toward Covent Garden, which is the only line in which Carriages can be permitted to pass. Carriages wanting to draw up after the performance should be headed to range in Drury Lane, toward Long Acre and Great Queen Street. The Chair Doors and Footway are in the Court in Woburn Street, where for the accomodation of those who may wish to have their Carriages wait out of the Croud, Chairs belonging to the Theatre and under proper regulations will attend. In order to keep the Colonnades quite clear no Servants can be permitted to wait there, but those belonging to the Carriages actually drawn up before the Pillars, and no Servants whatever can be permitted to pass the Doors of the Lower Saloon. Pit Door. The Temporary Pit Passage is in the center of the Theatre, in Bridges Street, which leads to a Spacious Saloon, which will be opened One Hour before the opening of the Pit Doors. All Carriages for the Pit Door are to wait in Catherine Street, or York-Street, to take up with the Horses heads towards Little Russel Street, and to pass through Great Russel-Street. Gallery Doors. The Gallery Doors, for Admittance, are in Little Russell-Street, and Woburn-Street, but, after the commencement of the Performance, the Gallery Doors, for the present can be only in Woburn Street. Every proper precaution is taken to prevent Croud and Inconvenience at the several Passages. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:30 [same throughout oratorio season]. "The Orchestra represented the inside of a Gothic Cathedral [designed by Capon], and the Chorus Singers paid that attention to their attire that rendered the stage respectable. The house is so constructed that every note was distinctly heard at the remotest part of the theatre . . . The audience are so near the performers that the movement of every muscle is seen; a matter essentially necessary, particularly to the exhibition of an English Drama." [This opinion is greatly at variance with that of other commentators on the construction, the acoustics, &c. of the new theatre.] (European Magazine, Mar. 1794, p. 236). "The stage for the oratorios resembles a Gothic Cathedral, with illuminated stained glass windows, &c. The flies . . . [are] carved like the fretted roof of an antique pile, and the wings to the side scenes are removed for a complete screen, like those in use at the foreign theatres." (Thespian Magazine, Mar. 1794, p. 127). Account-Book, 12 Mar.: Paid Cabanel building Stage, on Acct. #130; Capon, painter, on Acct. #61 12s. Receipts: #358 6s. (281/2; 243 tickets sold by Fosbrook: 72/18; 4/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In Act I The Cardinal's Banquet. In Act II The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine. In Act V a Grand Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Paid Charles Smith on Acct. of Upholders Work at Drury Lane Theatre #400. Powell: Henry VIII rehearsed at 10 (for Packer, lame, and Mrs Siddons); Siege of Belgrade music at 12 (for Storace, Bannister Jun., Crouch, Davis, Danby). The Iron Curtain being finish'd was this Evening exhibited for the first Time with the Epilogue [and see 21 Apr.]. "On the 24th February, 1809, this theatre was burnt down . . . Every care had been taken to guard against such a calamity. Two large reservoirs for water, on the top of the house, happened, unfortunately, at this crisis to be empty; and an iron curtain, intended to separate the auditory from the stage, for the purpose of saving a part of the edifice in case of conflagration, was, with its machinery, so much out of order as to be useless; it was, in fact, utterly immoveable" (Brayley, p. 8). Receipts: #451 8s. 6d. (389/4/0; 56/5/0; 4/6/6; tickets not come in: 1/13/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wild, prompter. 1st piece: Not acted these 20 years; altered from Dryden (by Joseph George Holman (Not. Dram.)]. 2nd piece [Ist time; M.INT 1, probably by John Cartwright Cross. MS: Larpent 1028; not published]. 3rd piece: In which an Engagement between an English and a French Man of War, a Shipwreck, and a Grand Military Procession as it pass'd, when the French Colours taken by the British Army were conveyed from St. James's to St. Paul's Cathedral [on 17 May 1794]. The above Procession is represented by Moving Figures, in which the Horse and Foot Guards, the Band of Music, the French Colours, &c. are seen to pass in the exact order they appeared on that memorable occasion. Morning Herald, 17 May: Tickets to be had of Wild, No. 46, Drury-lane. Receipts: #293 2s. 6d. (112/17/6; 14/2/0; tickets: 166/3/0)

Event Comment: Powell: Lodoiska rehearsed at 1 (third act) by order of Mr Sheridan. Receipts: #366 13s. 6d. (286.0.0; 79.4.0; 1.9.6)

Event Comment: Powell: In Consequence of Palmer not coming in time to the Theatre, the Audience were kept in waiting and the Play, which was ordered by Mr Sheridan to begin 5 minutes before the usual time [6:30], could not be begun till within Ten minutes of Seven o'Clock. Benson being lame Fisher went on as Casimir and Caulfield doubled the Part with his own. Roman Actor read at 10 [this Play not acted this season; see Powell, 18 Oct.]; Douglas rehearsed at 12 (for Mrs Siddons and Palmer). Receipts: #412 16s. (325.17.6; 80.18.6; 6.0.0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: End of Act I an exact Representation of the Engagement between the British and French Fleets on the First of June [1794]. The whole to conclude with a Grand Fire-Work, in honour of Earl Howe. Ladies and Gentlemen are respectfully requested to give peremptory orders to their servants to set down with their Horses Heads towards Drury-Lane, and to take up with the Horses Heads towards Covent-Garden. No Carriage can be permitted to stop the way after proper Notice given to the Company. Powell: Glorious First of June rehearsed at 11. Miss DeCamp came 10 minutes beyond the Time, Dignum 15 minutes, Miss Leak 20 minutes. Receipts: #328 13s. 6d. (271.11.6; 56.2.6; 0.19.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In Act I The Cardinal's Banquetv. In Act II The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharinev. In Act V a Grand Processionv to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Afterpiece: Representation of the Engagementv, as 14 Oct. [In mainpiece the playbill omits Lord Sands, but "Sands Hollingsworth, Baddeley ill" (Powell).] Powell, 17 Oct.: Chaplet rehearsed at 10 [see under 16 Oct.]; Drummer at 11; Roman Actor at 12 (order to be dismissed by Mr Kemble); 18 Oct.: Haunted Tower rehearsed at 10; Wedding Day at 12. Receipts: #307 6s. (227.18; 77.6; 2.2)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Cherokee, advertised on playbill of 24 Feb. In it the playbill retains Mrs Booth as Mrs Over-done, but "Mrs Over-done Mrs Maddocks, Mrs Booth ill" (Powell).] Powell, 25 Feb.: New Comedy, viz. The Wheel of Fortune, rehearsed at 11; Alexander the Great (by order of Mr Sheridan) at 1; 26 Feb.: Wheel of Fortune rehearsed at 12. Receipts: #406 19s. (337.10.6; 63.18.0; 5.10.6)

Event Comment: The Pas Seul which was only introduced after the above Ballet was composed by Gentili, in order to bring forward Mademoiselle Parisot for a few nights, is obliged to be omitted in future, on account of her engagement at the Opera House. Receipts: #260 13s. 6d. (180.13.0; 76.12.6; 3.8.0)

Event Comment: [As afterpiece the playbill announces Olympus in an Uproar, but it "was obliged to be postponed, on account of the sudden indisposition of Mrs Martyr. The change was announced in bills published at a late hour, and the door-keepers were ordered to acquaint the audience as they entered of the change. This information ought to have been given from the stage; but instead of that decent ceremony the curtain drew up on Rosina. John Bull resented this want of respect, and made a tremendous clamour, which Incledon and Townsend in vain attempted, by repeated apologies, to allay. At last, however, the storm gradually subsided, and Rosina was suffered to warble her mellifluous tones" (True Briton, 14 Nov.).] Receipts: #199 4s. (193.6; 5.18)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Force of Ridicule; afterpiece of Richard Coeur de Lion, both advertised on playbill of 28 Nov.] "The new Comedy last night was deferred upon the pretext of Miss Farren's illness...The Manager sent after Mrs Siddons, who was found at Covent-Garden Theatre, seeing Abroad and at Home. Brandon, however, ordered her a chair, and she kindly performed Isabella. Wroughton read the Father" (Oracle, 30 Nov.). "For near an hour the audience waited patiently...At half past seven Palmer addressed the audience" He said that Miss Farren was ill, that to those who preferred to leave the theatre their money would be returned, and that instead of the new play Mrs Siddons would act Isabella, "as soon as the dresses could be prepared for that purpose. This address was by no means favourably received, and hundreds of persons immediately left the house. A few minutes after eight, the Curtain drew up to the tragedy, which was well performed, and much applauded by the few who remained to witness it" (Morning Herald, 30 Nov.). "November 30. Miss Farren last night refused to appear in a new Play at Drury Lane which made much confusion in the House. The cause assigned was indisposition but that was not believed by the audience; and the fact Lysons says is, that as she cannot obtain payment from the Theatre, she resolutely told them she wd. not appear unless her demands were paid...Such is the unprincipled conduct of Sheridan" (Diary of Joseph Farington, 1922, I, 174). [On 1 Dec. Morning Herald prints a letter from Miss Farren, from Green-street, Grosvenor-square. saying that she really was ill. The editor of the paper adds a note in which he affirms his positive knowledge that rumours about a dispute as to Miss Farren's unpaid salary were without foundation.] Receipts: #134 2s. (82.2; 50.18; 1.2)

Event Comment: [This was Mrs Pope's last appearance on the stage. She dies on 15 Mar. 1797. "Her talents...were of the first order. She studied no model; she played from her own understanding and feeling. Perhaps her chief forte was comedy. Her elegance, her playfulness, her understanding had here fuller scope" (Monthly Mirror, Mar. 1797, p.200). "There is a certain peculiarity in her action which I never could reconcile to my notions of grace and propriety, viz. a constant outstretching of the arms at the close of a sentimental or a declamatory speech, accompanied with a lowly inclination of the head, like that of the oriental sage when he pays reverence to his prophet" (ibid, p. 170).] Receipts: #431 5s. 6d. (423.0.6; 8.5.0)