Event Comment: Paid Tallow Chandler's 4th Bill #41 6s. 5d.; Spermacetti Candles, #132 18s.
Mr Tomlinson for Men's cloaths #11 11s.;
Mr J. French on acct #20;
Miss Hopkins, 15 nights (19th Dec. incl.) #3 15s. (Treasurer's Book). [The sixth edition of
Wm. Law's
Absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Representations was published this year (1st. edn. 1726) This day was published the Preliminary Number of the
Westminster Magazine, which, monthly, included a section called The
English Theatre, which observed generally on the state of the Stage, and commented specifically on new plays. Its view of the stage in general was not as sanguine as had been that of the writer for the
Town and Country Magazine (1 April 1772). "We are of opinion, that the
English Theatre is now in its decline. Whether it is that the stores of Dramatic Subjects or of Dramatic Genius are exhausted, is not immediately obvious; but there is a fault somewhere....We have seen the Morning star of Wit--the Noon too is past; we have now arriv'd at its evening...There is in Arts, as in Empires, a progress which leads to Refinement; and this refinement leads to Ruin." According to the writer the meridian glory of the English stage was during the reign of
Queen Anne. Reviewer damns the
Irish Widow, refuses to discuss the
Gamesters (revived), damns the
Rose and praises the
Garrick alteration of
Hamlet. This year also appeard
Granny's Prediction, a 53-page pamphlet attack on
Mrs Barry, condemning her on moral grounds (polygamy) and on aesthetic grounds, commenting on each of her characters. By a spiteful female relative
Elizabeth Franchetti.] Receipts: #142 10s. (Treasurer's Book)