Event Comment: Benefit for Widow Vincent. House charges #64 15s. 6d. [Deficit Mrs Vincent #20 3s. 6d.] Rec'd by draft on Mr Clutterbuck #200, and from Sinking Fund #287; Paid Blandford (tallow chandler) #27 18s. 11d.; and French on account #12 12s. (Treasurer's Book). Fifteen minutes past 5 went to the 2s. gallery...(Widow Vincent's voice pleases me much. Holland did Oakly,-he imitates Garrick, but is very inferior to him (Neville MS Diary). Receipts: #44 12s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: By Command of their Majesties. Paid printer's bill #9 6s (Treasurer's Book). The New Tragedy of Dido, for Benefit of the author, is oblig'd to be deferr'd till Thursday next. Receipts: #229 9s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Had no intention of going to the play, but seeing Garrick was to play Lord Chalkstone, I (after hearing Mr Romaine's Lecture on the chapter which contains ye Destruction of Sodom) went before 9 to ye right-side door of ye Pit. The doorkeepers said, --No Room. Saw that ye Canopy, Yeomen, &c. would prevent my seeing. They desired me if I could not get in at ye other door to come back. Found a number of people waiting there and at ye door of the First Gallery; so went back, entered and stood in ye same disagreeable situation I did last night. But I saw the inimitable Garrick very well. [Comments on excellence of whole cast.] Scarcely cool now past eleven o'clock. Ye King and Queen, Princess of Brunswick, Louisa, and all that Tribe were at dl tonight (Neville MS Diary)

Event Comment: Benefit for Morris and Tindal. Tickets delivered out by the deceas'd Mr Anderson will not be admitted. Morris paid half the charges #32 15s. which deducted from half the ready money gave him a profit of #4 12s. plus #83 15s. from his tickets (Box 23; Pit 270; Gallery 375). Tindall bore no expense, but turned over half the value of the tickets he delivered. His total ticket value was #23 2s. (Box 31; Pit 87; Gallery 23) so his profit came to #11 11s.] (Account Book). Receipts: #74 14s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Fox, Mrs Cross, Miss Simson. By Particular Desire. House charges #64 7s. [Profit to actors #1 2s. 6d. plus tickets. Received Mr Dickinson's deficiency #54 14s.] Rec'd of Clutterbuck #100. Paid French on account #40. Paid Florio for 7 nights in Cymon #7 7s.; Chorus singers #2 10s. 6d.; Rec'd repayment of Arne's note #50 and of Hopkins' note #28; Stopages #2 3s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #65 9s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Doors to open at half past Four. Play to begin at half past Six. Send servants to hold places by Four o'clock. [Mrs Vincent's deficit of 1st instant received #20 3s. 6d.] Paid scavenger's rate for St Martin's due Lady Day #5 1s. Paid printer's bill #9 6s. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #262 7s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Went to Drury Lane, but could not get in. Stayed from half past 4, sometime at one Pit door, sometime at the other, till past 6, and got in at the right hand side just as the play began, and was dreadfully squeezed, but rewarded by seeing Garrick play Hamlet. The expression in his features, his eyes particularly, surpasses anything I ever saw. He is a little man, but handsome and full of that fire which marks the stronger, and of the softness natural to the tender passions. It is impossible to see his greatest excellencies from ye Gallery. Baddeley and Dodd are pretty well in Polonius and Ostrick. Mrs Baddeley and Yates do Ophelia and ye Grave Digger very well. Mrs Pritchard is great, as usual in ye Queen. Gravedigger's man-Castle. Horatio-$Mr Packer. Several parts of ye play, as it is in $Shakespeare, are omitted rather improperly...The Prince Brunswick, his wife and Louisa were present (Neville MS Diary)

Event Comment: NNeville MS Diary: The last three he [Foote] has not done for some time. I like Woodward better in young Philpot. Both add some crochets of their own. I don't think he took off Mr Whitefield well. Cole, Shift and Smirk he does inimitably. He has a great command of features in the ludicrous way, not such as that of Garrick

Event Comment: At 5 went into the Pit...Mrs Yates is the Callista Mr Rowe drew; Powell did Scioto well, nor is Bensley a bad Horatio. A new Comic Dance by LaRiviere and Miss Vallois in wooden shoes, with Harlequin Skeleton to which is now added a new scene (Neville MS Diary). Receipts: #123 15s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Desire. Music [to afterpiece] by Barthelemon. I often go to both theatres, have seen Garrick and Mrs Yates, who are the first in this theatrical sphere. The former has hitherto [i.e., this season] appeared only in comedy, --his manner, his humour, and his judgment are not to be equall'd. The adoration he meets with from the English is equal to his merit. His every motion they attend to, and every turn of his eye seems to transport them. Mrs Yates [at Covent Garden] has much tragic merit. Her low voice is very tuneful, her feeling great, her action peculiarly graceful and her figure uncommonly fine. She has more power than Mrs Dancer (at Drury Lane] and more variety than Mrs Fitz-Henry, tho' less strength and compass. On the whole she is superior to the former and inferior to the latter. Barry and Mrs Dancer are engag'd here (MS Letter from Henry Grattan to Cornet Broome giving his first impressions of living in London, 27 Oct. 1767, in Folger Library). Neville MS Diary: Went into the Pit to see As You Like It a second time. Reddish did Orlando for the 1st time. He is a pretty good player. End Act I, Hearts of Oak. The Entertainment was the new Farce called a Peep Behind the Curtain. Glib by King who is the author. The piece is not unentertaining, whatever other merit it may have. The Prologue and an Address to the Town by way of Epilogue, are spoken by Mr King, the music by Barthelemon

Event Comment: [T+Theatrical Monitor, No VI appeared this day with a blast, in the form of an occasional Epilogue, at the morals, language and plan of the Oxonian in Town. This was the first performance of Macklin's afterpiece in London. It had been played in Dublin. "Its curious idiom, half-brogue, and half Cockney, puzzled the audience, as did its highly topical Irish allusions. With his usual candor, Macklin observed: 'I believe the audience are right. (The play was withdrawn after this single performance.) There's a geography in humor as well as in morals, which I had not previously considered--'" Cooke, Macklin, p. 270. According to Kirkman, in his curtain speech Macklin "courageously admitted: 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very sensible tha there are several passages in this play which deserve to be probated and I assure you that they shall never offend your ears again!' As soon as Mr Macklin had finished this address, the audience testified their approbation of his determination, by loud and reiterated plaudits" (Kirkman, Memoirs of the Life of Macklin, II, 3). See Also Charles Macklin: An Actor's Life by William W. Appleton (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), p. 141.

Event Comment: [N$Neville stood in the Pit this evening]: Iachimo by Smith, but I like Holland better in that character; Cloten by Yates, tho' not equal in it to King...Afterpiece concluded by an original dance by Mr Arnauld and Mrs Thomson (Neville MS Diary). Receipts: #193 10s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Oratorio written by the late Mr Brown. Benefit for and Increase of a Fund established for the Support of decay'd Musicians and their Families. Pit and Boxes half a guinea. First Gallery 5s. Upper gallery 3s. 6d

Event Comment: Full Prices. Hopkins MS Memorandum Book: By the Manager's order I ask'd Mr Joseph? Reed what he had a benefit for the next night. His answer was The Managers give it him for his withdrawing Dido and on account of The Register Office and to clear them from all demands he had upon them whatever

Event Comment: By Command of their Majesties. Published Animadversions on Mr Colman's True State etc., with some remarks on his little serious piece, The Oxonian in Town (20 pp.). [Criticizes the play as having a bad influence on the young, with its characters of whores, bawds and pickpockets. Did our author flatter himself that he could wipe out these rooted impressions with a cold moral sentence uttered by the mouth of a woman of pleasure, and perhaps never reaching the ears of one half of the audience from the variety of noises which accompany the finishing speech of every play?" Concludes: "The reputation of our Universities is a national concern of the highest and most sacred importance....I blush when I see academical characters brought upon the stage, but I burn when I see them lampooned."] House Charges: #35 (Account Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Woodward. With two New Scenes in the Afterpiece painted by Richards and Dahl. Mr Woodward, at the particular request of several persons of Quality has changed from the Fair Quaker to The Busy Body. Tickets deliver'd for Fair Quaker will be admitted. House charges with candles and extras #65 15s. Balance to Woodward #102 7s. plus #58 5s. for 233 Box tickets (Account Book). [Public Advertiser, 12 Dec. 1767: "Speedily will be published the Battle of the Wigs, an additional canto to Dr Garth's poem The Dispensary. Occasioned by the Disputes between the Fellows and licentiates of the College of Physicians in London. By B. T. and M. B."] Receipts: #168 2s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Baddeley

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs DuBellamy. Charges #64 00s. Deficit to the DuBellamys #26 10s., covered by #60 6s. from tickets (Box 93; Pit 205; Gallery 63). Receipts: #37 18s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Stoppelaer. Tickets for The Way of the World will be taken. Charges: 1!2 charge for House #31 10s.; 1!2 charge for candles 12s. 6d.; 1!2 charge Tabor & Pipe 5s. 3d.; 1!2 value of tickets #57 16s.: Total #90 3s. 9d. minus 1!2 Receipts #20 14s. equals #69 9s. 9d. deficiency to Stoppelaer. Covered by #115 12s. from tickets (168 Box; 370 Pit; 181 Gallery) and #20 14s. from Receipts. Profit to Stoppelaer was #86 16s. 3d. Paid to Mr Shropshire for 20,000 brushes #4 10s. Receipts: #41 8s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: A new comedy of three acts. Places to be taken of Mr Jewell at the Theatre. No Admittance behind the Scenes. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. No money to be returned after the Curtain is drawn up. Pit and Galleries to be open at 5:30 p.m.; Boxes at 6 p.m. To begin exactly at seven. Vivant Rex et Regina. [Repeated in the bills.