Event Comment: Benefit for Haymes. The Last Night of the Company's performing this Season. Account-Book, 28 June: Received for his Majesty's Box 13 nights #130; for the Princess's Box #65; 1 Aug.: Paid half a year's Land, Commutations, Window & House Taxes #193 19s. True Briton 1 June: Tickets to be had of Haymes, No. 8, Duke-street, St. James's. Receipts: #228 18s. 6d. (109.19.0; after-money not listed; tickets: 118.19.6)

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for the Widows and Orphans of those brave Men who perished, and those who were wounded, in the Glorious Action of the 14th February last [see king's, 18 May.] Patrons: His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, His Royal Highness Duke of York, His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence. Stewards: Duke of Leeds, Duke of Bedford, Earl of Chesterfield, Earl Spencer, Lord Kinnaird, Charles Grey Esq., Thomas Tyrwhitt Esq., Wm. Lushington Esq., Wm. Manning Esq., John Thomson Esq., John Julius Angerstein Esq. Boxes to be taken, and Tickets had at the Office of the Theatre, and at the Bar of Lloyd's Coffee-House. Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: Benefit for Fawcett. 3rd piece: By permission of T. Harris, Esq.; never acted at this theatre. True Briton, 29 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Fawcett at his house, No. 10, Golden-square

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Acasto to Murray, but "An apology was made for Murray, who was prevented by illness from playing Acasto, which, at a short notice, was taken by Hull" (True Briton, 14 Oct.).] "This whole of [Mrs Spencer's] performance was marked by such unaffected simplicity that it was almost impossible to consider it as the mere fiction of the scene. This lady is really a great aquisition to the house" (True Briton, ibid). Receipts: #254 6s. 6d. (244.18.6; 9.8.0)

Event Comment: Morning Herald, 28 Oct.: The manager of Covent Garden...liberally shut up his house on the occasion, in aid of [the] praise-worthy intention of the Proprietors of [Drury Lane] Theatre

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. This Evening the Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30. Account-Book: Paid the Duke of Bedford one years rent for the Theatre, the back of the Theatre, the houses in Bow Street, Hart Street, the Piazza, and Playhouse Passage, as expressed in the Receipt, due Lady Day 1796, #456 4s. Receipts: #459 9s. 6d. (452.5.6; 7.4.0)

Event Comment: The Fatigue attending the representation of some of the Characters [in The Castle-Spectre] renders it impossible to repeat the performance every night in the week. The 5th night will be on Wednesday. Account-Book: Paid One years' House & Window Tax #222 0s. 6d. Receipts: #396 5s. (315.9.6; 78.0.6; 2.15.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Fosbrook, box book and house keeper. Receipts: #484 17s. (85.9; 65.6; 3.0; tickets: 331.2) (charge: #218 3s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Simpson, Powel, Rees & Mrs Henley. 3rd piece [1st time; P 1]: Selected from The Rape of Proserpine, Lord Mayor's Day, Harlequin's Museum, Harlequin Skeleton, Harlequin Sorcerer, Aladin, &c. In the course of the Compilation will be introduced: The Birth and Emancipation of Harlequin from the Egg-shell-the Dying Scene-the Skeleton-His Renovation-the celebrated Gladiator Scene, &c. In particular, among many surprising Escapes, the Jump through the Tea-chest; Flight from one Balcony to the other; a Leap over twelve Soldiers with fixed Bayonets; the Flight back and Jump through a Tamborine-and (for that night only) Simpson will run perpendicular up the Wall of a House, 30 Feet High. To conclude with a View of the Grotto of Magic. There are some imitations which almost identify the originals, but [Rees's as Dromio] was a vile caricature, which would never have been recognized but for the specification in the play bills" (Monthly Mirror, June 1798, p. 371). Receipts: #269 19s. 6d. (48.19.0; 20.17.6; tickets: 200.3.0, of which Simpson took #72 5s. 6d., Powel #27 10s. 6d., Rees #36 11s., Mrs Henley #61 16s., leaving #2 to be accounted for)

Event Comment: "We suggest the necessity of curtailing the entertainments...The Purse ought to have been entirely omitted. There is a want of alertness between the acts which is much better managed at the Winter Theatres. Rosina did not begin till half past eleven o'clock. We advise the Female Performers not to disguise their faces with so much rouge. If it is in some measure necessary at the Winter Theatres, where the chief part of the audience are at a distance from the Stage, we conceive in this small House it is less necessary" (Times, 30 Aug.)

Event Comment: Medonte announced, but Morning Chronicle, 17 Dec.: By the sudden indisposition of Madame Banti, there was no opera on Saturday night. Ibid, 18 Dec.: Bills were posted up all over London in the forenoon, and a respectful card sent to the house of each subscriber. Morning Herald, 18 Dec., carries a statement signed by Pere Elisee saying that "about two o'clock, Saturday morning last, I was called out of my bed by a message that Mrs Banti was taken dangerously ill," that she so continues, and that as her physician he is "of opinion it will not be safe for her to quit her sick bed for several days yet to come.

Event Comment: "Miss B. Menage acted Zingarella for Mrs Bland, who sang at the Opera House" (Kemble Mem.). Receipts: #127 6s. (81.18.6; 43.16.6; 1.11.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Pope. 1st piece [1st time; D 4. Larpent MS 1249; not published synopsis of plot in Universal Magazine, Apr. 1799, p. 273]: Translated from [Der Graf von Burgund, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von? Kotzebue (Author of The Stranger, Lover's Vows, &c.) by Miss Anne? Plumptre, and adapted to the English Stage by Alexander? Pope. Morning Chronicle, 25 26 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Pope at his house, No. 5, Half Moon-street, Piccadilly. [This was Mrs Abington's last appearance on the stage.] "The perpetuated evidence of youth was in character with her person and her powers; the slimness of her figure, the fulness of her voice, the freshness of her spirits, the sparkle of her eye, and the elasticity of her limbs, savoured alike of a juvenility that puzzled the mind, whilst it pleased it: of her it was justly said that 'she had been on the stage thirty years; she was one-and-twenty when she came, and one-and-twenty when she went!'" (John Bernard, Retrospections of the Stage, 1830, II, 228-29). Receipts: #334 19s. 6d. (194.1.0; 2.5.0; tickets: 138.13.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for King. 1st piece: In one act; not acted these 20 years [not acted since 12 Nov. 1772]. 2nd piece [1st time; D 3, author unknown. Larpent MS 1250; not published]. Morning Chronicle, 10 Apr.: Tickets to be had of King at his house, Store-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #437 14s. (241.3.0; 57.7.6; odd and after-money: tickets: 137.0.6) (charge:#231 7s.)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. Account-Book: Paid One Quarter Land, Window and House Taxes due Michaelmas last #102 6s. 9d. Receipts: #261 10s. 6d. (253.12.0; 8.6.6)

Event Comment: The opening of the season was originally announced for 21 Dec. 1799, but on that day the Morning Chronicle carried the following notice: "The Nobility and Gentry, Subscribers to the Opera, and the Public, are most respectfully informed that the opening of this Theatre is unavoidably postponed to Saturday next, the 28th instant, on account of the indisposition of one of the principal Performers." But on the 28th the opening was again postponed to 4 Jan. On 6 Jan. a notice appeared in the Morning Herald, as follows: "King's Theatre, Saturday Evening, January 4, 1800. The Directors beg leave respectfully to inform the Nobility and Gentry (Subscribers) and the Public in general that the Theatre was advertised to be opened This Evening, with the concurrence and approbation of the Trustees, and it was not until this afternoon that they heard of an unforeseen difficulty having arisen with respect to issuing the License. It was then too late to advertise by means of the Public Newspapers the necessary postponement of the opening; but every effort was made on the part of the Direction to apprise the Subscribers, by sending to their respective houses, and by distributing a hand-bill in all the principal streets; notwithstanding which, they lament to find that many Ladies and Gentlemen were disappointed. The Directors humbly hope that on this statement of the fact they shall stand acquitted of all disrespect to the Subscribers and the Public, who shall have the earliest notice of the conclusion of all the arrangements for the immediate opening of the Theatre and performance of Operas for the season." See 11 Jan. A copy of the hand-bill referred to above, making mention of the "unforeseen circumstances," is attached to the Kemble playbill of dl, 4 Jan.

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Pope. 1st piece: Not acted these 7 years [acted 1 Jan. 1795]. Morning Chronicle, 23 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Pope at her house, Half-moon-street, Piccadilly. Receipts: #272 4s. 6d. (159.14.0; 2.10.0; tickets: 110.0.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Kelly. 1st ballet [1st time]: Composed by D'Egville. By permission of the Proprietors of the Opera House. With their [the Peruvians'] Religious Ceremonies, Processions, &c. Morning Chronicle, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Kelly, No. 9, New Lisle-street, Leicester-square. Receipts: #596 2s. 6d. (306.0.6; 51.8.0; 4.15.0; tickets: 233.19.0) (charge: #207 6s. 5d.)

Event Comment: "Some Gentlemen very improperly intruded themselves on the audience, by resolutely keeping possession of the very centre of the stage for a considerable time, in defiance of the most clamorus disapprobation from all parts of the House, till they were reduced to a most ludicrous situation by the dropping of the curtain. The Public seem inclined to support any regulation that may be adopted by the Manager on this subject" (Morning Herald, 26 May). And see 27 May

Event Comment: Benefit for Sga Bossi DelCaro. 2nd ballet: 1st time; composed for the occasion by Dupret; the music by Bossi, composer and leader of the Band at the Opera House. Of Age To-morrow [advertised on playbill of 30 May] is obliged to be deferred on account of the indisposition of Bannister Jun. Morning Chronicle, 30 May: Tickets to be had of Sga Bossi DelCaro, No. 1, Great Suffolk-street, Charing-cross. Receipts: #327 5s. (212.10.0; 61.13.6; 2.18.0; tickets: 50.3.6) (charge: #215 13s. 7d.)

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for The General Lying-In-Hospital, Bayswater. Under the Patronage of Her Majesty. N.B. 51765 Women have been Delivered since the first Institution of this Charity in 1752, & the humane Purposes are now extended to the Infant Poor, the two first Years after Birth, & to the Distressed Wives of Sailors & Soldiers in their Country's cause. "The house exhibited a deplorable appearance of empty seats" (Dramatic Censor, II, 281). Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [acted 21 Apr. 1798]. Afterpiece: Taken from Solyman the Magnificent of Marmontel. [Mrs Baster is identified in Thespian Dictionary, 1805. This was the second successive evening on which Mrs Jordan appeared at both dl and cg.] Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: Benefit for the Humane Society. A new grand Commemorative Oratorio [1st time; in two parts], as originally performed by Busby, in aid of the Fund for the Naval Pillar, including the new Music [by Busby: Song and Chorus, From where the sun; Song, To thy brave sons; Recitative and Song, Peace to the soul, Around the ever-honoured urn], introduced in the Grand National Concert, performed the 28th of May, at the Opera House. Leader of the Band-Cramer. Organ-Russell. The performance to be conducted by Busby, who will preside at the Piano Forte. Tickets, at playhouse prices, to be had at all the principal music shops...and of Busby, No. 9, China Terrace, Vauxhall Road. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00. "The words [of Part I] are taken entirely from Gray's well-known Pindaric Ode, The Progress of Poesy," with six introductory lines written by John Gretton andthe concluding stanzas by Thomas Dutton; the text of Part II by Gretton (Dramatic Censor, II, 285-86)