Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by William Kenrick, based on The Country Lasses, by Charles Johnson]: With new Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. The Overture and the rest of the Music composed by Hook. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 2 Dec. 1778: This Day at Noon is published The Lady of the Manor (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by Frederick Pilon, based in part on Le Poulet, by Louis Carrogis, dit Carmontelle. Incidental music by William Shield. Larpent MS 491; not published. Author of Prologue unknown. This farce was altered, and produced on 2 Feb. 1780 as The Deaf Lover]. Paid Music the 24th Inst. #7 4s. 4d. Receipts: #190 4s. 6d. (18.5.0; 0.19.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties."The croud was so great at Drury-lane playhouse, to see the young prince William in his naval uniform, that it was found necessary to throw a kind of bridge from the stage to the pit to liberate several people, who otherwise must have perished in the throng" (Gentleman's Magazine, Mar. 1780, P. 151). Receipts: #271 14s. (259.13; 9.6; 2.15)

Event Comment: By particular desire of their Excellencies the Persian Ambassadors. Benefit for Griffiths, Norris, Spencer & Williams. [Afterpiece in place of The Flitch of Bacon, announced on playbill of 21 May.] Receipts: #251 0s. 6d. (35.14.0; 14.17.6; 4.8.0; tickets: 196.1.0) (charge: none listed)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Holcroft; in 1796 altered by the author and acted as The Mask'd Friend. Prologue by William Nicholson (see text). Epilogue attributed to Frederick Pilon (Public Advertiser, 15 Oct.)]: With New Dresses, Scenery, &c. Public Advertiser, 12 Nov. 1781: This Day will lie published Duplicity (price not listed). Paid Music #8 4s. 8d.; Chorus Singers #3 15s. Receipts: #204 16s. (202/7/6; 2/8/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Bannister. Public Advertiser, 22 Aug.: Tickets to be had of Bannister, No. 7, Suffolk-street, Charing-cross. 1st piece [1st time; prel i, by William Finney. MS: Larpent 635; not published]

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Harricks and Williams. Mainpiece: The Characters to be dressed in the Habits of the Times. [Author and speaker of Address not known.] Tickets delivered for The Wonder will be taken. The Doors to be opened at 5:00. To begin at 6:15. Tickets to be had and Places taken of Rice, at the Theatre

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Leonard Macnally; words to some of the songs by Edward Lysaght]: With new Music, Scenes and Dresses. The Music composed by Shield [with selections from Sacchini, Bertoni, Lord Mornington, &c. (Public Advertiser, 19 Apr.); overture by Baumgarten, being the same as that used by him in William and Nanny at CG, 12 Nov. 1779 (Town and Country Magazine, Apr. 1784, p. 171)]. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 30 Oct. 1784: This Day is published by J. Almon Robin Hood [listing cast for season of 1784-85] (1s. 6d.). [In the season of 1789-90 this was reduced to an afterpiece of 2 acts.] Receipts: #206 4s. (204/3; 2/1)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Holcroft, based on Le Mariage de Figaro, by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais; incidental music by William Shield. In 1789 reduced to an afterpiece of 3 acts. Prologue by the author (Europaen Magazine, Dec. 1784, p. 467)]: With new Dresses, Decorations, &c. Public Advertiser, 10 Mar. 1785: This Day is published The Follies of A Day (1s. 6d.). [For an account of Holcroft's shorthand transcription of the original, taken down during a performance in Paris, and the hasty rehearsals of it in London, see Elbridge Colby, A Bibliography of Thomas Holcroft, 1922, pp. 48-50.]

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2, by William Pearce. MS: Larpent 696; not published; synopsis of plot in Universal Magazine, Apr. 1785, p. 209]: With new Scenes and Dresses. The Overture and Airs composed by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "The Nunnery [is] ... a most powerful narcotic. The Performers--in friendly sympathy--had totally forgotten their parts--and passed the evening in a conversation with the prompter" (Public Advertiser, 15 Apr.)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Wells, but she "was so ill last night that she could not perform the part of Jane Shore. It was undertaken by Mrs T. Kennedy" (Public Advertiser, 21 Dec.).] Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by John O'Keeffe]: The Pantomime, and the whole of the Scenery, Machinery, Dresses, &c. designed and invented by Loutherbourg, and executed under his superintendance and direction by Richards, Carver, Hodgins, Catton Jun., Turner, assisted by two other celebrated artists [all subsequent playbills have "a celebrated artist"; he was the Rev. Matthew William Peters (Public Advertiser, 16 Dec.)]. The Music entirely new, composed by Shield. Books containing a short account of the Pantomime, as well as the Recitatives, Airs, Duets, Trios and Chorusses, and a Description of the Procession, to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. [This was the last theatrical piece for which De Loutherbourg designed the scenery. For a detailed account of it see "De Loutherbourg and Captain Cook", by Ralph G. Allen, Theatre Research, IV, 195-211.] Account-Book, 17 Oct.: Paid De Loutherbourg on acct. #120; 20 Dec.: Paid Goodwin for copying Music #10 14s.; 14 Feb. 1786: Paid O'Keeffe in full for Omai #40. Receipts: #309 19s. (302/7; 7/12)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: 51st [recte 50th] Time [i.e. in continuation of the reckoning for the previous season]. With a Processionv exactly representing the Dresses, Weapons, and Manners of the Inhabitants of Otaheite, New Zealand, Tanna, Marquesas, the Friendly Islands, Sandwich Islands, and Easter Islands, Tschutzki, Siberia, Kamtschatka, Nootka Sound, Onalashka, Prince William's Sound, and the other Countries visited by Captain Cook. Receipts: #263 15s. 6d. (260.5.0; 3.10.6)

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for the Widow and three youngest Children of the late Dr Glover. [Dr William Frederick Glover, a surgeon, had died on 25 Feb. in straitened circumstances. A subscription--in behalf of which this Benefit was organized--had been set on foot for the relief of his family (see Gentleman's Magazine, Mar. 1787, p. 276). In the 1760's he was for some years an actor on the Dublin stage (see Tate Wilkinson, Memoirs, III, 198).] Tickets to be had at the Thatched-House Tavern, St. James's Street; at Free-Mason's Tavern, Great Queen Street; the Antigallican Coffee House, Royal Exchange; the Globe Tavern, Fleet Street; at Messrs Robinsons, booksellers, Paternoster Row; and of the Printer of the Morning Chronicle, Dorset Street, Salisbury Square. Received from Their Majesties for Box [for season] #70; from the Princess Royal for Box #35. Receipts: #127 11s. (125.5; 2.6; tickets: none listed)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [acted in place of Love Makes a Man, advertised on playbill of 15 Mar.]. Afterpiece: Loutherbourg's celebrated Pantomimev. Not acted these 3 years [acted 4 Dec. 1786]. With new Decorations, and the Scenery new painted. With a Processionv exactly representing the Dresses, Weapons, and Manners of the Inhabitants of Otaheite, New Zealand, Tanna, Marquesas, the Friendly Islands, Sandwich Islands and Easter Islands, Tschutzki, Siberia, Kamtschatka, Nootka Sound, Onalashka, Prince William's Sound, and the other Countries visited by Captain Cook. [This was included in all subsequent performances.] Receipts: #256 17s. 6d. (250.5.6; 6.12.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Macklin. [This was his last appearance on the stage; his 1st was c. 1716. In the middle of his first scene his memory failed him, and Ryder, who had been asked by the manager to be prepared for this eventuality, finished the part (Public Advertiser, 9 May; William W. Appleton, Charles Macklin, 1960, 225-27).

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by William Hayley. Text 1st published in his Hayley, Three Plays (Chichester: For T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811). Prologue and Epilogue bY the author (World, 31 Jan.)]: With new Dresses and Decorations. Receipts: #205 4s. 6d. (191.17.0; 13.7.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Quick. "Quick, in July 1777, played Richard III at Bristol" (Anthony Pasquin [pseud. for John Williams], Poems [1789], II, 244). "Most people expected from Quick a comic representation of Richard the Third--but strange to tell he was earnest in the attempt, and succeeded tolerably. The audience, however, were not disposed to be very serious, and named him 'Little Dicky'" (Public Advertiser, 8 Apr.). [Address by Robert Merry (European Magazine, Apr. 1790, p. 307.] Gazetteer, 1 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Quick, Broad-court, Bow-street. Receipts: #430 17s. 6d. (265.5.6; 4.15.0; tickets: 160.17.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Wilson and Williames [who is named in the Account-Book, but not on the playbill]. [The monologue refers to a criminal, Rynwick Williams, popularly known as "The Monster," who with a knife had recently attacked many women on the streets of London (see An Authentic Account of the Barbarities..(S. Bladon, 1790); World, 5 May, et seq.).] Gazetteer, 1 and 6 May : Tickets to be had of Williames and Mrs Wilson, No. 19, Great Piazza, Covent-garden. Receipts: #225 5s. (40.13; 21.14; 2.16; tickets: 160.2) (charge: #108 2s. 3d.)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MD 2, by Jeremiah Meyer and William Hayley, "from the German." Larpent MS 941; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Herald, 18 Apr.]: With new Scenery, Machinery, Dresses and Decorations. The Music selected from Ditteus [i.e. Dittersdorf], Rauzzini and Salieri; the Overture and new Music by Reeve. Book of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [Mme Carnevale had 1st appeared at king's in 1783.] Receipts: #252 3s. 6d. (242.19.6; 9.4.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. Afterpiece [1st time; MF 2, by William Pearce]: With new Music, Dresses, &c. The Music composed by Haydn, Sacchini, and Shield. The Scenery by Richards. Books of the Songs [W. Woodfall, 1792] to be had at the The Theatre. Public Advertiser, 20 Apr. 1793: This Day is published Hartford Bridge (1s.). Receipts: #294 17s. 6d

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Frederick Reynolds. Prologue by William Thomas Fitzgerald. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]: With new Scenes and Dresses. [In mainpiece the playbill lists Mrs Esten, but "Previous to the play an apology was made in behalf of Mrs Davis, who had undertaken Mrs Esten's character in consequence of the indisposition of the latter lady. [After considerable objection] Mrs Davis was well received in the part" (Thespian Magazine, June 1793, p. 4).] Public Advertiser, 3 May 1793: This Day is published How to Grow Rich (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #257 17s. 6d

Event Comment: [1st piece: Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews.] 2nd piece [1st time; MF 2, by William Pearce. In 1796 acted at cg, reduced to 1 act]: Scenery entirely new, consisting of several Views taken from the Spot, and executed by Richards. The Music selected and composed by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Morning Chronicle, 16 Nov. 1794: This Day is published Arrived at Portsmouth (1s.). The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 22 Apr. 1795]. Receipts: #203 5s. (200.1; 3.4)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MD 2, by William Pearce. The Masque was produced in honor of the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Princess Caroline of Brunswick, 8 April 1795]: The Overture composed expressly for the Occasion by Haydn, as is the rest of the Music by Salomon [and see 9 Apr.]. The Scenery, Machinery, Decorations and Dresses are entirely New, and Designed by Noverre, except St. George's Hall, painted by the late Signor Cipriani. The Scenery executed by Hodgins, Walmsley, Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, and many Assistants. The Machinery and Decorations by Sloper. Goosetree and Martinelli. The Dresses by Lupino, Dick and Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "On the 10th [of April] I was at the Covent Garden Theatre-to see the big Spectacul [sic]-Windsor Castle, the music by Salomon quite passable. The decorations-costumes-scenery, and the enormous amount of people on the stage are exaggerated. All the Gods of Heaven and Hell, and everything that lives on the earth are in the piece" (Haydn, 299). Morning Chronicle, 7 May 1795: This Day is published Windsor Castle (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #266 8s. 6d. (250.12.6; 15.16.0)