Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Sharp and Mrs Brereton. Public Advertiser, 27 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Sharp, No. 10, Bow-street; of Mrs Brereton, No. 11, Tavistock-street. Receipts: #133 9s. 6d. (79.13.0; 25.0.0; 0.8.6; tickets: 28.8.0) (charge: #75 9s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Sharp and Mrs Brereton. [Afterpiece: Prologue by George Colman elder.] Receipts: #175 18s. (64.12; 34.2; 0.17; tickets:76.7) (charge: #65 0s. 6d.)

Event Comment: [Mrs Hedges, who is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill, was from the hay.] Receipts: #115 8s. (86.1; 27.17; 1.10)

Event Comment: [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Mrs Lovemore was at Bath, 31 Oct. 1778. Afterpiece in place of The Humourist, announced on playbill of 25 Nov.] "[Mrs Siddons's] retort courteous, mimicry of laugh, and listless indifference of Lovemore were truly excellent . . . [Miss Farren's] descriptions of Ranelagh Ladies meeting, &c. were highly seasoned, and had an excellent counterpart in Smith's appendix" (Public Advertiser, 28 Nov.). Receipts: #232 2s. 6d. (219/3/0; 12/17/0; 0/2/6)

Event Comment: [Mrs James Wilson was from the Portsmouth theatre.] Receipts: #198 (148/5; 49/0; 0/15)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of mainpiece]. [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Crouch, but she "had, in her way to the theatre, been overturned in a coach. Mrs Brereton read the part of Miss Harley " (London Chronicle, 14 Nov.). The playbill also lists the song, as 12 Nov., but it was not sung on this or any subsequent night. As afterpiece the playbill announces Comus, in which Mrs Crouch was to appear, but it was not acted. Its substitute is listed in the Account-Book.] The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 23 Apr. 1788]. Receipts: #124 14s. 6d. (107.12.0; 15.15.0; 1.7.6; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: [The play is opened by Mrs Beverley and Charlotte, and when Mrs Siddons came on she was hissed because of a widespread report that she had refused to act for Brereton's benefit in Dublin. "A considerable period of time was lost; it might be forty minutes before the play began . . . We could perceive that the lady supported herself with a great degree of firmness under this very aweful trial--a trial which, in great measure, determined her future fame--perhaps her residence in this metropolis" (Town and Country Magazine, Oct. 1784, p. 510). "The Breretons have used her shockingly--Mrs B. was mean enough to sneak off the stage and leave her to stand the insults of a malicious party tho' she knew the whole disturbance was on her account and that her husband had at least been obliged to contradict the reports that concern'd him" (Betsy Sheridan, Journal, 1960, p. 32). Mrs Siddons explained to the audience that the stories circulated against her were "calumnies." She had, in fact, on 19 Aug., acted Jane Shore in Dublin for Brereton's benefit (Dublin Public Register, 19 Aug. 1784). "Though Mrs Siddons delivered this address with her usual judgment and articulation, and it was received with reiterated bursts of applause, yet she was so agitated when off the stage as to be very near fainting, and continued for some time much flurried" (Public Advertiser, 6 Oct.).] Receipts: #304 5s. (291/13; 12/11; 0/1)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Ward. Public Advertiser, 22 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Ward, No. 44, corner of Broad-court, Drury-lane. Receipts: #218 2s. 6d. (50/14/0; 32/11/0; 0/9/6; tickets: 134/8/0) (charge: #105 15s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Hopkins, prompter, and Mrs Hopkins. Mainpiece: Not acted these 7 years [acted 18 Feb. 1773]. Afterpiece: A Dramatic Entertainment (in 2 parts) of Singing, Dancing and Dialogue. In Honour of Shakespeare. In which will be introduced a Pageant. The Music by Dibdin. Public Advertiser, 27 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Hopkins, No. 7, Little Russel-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #229 9s. (129.14; 30.18; 2.10; tickets: 66.7) (charge: #64 4s.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [This was Mrs Bulkley's 1st appearance as a member of the DL company. As from CG, she had acted at this theatre on 9 Apr. 1778, and on other occasions.] Receipts: #144 11s. (109/3/0; 35/5/6; 0/2/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Wright. Account-Book adds: "Mrs Sharp [who was at first advertised as sharing in the benefit] having sold her 1/2 to Miss Wright." Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [acted 6 Apr. 1780]. Receipts: #244 17s. 6d. (67/17/0; 18/9/6; 0/11/0; tickets: 158/0/0) (charge: #107 13s. 4d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Dignum and Mrs Wilson. Public Advertiser, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Dignum, Little Wild-street, Drury-lane; of Mrs Wilson, No. 2, Catherine-street, Strand. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. Receipts: #301 19s. 6d. (33/5/0; 15/19/0; 1/2/6; tickets: 251/13/0) (charge: #108 15s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Wrighten. Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. Receipts: #291 10s. 6d. (84.10.0; 7.2.0; 0.14.6; tickets: 199.4.0) (charge: none listed)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Lady Sneerwell to Miss Sherry, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Mrs Whitfield. Miss Sherry was ill; she died early in October.] "Sheridan has also despised the faults of another school, trap claps. Not a word in The School for Scandal is to be found in praise of Laws, Jack Tars, Innocence, an Englishman's castellum, or Liberty" (Reynolds, II, 227). Receipts: #193 13s. 6d. (155/11/0; 37/12/6; 0/10/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [In mainpiece the playbill does not list the Child; for the assignment see Morning Post, 10 Oct., and edition of 1787 (Rachael Randall).] "[Mrs Siddons's] merit in the character was infinite, and the applause she received unbounded. In various of her scenes the plaudits were repeated . . . During the fourth and fifth acts there was almost an incessant clapping, and when Isabella expired her death was rendered glorious by the theatre's resounding with thundering applause for more than a minute" (Morning Chronicle, 11 Oct.). "L'actrice la plus noble dans ses manieres, madame Siddons, ne perd rien de sa dignite quand elle se prosterne contre terre . . . Enfin, il arriva ce moment terrible ou Isabelle, s'etant echappee des mains des femmes qui veulent l'empechcr de se tuer, rit, en se donnant un coup de poignard, de l'inutilite de leurs efforts. Ce rire du desespoir est l'effet le plus difficile et le plus remarquable que le jeu dramatique puisse produire; il emeut bien plus que les larmes: cette amere ironie du malheur est son expression la plus dechirante. Qu'elle est terrible la souffrance du coeur, quand elle inspire une si barbare joie, quand elle donne, a l'aspect de son propre sang, le contentement feroce d'un sauvage ennemi qui se serait venge!" (Mme de Stael: Corinne, livre XVII, chapitre iv). Receipts: #181 11s. (147/0; 34/6; 0/5)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Wrighten. Public Advertiser, 29 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Wrighten, Kennington-lane, near Vauxhall. Receipts: #247 12s. 6d. (56/2/0; 17/14/6; 0/2/0; tickets: 173/14/0) (charge: #110 14s. 1d.)

Event Comment: Tickets delivered by Kenny, Briggs, Pemberton, Newton, Leslie, Miss Heard, Miss Richards, Mrs Enoe will be taken. Receipts: #40 11s. 6d. (27/5/0; 13/6/6; 0/0/0; tickets: none listed)

Event Comment: Benefit for Spencer and Mrs Hedges. Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. Receipts: #173 16s. 6d.(17/3/0; 10/6/0; 0/11/6; tickets: 145/16/0) (charge: #105 11s. 4d.)

Event Comment: "The great powers of Mrs Jordan cannot be better displayed than in the wonderful contrast of her Country Girl and Viola. In one all archness and vivacity; in the other serious, gentle, tender and sentimental" (Public Advertiser, 16 Nov.). [In afterpiece the playbill retains Parsons as Sir Anthony Halfwit, but on the Kemble playbill his name is deleted and a MS annotation substitutes Wilson's. "Parsons was taken suddenly ill & J. Wilson read his part" (MS annotation on British Museum playbill, in Harris, 11).] Receipts: #108 12s. (79/11/0; 28/13/6; 0/7/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mr and Mrs Ward. Receipts: #135 2s. (23/6; 13/18; 0/5; tickets: 97/13) (charge: #107 12s. 11d.)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Winter's Tale; afterpiece of The Jubilee, both announced on playbill of 5 Nov. In mainpiece the playbill assigns the Queen to Mrs Hopkins, but on the Kemble playbill her name is deleted. The name of her substitute has not come to light.] Receipts: #91 15s. (69/12; 21/13; 0/10)

Event Comment: Benefit for Farren and Miss Sherry. Tickets delivered by Bidwell, Mrs Pulley, and for The Way of the World will be taken. Public Advertiser, 29 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Farren, No. 14, Catherine Street, Strand; of Miss Sherry, No. 2, Little Russel-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #214 13s. (39.8.0; 15.17.6; 0.12.6; tickets: 158.15.0) (charge: #69 3s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Harwood, Thompson & Miss Wright [who had 1st appeared as a singer in the oratorios, 19 Feb.]. Public Advertiser, 3 May: Tickets to be had of Harwood at Mrs Powel's, New Nelson-street; of Thompson, No.7, Great Marlborough-street; of Miss Wright, No. 136, Drury-lane. Receipts: #267 4s. (69.5.0; 19.2.6; 0.6.6; tickets: 178.10.0) (charge: #105). The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [same for rest of season]