Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons, and the Last Night of her Engagement [see 6 and 16 May]. Mainpiece: Never acted here [1st acted at Bath, 1 Jan. 1788, as Such Things Were. Prologue by Richard Graves (Public Advertiser, 28 Jan. 1788)]. Oracle, 18 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. Receipts: #590 14s. (292.16.0; 51.13.0; 4.10.0; tickets: 235.6.6; odd money: 6.8.6) (charge: #213 17s. 4d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. [Epilogue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.] Times, 9 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. Receipts: #508 8s. 6d. (296.10.0; 58.2.0; 3.12.0; tickets: 150.4.6) (charge: #212 3s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In Act I The Cardinal's Banquet. In Act II The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine. In Act V a Grand Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Paid Charles Smith on Acct. of Upholders Work at Drury Lane Theatre #400. Powell: Henry VIII rehearsed at 10 (for Packer, lame, and Mrs Siddons); Siege of Belgrade music at 12 (for Storace, Bannister Jun., Crouch, Davis, Danby). The Iron Curtain being finish'd was this Evening exhibited for the first Time with the Epilogue [and see 21 Apr.]. "On the 24th February, 1809, this theatre was burnt down . . . Every care had been taken to guard against such a calamity. Two large reservoirs for water, on the top of the house, happened, unfortunately, at this crisis to be empty; and an iron curtain, intended to separate the auditory from the stage, for the purpose of saving a part of the edifice in case of conflagration, was, with its machinery, so much out of order as to be useless; it was, in fact, utterly immoveable" (Brayley, p. 8). Receipts: #451 8s. 6d. (389/4/0; 56/5/0; 4/6/6; tickets not come in: 1/13/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Kemble. Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. "Mrs Siddons spoke the speech on mercy as it certainly should be spoken--but as in truth we never heard it spoken--as a reply to 'On what compulsion must I?' From every other Portia it has always appeared as a recitation, prepared for the occasion" (Morning Chronicle, 8 Apr.). Morning Chronicle, 20 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Kemble, No. 19, Charles-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #284 2s. 6d. (160/19/0; 20/17/6; 1/1/0; tickets: 101/5/0) (charge: #107 0s. 5d.)

Event Comment: Paid Danby [for] Chorus #9; Printer [of playbills] #14 6s. 6d. [Mrs McGeorge was from the Tunbridge Wells theatre.] Afterpiece: To conclude with a Grand Representation of a Regattav . "When [Mrs Siddons] begins a dialogue of scorn, at the top of her voice (as she did last night in the fifth act), the climax must inevitably be sacrificed" (Morning Chronicle, 7 Dec.). Receipts: #227 6s. (204.6.0; 22.4.6; 0.15.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [not acted since 3 Oct. 1776]. The Conscious Lovers, and the new Farce of The Best Bidder, announced for to-morrow, are obliged to be deferred on account of the Indisposition of Parsons. "We left the Theatre with the precise Impressions a Theatre ought to leave--We were perhaps more good, at any Rate certainly we felt more fond of Goodness" (Public Advertiser, 30 Nov.). "Mrs Siddons, in the third act of the Fair Penitent, was so far affected, with assuming the mingled passions of pride, fear, anger, and conscious guilt, that I might appeal to the spectators, whether, in spite of the rouge which the actress is obliged to put on, some paleness did not shew itself in her countenance" (Davies, II, 56). Receipts: #262 17s. (247/2/0; 15/10/0; 0/5/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as the Countess of Salisbury was at Bath, 25 Nov. 1778.] "So thoroughly wretched, so utterly destitute of all Requisites is this Tragedy ... that it excites with Wonder not a little Indignation that the unexampled Genius of such an actress [as Mrs Siddons] should be wasted on Dullness if possible yet more unexampled" {Public Advertiser, 8 Mar.). Receipts: #275 0s. 6d. (256/7/0; 16/19/6; 1/9/0; ticket not come in: 0/5/0)

Event Comment: [Kemble had 1st acted Othello, and Mrs Siddons Desdemona, at Manchester, 29 Jan. 1777.] Receipts: #259 14s. (243/8; 15/18; 0/8)

Event Comment: Oracle, 2 Feb.: Mrs Siddons wore a dress "wholly composed of white muslin, with a zone of jewels." Account-Book:Paid Barratt, Sperm Oil and Candles to 25th Inst. #125 5s. Receipts: #302 19s. 6d. (296.9.6; 6.10.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years [not acted since 29 Apr. 1774]. "In the scene where Varanes kills himself, Kemble...was peculiarly striking. His manner of sheathing the sword in his body, after he has exclaimed, 'I feel the art'ry where the life-blood lies! It heaves against the point!-Now-Oh ye gods!' astonished us; and we turned, with horror, from the sight" (Monthly Visitor, Feb. 1797, p. 161). "I asked [Mrs Siddons] in which part she would most wish me to see her? She named Portia in the Merchant of Venice; but I begged to be excused...Mrs Siddons's warmest devotes do not hold her above a demigoddess in comedy. I have chosen Athenais;...her scorn is admirable" (Walpole [15 Jan. 1788], XIV, 42). Receipts: #231 9s. (175.2; 54.14; 1.13)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons [who had 1st acted Zara at Liverpool, 21 Oct. 1776]. Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. Part of the Pit will be laid into Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'clock. Receipts: #329 16s. 6d. (154/17/0; 3/4/6; 0/0/0; tickets: 171/15/0) (charge: #108 17s. 4d.)

Event Comment: [For the naming of the characters in mainpiece, as they were called originally, see 23 Feb. 1792.) Powell: Douglas rehearsed at 10:30 (Mrs Siddons ill; Barrymore one scene); Lodoiska at 12 (Miss De Camp absent). Receipts: #365 1s. 6d. (298/11/0; 60/1/0; 6/9/6)

Event Comment: "When Euphrasia stabs Dionysius, she exclaims, 'A daughter's arm, fell monster, strikes the blow, Yes, first she strikes...' All, or at least the greatest part of this seems to be intended to precede the blow; and yet probability requires that the blow of a woman that kills an armed warrior should be unforeseen and sudden. Mrs Siddons felt the force of this. She strikes Dionysius without speaking a word, and repeats the passage over him as he lies on the ground" (Monthly Mirror, July 1800, p. 41). Receipts: #154 11s. 6d. (90.17.6; 62.8.0; 1.6.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Receipts: #296 8s. (139.6; 44.15; 1.10; tickets: 110.17) (charge: #207 14s.)

Event Comment: Mrs Abington's First appearance in Clarinda . She was very easy and like the Character. Mr G. as Usual play'd finely (Hopkins Diary). Rec'd of Mr Parker in full of note #30. Receipts: #279 16s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Mrs Oakly was at Manchester, 21 Mar. 1777.] Receipts: #241 14s. 6d. (199.1.6; 39.17.0; 2.16.0)

Event Comment: [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Julia was at Bath, 6 Jan. 1780.] Afterpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 27 May 1795]. Receipts: #235 4s. (183.15.0; 50.13.6; 0.15.6)

Event Comment: "Mrs Siddons's timid approach [in Act V] to the home of a friend whom she had robbed of a lover: 'She staggers up to the door, timidly lifts the knocker, releases it as if she had committed a mortal sin, seizes it a second time and--knocks. It is impossible to describe how she knocked, but I shall never forget her in this situation, never forget the tone of her voice in answer to the servant, never the timidity, the anguish of her expression and movements.'" (F. W. von Hassell quoted in J. A. Kelly, 144-45). Receipts: #337 7s. 6d. (321.16.0; 14.6.6; 1.5.0, being the largest amount taken at this theatre, on a night not devoted to a benefit, between 1776 and 4 June of this season, q. v.)

Event Comment: [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Queen Elizabeth was at Liverpool, 10 Sept. 1777.] Receipts: #317 9s. 6d. (334.2.6; 36.2.0; 1.2.0; ticket not come in: 0.3.0)

Event Comment: [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Horatia was at York, 10 May 1777. Afterpiece in place of The Wedding Day, advertised on playbill of 14 Nov.] Receipts: #350 11s. (270.10.6; 72.3.0; 7.17.6)

Event Comment: [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as the Duchess of Braganza was at Bath, 8 Feb. 1780.] Receipts: #239 10s. (216/12/0; 22/0/6; 0/17/6)

Event Comment: "[Mrs Siddons's] dress was a French grey satin gown, trimmed with dark sage coloured ribbon, edged with steel, white satin petticoat covered With tiffany, and trimmed With the same as the gown, a girdle of the same colour, a dark sage coloured cane hat ornamented with feathers and edges with gold, with a band of gauze and large bows, the ends fastened to the waist" (Daily Universal Register, 4 Oct.). Receipts: #302 2s. (281.18.0; 19.6.6; 0.17.6)

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: Mainpiece: Never performed before. New Scenes and Dresses. This Comedy is a first production of Mrs Cowley--It was receiv'd with very great Applause-Indeed the performers play'd very well and deserv'd it--the Prologue was written by the Author of the Play dull and Mr Gar. wrote a most Excellent Epilogue quite Local--which was received with uncommon Applause (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly. Mainpiece reviewed in the Westminster Magazine for Feb.: "As we have lately been much afflicted with the melancholy fate of theatrical authors, we have a pleasure more than common in the great sucess of this piece."] Receipts: #256 5s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)