Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first production is not known, but Part II seems to have followed rather closely upon Part I. The Gentleman's Journal, June 1694 (which apparently appeared in mid-June) states: The first Part of Mr Durfey's Don Quixote was so well received, that we have had a second Part of that Comical History acted lately, which doubtless must be thought as entertaining as the first; since in this hot season it could bring such a numerous audience (p. 170). The Songs were advertised in the London Gazette, 5 July 1694, and Part II advertised in the same periodical 19-23 July 1694. The songs as listed in the separately printed Songs are as follows: Genius of England, the music by Henry Purcell, sung by Freeman and Mrs Cibber. I burn, I burn, the music by John Eccles, sung by Mrs Bracegirdle. Since times are so bad, the music by Henry Purcell, sung by Reading and Mrs Ayliff. Damon, let a friend, the music by Pack, sung by Mrs Hudson. Ye nymphs and sylvan gods, the music by John Eccles sung by Mrs Ayliff. If you will love me, composer and singer not named. In addition, Thesaurus Musicus, 1695, published Lads and lasses, blithe and gay, the music by Henry Purcell, sung by Mrs Hudson. Purcell also wrote the music for other songs for which the singer is not known. Preface, edition of 1694: The good success, which both the Parts of Don Quixote have had, either from their Natural Merit, or the Indulgence of my Friends, or both, ought sufficiently to satisfie me, that I have no reason to value tne little Malice of some weak Heads, that make it their business to be simply Criticizing....I think I have given some additional Diversion in the Continuance of the character of Marcella, which is wholly new in this Part, and my own Invention, the design finishing with more pleasure to the Audience by punishing that coy Creature by an extravagant Passion here, that was so inexorable and cruel in the first Part, and ending with a Song so incomparably well sung, and acted by Mrs Bracegirdle, that the most envious do allow, as well as the most ingenious affirm, that 'tis the best of that kind ever done before....I deserve some acknowledgment for drawing that Character of Mary the Buxom, which was intirely my own,...by making the Character humorous, and the extraordinary well acting of Mrs Verbruggen, it is by the best Judges allowed a Masterpiece of humour

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In which will be introduced several comic and diverting French Pieces, to be perform'd by Monsieur Morell, lately arriv'd from France. Afterpiece: With New Additional Scenes of Action

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by Mr Otway. Afterpiece: A New Grotesque Pantomime

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by John O'Keeffe. Prologue by John Taylor. Epilogue by Harriet Pye Esten (see text)]: With new Scenes and Dresses. Morning Herald, 3 Dec. 1793: This Day is published THE WORLD IN A VILLAGE (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #313 1s. 6d. (307/7/6; 5/14/0)

Event Comment: [Miss Stephens is identified in MS list in Kemble playbill s of new performers for this season. Afterpiece in place of The Liar, advertised on playbill of 28 Nov.] Receipts: #102 17s. 7d. (27.8.1; 74.15.6; 0.14.0)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; CO 3, by Thomas Holcroft. Larpent MS 1242; not published]: With new Music, Scenes, and Dresse". The Music composed by Attwood; the Overture by W. Parke. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #234 2s. (230.19; 3.3)

Event Comment: [By Nicholas Brady.]All the Characters new drest. Receipts: #67 8s

Event Comment: A New Opera of three Acts. [Author unknown.

Event Comment: By His Majesty's Command. Afterpiece: a New Dramatick Entertainment of Musick and Grotesque Dancing. Edition of 1740: Set to Musick by Mr John-Frederick Lampe. [For further letters concerning John Hill and Rich, see London Daily Post and General Advertiser, 11 and 12 Feb.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A Comedy [by Wm Kenrick] never perform'd before. The characters New Dress'd. [Theatrical Monitor, No VIII (16 Dec. 1767) approved the mainpiece--"engages the mind, affects the passions, totally divested of indecency"--but thought Garrick's art of "puffing" was evident in his note at foot of playbills, "Those Ladies and Gentlemen, who have taken places for this day, are desired to send their servants by one o'clock, in order to ascertain the same, otherwise they cannot be secured," since the house, except the first night, had not been half full. N.B. This note appeared in an Advance Bill, but did not appear in the Bill of the Day.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New Comedy [by Richard Cumberland] never performed. [Genest, V, 282, reports that Garrick was in the House this night and was agreeably surprised at the complimentary reference to him in the Epilogue: Who but has seen the celebrated strife Where Reynolds calls the Canvass into life: And, 'twixt the Tragic, and the Comic Muse, Courted of both, and dubious where to chuse, Th'immortal Actor stands?' A long retelling of the plot appeared in the Freeholder's Magazine for Dec., concluding: This comedy was received with great applause by the Audience. It is said to be written by Mr Cumberland, who has already oblig'd the Public with a musical piece, called the Summer's Tale. The Performers, particularly Mr Smith, Mr Woodward, Mr Yates, Mrs Green, Mrs Bulkley, and Mrs Yates, did great justice to their characters. The Prologue was spoken by Mr Smith, and the Epilogue, which alluded to the celebrated picture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, where Comedy and Tragedy are contending for Mr Garrick, by Mrs Yates." Receipts: #215 18s

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A New Comedy [by Hugh Kelly, not printed] never performed. [It was performed but once. The Biographia Dramatica suggests failure was partly due to Woodward's misconception of the main character. The Westminster Magazine for Feb. damns the play, for developing two confusing and parallel plots, for the acting, and for the language.

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Mariana Starke. Prologue by George Colman, elder. Epilogue by George Colman, ynger (see text)]: With new Dresses, Decorations, &c

Event Comment: Benefit for Wilson. Afterpiece [1st time; M. ENT 3]: The Dialogue and part of the Songs written by Richard? Wilson. The Overture, new Music and accompaniments composed by Reeve. The Songs, Duets, Glees compiled from Arnold, Rogers, Giordani, Shield, Hook, Dibdin, W. Wilson, Stevens, Broderip and David Rizzio. [Larpent MS 908; not published. Prologue probably by Richard Wilson. Epilogue by Joseph Haynes.] Public Advertiser, 14 May: Tickets to be had of Wilson. No. 10, Bow-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #354 14s. 6d. (165.17.6; 5.4.0; tickets: 183.13.0)

Event Comment: 1st piece [1st time; PREL 1, by George Colman, ynger. Larpent MS 951; synopsis of plot in Diary, 16 June. This piece is stated to have been published in 1792]. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be had of Rice, at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. In 1st piece "Parsons was highly entertaining in affecting to speak in an under tone scarcely audible, that the feebleness of his voice might correspond with the smallness of the House, compared with the enormous [new] Theatre over the way; and his broken, unintelligible mode of announcing the Performance to the Audience as a specimen, was truly whimsical" (Morning Herald, 16 June)

Event Comment: 2nd piece (1st time; C 3, by John O'Keeffe. Prologue by George Colman, ynger (see text)]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. Salary list (Enthoven Collection): Paid O'Keeffe for London Hermit #108 15s. Morning Chronicle, 17 July 1793: This Day is published The London Hermit (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Thomas Holcroft, based on DER DEUTSCHE HAUSVATER, by Otto Heinrich Freiherr von Gemmingen. Prologue by the author and John Thelwall (Boaden, Kemble, II, 114). Epilogue by the author (Knapp, p. 263)]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. Morning Chronicle, 18 Feb. 1794: This Day is published LOVE'S FRAILTIES (2s.). Oulton, 1796, II, 154: It was the first play published at the advanced price of 2s. [i.e. hitherto (since, at least, 1776) the price of full-length plays had been 1s. 6d.]. Receipts: #308 17s. 6d. (296/8/6; 12/9/0)

Event Comment: Powell: Deaf Lover rehearsed at 10; New Ballet at 11 (dismissed). Receipts: #230 (182.14.6; 42.14.6; 3.16.0; 6.1.2 tks.: 0.15.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 7 Oct. 1791]. Middleton, after performing the first scene of Nerestan, retired abruptly into the wardrobe, pulled off his coat, and telling the dresser he should be back in ten minutes, left the theatre; he did not return, however, according to his appointment, and Davenport read the remainder of the character: a fit of insanity is supposed to have seized him" (Monthly Mirror, Jan. 1797, p. 55). [Middleton did not appear on the stage again until 27 Feb. 1797.] Afterpiece [1st time: P 2 (?), by James Wild and John Follett. MS of Songs only: Larpent MS 1148; synopsis of action in Pocket Magazine, Dec. 1796, p. 412]: With entire new Scenery, Machinery, Music, Dresses. The Overture and Music by Reeve. The Scenery painted by Phillips, Blackmore, Hollogan, Thorne, Byrn. The Machinery, Trick and Changes of Scenery invented and executed by Cresswell and Sloper. The Dresses by Dick, Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "Among the changes are a trunk into a gingerbread nut-man's wheel-barrow--a poor man's hut into an old oak, with a group of Gypsies boiling their kettle under it--one of the clowns into a thick candle, and the candle afterwards into a green-house tub, with a large shrub in it" (Oracle, 20 Dec.). Receipts: #193 5s. 6d. (183.4.6; 10.1.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald, based on Das Schreibepult; oder, Die Gefahren der Jugend, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Prologue by Charles Moore (MS annotation by J. P. Kemble in Kemble-Devonshire copy in Huntington Library); Epilogue by John Taylor (see text)]: With New Dresses and Scenes. Morning Chronicle, 17 Dec. 1799: This day is published The Wise Man of the East (price not listed). Receipts: #323 14s. 6d. (321.12.6; 2.2.0)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but the Gentleman's Journal, January 1691@2, suggests that it was first given in December 1691, although the tendency of this journal to be dated one month and appear in the next month makes the interpretation of its information difficult: We have had a new Comedy this last Month, call'd The Wives Execuse; or Cuckolds make themselves: It was written by Mr Southern, who made that call'd Sir Anthony Love, which you and all the Town lik'd so well. I will send you The Wives Excuse, as soon as it comes out in Print, which will be very speedily: And tho' the Town hath not been so kind to this last, as to the former, I do not doubt but you will own that it will bear a Reading; which some that meet with a better Fate too often do not; some that must be granted to be good Judges commend the Purity of its Language (pp. 51-52). Henry Purcell composed the music for this work. One song, Corinna I excuse thy face, the words (according to the Edition of 1692) by Tho. Cheek, the music by Henry Purcell, but without the singer's name, is in The Banquet of Musick, The Sixth and Last Book, 1692 (licensed 17 Feb. 1691@2). Say, cruel Amoret, sung by Mountfort; Hang this whining way, sung by Mrs Butler; and Ingrateful lover, the words by Major General Sackville, are in Joyful Cuckoldom, ca. 1695. See also Purcell, Works, Purcell Society, XXI (1917), xxvi-xxix

Event Comment: The Characters New Dressed. Masque not performed these ten years. Nothing under Full Prices. No Money returned after the Curtain is drawn up. Receipts: #180 7s

Event Comment: This Comedy was written by Mr Cumberland was very well receiv'd & great Applause but it will not be so Successful as the West Indian was (Hopkins Diary). New Scenes and Dresses for the Mainpiece. [See Theatrical Review, 20 Jan. See also account in Town and Country Magazine (Theatre No. XXXIII). Larpent MS 329 again includes scene description by the author: "Hall in Lord Abberville's Housev with a staircase seen through an arch in the Flat."] Receipts: #248 17s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 5, by Hannah Cowley. Author of Prologue unknown. Epilogue by the author (see text)]: With Songs, Duetts, and Chorusses composed by Mazzinghi. With new Scenery, Dresses, and Decorations. Books of the Songs, &c. to be had at the Theatre. [Afterpiece in place of The Padlock, advertised on playbill of 2 Dec.] Morning Herald, 23 Feb. 1792: This day is published A Day in Turkey (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #263 16s. (261.15.6; 2.0.6)

Event Comment: [1st piece in place of A Quarter of an Hour before Dinner, advertised on playbill of 19 Sept.] 2nd piece: 19th time [i.e. in continuation of the reckoning for the 1793 hay season]. With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. 3rd piece: Never acted there