Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Goodall and Mrs Bland. [In mainpiece the playbill retains Kemble as Beverley , but "Kemble being ill, Whitfield played Beverley" (Thespian Magazine, June 1793, P. 3).] Morning Herald, 4 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Goodall, No. 13, Russel-street, Covent-Garden; of Mrs Bland, No. 12, St. Albans-street, Pall-Mall. Receipts: #432 4s. (74.19.0; 40.1.6; 7.8.0; tickets: 309.15.6) (charge: #169 10s. 8d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. [In mainpiece the playbill retains King as Sir Peter Teazle, but "Murray, on account of the indisposition of King, was the Sir Peter to Mrs Jordan's Lady Teazle" (Monthly Mirror, May 1797, p. 311).] Tickets delivered for the 15th [for which day the benefit was first announced] will be admitted. "On the whole, Mrs Jordan's Lady Teazle, if not excellent, was respectable; and at a time when it was thought that it would be impossible to personify her Ladyship [i.e. after the retirement of Miss Farren], Mrs Jordan is commendable in having endeavoured it...[Sir Peter] was a part well suited to Murray, who excels in the still and the pathetic...In the screen scene his mirth in revealing to Charles the story of the French milliner, and his amazement the moment after when Charles, throwing down the screen, presented that milliner in the shape of Lady Teazle, must confirm the reputation of Murray. 'Lady Teazle!' (exclaimed he, turning from her towards the door, and in an accent alarmingly impressive), 'Lady Teazle, by all that is damnable!" (Monthly Visitor, June 1797, pp. 531-32). True Briton, 6 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #550 3s. (232.4.0; 72.2.0; 7.10.6; tickets: 238.6.6) (charge: free)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Kemble, but "The Publick are respectfully informed that Kemble having been attacked in the course of Last Night with a violent Pleurisy, which confines him to his Bed, Charles Kemble has undertaken to read the part of Mahmoud, and hopes for your kind Indulgence" (printed slip attached to BM playbill (Harris, Vol. V)). Afterpiece in place of The First Floor advertised on playbill of 3 May.] Receipts: #315 4s. (252.6.6; 60.19.0; 1.9.6; tickets not come in: 0.9.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons [whose 1st appearance as Imogen was at Bath, 15 Apr. 1779]. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their Servants at half past Four o'Clock. Public Advertiser, 13 Jan.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. "The exact receipts of Mrs Siddons's house on Monday were #332 [actually #335 5s., excluding the 2nd account and after-money], which, with bank notes for side-boxes, and gold tickets through all the boxes, raise the total to about #650 or #700. This benefit is clear of the nightly charges of the house" (Morning Chronicle, 1 Feb.). Receipts. #344 17s. 6d. (161.10.0; 9.11.6; 0.1.0; tickets: 173.15.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their Servants at half past Four o'Clock. Receipts: #304 2s. (110.18.0; 11.6.6; 2.2.6; tickets: 179.15.0) (charge: #107 14s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Mainpiece: Not acted these 9 years. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their servants by Half past Four o'Clock. Public Advertiser, 10 Jan.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #343 12s. 6d. (189.9.0; 6.12.0; 0.11.6; tickets: 147.0.0) [charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their Servants by Half past Four o'Clock. Mainpiece: Not acted these 10 years. [Epilogue by Robert Jephson.] Afterpiece: Written by D. Garrick, Esq. Public Advertiser, 31 Jan.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #340 5s. 6d. (166.10.0; 11.0.0; 1.4.6; tickets: 161.11.0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Paid Johnston's bill #7 10s. 6d.; Supernumeraries #6 12s.; Chorus by R. Shaw #10; Mantuamaker #13 5s. 4d.; Foulis for Music Copying #2 8s.; Land Tax 1 Yr. #79 12s. 6d.; Billstickers #3 6s.; Booth, tailor, #14 13s. 1d. "Mrs Jordan has a voice, the tones of which are infinitely more musical and sweet than those of any professional singer we have. There is also an interest about her singing, arising not from what may be called musical feeling, but the impression of the subject. Thus, though sometimes a little untrue, we love her songs, and forbear to weigh them in the diatonic or chromatic scales" (Oracle, 3 Oct.). Receipts: #450 3s. (393.2; 56.3; 0.18)

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 Mrs Jordan. Mainpiece: In Act II a Masquerade Scene. [Author of Epilogue unknown.] Oracle, II Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #658 19s. 6d. (319.0.0; 46.8.0; 1.17.0; tickets: 284.4.0; odd money: 7.10.6) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for King. [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Gertrude was at Liverpool, 23 July 1777; Mrs Jordan's as Ophelia at Richmond, 19 Aug. 1795.] Morning Herald, 28 Apr.: Tackets to be had of King, No. 56, Store-street, Bedford-square; 30 Apr.: The dresses [in Hamlet] were all modern. Receipts: #498 17s. 6d. (284.11.6; 55.9.0; 2.5.0; tickets: 156.12.0) (charge: #232 7s. 6d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Wilson. Public Advertiser, 30 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Wilson, No. 20, Tavistock-street, Covent Garden. 3rd piece [1st time; F 1, author unknown. MS: Larpent 656; not published. Author of Prologue unknown]. Receipts: #177 4s. 6d. (113/15/6; tickets: 63/9/0) (charge: #105)

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 Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. Morning Herald, 1 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. "In the apparent assumption of madness [and] the express'd weakness and melancholy of the character Kemble is not equalled by any of his predecessors . . . Till [Mrs Siddons] there never was, in sensible discrimination, as there ought to be, the real madness of Ophelia from the feigned distraction of Hamlet. Till then the dignity, the love, even the pathos of the part [were] but poorly, if at all administered" (Public Advertiser, 17 May). Receipts: #326 14s. 6d. (137/3/0; 7/3/6; 0/4/0; tickets: 182/4/0)(charge: #109 16s.)

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: [Wroughton was from cg. This was his 1st appearance as a regular member of the dl company; he had previously acted at this theatre on one occasion, 1 Apr. 1780. Mrs Taylor was from the York theatre.] "On every first appearance, it falls to a performer to chuse their own parts. They do that part once, and in all probability they never do it again. We fear this will happen to Mrs Taylor. In Elwina there was nothing to recommend [but see 4 Oct., 27 Nov.]" (World, 1 Oct.). Receipts: #189 0s. 6d. (134.4.0; 53.9.0; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent Confusion, Ladies are desired to send their servants by Half past Four o'Clock. Mainpiece: Not acted these 8 years. Public Advertiser, 26 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #327 3s. (140.12.0; 9.14.6; 0.19.6; tickets: 175.17.0) (charge: #111 1s.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years [not acted since 2 Nov. 1761]. With new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. In Act I a Grand Banquetv. In Act II the Trial of Queen Katharinev. In V a Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabethv. [These were included in all subsequent performances.] Mrs Siddons's Queen Katharine was "too laboured -particularly the Trial Scene, where the words came so slow and measured that they seemed to be distilled" (Public Advertiser, 29 Nov.). Receipts: #260 11s. (248.12; 11.6; 0.13)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: To conclude with a Grand Procession of the Hundred Knights of Chivalry, and the Representation of an Ancient Tournament, under the direction of Dubois. [These were included in all subsequent performances.] With a new Overture and new Additional Musick, by Storace, Shaw, and other Eminent Masters. And new Dresses, Decorations and Machinery. [Miss Redhead is identified in Kemble Mem.] Account-Book, 20 Dec. 1792: Paid Kemble to purchase horses for Cymon #180 14s. 6d. (223.11.6; 55.4.0; 3.19.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. Morning Herald, 22 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #461 8s. (195.17.6; 30.16.0; 5.6.0; tickets: 229.8.6) (charge: #158 13s. 4d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Mainpiece: Translated from Voltaire. Not acted these 20 years [acted l6 Nov. 1779]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 18 years [not acted since 19 Apr. 1774]. Morning Chronicle, 9 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, No. 49, Great Marlborough-street. [Mrs Siddons's 1st appearance as Palmyra was at Manchester, 1 Apr. 1778. Adress by Samuel Rogers (European Magazine, May 1795, p. 344). Epilogue by David Garrick.] Receipts: #569 8s. 6d. (293.14.6; 59.10.6; 8.0.0; tickets:208.3.6) (charge:#204 1s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Gibbs. 1st piece: The Musick composed by Storace

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Pope. [Mrs Jordan's 1st appearance as Lady Bell was at this theatre, 21 Apr. 1789.] 3rd piece: To conclude with a Prospect of the Infernal Regions, and a Rain of Fire. Times, 4 May: Tickets to be had of Miss Pope, No. 63, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Receipts: #318 11s. 6d. (78.0.6; 84.18.0; 4.12.6; tickets: 151.0.6) (charge: #216 8s. 1d.)

Event Comment: [In 2nd piece the playbill assigns Madelon to Mrs Bland, but she, "piqued at the levy of the customary, and very proper fines on account of her non-attendance at rehearsals, stayed away from the theatre on this evening, and Mrs Edwards [sic] was obliged to undertake the part of Madelon" (Monthly Mirror, July 1798, p. 52).

Event Comment: 3rd piece [1st time; P 2, by John Fawcett. Text 1st published by Duncombe and Moon, c. 1825]: With entire new Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. The Overture and most of the Musick composed by Dr Arnold. The Selections from eminent Masters, and the whole adapted by him to the Action of the Drama. The Scenery, comprehending a display of Views in the Island of Jamaicav, designed and painted [on playbill of 1 July: from Views taken on the Spot, and documents of undoubted authority] by S. Whitmore. The Machinery by Ronaldson, Sylvester, &c. The Dresses [on playbill of 1 July: made for the purpose by Persons acquainted with the spot where the Scene of Action lyes] by Gay, Mrs Egan, &c. A Prospectus of the Action with the Songs annexed, Price Six-pence, to be had at the Theatre [and reprinted in Dramatic Censor, III, 21-29]