Event Comment: "The after-piece-that old obsolete Trash, the Country Madcap, by the aid of Quick and Mrs Mattocks' good Acting, was endured. Reinhold's imitation of Italian Singing . . . got three Peals of Applause" (Public Advertiser, 13 Oct.). Receipts: #150 4s. 6d. (147/1/6; 3/3/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 10 years. [Mrs Brown was from the Norwich theatre.] Receipts: #200 11s. (198/17; 1/14)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. [In afterpiece the playbill assigns Nancy to Mrs T. Kennedy, but "Mrs Brown played Nancy in the room of Mrs T. Kennedy" (London Chronicle, 21 Oct.).] Receipts: #268 0s. 6d. (265.18.0; 2.2.6)

Event Comment: "The Greybeards have certainly been chastised, for we did not find them at all gross. The piece is farcical and improbable, but has some good things, and is admirably acted. Coeur de Lion did not answer; nor was I much charmed with the music; but my ear is too bad to judge at first hearing. The scenes are excellent; Mrs Jordan is quite out of her character, and makes nothing of the part; and the turning the ferocious Richard into a tender husband is intolerable...It only makes a confusion in one's ideas, to maim a known story" (Walpole [15 Dec. 1786], XIII, 429)

Event Comment: Benefit for Lewis. Mrs Billington's severe Illness rendering it impossible to perform Fontainbleau [advertised on playbill of 13 Mar.], Lewis hopes the above Comedy will prove acceptable to those Ladies and Gentlemen who have Places, and to the Public in general. Public Advertiser, 11 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Lewis, Bow-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #242 16s. 6d. (156.12.6; 5.10.0; tickets: 80.14.0)

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 by Half past Four o'Clock. Mainpiece: Never performed there. Public Advertiser, 24 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #302 14s. 6d. (104.15.0; 13.19.0; 0.17.6; tickets: 183.3.0) (charge: #108 15s. 3d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Wells, mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Frederick Reynolds. Prologue by Robert Merry. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (World, 16 May)]. Morning Herald, 30 Mar. 1793: This Day is published The Dramatist (1s. 6d.). Public Advertiser, 29 Apr: Tickets to be had of Mrs Wells, No 15, Beaufort Buildings, Strand. Receipts: #291 8s. 6d. (173.19.0; 9.9.6; tickets: 108.0.0)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Ward, but "An apology was made for Mrs Wilson's reading the part of Angelica, vice Mrs Ward, who was suddenly taken ill" (Diary, 22 Mar.). Afterpiece in place of The Pannel, advertised on playbill of 18 Mar.] Receipts: #234 3s. 6d. (188.12.0; 44.1.6. 1.10.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Jordan. Part of the Pit [9 rows (World, 23 Mar.)] to be laid into the Boxes. Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, probably by Isaac Bickerstaffe, but also ascribed to Mrs Jordan and to Richard Ford. Text 1st published (unauthorized), Dublin, 1799]. Kemble Mem.: The Farce is written by Mr Bickerstaffe. World, 29 Apr. 1790: The Spoil'd Child was sent to Mrs Jordan from Bickerstaffe in Italy, where her fame had reached. Public Advertiser, 13 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Jordan at her house, No. 14, Somerset-street, Portman-square. Receipts: #352 18s. 6d. (137.13.0; 12.4.6; 1.7.0; tickets: 201.14.0) (charge: #111 6s. 11d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Mattocks. Receipts: #210 8s. 6d. (138.2.0; 7.10.6; tickets: 64.16.0)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Bland as Madelon, but "Mrs Bland has just presented her husband with two fair daughters...In consequence Miss DeCamp, last night, assumed the part of Madelon" (Morning Herald, 15 Aug.).

Event Comment: Mainpiece: With Alterations [by John Philip Kemble. In his version, as published in 1793, Lewis is assigned to Barrymore, Helena to Mrs Siddons, the Countess to Mrs Ward, Diana to Mrs Powell. Genest lists the present cast; it appears to be reliable. He omits Phillimore, who is assigned in the text, and Miss Tidswell]. A new Edition of All's Well that Ends Well to be had in the Theatre. Afterpiece: With a Sea Fightv. Powell: Drummer rehearsed at 10; Critic at 11:30; Cherokee at 1. Receipts: #282 1s. (178.19; 99.16; 3.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Clendining. 1st piece: Not acted these 2 years. 2nd piece: In one Act. Morning Herald, 22 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Clendining, No. 22, Southampton-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #127 5s. (31.3.6; 6.2.6; tickets: 89.19.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Egerson [formerly Mrs Higginson]. Morning Chronicle, 24 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Egerson, No. 79, Lower Gower-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #263 5s. (125.9.6; 5.18.6; tickets: 131.17.0)

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of the first performance is not precisely known, but it seems likely to have been in mid-January. See the discussion under 10 Jan. 1693@4 and Evelyn's remarks on 11 Jan. 1693@4. Part of the music for the play was composed by John Eccles: Young I am and yet unskill'd, sung by a girl, in Gentleman's Journal, January@February 1693@4, and Thesaurus Musicus, 1694: What state of life can be so blest, -Mrs Hudson, in Thesaurus Musicus, 1694. One song was set by Henry Purcell, How happy's the husband, the words by Congreve and sung by Mrs Ayliff, in Thesaurus Musicus, 1694: see also Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, XX (1916), xiii-xiv

Event Comment: The United Company. The date of this production is determined by a letter (see below). For a discussion of the origin and development of this play, see Hotson, Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, pp. 274-76. A song, Why shou'd the world mistake, the music composed by John Eccles and sung by Mrs Hudson, is in Thesaurus Musicus, 1695. An unidentified letter, 22 March 1693@4: We had another new play yesterday, called The Ambitious Slave, or a Generous Revenge. Elkanah Settle is the author of it, and the success is answerable to his reputation. I never saw a piece so wretched, nor worse contrived. He pretends 'tis a Persian story, but not one body in the whole audience could make any thing of it; 'tis a mere babel, and will sink for ever. The poor poet, seeing the house would not act it for him, and give him the benefit of the third day, made a present of it to the women in tie house, who act it, but without profit or incouragement (Edmond Malone, An Historical Account of the Stage in Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare [London, 1821], III, 163-64). Gentleman's Journal, March 1694: 'Tis not altogether strange for a Play to be less kindly receiv'd, immediately after one that has deservedly ingross'd all the Applause which the Town can well bestow in some time on new Dramatic Entertainments. Perhaps Mr Settle may partly impute to this, the want of success of a new Tragedy of his which was lately acted, 'tis called, The Ambitious Slave; or, The Generous Revenge. [This play followed Southerne's The Fatal Marriage.

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Saunders and Mrs Cox. At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality

Event Comment: [By Ambrose Phillips.] At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. William Egerton: And in the Spring came on Mr Phillips's Tragedy, The Distrest Mother. Mrs Rogers, an Actress, who in her Turn, had made a considerable Figure on the Stage, was designed the Part of (Andromache, Hector's Widow, &. i.e.) the Distrest Mother. But the Author, as well as his Friends, were soon convinced that Mrs Oldfield was infinitely the more accomplished Person for so Capital a Part. Upon its being given to Her, Mrs Rogers raised a Posse of Profligates, fond of Tumult and Riot, who made such a Commotion in the House, that the Court hearing of it send four of the Royal Messengers, and a strong Guard, to suppress all Disorders. This being effected, the Play was brought upon the Stage and crowned with deserved Success (Egerton, pp. 31-32)

Event Comment: Never Acted before. [By Mrs Aubin.

Event Comment: Benefit Vallois and Mrs Vallois (late Widow to Monsieur Roger, the Pierrot in Drury Lane, Deceas'd). Acted by the Comedians form the Theatre in Goodman's Fields. At the particular Desire of several Persons of Quality. 6:30 p.m. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 1s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit Le Brun (Harlequin) and Mrs Walter. Afterpiece: By particular Desire

Event Comment: Benefit Mr and Mrs Mullart. Tickets at Mullart's, Crown Court, Russell Street, CG. Receipts: money #20 8s.; tickets #149 15s

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Congreve, London Daily Post and General Advertiser, 2 Oct.: Last Night in the Entertainment of Dr Faustus...when the Machine wherein were Harlequin, the Miller's Wife, the Miller and his the Miller's Man, was got up to the full Extent of its flying, one of the Wires which held up the hind part of the Car broke first, and then the other broke, and the Machine, and all the People in it fell down Upon the Stage; by which unhappy Accident the young Woman who personated the Miller's Wife had her Thigh broke, and her Kneepan shatter'd, and was otherways very much bruised, the Harlequin had his Head bruised, and his Wrist strained; the Miller broke his Arm; and the Miller's Man had his Scull so fractured that his Life in despaired of. Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, 6 Oct.: Covent Garden has given me a sort of surfeit of Mr Rich and his cleverness, for I was at [cg] when the machine broke t'other night; the house was in amaze for above a minute, and I dare say a great many in the galleries thought it very desterously performed, and that they screamed as naturally as heart could wish, till they found it was no jest, by their calling for surgeons, of whom several luckily happened to be in the pit. I stayed to see the poor creatures brought out of the house, and pity poor Mrs Buchanan not a little, whom I saw put into a chair in such a fright that as she is big with child, I question whether it may not kill her.-Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Thomas Gray, I, 113-14

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never Acted before. [By John Hewitt.] Preface to edition of 1737: This Comedy made it's Appearance under many Disadvantages:...It was read for the first Time to the Performers, Tuesday the 15th, and acted Monday the 21st. Mrs Giffard, who had been Ill the Whole Season, undertook the Character of Lady Betty Manly, but finding herself indisposed, returned the Part on Thursday Evening. It was then given to Mrs Hamilton, who on Saturday about one in the Afternoon declared she could not do it unless it was cut, which the Nature of that Part not admitting, there was a Necessity to ask the Favour of Miss Hughes to undertake it, who with a great deal of good Nature, studied and played it perfect, tho' at so short a Warning

Event Comment: By Command of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. Mainpiece: Written by the late Mrs Centlivre