Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 4, by Elizabeth Inchbald, adapted from Zelie; ou, L'Ingenue, by Stephanie Felicite Ducrest de Saint Aubin, Comtesse de Genlis. Beginning with 6 Dec. this was reduced to an afterpiece of 3 acts. Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (see text)]. Public Advertiser, 12 Dec. 1788: This Day is published The Child of Nature (price not listed). Afterpiece: Reduced [from 5] into 3 acts. Receipts: #150 15s 6d. (139.10.0; 11.5.6),

Event Comment: Benefit Mills. At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. And at the request of some Persons of Quality, 2 Benches of the Pit will be rail'd into the Boxes at the same Price. [Receipts: possibly #127 2s., according to Baggs.

Event Comment: At Common Prices. Stage Halfa Guinea. Receipts: #20 6s. 6d

Event Comment: Afterpiece: Written by Mrs Charke. At Common Prices. 6 P.M

Event Comment: Benefit Author of the Farce. Mainpiece: Not Acted these Fourteen Years. Written by Dr Young, Author of the Universal Passion. Afterpiece: A New Tragic-Comic-Operatic-Pastoral Farce [By T. Drury]. At Common Prices. [Preface gives a long account of difficulties in getting the Afterpiece on the stage. See Daily Advertiser, 16 and 17 Jan. for puffs of the Afterpiece.]

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Otway. At Common Prices. 6 p.m. N.B. There is a new Passage to the Pit.,. also a large Lobby for the Servants that keep Places. Receipts: #65. Egerton 2320: ye first night of Mr Right's appearance. Cato given out, but cou'd not be play'd, Mrs Cibber not being ready in Maria we cou'd play no Play but the Orphan Mrs Thurmond having left us

Event Comment: At the particular Desire of several Persons of Quality.Mainpiece: Written by Colley Cibber, Esq; Poet-Laureat. Afterpiece: Taken from Moliere and Intermingled with Songs. At Common Prices. 6 p.m

Event Comment: No Money under full price will be taken [repeated]. Afterpiece: Never acted there before [the actor Benjamin Griffin's farce, not acted since its author's benefit night, April 6, 1716, at lif]

Event Comment: [G+General Advertiser only gives prices as 2s. 6d., 1s. 6d., 1s. in each bill until 14 Jan.

Event Comment: Never performed here before. [Prices in General Advertiser as 24 Jan.; in Daily Advertiser, 3s., 2s., 1s.

Event Comment: For the Entertainment of the Turkish Ambassadour. Benefit Phillips, in confinement in King's Bench. [Prices 3s., 2s., 1s.] Mr Phillips humbly begs leave to inform his Friends, being under Confinement in the King's Bench, He has not at present an Opportunity to wait on such Gentlemen and Ladies, as he may have hopes to esteem his well wishers. But in order to render Mrs Phillips's Entertainment as agreeable as possible to the Publick, Mr Phillips will be there on that Night. Tickets at Mrs Phillips's / Lodgings, at Mrs Norman's in Ayliffe St.; and of Mr Phillips in the King's Bench Prison, Southwark

Event Comment: Benefit Macklin. Mainpiece not acted these 30 years [ see 5 Feb. 1713]. No After money will be taken. Tickets deliver'd by Mr Leach will be taken. Servants allowed to keep places on stage. Nothing under full prices. [The Prologue (five MS pages) is in the Larpent Collection. Concerns, in a joking way, a dispute in the pit about Macklin and his prologues. Afterpiece by Charles Macklin. Not printed.

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Rawlinson. To begin at 6:30 p.m. Prices: 4s., 2s. 6d., 1s. 6d

Event Comment: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Full prices. No money returned after curtain is drawn up. Vivat Rex. [A. Murphy and S. Foote joined a partnership and rented dl theatre from Garrick for summer performances (Genest, IV, 616). For Gentleman, Miller? See Winston MS 9.

Event Comment: Full Prices

Event Comment: Full Prices. Afterpiece: A Pantomimic dance by Love (Biographia Dramatica). Much followed and brought several crowded houses, and the success chiefly owing to the reports our newspapers were, at that time, daily filled with, of the French wild Beast that was devouring (and yet pursued by) children. This wild beast was happily introduced in this pantomime, pursued by boys led on by a Frenchman. At last the Beast made his Re-entry, and ran across the stage with the poor Frenchman in his mouth, to the great joy of the Pit, Box and Galleries (Victor, History of Theatres, III, 72). Dorilas for the first time by Mr Cautherly--very decent, but wanted spirit. This pantomime is fathered by Mr Lowe [?]--went off with applause, --Mr Garrick made most of the Business to it, which is very good (Hopkins Diary). [Letter from C. V. Theatricus on ladies' removing their hats in the theatre. A Gentleman had requested it and a debate ensued in the Public Advertiser, as to whether he wished to see the play better or to gaze more audaciously on many pretty faces. Long letter also from G. F. Theatricus to the Public Advertiser, commenting on the excellence of Powell, Mrs Yates, Holland, the Palmers, Cautherly and Bensley for their performance in Venice Preserved, Romeo and Juliet, and Mahomet respectively.

Event Comment: Full Prices. N.B. Merope is oblig'd to be deferr'd. Mrs Baddeley, Ophelia-very bad, all but the singing (+Hopkins Diary.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [acted 17 Apr. 1777]. Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by Hannah Cowley, based partly on The Stolen Heiress, by Susannah Centlivre]. Public Advertiser, 30 Apr. 1779: This Day at Noon is published Who's the Dupe? (price not listed). Receipts: #193 3s. 6d. (151.2.0; 39.12.6; 2.9.0)

Event Comment: [Miss Cleland, who was from the Edinburgh theatre, is identified in Lysons, Collectanea. Cleland was a stage name; her real name was Buttery.] Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by James Messink]: To conclude with an exact Representation of the Procession at an Eastern Marriage [based on sketches made in India by Tilly Kettle, the portrait painter (Theatre Notebook, VIII, 6)]. The Scenery by Richards, Carver, Hodgins, Cipriani, Catton and others. The Music composed by [Michael] Arne. The Pantomime by Messink. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. Public Advertiser, 12 Jan. 1782: The Openings between every Scene and all internal parts of the Theatre are now so crouded by people absolutely necessary in one character or another that were they not judiciously arranged and marshalled, they would stand in each other's way, and create inextricable confusion. All that appears before an Audience as moving with the ease, regularity and promptitude of clock-work is the result of much Contrivance and many exertions of bodily Labour. Ibid, 16 Feb. 1782: This Day is published The Choice of Harlequin (1s.). Receipts: #270 19s. (265/15; 5/4)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by John O'Keeffe. MS: Larpent 608; not published. CG playbill of 16 Nov. 1795 has a detailed synopsis of the action]: Intermixed with Songs and Dialogue. With new Music, Scenes, Dresses, Machinery, and Decorations. The new Music composed by Shield. The new Scenes designed by Richards, and executed by Richards, Hodgins, and assistants. To conclude with a Representation of the Lord Mayor's Show on the Water. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. "As to the Pantomime it wanted nothing on the first Night but Abbreviations . . . [which should be] omission of the Doctors, the two Women of the Town, and the whole of Edwin's Character" (Public Advertiser, 27 Nov.). Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1783, pp. 29-31, contains a detailed synopsis of the procession, and adds, "The personages of this procession were all dressed in the characters of the time in which they lived, and before each of them a label, a scroll, or a pageant was carried, bearing their name, or some allusion of the poets to their occupation. The figures in transparency were all painted as large as the life, and had a most grand and beautiful effect . . . The idea of the paintings was furnished by Mr Richards and Mr Smirk [sic], and all of them executed by the latter in a style of so much taste and excellence that it is a matter of some wonder to us, where an artist of Mr Smirk's abilities has been so long concealed . . . The glee introduced with so much applause is the composition of the late Dr Rogers (who lived in 1600); the other airs in the pantomime and procession arc by Handel, Lord Kelly, Abel, Stamitz and Shield, and have very great merit. The expense of preparing this splendid spectacle must have been very great, and the cost of continuing its representation cannot be inconsiderable, since more than 200 supernumeraries are employed to walk in the procession." Receipts: #215 3s. (206/3; 9/0)

Event Comment: Places for the Boxes to be taken of Fosbrook, at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 5.30. To begin at 6:30 [see 3 Nov.]. [No playbill this season lists the various prices of admission; they were probably, as usual: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s.] Afterpiece: To conclude with a Grand Representation of Regattav. Kemble Mem.: No Manager [i.e. King had resigned as acting manager; but see 23 Sept.]. Ivory Tickets introduced. [These tickets, also called "bones," were for the use of actors and other members of the company in gaining admission for themselves or their friends to the front of the house. They replaced paper orders (World, 18 Oct. 1788).] Receipts: #112 3s. 6d. (75.6.0; 35.10.0; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: No Money to be returned. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Fosbrook, at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 4 Nov.]. [No playbill this season lists the various prices of admission; they were probably, as usual: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s.] Receipts: #159 6s. 6d. (119.17.0; 38.6.0; 1.3.6)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for The Literary Fund. [In this performance the male parts were acted chiefly by amateurs; the female parts were acted by professionals. Prologue and Epilogue by Thomas Morris (Morning Herald, 17 Apr.).] The Committee for the Management of the Literary Fund respectfully inform the Public that affecting instabces of Merit in distress exceed their power of relief by the ordinary Subscription; and that they wish to have recourse to every honourable expedient to increase that power. The Admission will be by Tickets, at the Opera Prices. Boxes and Pit 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. No more Company will be admitted than the House will hold with perfect convenience; and when the proper number of Tickets is issued, no means of admission can be obtained. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 precisely. Registers: Thomas Dale, M. D.; Mr Deputy Nichols. Treasurers: Thomas Morris, Esq.; Mr E. Brooke. "In the course of the play we observed several restorations of Shakespeare's text, with some interpolations. The boldest of the latter was the introduction of Richard's son to him in the tent, the night befiredthedbefore the Battle of Bosworth field. This scene was borrowed, as we believe, from Thomas? Hull's Legendary Tale of Richard Plantagenet. It was well written, and produced a considerable degree of effect. The Ghosts were banished, and the start and stagger of Richard, heretofore the theatrical trick of the scene, necessarily omitted" (Diary, 17 Apr.)

Event Comment: [The BM Burney Collection (937. c. 10) contains a receipted bill from T. Lowndes for printing throughout this week: playbills nightly #1 12s. 6d.; 100 half price cards 2s.; 200 half-sheet office accts. 8s., totalling #10 5d.] Receipts: #272 4s. (226.8; 44.12; 1.4)

Event Comment: Benefit for Whitfield. Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by John Till Allingham]. Morning Chronicle, 14 May: Tickets to be had of Whitfield, No. 10, Clifford's-inn. Ibid, 26 July 1799: This Day is published Fortune's Frolic (price not listed). Receipts: #394 13s. 6d. (79.15.0; 5.0.0; tickets: 309.18.6)