Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Lampe and Mrs Vincent. Mainpiece: an Historical Play reviv'd as written by Shakespear

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Pritchard. Mainpiece: Written by Shakespear. Servants admitted to keep places on the stage, which will be fram'd into Front and side boxes, and entirely enclosed after the manner of an Oratorio. Ladies are desired to send servants to keep places to prevent mistakes. Tickets and places to be had at Mrs Pritchard's in Duke's late Earl's Court, Bow St.; At Mr Vaughan's, the Royal Exchange, Cornhill, and at the stage door

Event Comment: Benefit for Bencraft and Mrs Vincent. Mainpiece: Containing the Memorable Battle of Agincourtv; with the total overthrow of the French Armyv; and many other historical passages. Tickets to be had of Mrs Vincent at the Cock and Turk's Head, in Bedford St., Covent Garden; of Bencraft at the corner of the Piazzas; and of Mr Page at the Stage Door of the Theatre

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Elmy

Event Comment: Receipts: #65 6s. (Account Book). Benefit for Mrs Mayo. Charges #80. Deficit to Mrs Mayo #14 14s., covered by #79 1s. from tickets (Boxes 160. Pit 191. Gallery 104)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Widow in Distress, with Four Children (Public Advertiser). Benefit for Mrs Calvert. Receipts: #57 7s. Income from tickets #112 13s. (boxes 113; pit 318; gallery 361). Charges #84 (Account Book). [The Account Book shows a profit again of #31 9s. 6d.

Event Comment: By Command of his Royal Highness the Duke. Benefit Mrs Butler. [Tickets at Mrs Butler's House in King Street.

Event Comment: The Farce of Miss in Her Teens Anatomiz'd (Gentlemen's Magazine, Feb., pp. 71-72, from The Anatomist and News Regulator, 31 Jan.) [A critical analysis of the thin plot, thinner chcharacters, lack of moral, but excellent acting of Garrick, Woodward, and Mrs Pritchard, even in parts of nonsense, stupidity and bawdry. Deplores taste of the town which welcomed it for 18 nights.] Receipts: #187 14s. 6d

Event Comment: Adapted for the stage, as alter'd from Milton's Masque at Ludlow Castle (General Advertiser). Benefit for Beard. Ready Money #94 15s., plus #102 9s. from tickets. Charges #60. Paid Mrs Lane for Rent of Cowley in full to Michaelmas last #41. (Account Books, Egerton 2268) [Cowley was Rich's estate at Uxbridge. Notice about Amphitheatre (see 23 March) repeated.] Tickets of Beard at his house in Red Lyon Square

Event Comment: Benefit for Bencraft and Mrs Hale. Mainpiece: Not acted these 9 years. [See 4 Dec. 1740.] N.B.: A parcel of tickets having been lost, none sold at the doors of the theatre will be admitted. Tickets to be had and places taken of Page at the Stage Door of the Theatre. [Inserted in the General Advertiser this day is Buskin's Apology]: @Enur'd to ills of various kinds,@By ancestors undone;@The Author has severely paid@For failings not his own.@From Disappointments Buskin writes,@Confesses 'tis for gain@Yet scorns all profits which arise@From giving others pain.@No private character he sneers,@No venom taints his mind;@His sole ambition is to please,@Not satyrise Mankind.@ On Wednesday last the Tragedy of Othello was acted at Covent Garden towards the relief of the unhappy sufferers by the late Fire; and on Saturday the sum of #218 12s. 4d. was paid into the hands of Messrs Ironside and Belchier; the company of comedians and the band of musick having generously given their performances (General Advertiser)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Woffington. Mainpiece: Not acted these 30 years. Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years. For the better accommodation of the ladies, the stage will be enclosed and formed into Front and Side Boxes, where servants will be allowed to keep Places. Ladies are desired to send Servants by 3 o'clock. Charges: #60

Event Comment: Benefit for Arthur and Mrs Vincent. Mainpiece: Not acted these two years [See 5 May 1749]

Event Comment: Benefit for Dunstall and Mrs Dunstall. Mainpiece: Acted but once these 14 years [see 4 May 1748]

Event Comment: [The Public Advertiser includes this day a 78-line poem in octasyllabic couplets on J. Lewis's portrait of Mrs Woffington: @Her Shape, her Features, and her Dress@As far as colour can express@Friend Lewis' pencil has design'd:@Poet 'Tis yours to paint her mind...@ And the versifier proceeds to describe her as she affects audiences in the theatre.

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bellamy

Event Comment: Benefit for Anderson, Wignel, and Mrs Gondou. Mainpiece: Written by Shakespear

Event Comment: [For Cross' comment, see dl.] Receipts: #203 8s. 6d. Paid Barry one third of the surplus of this night's receipt over and above #80 allow'd for the charges:-#41 2s. 10s. Paid Lambert (Scene Painter) 3 month's salary to 16 Nov. last:-#25 (Account Book). [Lee, who seems to have entered earlier on a percentage-of-Box-Receipts: basis for his salary, received only one-third of receipts above a house charge of #100.] The Tragedy of King Lear was presented on this stage; King Lear by Mr Barry, and Cordelia by Mrs Bellamy; The latter was received with universal satisfaction; but on the former's appearance, after a thundering Peal of Applause, a few misguided persons made it necessary for Mr Barry to inform the audience that it ever had been his study to contribute his utmost to the entertainment of the town, and that all reports of his having been exorbitant in his demands were injurious and totally groundless. Upon this he was desired with one general acclamation to proceed in the play. The disturbers of the public were ordered to be silent or to be turned out of the house; and this great actor proved, by the improvement he has made in this character, that excellent as he is, he is still capable of reaching new strokes of perfection; and in the conclusion of the play the applause he met with was the tribute of hearts gratefully agitated through the whole performance with a variety of passions thrown into a ferment by powers most wonderfully suited to tenderness and compassion (London Chronicle, 3-6 Dec.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bellamy. Mainpiece: By Desire, and not acted these 4 years. [See 17 Jan. 1755.] Tickets deliver'd out for the 19th, and 22d for Douglas will be taken. Tickets sold at the Door will not be taken

Event Comment: Benefit for Barrington and Mrs Lampe. No building on Stage. Receipts: #24 6s. 6d. in cash. Charges #64 5s. Deficit to each beneficiary, #19 19s. 3d., covered by income from tickets: Barrington #48 9s. (Boxes 66; Pit 188; Gallery 69); Mrs Lampe #40 10s. (Boxes 34; Pit 107; Gallery 128). Total income #113 5s. 6d. [At this point in the benefit season the house shows profitable balance on the books of only #225 5s.

Event Comment: By Desire. Afterpiece: a Dramatic Fable. [By James Miller.] Edition of 1739: The Musick by Mr Arne. Sung by Mrs Clive

Event Comment: DDaily Advertiser: We hear that Mrs Clive, who has been so dangerously ill that her life has been despair'd of, is now judged to be in a fair way of recovery. Receipts: #60

Event Comment: 1 Ladies send servants by three o'clock to keep places. [A customary note for subsequent performances this season.] Paid Mrs LaFont for her performance 3 nights in The Rape of Proserpine 15s. Receipts: #189 7s

Event Comment: We hear that Mrs Cibber is so extremely ill at the Bath, that her life is despaired of (General Advertiser). Receipts: #107 4s. 6d

Event Comment: Afterpiece: A Tragi-Comi-Pastoral Farce not acted these 5 years. [See 13 Nov. 1746.] Tomorrow Othello. The Part of Othello by Barry, Desdemona by Mrs Cibber

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Cibber. Play By Command of Prince & Princess of Wales. Play taken from the French of M de Voltaire. Never acted there before.' Pit and boxes to be laid together, where the Ladies and Gentlemen will be admitted as at the Oratorios. And for the better accommodation of the Ladies the Stage will be form'd into an amphitheatre (with particular care to keep it warm) where servants will be allowed to keep places, as also in the Pit. Ladies send servants by three o'clock