Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Goodall. Gazetteer, 28 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Goodall, No. 26, Villers-street, York Buildings. Receipts: #237 7s. (65.19; 35.11; 5.19; tickets: 129.18) (charge: #114 19s. 7d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Mattocks. [Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews (Oracle, 5 May).] Public Advertiser, 28 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Mattocks, No. 7, King-street, Covent Garden. Receipts: #272 18s. 6d. (170.11.6; 4.3.0; tickets: 98.4.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund for the Relief of those whose Infirmities oblige them to retire from the Stage. The whole Pit will be laid into the Boxes. Those Ladies and Gentlemen who have seats in the Pit are earnestly requested to be early at the Theatre, and Servants are desired to attend at half past Four o'Clock to keep Places. "The fine tragic powers of [Mrs Siddons] and Kemble were but wasted on the turgid trumpery of the play...But Kemble in this scene [end of Act III] was so impassioned and transcendent that it killed all the rest of the piece. The scorn of Mrs Siddons at his dissimulation--her haughty bearing and marking emphasis, with the piercing powers of her eye, are all treasured where they should be" (Oracle, 16 May). Receipts: #117 14s. (107.11.0; 9.12.6; 0.10.6; tickets: none listed, but Oracle, 17 May, reports that tickets were purchased for as much as one guinea and a half) (charge: free)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Churton. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Tickets to be had of Mrs Churton, No. 33, New-Bond-street; of Wye, Masquerade Warehouse, Panton-street; and of Rice, at the Theatre, where Places for the Boxes may be taken

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Clendining. The Poetry of the additional Songs [in 1st piece] by Peter Pindar, Esq. [pseud. for John Wolcot]. Morning Herald, 27 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Clendining, No. 19, Martlett-court, Bow-street, Covent-garden. "Mrs Clendining's endeavours to entertain were successful, and Fitzroy by Incledon gave a rich feast to the musical amateur. The air beginning, 'Dear Tom, this brown jug,' had a fine effect by the music being omitted" (Diary, 18 May). Receipts: #273 17s

Event Comment: Emilia Galotti [advertised on playbill of 29 Oct.] cannot be acted this Evening, on Account of Mrs Powell's Illness. Powell: Mountaineers rehearsed at 10; Devil to Pay at 12. Receipts: #172 7s. (118.1.0; 48.15.6; 5.10.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Gibbs. Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 22 June 1790. Miss Logan is identified in MS list, in hay playbills now at Harvard, of new performers for the 1795 season. Mrs Kemble's 1st recorded appearance as Portia was at Edinburgh, 26 Jan. 1795]

Event Comment: [As Miss P. Farren Mrs Knight had 1st appaared in London on 15 May 1777 at the hay.] "[Knight's] simplicity is the type of nature, untainted With buffoonery; and what we very rarely meet with, his attention was so wholly engrossed by the business of the scene as to make him appear unconscious of being before an audience" (Morning Chronicle, 26 Sept.). Receipts: #248 3s. 6d. (240.2.6; 8.1.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 9 years. [Mrs Worthington is identified in MS list in Kemble playbills of new performers for this season.] Ballet: 1st time; composed by Giacomo? Gentili. Afterpiece [1st time: ENT 1, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan; acted in place of The Prize, advertised on playbill of 4 Mar. Text (C. Lowndes, 1797)]: Altered from a Dramatick Entertainment performed 1794 [The Glorious First of June]. In the course of which will be introduced a representation of the late Glorious Engagement between the British and Spanish Fleets on the Fourteenth of February [1797, under Sir John Jervis, off Cape St. Vincent]. Receipts: #253 9s. (151.2.6; 100.17.0; 1.9.6)

Event Comment: [In 1st piece the playbill retains Mrs Siddons as Lady Macbeth, but "The Publick is most respectfully informed that Mrs Siddons, being suddenly taken ill...Lady Macbeth will be performed by Mrs Powell, who having undertaken the part at a very short notice, humbly intreats their indulgence" (printed slip attached to BM playbill, Harris, Vol. V).] 3rd piece: Engagement as 6 Mar. Receipts: #173 18s. 6d. (106.18.6; 62.19.6; 4.0.6)

Event Comment: "In point of voice, there are few women so highly favoured as Mrs Litchfield [whose 1st appearance at cg was on 27 May 1796]; through every gradation of tone it is perfect, combining strength and melody, it is equal to any task which the theatre (large and extensive as it is) can impose. It is suited to the firmness of declamation, the tenderness of pathos, and the burst of indignant passion" (Monthly Mirror, Oct. 1797, p. 226). The Epilogue is not listed on the playbill, but "The audience would not be satisfied without the original Epilogue [by Miles Peter Andrews], which Lewis came forward and spoke" (True Briton, 21 Sept.). [Afterpiece in place of The Poor Soldier, advertised on playbill of 18 Sept.] Receipts: #225 0s. 6d. (195.14.0; 29.6.6)

Event Comment: [This was Mrs Abington's 1st appearance on the stage since 12 Feb. 1790, except for 14 June 1797, when she spoke an epilogue at a charity benefit.] "Her former Beatrice was a chaste, animated, unaffected and captivating performance; but her Beatrice of this night was, for the greater part, languid and unattractive. Her deportment, however, is easy and graceful; but her person is too big and heavy to give any effect to the more gay and sprightly scenes. We conceive it to be the height of folly and imprudence in her to come forward in the present advanced period of her existence; and that too, with a person so ill calculated for the department, and attempt characters which demand all the vigour and activity of youth" (Monthly Visitor, Oct. 1797, p. 352). [Address by George Colman, ynger (London Chronicle, 7 Oct.).] Receipts: #348 2s. (336.18; 11.14)

Event Comment: [Huddart, whose 1st appearance on the stage was at the Crow Street Theatre Dublin, on 14 May 1798, is identified in European Magazine, Oct. 1798, p. 258.] "In the gentle and tender scenes [Huddart] was impressive...but in the impassioned parts he was often too boisterous, and from his too eager exertion, he exhausted himself, in a great measure, before the conclusion of the piece" (Morning Herald, 16 Oct.). [Mrs Pope, as Miss Campion, had 1st appeared as Desdemona at the same theatre, 11 Mar. 1790. Mrs Wybrow was from the Royal Circus. She had appeared at cg on 6 June 1798.] Afterp iece [1st time; BALL. PI, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 1228. Text (i.e. synopsis of the ballet, and the songs) in his Circusiana (Lackington, Allen & Co., 1890), Vol. 1; it lists the cast for the Royal Circus]: Taken chiefly from the favourtie Piece of the latter Title [1st acted at the Royal Circus, 9 Apr. 1798], with Alterations and Additions by the original Author. The Music by Sanderson, and Scenery by Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, Blackmore, &c. Receipts: #294 15s. 6d. (290.8.6; 4.7.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Pope. Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years. In I a Grand Banquet Scene. A Procession from the Abbey at the Coronation of Queen Anne Bullen. The Piece to conclude with the ceremony at the Royal Christening. [Holman's 1st appearance as King Henry was at this theatre, 24 May 1793.] Morning Chronicle, 27 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Pope, Half Moon-street, Piccadilly. Receipts: #391 0s. 6d. (299.15.6; 2.9.0; tickets: 88.16.0)

Event Comment: [Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Stokes, Archer, Sparks, Fisher, Chatterley, Chippendale, Miss Heard, Miss Tidswell, Mrs Benson will be admitted.] Receipts: #613 0s. 6d. (125.18.0; 43.11.6; 0.4.0; odd money: 18.18.0; tickets: 424.9.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Sloper and Mrs Watts. 2nd piece: The Machinery of the Peacock by Sloper. 3rd piece: The following are a part of the Scenes: The Ancient Temple dedicated to Bel, the God of Fire, with the Flactaga, or sacred Fire burning; The Dargle, where the Irish Druids consulted their Oracle; A View near Wicklow; The Salmon Leap; Entrance of a Subterraneous Pass; Maon's Cavern; Cemetery and Dungeon, appertaining to the Round Tower, Moated Castle, &c. The Overture and Music principally new, with a Selection of some novel Irish Airs, by Reeve. The Harp by Weippert. The machinery by Cresswell, Sloper and Goostree. The Dresses by Dick and Mrs Egan. Receipts: #319 16s. 6d. (70.19.0; 8.13.0; tickets: 240.4.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece:In I A Grand Masqueradev. Afterpiece [1st time; M. INT 1, by Thomas John Dibdin]: To conclude with a new Scenic Representation of Britannia Triumphantv. Interspersed With a Variety of favorite old Airs, popular Songs, Parodies, &c. The Overture and new Songs composed and the Music in general arranged by Moorehead. The Machinery invented and executed by Cresswell. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre, price Six-pence. Morning Chronicle, 16 Oct. 1799: This day is published The Naval Pillar (price not listed). The afterpiece had reference to the contemplated erection of a "Naval Pillar" on Portsdown Hill, near Portsmouth, in commemoration of the recent victbries of the English navy. A plain pillar is at the last introduced, with the names of the most celebrated admirals on a scroll, round which the sailors and their sweethearts dance with peculiar festivity. The pillar now flies open, and displays a most magnificent and appropriate spectacle--consisting of Britannia, personated by Mrs Chapman, under a rich canopy, with the figures of a sailor and a soldier for supporters, pointing to the letters G. R. over a brilliant sun, which turns on the center; shrouded in clouds above, and surrounded by angels, is a medallion of Lord Howe, and on columns on each side of the canopy are medallions of your great living naval commanders" (Monthly Visitor, Oct. 1799, p. 180). Receipts: #284 10s. 6d. (277.18.6; 6.12.0)

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. Pepys, Diary: To the Opera, and there saw Romeo and Juliet, the first time it was ever acted; but it is a play of itself the worst that ever I heard in my life, and the worst acted that ever I saw these people do, and I am resolved to go no more to see the first time of acting, for they were all of them out more or less. Downes (p. 22): Note, There being a Fight and Scuffle in this Play, between the House of Capulet, and House of Paris; Mrs Holden Acting his Wife, enter'd in a Hurry, Crying, O my Dear Count! She Inadvertently left out, O, in the pronuntiation of the Word Count! giving it a Vehement Accent, put the House into such a Laughter, that London Bridge at low-water was silence to it. This Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, was made some time after into a Tragi-comedy, by Mr James Howard, he preserving Romeo and Juliet alive; so that when the Tragedy was Reviv'd again, twas Play'd Alternately, Tragical one Day, and Tragicomical another; for several Days together. [No specific notices are known which would indicate when Howard's version appeared.

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Bicknell. At the Desire of several Persons of Quality. Not Acted these Six Years. [See also Tatler, 16 April.

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Cross. At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. [See also Tatler, 30 April. Genest, II, 418, lists this as a benefit for Cross.

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Porter. At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality

Event Comment: Benefit Miss Santlow and Mrs Moore. At the Desire of several Persons of Quality

Event Comment: Benefit Newman and Mrs Baker. With Scenes, Machines, Dances, and all the Original Decorations proper to the Play. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 2s

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Thurmond. At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. The Pit and Boxes to be laid together. Gallery 2s

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Hunt. At the Desire of several Persons of Quality