Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Webb. [Miss Webb's 1st appearance on the stage was at this theatre, 30 July 1788.

Event Comment: The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 2 Nov.]. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Theatre. No Money to be returned. 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.] Mainpiece: In I a Masquerade Scene [incident to the Play. Receipts: #216 9s. 6d. (213.11.0; 2.18.6)

Event Comment: Gazetteer, 20 Sept.: [On Saturday morning] official notice was given from the Lord Chamberlain's Office to shut the Theatres [because of the death of the Duke of Cumberland, brother of George III]

Event Comment: Paid Music the 13th, 15th, 17th Inst. #23 9s. 6d.; Properties Ditto #2 5s.; Kettle Drum Ditto 15s.; Wardrobe #11 1s. 6d.; Supernumeraries #1 16s. 6d.; Chorus Singers #3; Cox for Scenemen #28 2s. 7d.; Hodgins [painter] #4 4s.; Extra Music #2 5s.; Richards, painter #20. [Wilson's last appearance at this theatre was on 20 Jan. 1786.] Receipts: #222 2s. 6d. (208.16.6; 13.6.0)

Event Comment: "Although [Mrs Esten] is rather under-hung, her face may fairly be pronounced pretty, and her figure engaging. Her voice, in the pathetic tones, resembles that of Mrs Siddons, but is more clear and articulate' (Diary, 21 Oct.). Receipts: #182 14s. 6d. (180.12.0; 2.2.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years. Afterpiece [1st time: CO 2, by John O'Keeffe; altered by the author from his The Czar. Larpent MS 881; not published]: In which will be introduced a few Scenes and Songs from The Czar, performed last season [on 8 Mar. 1790]. The Music composed and compiled by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [Mrs Harlowe was from Sadler's Wells.] Receipts: #194 11s. 6d. (181.18.6; 12.13.0)

Event Comment: [Munden was from the Chester theatre. "His person is rather under the middle size, his figure good, his features more expressive than anything we have seen for many years, his voice powerful and melodious, and his articulation the clearest and most rapid we ever witnessed" (World, 3 Dec.). "Without the aid of grimace or buffoonery, he gave all the effect to the part that the author intended, and in his general stile of playing he seems to have studied nature more than any living model" (Gazetteer, 3 Dec.).] Receipts: #238 17s. 6d. (228.14.6; 10.3.0)

Event Comment: Paid 1@2 yrs Kings Taxes for Theatre #84 2s. 6d. Receipts: #146 3s. 6d. (140.3.6; 6.0.0)

Event Comment: By Desiire of the Cherokee Chiefs [see 12 Nov.]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 7 years. [European Magazine, Dec. 1790, p. 468, says that this was Mrs Ferguson's 1st appearance in London; she was from the Richmond theatre.] Receipts: #205 5s. (202.8.6; 2.16.6)

Event Comment: ["When the Commemoration of King Charles's Death [on 30 Jan.] falls on a Sunday we always act on Monday. "This occurred for the first time, at both dl and cg, on 31 Jan. 1785. Previously, when 30 Jan. was a Sunday, both theatres had observed the commemoration on Monday 31 Jan. In mainpiece the playbill retains Kemble as Faulkland, but "Mr Benson read FaulklandR for me [this because Kemble was detained returning from Bath to London]" (Kemble Mem.).] Receipts: #231 7s. (180.12.0; 50.1.6; 0.13.6)

Event Comment: [The playbilll retains Bannister as Diego, but he, "whose absence from Covent-Garden Theatre on Thursday evening was represented to the audience as the effect of indispostion, appeared that night at the Ranelagh Masquerade. We can remember no instance of disrespect from a performer to the town equal to this" (Gazetteer, 14 Feb.). The name of his substitute is not given.] Receipts: #196 11s. (189.0; 7.11)

Event Comment: 2nd piece: Never [previously] acted in this Kingdom [by Robert Jephson, altered by the author from his The Hotel; or, The Servant with Two Masters, which was based on Il Servitore di due Padroni, by Carlo Goldoni, and on Arlequin Valet de deux Maitres, by Jean Pierre de Ours de Mandajors, and 1st acted at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 8 May 1783]. Oracle, 18 Mar. 1791: This Day is published Two Strings to Your Bow (1s). Receipts: #210 3s. 6d. (205.17.0; 4.6.6)

Event Comment: "Mrs Siddons's timid approach [in Act V] to the home of a friend whom she had robbed of a lover: 'She staggers up to the door, timidly lifts the knocker, releases it as if she had committed a mortal sin, seizes it a second time and--knocks. It is impossible to describe how she knocked, but I shall never forget her in this situation, never forget the tone of her voice in answer to the servant, never the timidity, the anguish of her expression and movements.'" (F. W. von Hassell quoted in J. A. Kelly, 144-45). Receipts: #337 7s. 6d. (321.16.0; 14.6.6; 1.5.0, being the largest amount taken at this theatre, on a night not devoted to a benefit, between 1776 and 4 June of this season, q. v.)

Event Comment: "There is no peace between the opera theatres; the Haymarket rather triumphs. They have opened twice, taking money in an evasive manner, pretending themselves concerts; the singers are in their own clothes, the dancers dressed, and no recitative--a sort of opera in deshabille (Walpole [31 Mar. 1791], XIV, 399-400)

Event Comment: [As afterpiece the playbill announces High Life below Stairs, but "A Disturbance of some length took place on Monday night at Drury-lane Theatre, occasioned by the substitution of The Deaf Lover for High Life below Stairs; and the confusion was augmented by the unadvised introduction of some soldiers into the galleries. The audience properly insisted on their removal, which being complied with, the tumult subsided" (Morning Post, 27 Apr.).] On this and every Evening for the remainder of the Season, the Doors will not be opened till 5:30, and the performance will commence exactly at 6:30. Receipts: #188 6s. (159.6; 27.8; 1.12)

Event Comment: Benefit for R. Palmer. The Public is respecfully inform'd that the Prelude of The Hop formerly advertised for Mr Palmer's Benefit is on a very particular account withdrawn from the Theatre. Oracle, 7 May: Tickets to be had of R. Palmer, No. 14, East Place, Lambeth. Receipts: #292 5s. 6d. (77.13.0; 30.15.6; 2.6.0; tickets: 181.11.0) (charge: #117 0s. 7d.)

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: Benefit for Mrs Mountain. 3rd piece: Not acted these 2 years [not acted since 24 Apr. 1788]. Oracle, 14 May: Tickets to be had of Mrs Mountain, No. 9, Bow-street, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #171 1s. (71.6; 7.0; tickets: 92.15)

Event Comment: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be had of Rice, at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]

Event Comment: The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 15 Nov.]. No Money to be returned. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Theatre. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Receipts: #176 9s. 6d. (169.16.0; 6.13.6)

Event Comment: The School for Scandal [advertised on playbill of 22 Sept., as was No Song No Supper for 3rd piece], intended for this Evening's Representation, is deferred till Tuesday, the Stage having been so constantly occupied by the Workmen preparing and adapting the various Scenes for this Theatre that the usual course of Rehearsals has been necessarily impeded. The Public are most respectfully informed that every Endeavour is exerting to remove all cause of Complaints respecting the Entrances and Passages to the different Doors of Admission. The large Hall below Stairs will be opened at Five o'Clock, for the accomodation of the Company frequenting the Pit previous to the opening the Office Doors. Receipts: #347 4s. (303.19; 43.2; 0.3)

Event Comment: [The playbill announces King Henry the Fifth and The Cave of Trophonius, but "The performances at this Theatre were changed last night on account of the indisposition of Kemble. Henry the Fifth gave way to The Siege of Belgrade, and The Cave of Trophonius was also superseded, as it was impossible for the vocal performers to sustain the whole effort of the night" (Morning Post, 18 Oct.). A MS annotation on Kemble playbill gives the name of the substitute afterpiece.] Receipts: #234 8s. (183.1; 49.18; 1.9)