Event Comment: At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Mainpiece: Alter'd from Shakespear. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop. Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer, 26 Feb.: On Monday Night last a great Disturbance happened at Drury-lane Play-house, occasioned by a great Number of Footmen, who assembled themselves in a riotous and tumultuous Manner, with great Outcries of burning the House, unless they were immediately admitted into what they call their Gallery; and in order to strike a Terror, they began to hew down the Door of the Passage which leads to the said Gallery, of which Col. Deveil, who was then in the House, had immediate Notice, and thereupon came out where they were thus assembled, and notwithstanding they threatened to knock his Brains out, he read the Proclamation to them, admonish'd them to retire, and desist from so unlawful an undertaking. [The footmen soon withdrew.

Event Comment: Benefit the Author. At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quailty. Mainpiece: Written by the Author of the Man of Taste. Founded on Shakespear's Much Ado About Nothing. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop. Daily Advertiser, 14 March: We hear that there was not the least Disturbance from the Footmen at the Playhouse all last Week; and there is such a sufficient Guard order'd, as well as a Civil Power appointed, that there's no Apprehension of any in the future: Besides, we are glad to hear that the Quality and Gentry are resolv'd in general to discard any Servants that should be known to attempt it, and to give them up to the Rigour of the Law. [For Occasional Prompter XXV (on the lethargy of managers), see Daily Journal, 14 March.

Event Comment: By Command of Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales [who were present]. Mainpiece: Written by Beaumont and Fletcher. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop. [For a letter on the disputes between the footmen and the gentlemen, see Grub St. Journal, 17 March.] [There is in the Bennett Collection, I, 93, in the Birmingham Library, an exceptionally curious advance notice for a performance to be given at Drury Lane soon after Easter of The Conscious Lovers and The Devil to Pay, with no cast for either play in the bill. The announcement appears to refer to the spring of 1737 and presumably appeared around the middle of March. It is intended for the benefit of a Widow under Misfortunes and the bill bears the heading: Gift and Pleasure. According to the announcement, the widow has been left Italian pictures, antiqees, jewels, and precious stones; and she intends, for the encouragement of her benefactors, to make a gift of all the objects, which will be placed in three hundred parcels. Tickets for the performance are advertised at five shillings, and no one is to be admitted without a ticket. The pit and boxes are to be put together at two tickets for each person, and the first and second galleries are placed together at one ticket for each spectator. The tickets are not to be left with the door-keepers as usual, but only shewn and kept. On the day following the benefit a raffle will be held, by Mr Foubert's Patent Mathematical Machine, at Hickford's Great Room in Brewers Street, Golden Square, and only holders of tickets will be admitted to the raffle, After this entry was set, an advertisement was found in the Daily Advertiser, 18 April 1738, announcing this performance for 13 May 1738. The Daily Advertiser on 5 May 1738, however, announced that the proposed performance had been cancelled.

Event Comment: Benefit Mac-Swiny. At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Mainpiece: Written by Shakespear. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of The King and Miller of Mansfield

Event Comment: At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Mainpiece and Afterpiece: As 21 March

Event Comment: Benefit Macklin, Mr and Mrs Furnival. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop

Event Comment: Benefit the Author of The King and the Miller of Mansfield. At the particular Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop

Event Comment: Benefit a Person in Distress. At the Desire of several Ladies of Quality. Mainpiece: Written by Shakespear. Afterpiece: Written by the Author of the Toy Shop. [Tickets for Janno, Roberts, and Hough also taken.

Event Comment: By Command of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. [For an essay on "Kicking in Plays," see Common Sense, 11 June; Daily Gazetteer, 11 June, has another comment on the Licensing Act, and again on 13 June.