Event Comment: Benefit for Blandford and Randall. 3rd piece: A Pantomimical Interlude, from Don Juan. First Scene opens with a Tempestuous Sea, and Shipwreck of Don Juan and his man Scaramouch, who is cast on shore from off the Back of a Dolphin on the Island of Martinico. Scene from the pantomimes of The Enchanted Island, Wizard of the Silver Rock, The Witches Frolic, &c. The whole to conclude with a View of the Inside of the Bastille, with the different Gratings, Railings, and Instruments of Death and Torture by which the unfortunate Victims suffered, and the Grand Chorus of God save the King. The Curtain will rise precisely at 6:45

Event Comment: Benefit for Stevens, Weston, Courtney. Tickets deliver'd by Randall will be taken

Event Comment: Benefit Hastings and Randall. Receipts: money #16 10s.; tickets #86 9s

Event Comment: Benefit Randall, Tubman, Fletcher. Receipts: money #7 9s.; tickets #131 17s. Weekly Journal or Saturday's Post, 25 May: This is esteem'd Mr Dryden's best Play

Event Comment: Benefit Rivers, Sadler, Trott. Tickets deliver'd out by Quay, Connor, Randall, &c will be taken

Event Comment: Afterpiece: A new farce by Doctor Heffinal [sic] for his benefit. O Sad! (Cross). Tickets at Forrest Coffee House, The Bedford, and Randall's, and author's lodgings at Mew's Coffee House. To the Printer of the Public Advertiser, 24 April: Sir, Let this suffice for a general answer to all unfriendly whispers or paragraphs against the new farce to be performed tonight at Drury Lane -its author never previously Caballed, never published his sentiments of any stage performance till after the run -then neither the writer nor manager could be injured -its principal characters are Lady Protea, a coquet alarmed at the apprehension of dying amid; Lord Epigram Strainwit, a pert coxcomical witling; Dr Matho, a Virtuoso, Antiquarian, and in love; Dreadnought Broadside, a sea-officer and strenuous Antigallican. I am &c. Receipts: #90 (Cross)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, attributed to Richard Brinsley Sheridan (see G. W. Williams in Studies in Philology, XLVII, 1950, 619-28). Synopsis of action (W. Randall, 1779) lists no parts]: The Overture and Music entirely new. With new Scenes, Machines, Dresses and Decorations. All the Scenery, Machinery, &c. designed by DeLoutherbourg and executed under his direction. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. [For a discussion of this pantomime see Theatre Survey, II, 54-66.] Public Advertiser, 24 Feb. 1779: This Day is published an Account of The Wonders of Derbyshire and the Songs (6d.). Receipts: #225 19s. (223.18.0; 2.1.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [In mainpiece the playbill does not list the Child; for the assignment see Morning Post, 10 Oct., and edition of 1787 (Rachael Randall).] "[Mrs Siddons's] merit in the character was infinite, and the applause she received unbounded. In various of her scenes the plaudits were repeated . . . During the fourth and fifth acts there was almost an incessant clapping, and when Isabella expired her death was rendered glorious by the theatre's resounding with thundering applause for more than a minute" (Morning Chronicle, 11 Oct.). "L'actrice la plus noble dans ses manieres, madame Siddons, ne perd rien de sa dignite quand elle se prosterne contre terre . . . Enfin, il arriva ce moment terrible ou Isabelle, s'etant echappee des mains des femmes qui veulent l'empechcr de se tuer, rit, en se donnant un coup de poignard, de l'inutilite de leurs efforts. Ce rire du desespoir est l'effet le plus difficile et le plus remarquable que le jeu dramatique puisse produire; il emeut bien plus que les larmes: cette amere ironie du malheur est son expression la plus dechirante. Qu'elle est terrible la souffrance du coeur, quand elle inspire une si barbare joie, quand elle donne, a l'aspect de son propre sang, le contentement feroce d'un sauvage ennemi qui se serait venge!" (Mme de Stael: Corinne, livre XVII, chapitre iv). Receipts: #181 11s. (147/0; 34/6; 0/5)