Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Crouch as Urganda, but "Owing to the sudden indisposition of Mrs Crouch [the] part of Urganda was read by Mrs Powell" (Morning Herald,27 Jan.).] Receipts: #334 0s. 6d. (286.14.6; 44.1.0; 3.5.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Author [of mainpiece, who is named in MS annotation on BM playbill (cg, Vol. VIII). "Mrs Pope was taken ill in the course of the performance, and the remainder of the part was read by Miss Chapman" (Thespian Magazine, June 1793, p. 5)]. Receipts: #321 4s

Event Comment: Mainpiece: With new Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. [This was the version, altered probably by Joseph George Holman, in which he appeared in Dublin on 29 July 1794, on which occasion the playbill reads, "Dressed in the Habits of the Times, and with other Alterations, adopted in its Representations 19 [recte 11] Nights last Winter, at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden." It further states that the part of Ophelia would be performed "without the Airs, and with a considerable Restoration of the Text." No record of what these alterations consisted of has come to light. In III.iv Hamlet's father was represented by a life-sized portrait that hung over the chimney, and the Queen wore a large miniature of Claudius on her arm as a bracelet (London Chronicle, 10 Oct.). The words of the Dirge are printed in European Magazine, Nov. 1793, p. 393; they are stanza X of Shakespeare's Passionate Pilgrim. Miss Poole had appeared as a singer at king's and at Vauxhall in 1787 and at the cg oratories in 1791.] Afterpiece: Not acted these 2 years [and in place of The Prisoner at Large, advertised on playbill of 8 Oct.]. Receipts: #332 4s. (330.3; 2.1)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of A BOLD STROKE FOR A WIFE; afterpiece of THE PRIZE, both advertised on playbill of 9 Nov.] The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15, and on every future evening. [But all playbills for the remainder of the season read as 19 Sept., except on 17 Feb. and 3 Mar. 1794.]

Event Comment: Powell: Whitfield absent 1st Act of Macbeth (leave from the Manager), Barrymore spoke the Part. The Quaker rehearsed at 10 (for Dignum); The Jew at 11 (for Miss Farren); Lodoiska read at 1. Receipts: #569 2s. (491/6/0; 72/9/6; 3/19/6; tickets not come in: 1/7/0)

Event Comment: Powell: In Consequence of Palmer not coming in time to the Theatre, the Audience were kept in waiting and the Play, which was ordered by Mr Sheridan to begin 5 minutes before the usual time [6:30], could not be begun till within Ten minutes of Seven o'Clock. Benson being lame Fisher went on as Casimir and Caulfield doubled the Part with his own. Roman Actor read at 10 [this Play not acted this season; see Powell, 18 Oct.]; Douglas rehearsed at 12 (for Mrs Siddons and Palmer). Receipts: #412 16s. (325.17.6; 80.18.6; 6.0.0)

Event Comment: Powell, 15 Oct.: Chaplet rehearsed at 10 [but this play was not acted this season]; Emilia Galotti at 11; 16 Oct.: Henry VIII rehearsed at 10; Lodoiska at 12 (Floreski's and Ithorak's scenes); Wedding Day read at 12. Receipts: #453 1s. 6d. (335.1.0; 94.0.0; 4.0.6)

Event Comment: [In afterpiece the playbill retains Trueman as Gustavus, but "Trueman Ill, Fisher Gustavus" (Powell).] Powell: Twelfth Night rehearsed at 10; Roman Father at 12; Cherokee (1st Act read) at 1:30. Receipts: #343 (273.2.6; 62.18.0; 6.19.6)

Event Comment: On account of the Indisposition of Mrs Siddons The Roman Father [advertised on playbill of 24 Nov.] is deferred till Saturday. Powell: New Ballet rehearsed at 10; Nobody at 11; Cherokee (2nd & 3rd Acts read) at 12. Receipts: #172 18s. 6d. (129.2.6; 41.10.6; 2.5.6)

Event Comment: Powell: Jones continuing Ill, Evans play'd Robert [in afterpiece]. G. D'Egville absent from this Evening's Performance, Ill. High Life below Stairs rehearsed at 11; Edwy and Elgiva read at 12. Receipts: #215 2s. (157.3.6; 55.1.0; 2.17.6)

Event Comment: On account of the Engagements of some of the principal Performers at the Opera House it is absolutely impossible to give Alexander the Great this Evening; the third night will be on Monday next, and every Accomodations is making for an Arrangement that will prevent any future interruption of this Representation. Powell: New Comedy [The Wheel of Fortune] read at 12. Receipts: #143 19s. 6d. (87.5.6; 48.16.6; 7.17.6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece "English Herald [omitted from playbill] Trueman; Cooke Ill." In afterpiece the playbill retains Aumer as Hephestion, but "Hephestion C. Kemble, Aumer at the Opera House. Miss Redhead, Miss Leak absent, Ill" (Powell).] Powell, 13 Mar.: King John rehearsed at 10; Edwy and Elgiva at 12; Jack of Newbury read at 2; 14 Mar.: Jack of Newbury rehearsed at 11. Receipts: #255 3s. (204.14.0; 48.8.6; 2.0.6)

Event Comment: Powell: Jack of Newbury (music) rehearsed at 10; Welch Heiress read at 12. [With this entry Powell's notes come to an end.] Receipts: #413 10s. (353.0.6; 56.8.0; 4.1.6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Kemble, but "The Publick are respectfully informed that Kemble having been attacked in the course of Last Night with a violent Pleurisy, which confines him to his Bed, Charles Kemble has undertaken to read the part of Mahmoud, and hopes for your kind Indulgence" (printed slip attached to BM playbill (Harris, Vol. V)). Afterpiece in place of The First Floor advertised on playbill of 3 May.] Receipts: #315 4s. (252.6.6; 60.19.0; 1.9.6; tickets not come in: 0.9.0)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of The Force of Ridicule; afterpiece of Richard Coeur de Lion, both advertised on playbill of 28 Nov.] "The new Comedy last night was deferred upon the pretext of Miss Farren's illness...The Manager sent after Mrs Siddons, who was found at Covent-Garden Theatre, seeing Abroad and at Home. Brandon, however, ordered her a chair, and she kindly performed Isabella. Wroughton read the Father" (Oracle, 30 Nov.). "For near an hour the audience waited patiently...At half past seven Palmer addressed the audience" He said that Miss Farren was ill, that to those who preferred to leave the theatre their money would be returned, and that instead of the new play Mrs Siddons would act Isabella, "as soon as the dresses could be prepared for that purpose. This address was by no means favourably received, and hundreds of persons immediately left the house. A few minutes after eight, the Curtain drew up to the tragedy, which was well performed, and much applauded by the few who remained to witness it" (Morning Herald, 30 Nov.). "November 30. Miss Farren last night refused to appear in a new Play at Drury Lane which made much confusion in the House. The cause assigned was indisposition but that was not believed by the audience; and the fact Lysons says is, that as she cannot obtain payment from the Theatre, she resolutely told them she wd. not appear unless her demands were paid...Such is the unprincipled conduct of Sheridan" (Diary of Joseph Farington, 1922, I, 174). [On 1 Dec. Morning Herald prints a letter from Miss Farren, from Green-street, Grosvenor-square. saying that she really was ill. The editor of the paper adds a note in which he affirms his positive knowledge that rumours about a dispute as to Miss Farren's unpaid salary were without foundation.] Receipts: #134 2s. (82.2; 50.18; 1.2)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 7 Oct. 1791]. Middleton, after performing the first scene of Nerestan, retired abruptly into the wardrobe, pulled off his coat, and telling the dresser he should be back in ten minutes, left the theatre; he did not return, however, according to his appointment, and Davenport read the remainder of the character: a fit of insanity is supposed to have seized him" (Monthly Mirror, Jan. 1797, p. 55). [Middleton did not appear on the stage again until 27 Feb. 1797.] Afterpiece [1st time: P 2 (?), by James Wild and John Follett. MS of Songs only: Larpent MS 1148; synopsis of action in Pocket Magazine, Dec. 1796, p. 412]: With entire new Scenery, Machinery, Music, Dresses. The Overture and Music by Reeve. The Scenery painted by Phillips, Blackmore, Hollogan, Thorne, Byrn. The Machinery, Trick and Changes of Scenery invented and executed by Cresswell and Sloper. The Dresses by Dick, Mrs Egan. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "Among the changes are a trunk into a gingerbread nut-man's wheel-barrow--a poor man's hut into an old oak, with a group of Gypsies boiling their kettle under it--one of the clowns into a thick candle, and the candle afterwards into a green-house tub, with a large shrub in it" (Oracle, 20 Dec.). Receipts: #193 5s. 6d. (183.4.6; 10.1.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer and Caulfield. [In 3rd piece the playbill retains Miss DeCamp as Fanny, but "Miss DeCamp being reported ill during the representation of [1st piece], the part of Fanny, in the Entertainment, was undertaken, at a moment's notice, by Miss Heard, [who]...studying the character, scene by scene, acted the part to general satisfaction, which was announced merely to be read" (Dramatic Censor, II, 232).] Morning Chronicle, 19 May: Tickets to be had of Caulfield, No. 6, Southampton-place, Tottenham-court-road [Palmer not listed]. Receipts: #194 1s. 6d. (120.10.0; 66.10.6; 7.1.0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #212 4s. 7d.)