Event Comment: Benefit for Sg Daigville & Signa Vidini. [24 April letter signed Ned Shuter dated from his Majesty's Bench of Justice, St Georges Fields: "Theatrical Memoirs giving circumstantial account of my family-Admit my father was a chairman, my mother sold oysters in winter and cucumbers in summer. I was not born in a cellar but in a two pair of stairs front room at one Mrs Merit's an eminent Chimney Sweeper, Vine Street, St Giles" (Winston MS 10). Thomas Weston's apology for the delay of his Benefit. It was owing to his distressed affairs which he had new laid open to the managers. See comment form Edinburg Evening Courant, 29 April.] Paid Renters #88 for Oratorio nights; Mr Dibdin's draft on managers #50; Master Brown 5 nights, #1 17s. 6d.; Rec'd from Messrs Smith and Stanley charges for 11 Oratorio nights at 28# per night, plus candles &c . #342 4s.; Rec'd stopages #9 16s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book). Receipts: #151 4s. Charges: #65 11s. Profits to Daigville & Sga Vidini: #85 13s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. Paid Doe, Claridge and John Smith each 15s. for performing 6 nights in the Ass and Hog [Mother Shipton] to the 18th inst. (Account Book). Receipts: #32 3s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Mrs Smith made her first Appearance in Sylvia a pretty Innocent looking figure a Sweet Voice & very proper for the Character She had vast Applause & very deservedly. (Hopkins Diary). [Macmillan note from Kemble differs slightly in wording.] Receipts: #125 2s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Paid Burkinyoung (smith) #5 9s. 6d. Receipts: #88 2s. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Receipts: #200 7s. 6d. (Account Book). Mainpiece: With New Dresses and Decorations. [The first of a series of five performances (the last, Merchant of Venice, 18 Nov.) which got Macklin dismissed from the theatre until 1775, when his lawsuit against six persons whom he claimed formed a conspiracy to hiss him from the stage and ruin his livlihood was concluded favorably for him. His performance of Macbeth was favorably treated but with certain misgivings in the Morning Chronicle (25 Oct.), but he was mercilessly criticized in the London Evening Post and St James Chronicle: "In Act II, Sc. i, Shakespeare has made Macbeth murder Duncan; Now Mr Macklin, being determined to copy from no man, reversed this incident, and in the very first act, scene the second, murdered Macbeth." The favorable review (Morning Chronicle) thought he did well in first and last acts, but gave way to stage rant and "vehemence of energetic expression" wanting any variation in tone in between. It also pointed out a certain faulty memory of his lines. His novel stage effects came in for a paragraph of comment: The alterations in the jeux de theatre respecting the representation of this tragedy do Mr Macklin great credit. His change of the scenery is peculiarly characteristical. The Quadrangle of Macbeth's castle, and the door which is supposed to lead to Duncan's apartment (both of which are entirely new) are additions of consequence to the exhibition of the play. The door also through which Macbeth comes to the Weird Sisters, in the 4th act, is a better and more probable entrance than through the common stage portal. The dresses are new, elegant, and of a sort hitherto unknown to a London audience, but exceedingly proper. The Banquet was superbly set out, and it must be confessed that the managers seem to have spared neither cost nor assiduity to ornament and add to the effect of the representation." A favorable letter from a correspondent to the London Evening Post adds: "I must observe, Mr Printer, that from the graceful and characteristic manner in which Macbeth was introduced by the martial music and military procession, from the manner of M. Macklin's acting, from his judicious alteration of the dresses, the disposition of the scene where the King is killed, the cave of the witches in the 4th act, from the improvement of Mrs Hartley's thinking in Lady Macbeth and from her manner of speaking, which seemed plainly to be the effects of some intelligence she had received from Mr Macklin...I thought Mr Macklin deserv'd great praise." See the newspaper comments all gathered and reprinted in an Apology for the Conduct of Charles Macklin, (London, 1773). See also note to 30 Oct. See also London Chronicle, Oct. 23-26 (cf. Odell, I, 453). The Westminster Magazine suggests the performance was pitiable. "Macklin knew what he ought to do, but could not do it." The Scenemen's pay this week was about double the normal cost. (Account Book).] Verse Squibs from St James Chronicle (Oct. 1773) against Macklin: @Macbeth@"Eight Kings appear and pass over in order, and Banquo the last"@Old Quin, ere Fate suppressed his lab'ring breath@In studied accents grumbled out Macbeth:--@Next Garrick came, whose utt'rance truth impressed,@While ev'ry look the tyrant's guilt confess'd:--@Then the cold Sheridan half froze the part,@Yet what he lost by nature sav'd by art.@Tall Barry now advanc'd toward Birnam Woodv@Nor ill performed the scenes--he understood--@Grave Mossop next to Foris shaped his march@His words were minute guns, his action starch.@Rough Holland too--but pass his errors o'er@Nor blame the actor when the man's no more.@Then heavy Ross, assay'd the tragic frown,@But beef and pudding kept all meaning down:--@Next careless Smith, try'd on the Murd'rer's mask,@While o'er his tongue light tripp'd the hurried task:--@Hard Macklin, late, guilt's feelings strove to speak,@While sweats infernal drench'd his iron cheek;@Like Fielding's Kings [in Tom Thumb] his fancy'd triumphs past,@And all be boasts is, that he falls the last.@ Also from St James Chronicle:@The Witches, while living deluded Macbeth@And the Devil laid hold of his soul after death;@But to punish the Tyrant this would not content him,@So Macklin he sent on the stage to present him.

Event Comment: The Genii is reviv'd with Alterations & Concludes with a Bacchanalian Jubilee & was receiv'd with great Applause (Hopkins Diary). Paid Mr Smith's Music Composing Bill for Alfred #26 5s.; Mr J. Johnston's Music Bill from Xmas last to the end of the season #23 6s. 10d.; Two extra flutes this night 10s.; Mr Loutherbourg's draft #80; Chorus 2 nights (this incl.) #4 1s. (Treasurer's Book). Afterpiece: Not acted these 9 years. [See 21 Dec. 1764.] Receipts: #140 5s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Paid tallow chandler's 4th Bill #44 14s.; half year's lighting &c. to Mich. last St Martin's #12 3s.; Mr Thomson (smith) #58 8s. 6d.; Mr Cole (turner) #10 6s.; Mr Scott (copper laceman) #46 4s. 6d.; Mr Palmer for Spermacetti Candles #275 4s.; Messrs Barrow & Co. for oil #50 15s.; Mr Chettell (timber merchant) #67 16s. 6d.; One year's Insurance of Wardrobe &c. to Xmas 1774 #15; 2 extra Guitars, 3 nights (6th Inst. incl.) #2 5s. Receipts: #220 11s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Oratorio by Benjamin Stillingfleet, words adapted from Milton, set to Music by John Christopher Smith (Biographia Dramatica)

Event Comment: Benefit for Champnes. Afterpiece: By Particular Desire. Mr Champnes quits the Stage at the End of this Season therefore Mr Gar: plays for his Benefit (Hopkins Diary). Part of Pit laid into Boxes. Rec'd Messrs Stanley & Smith 11 Oratorio Nights at #24 per night (candles oyl &c.) #304 6s. Paid to Renters #88 from 11 Oratorio nights. Receipts: #233 1s. 6d. Charges: #74 14s. Profit to Champnes: #58 7s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: [The Gentleman who played Hamlet identified by Winston MS 11 (from O. Smith) as Lewis Hallam, from America, brother to Mrs Mattocks.

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Woodman, late of Covent Garden, left a Widow with five Children. By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. To begin at 6:00 p.m. [Public Advertiser, 21 Feb., contained a long letter concerning the small attendance on this occasion: "One of the finest Female Singers this Country has for many years produced is now, through a Series of Misfortunes as unavoidable as unforeseen, in a State of Wretchedness scarcely credible. [Her husband, a schoolteacher, died.] Alas! she had five helpless innocent to drink of the same bitter Cup, to harrow up all the Heartstrings of a Mother, and to tear her Soul unavailingly for that Support, of which she herself was depriv'd by the Death of their Father. [The expenses of the benefit performance exceeded the receipts of the house.] Calamity became heaped upon Calamity, and she is now weeping in a Prison, over her unhappy little ones, for a Sum not exceeding #50." Appeal is made for gifts to relieve her. On 23 May, Mrs Woodman released from prison, gave a Benefit Concert at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, concluding with an Occasional Musical Address to the Town called The Grateful Acknowledgment, written and the music compiled from a most eminent Master by Adam Smith, sung by Mrs Woodman.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: A Tragedy [by Edmund Smith] not acted these 20 years. [See 1 Nov. 1756.] The Characters New Dress'd. [The Barrys had revived it at dl the year before.

Event Comment: Paid Mrs Lowe@and@Co. (glaziers) #17 11s. 6d.; Hatsell, (mercer) #142 3s.; Scott (copper laceman) #16 11s.; Marshall & Co., (plumbers) #27 8s.; Ireland (upholsterer) #43 4s.; Stacy (colourman) #18 16s.; Gardner (shoemaker) #36 11s.; Barrow & Co. (oil) #103, 13s.; Thomson (smith) #27 8s.; Cubitt (tinman) #24 15s. Receipts: #143 5s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: House (Hopkins Diary). Last time of performing the Mainpiece this season. Mrs Smith's Benefit notice (see 22 April) changed to Love in a Village and the Deserter, with a note that tickets deliver'd for Cymbeline would be taken. Receipts: #137 4s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Opera, music by Sacchini &c. [not performed, according to Public Advertiser, 8 Nov., because of illness of two singers, one being Sga Sestini. A Letter by William Lee in The Public Advertiser (7 Nov.) notes that beginning in 1772 he had served refreshments in a room which served also as a passage to the boxes; alterations made to enclose the passage were made in 1773; Lee was charged #60 a year for the room (with the fire and light at his own expense). Then Elizabeth Smith, who had had charge of concessions died. In 1774 Lee was charged #160 plus #80 for coals and light. Hence Lee lost #130 and was saved only by a benefit by the graciousness of the Nobility and Gentry.

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Desire. Rec'd stopages #11 13s. Paid Mr Norfolk (glazier) #48 9s.; Thompson (smith) #10 7s.; Hopkins prompter's bill #23 9s. 6d.; Ray, linen draper's bill #115 19s. 6d.; Barrow and Co., oil #99; Cubitt (tinman) #8; Vaughan (haberdasher) #4 3s. 6d. Receipts: #219 6s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: House Pacini's Night Bought by the Managers (Hopkins Diary). The last time of performing till Easter. Paid salary #416 4s. 4d.; Mr Smith for Abrams [sic] the Jew #21; Miss Abrahams [sic] #10 10s. Receipts: #262 8s. 6d

Event Comment: House (Hopkins Diary). The new Comedy of The Runaway is unavoidably oblig'd to be deferred till Saturday. Rec'd Mr Stanley's Oratorio Account, 11 nights, #327 5s. Paid Lawrence (paper hanger) #13 7s.; Renters (for 11 Oratorio nights) #88; Cubit (tinman) #7 14s. 6d.; Gardner (shoemaker) #25; Chettle (timber merchant) #22 14s. 6d.; Mist andCo. (brazier) #10 8s.; Thomson (smith) #5 16s. 6d. Barrow andCo. (oil) #106 5s.; Tallow Chandler's 8th Bill #26 12s.; Palmer's Bill of Bath for Spermacetti Candles #162 10s. (Treasurer's Book). [MacMillan quotes from Kemble's note on the playbill, a Garrick interpolation in Drugger 's last speech (IV, vii): "Abel: Did you never see me play the Fool? Face: Yes. Abel: But the wise ones say I have played the Fool long enough; So I am going to leave it off and grow melancholy." [This note does not appear in the Hopkins Diary in the Folger Library.] Receipts: #265 17s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never Performed There. On account of the Additional Airs, contracted into 3 Acts. [Public Advertiser, 30 Dec., notes that the principal omission was the conspiracy of Alonzo, Antonio, &c., and that the Masque in Act IV was removed to the concluding scene of the play.] With New Dresses, Scenery and Decorations. The Music by Purcell, John Christopher? Smith, Dr Arne and Fisher. [In afterpiece the playbill retains Delpini as Pierrot, but "[Hull] made an apology for the illness of Delpini, telling the audience that the Signor had hurt himself so much the preceding evening in performing the part of Pierrot that he could not come out of his room; the managers therefore hoped that the audience would accept of Wewitzer in the character" (Morning Chronicle, 28 Dec.). The playbill also adds Wewitzer as the Gardener; this part was perhaps omitted.] Paid Enderby, Oil Merchant, #258 17s. Receipts: #245 18s. (244.15; 1.3)

Event Comment: Braganza [announced on playbill of 15 Apr.] is oblig'd to be deferr'd on Account of Smith's Indisposition. Receipts: #121 14s. (94.12; 25.18; 1.4)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; PAST 3]: Taken from [The Winter's Tale, by] Shakespeare [altered by George Colman elder]. Afterpiece: Likewise taken from [A Midsummer-Night's Dream, by] Shakespeare. Books of both pieces to be had at the Theatre. The Musick of both pieces by the most eminent Composers [i.e. Michael Arne, Dibdin, Dr Burney, Hook, Theodore Smith, Dr Arnold]. The Characters new dressed

Event Comment: [The play was not allowed to conclude, nor was the afterpiece, All the World's a Stage, performed. "Yesterday evening, during the representation of...A Bold Stroke for a Wife, at China Hall, Rotherhithe, a party of the inhabitants, who had laid an information against the performers, rushed into the theatre, behind the scenes, and seized Mr Russell (who played the character of Colonel Feignwell), and carried him, in his stage dress, before Justice Smith, at the Rotation-Office, St Bennet's-hill, who committed him to the House of Correction, for further examination this morning" (Morning Chronicle, 24 July). What happened to Russell is not known, but because of this occurrence the theatre did not re-open until the following season, on 25 May 1778. See my article on the history of this unlucky playhouse, Theatre Notebook, VIII, 76-80.

Event Comment: Paid Smith 1 night extra playing at Covent Garden [on 21 Sept.] #2 12s. 6d.; Lampmen #4 10s.; Supernumeraries #5 5s. [Afterpiece in place of The Padlock, announced on playbill of 24 Sept.] Receipts: #148 2s. 6d. (111.6.0; 36.12.0; 0.4.6)