Event Comment: Benefit for Dibdin. In Act IV of mainpiece the Procession from the Abbey at the Coronation of Anne Bullenv. Paid John Doe for sticking Black Bills #6 3s. Receipts: none listed (charge: #84)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: In 2 acts, taken from Wycherley [by John Lee (Public Advertiser, 14 Dec.)]. Paid Pattinson, Tallow Chandler, #41 19s. Receipts: #167 18s. (166.9.6; 1.8.6)

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: Ode [1st time; composed by Thomas Linley Jun. (see 18 Mar. 1778), text by John Hoadly]

Event Comment: [Nicoll, III, 280, 390, states that this was an alteration of Shakespear's play by John Lee.] Receipts: #174 5s. (173.10.6; 0.14.6)

Event Comment: Prelude [1st time;PREL I, probably by Richard Cumberland. Larpent MS 472; not published]. Mainpiece [1st time; M 3, by Richard Cumberland, based on Calypso and Telemachus, by John Hughes]: The Overture and all the Music entirely new, and composed by Butler. With new Scenery painted by Richards and Carver, and new Dresses. Books of the Masque to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 27 Mar. 1779: This Day is published Calypso (1s. 6d.)

Event Comment: [This was Vestris Jun.'s 1st appearance in England.] "Young Vestris astonished John Bull more by his agility than his grace, and some have been known to count the number of times he turned round like a tee-totum. This may be called les tours des jambes-not dancing' (Angelo, II, 320). "The theatre was brimful in expectation of Vestris. At the end of the second act he appeared; but with so much grace, agility, and strength, that the whole audience fell into convulsions of applause: the men thundered; the ladies, forgetting their delicacy and weakness, clapped with such vehemence, that seventeen broke their arms, sixty-nine sprained their wrists, and three cried bravo! bravissimo! so rashly, that they have not been able to utter so much as 'no' since, any more than both Houses of Parliament' (Walpole [17 Dec. 1780], XI, 340-41)

Event Comment: Mainpicce [1st time; burl 3, by Charles Dibdin]: Taken from [Amphitryon, by John] Dryden. [MS: Larpent 573; not published.] With new Scenery, Dresses, &c. The Music by several eminent Composers [Charles Dibdin, William Shield, &c.]. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #153 15s. 6d. (151/8/0; 2/7/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Lewis. Afterpiece: As performed at the Theatre Royal in the Haymarket [beginning 6 Aug. 1779]; by the Author of the Son-in-Law, the Agreeable Surprise, &c. [John O'Keeffe]. [Prologue by George Colman, the elder.] Receipts: #195 9s. 6d. (161/11/6; tickets: 33/18/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by John O'Keeffe. MS: Larpent 608; not published. CG playbill of 16 Nov. 1795 has a detailed synopsis of the action]: Intermixed with Songs and Dialogue. With new Music, Scenes, Dresses, Machinery, and Decorations. The new Music composed by Shield. The new Scenes designed by Richards, and executed by Richards, Hodgins, and assistants. To conclude with a Representation of the Lord Mayor's Show on the Water. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. "As to the Pantomime it wanted nothing on the first Night but Abbreviations . . . [which should be] omission of the Doctors, the two Women of the Town, and the whole of Edwin's Character" (Public Advertiser, 27 Nov.). Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1783, pp. 29-31, contains a detailed synopsis of the procession, and adds, "The personages of this procession were all dressed in the characters of the time in which they lived, and before each of them a label, a scroll, or a pageant was carried, bearing their name, or some allusion of the poets to their occupation. The figures in transparency were all painted as large as the life, and had a most grand and beautiful effect . . . The idea of the paintings was furnished by Mr Richards and Mr Smirk [sic], and all of them executed by the latter in a style of so much taste and excellence that it is a matter of some wonder to us, where an artist of Mr Smirk's abilities has been so long concealed . . . The glee introduced with so much applause is the composition of the late Dr Rogers (who lived in 1600); the other airs in the pantomime and procession arc by Handel, Lord Kelly, Abel, Stamitz and Shield, and have very great merit. The expense of preparing this splendid spectacle must have been very great, and the cost of continuing its representation cannot be inconsiderable, since more than 200 supernumeraries are employed to walk in the procession." Receipts: #215 3s. (206/3; 9/0)

Event Comment: [Miss Harper married John Bannister at Hcndon on 26 Jan. 1783.] Receipts: #217 11s. (208/2; 9/9)

Event Comment: Benefit for Lewis. Public Advertiser, 25 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Lewis at his house in Broad-court, Bow-street. Afterpiece [1st time in London; co 2. MS: Larpent 620; not published]: Written by the Author of The Castle of Andalusia, The Agreeable Surprise, Son-in-Law, &c &c. [John O'KeefFe, 1st acted at the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, 15 Apr. 1777, and altered in the CG season of 1783-84 as The Poor Soldier]. The Airs Select [ed by the author from] Irish [airs]. With a New Overture and Accompaniments by Shield, who composed the music of Rosina. The Words of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #256 9s. (201/10; tickets: 54/19) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: [Holman is identified on playbill of 5 Nov. Address by John Barwis (European Magazine, Oct. 1784, p. 336, which also lists name of speaker).] Mainpiece: With new Dresses, Scenery and Decorations. In Act I a Masquerade Scene. [This notice is included in all subsequent playbills.] "This easy and natural performance of Holman . . . will prove a fatal blow to the cause of the Attitudinarians and Face-makers; to those who think dramatic excellence consists in . . . finding out meanings that were never meant ... in stretching out their fingers like monkies dying in convulsions ... in uttering their words like minute-guns at royal funerals" (Public Advertiser, 1 Nov.). "Why does Romeo wear black in the last Act? Is it on account of his banishment? He has not heard of Juliet's death" (Gazetteer, 28 Oct.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; D 5]: Altered from Massinger [by John Philip Kemble. Prologue by the Hon. Henry Phipps (London Chronicle, 28 Jan.). Epilogue by George Colman, the elder (ibid). MS: Larpent 687; not published]. "This piece is considerably altered from the original; passages are expunged, and others added, in every scene; and several incidents transposed from the order in which they formerly stood. Some scenes are also introduced from the Maid's Tragedy of Beaumont and Fletcher" (London Magazine, Feb. 1785, p. 137). Receipts: #269 9s. (240/10/0; 27/6/6; 1/12/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Pope. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [acted 22 Jan. 1784. Epilogue by John Wolcot (European Magazine, May 1786, p. 369)]. Afterpiece: With Additional Songs, &c., as 28 Apr. Morning Herald, 18 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Pope at his house, Half-Moon Street, Piccadilly. "There is a mellow richness in [Pope's] voice superior to any other performer on the stage" (Candid Strictures, p. 47). Receipts: #255 16s. 6d. (156/13/0; 2/14/6; tickets: 96/9/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Benefit for Palmer and Meadows. Morning Chronicle, 20 May: Tickets to be had of Palmer, No. 36, Bow-street, Covent Garden; of Meadows, John-street, Golden-square. Receipts: #208 10s. (36/19/6; 9/11/6; tickets: 141/19/0) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Leonard Macnally, adapted from the same, by Michel Jean Sedaine. Not in Larpent MS; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Chronicle, 17 Oct. For text of abridged version see 21 Oct.]: Taken from the celebrated French Opera of that Name. With the original Overture, Airs, Duetts, Trios, Chorusses and Finale, by the celebrated Gretry. To which are added Compositions by the following Masters; Anfossi, Bertoni, Duni, David, Rizzio, Carolan, Tenducci, and Shield. With new Dresses, Scenery and other Decorations. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [The printed score (Longman & Broderip, c. 1786) indicates that the music was adapted by Shield; it does not refer to Duni, Rizzio or Tenducci, but includes Philip Hayes and John Wilson. After the 1st 4 performances the mainpiece was reduced to an afterpiece of 3 short acts; see 21 Oct.] Account-Book, 28 Nov.: Paid Macnally in full for Coeur de Lion #121 18s. 6d. "Inchbald we thought [was] rather hardly dealt with. His voice happened to fail him in a particular turn of the tune he was singing, and some of the audience were ungenerous enough to disconcert him so far that he made a modest bow and retired [leaving his part unfinished. In consequence of this] a duet that was to have been sung by the King from the battlements of the castle, and Blondel without the walls, on which the turn of the fable hinged, was omitted; a circumstance that could not but materially affect the intrinterest, as it destroyed the connexion of the fable" (Morning Chronicle, 17 Oct.). [The following day Inchbald withdrew from his engagement at cg.] Receipts: #249 12s. 6d. (247.11.6; 2.1.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Robert Jephson. Prologue by Edmond Malone. Epilogue by John Courtenay (see text)]: With new Dresses, Decorations, &c. Public Advertiser, 18 Dec. 1787: This Day is published Julia (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #217 2s. 6d. (201.5.0; 15.11.0; 0.6.6)