Event Comment: Mainpiece: Dress'd in the Habits of the Times. Mr Powell King Henry for 1st time (Hopkins). Mr Powell played King Henry with great feeling, and was very well received in it (Hopkins Diary-MacMillan). Receipts: #142 3s. (MacMillan)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By Particular Desire. King of Denmark. Richard-Mr Garrick (Cross Diary). For the King of Denmark.--Richard by Mr Garrick, for the first time these six years-Beyond discription fine, -his voice clear to the last (Hopkins Diary). No money taken at stage door. None returned after curtain is up. The doors (by particular desire) will be opened at half an Hour after Five. To Begin at Seven. Neville MS Diary: Hearing about 7 o'clock that Garrick did Richard III, one of his very capital characters which he has not done these 7 or 8 years, resolved (if I could get in to see him) to bear the abhorred sight of that woman-like painted puppy, the King of Denmark. After one unsuccessful attempt got into the Pit with the greatest difficulty after the third act. Garrick is inimitably great in Richard & very different from the other Richards I have seen; his expression of the dying agony of that wretch is beyond description. Some actors speak with as strong & loud voice in that scene as if they had received no wound & were not dying. One Lloyd, who waits on Garrick sometimes, observed that he himself says he never acted better in his life, modestly observing that something must be allowed to the improvement of his judgment. During the dance (for there was no farce) I was within a yard of the Danish tyrant

Event Comment: [K+King Richard III.] Containing the Distresses and Death of King Henry VIv, the artful acqusition of the crown by Richardv; the cruel murder of the young King Edward Vv and his brother in the Tower; the Landing of the Earl of Richmondv, and the Death of Richard in the Memorable Battle of Bosworth Fieldv; being the last that was fought between the Houses of Yorkv and Lancasterv; with many other historical passages

Event Comment: By Command of his Majesty. The first night the King went to the play, which was civilly on a Friday, not on the opera night, as he used to do, the whole audience sang God Save the King in chorus. For the first act, the press was so great at the door that no ladies could go to the Boxes, and only the servants appeared there, who kept places: at the end of the second act the whole mob broke in and seated themselves; yet all this zeal is not likely to last, though he so well deserves it (Walpole to Montagu, 24 Nov.)

Event Comment: MMr King--Richard 3d as you might expect (Hopkins Diary). Benefit for Mrs King

Event Comment: Written by Shakespear. Receipts: #37 2s. 6d. [In Daily Post, 20 Sept., King Lear had been advertised for this day.

Event Comment: [Kemble's 1st appearance as King Richard was at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 26 Apr. 1782.] Receipts: #130 10s. 6d. (99/15/0; 29/5/6; 0/10/0; tickets not come in: 1/0/0)

Event Comment: Play containing the distresses and death of King Henry the Sixth; the Artful acquisition of the Crown by King Richard; the cruel murder of Young King Edward the fifth and his brother in the Tower; the landing of the Earl of Richmond; and the death of King Richard in the memorable Battle of Bosworth Fieldv, being the last that was fought between the houses of York & Lancaster

Event Comment: At Cushing's Booth, facing the King's Head, Smithfield. The tragedy contains the barbarous contrivances of King John against his nephew Prince Arthur; his method of persuading Hubert to undertake the cruel murder of that youth; the sufferings of Arthur in his confinement, where Hubert attempts to put out eyes with a red-hot iron, til moved to compassion by the tender entreating of the young prince, he quits his horrid purpose. The manner of Arthur's leaping from the battlements of the tower where he was imprisoned, when by attempting to escape his severe treatment he loses his life. The terrors that attended the villainous Uncle King John, and at length his dreadful death, who is poisoned in the midst of all his glory, and in terrible anguish and distraction, pays his nephew's blood with the price of his own. The comic contains the exquisite drolleries of Sir Lubberly and his man, their whimsical journey from Cumberland, and no less whimsical exploits in London; the odd reception they met with from their three faithful friends, Tom Rash the Porter, Jeffrey Holdfast the Constable, and Moll Tatter the Beggar Woman, the one getting a wife, the other a bastard

Event Comment: Benefit for Burton, Raftor, I. Sparks (Cross). Last week Mr Garrick Paid to Mr Belchier, Banker in Lombard St., #208 1s., being the whole money receiv'd at the Benefit Play of King Lear, which he most generously gave for the relief of the unhappy sufferers by the late most dredful fire in Cornhill, &c., whithout deducting any charges whatsoever. [See note, 3 May] Receipts: #180 (Cross); house charges, #63 (Powel); cash, #56 19s. tickets, #128 10s. (Clay MS)

Event Comment: Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, 3 Jan.: I went to King Arthur last night, which is exceeding fine; they have a new man to supply Delane's place, one Johnson, with ye finest person & face in the world to all appearance; but as awkward, as a Button-maker; in short, if he knew how to manage his Beauties to advantage, I should not wonder, if all the Women run mad for him: the inchanted part of the play, is not Machinery, but actual magick: the second scene is a British temple enough to make one go back a thousand years, & really be in ancient Britain: the Songs are all Church-musick, & in every one of ye Chorus's Mrs Chambers sung ye chief part, accompanied with Roarings, Squawlings & Squeakations dire. Mrs Giffard is by way of Emmeline, & should be blind, but, heaven knows! I would not wish to see better than she does, & seems to do; for when Philidel restores her to sight, her eyes are not at all better than before; she is led in at first, by a Creature, yet was more like a Devil by half, than Grimbald himself; she took herself for Madame la Confidente, but every body else took her to be in the Circumstances of Damnation: when Emmeline comes to her sight, she beholds this Mrs Matilda first, & cries out Are Women all like thee? such glorious Creatures! which set the people into such a laugh, as lasted the whole Act: the Frost Scene is excessive fine; the first Scene of it is only a Cascade, that seems frozen: with the Genius of Winter asleep & wrapt in furs, who upon the approach of Cupid, after much quivering, & shaKing sings the finest song in the Play: just after, the Scene opens, & shows a view of arched rocks covered with Ice & Snow to ye end of ye Stage; between the arches are upon pedestals of Snow eight Images of old men & women, that seem frozen into Statues, with Icicles hanging about them & almost hid in frost, & from ye end come Singers, viz: Mrs Chambers, &: & Dancers all rubbing their hands & chattering with cold with fur gowns & worsted gloves in abundance. Gray, Correspondence, I, 36-37