Event Comment: The last Subscription Night [but see 29 May]

Event Comment: Tuesday [25 May] was, by mistake, advertised as the last Subscription, which closes only This Evening

Event Comment: [Extra night] Benefit for Wild. Wild respectfully informs the Public, on account of the Loss he sustained by his former Night [see 17 May], the Managers of Covent Garden and Hay-market Theatres, as well as the several Performers, have granted him their free Assistance. Receipts: none listed

Event Comment: [Mrs Gordon is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill. Her 1st appearance on the stage was at the HAY, 30 May 1781, as Miss Lyon.]

Event Comment: Account-Book, 21 Oct.: Paid Lee Lewes on cancelling his engagement #21. [Lee Lewes acted on the night of his benefit, 9 May 1785, but not again this season.] Receipts: #104 0s. 6d. (78/7/0; 25/12/0; 0/1/6)

Event Comment: The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin exactly at 6:15 [see 2 May 1785]

Event Comment: The Doors will be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 2 May 1785]. Receipts: #216 13s. 6d. (193/4/0; 22/19/6; 0/10/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [acted 15 May 1782]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years [not acted since 25 Mar. 1775]. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Banquo to Bensley, but "Poor Bensley's illness last night took him off; but on another night he will give and take in the triumph" {Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). In afterpiece he is assigned to The Guardian. On the Kemble playbill in both cases his name is deleted and MS annotations substitute Hull's.] "Macbeth at Drury-lane will. . . gag the drivellers who, on the failure of Constance [in King John], ventured a sweeping prophecy of condemnation that 'the Siddons never could play Shakespeare.' Would it not have been better to have borrowed Farren, rather than Hull, for Banquo?" (Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). "'Why,'say some of the critics, 'should Mrs Siddons wear a white dress in her last scene of Lady Macbeth? She is supposed to be asleep, not mad.' What reason except custom can be given for a mad heroine appearing in white we know not [and see DL, 20 Dec. 1782]. Yet there is an obvious reason why a person walking in their sleep should wear a white dress of the loose kind worn by Mrs Siddons ... It [is] the nearest resemblance which theatrical effect will admit, to the common sort of night-dresses" (Public Advertiser, 7 Feb.). Receipts: #346 16s. (198/10/0; 7/2/6; 0/8/6; tickets: 140/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Edwin. Public Advertiser, 29 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Edwin, No. 19, Piazza, Covent Garden. Mainpiece: Altered from Beaumont and Fletcher [i.e. from Fletcher alone]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 28 May 1782]

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Under the Direction of Delpini. 1st piece: With a Kitchen Scene. [The new pantomime is identified in Public Advertiser, 16 Apr. The same newspaper on 2 Apr. states that it was the same as that produced at DL for Delpini's benefit in 1782 [10 May].]

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Public Advertiser, 18 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Siddons, Gower-street, Bedford-square. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. "The mournful tone, the pathetic countenance, and the long-drawn expression pervaded the sprightly scenes of Rosalind as effectually as if the play had been Isabella" (Public Advertiser, 2 May). Receipts: #327 8s. 6d. (150/1/9; 9/11/6; 0/6/0; tickets: 167/10/0) (charge: #106/15/10)

Event Comment: Benefit for Dignum and Mrs Wilson. Public Advertiser, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Dignum, Little Wild-street, Drury-lane; of Mrs Wilson, No. 2, Catherine-street, Strand. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. Receipts: #301 19s. 6d. (33/5/0; 15/19/0; 1/2/6; tickets: 251/13/0) (charge: #108 15s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Chapman and Wright. Public Advertiser, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Chapman, No. 47, Carey-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields; of Wright, No. 21, Berner-street, Westminster. Receipts: #224 18s. 6d. (33/19/0; 10/11/0; 0/8/6; tickets: 180/0/0) (charge: #113 9s.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Wild [prompter]. Public Advertiser, 7 May: Tickets to be had of Wild, No. 17, Bow-street, Covent Garden. The unfortunate circumstance of breaking his leg . . . has prevented his attending the theatre the whole season [and see 18 Apr.]

Event Comment: Tickets delivered by Lyon, Gardner, Leslie, Finney, Barthrope, Gilles, Sherratt for The Chances [announced on playbill of 20 May] will be admitted. Receipts: #130 3s. (23/18/0; 14/4/6; 0/8/6; tickets: 91/12/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Bellamy. Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. "Mrs Bellamy was too much frightened to speak the address [written by Charles Stuart (European Magazine, May 1785, p. 354)], and Miss Farren spoke it--Mrs Bellamy herself added some few words in prose" (Genest, VI, 342). But Stuart's address was abandoned, and in its place Miss Farren spoke one written by Alexander Bicknell (Gentleman's Magazine, June 1785, pp. 449-50). This occurred at the end of the play; following the address the curtain rose, and Mrs Bellamy "succeeded in muttering a few words, expressive of her gratitude" (Reynolds, I, 282-83). [This was Mrs Yates's last appearance in London. In July of this year she was acting in Birmingham (Morning Chronicle, 18 July). Mrs Bellamy's last appearance on the stage was at CG, 1 June 1780.] Receipts: #306 4s. (188/1/0; 13/3/6; 0/14/6; tickets: 104/5/0) (charge: #113 8s. 10d.)

Event Comment: Morigi's sudden Indisposition, together with Mlle Dorival's Illness, makes it necessary to postpone the Comic Opera [I Viaggiatori Felici, announced in Public Advertiser, 23 May] and Dances, advertised for this Evening

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. [1st and 2nd pieces in place of Lord Russel, the Manager in Distress and The Son-in-Law, all three announced on playbill of 31 May.]

Event Comment: [The playbill lists Wilson as Justice Shallow in mainpiece, and as Father Luke in afterpiece. On the Kemble playbill his name is deleted, but the substitute name has been cut by the binder. "It is necessary to inform those who may have read a long criticism on Wilson's performance of Justice Shallow, on Tuesday evening [in Public Advertiser, 2 Nov.], that Wilson did not perform that or any other character, as he is laid up, or rather down, with a violent fit of the gout" (General Advertiser, 3 Nov.). For Fearon as Justice Shallow see 30 Apr. 1785, 29 Nov. 1786; for Booth as Father Luke see 25 Nov. 1785.] Receipts: #139 6s. (134/5; 5/1)

Event Comment: In Act I of mainpiece a Masquerade Scene. [This was included in all subsequent performances.] Afterpiece: Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 1 May 1786]. Receipts: #326 9s. 6d. (324/0/6; 2/9/0)

Event Comment: The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 2 May 1786]. Receipts: #142 11s. 6d. (113/15/0; 28/9/6; 0/7/0). Orders and Free #76 12s

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [acted 8 May 1784. Mrs Abington's 1st appearance as Lady Sadlife was at DL, 16 Jan. 1770]. Receipts: #193 9s. (189/15; 3/14)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years [so stated on playbill of 6 Jan.; acted 26 May 1784]. Receipts: #200 17s. (196/16; 4/1)