Event Comment: These pamphlets were printed in 1661. For further details of the affairs of the day, see Rugg's Diurnal, ed. Sachse, p. 175. See also Pepys

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not certain, but the Dedication speaks of its being acted two days and an order, L. C. 5@144, p. 29 (Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p.1 on), dated 14 Dec. 1680, banning it suggest that it was performed on 11 and 13 Dec. 1680. It is possible, however, that Tate's statements may refer to performances on 18 and 19 Jan. 1680@1. Dedication, Edition of 1681: For the two Days in which it was Acted, the Change of the Scene, Names of Persons, &c. was a great Disadvantage: many things were by this means render'd obscure and incoherent that in their native Dress had appear'd not only proper but gracefull. I call'd my Persons Sicilians but might as well have made 'em Inhabitants of the Isle of Pines. Henry Purcell composed the music for a song, "Retir'd from any mortal's sight." See Purcell, Works, The Purcell Society, XX (1916), ix-x

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain, and also under the Patronage of their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Clarence. Benefit for Lee Lewes. The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15. Tickets and Places for the Boxes to be had of Lee Lewes, at Mr Brough's, No. 18, Portland-street, Soho. Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, by James Fennell. Larpent MS 924; not published. Synopsis of plot in Morning Post, 8 Mar.]

Event Comment: "It was with extreme regret that we perceived the ravages of time in the person of [Mrs Crawford, who had not acted in London since 12 Apr. 1785], tho' we were much consoled in observing that his influence is not equally apparent in her abilities...The blaze is gone, but there is a richness in the setting lustre...Kemble is evidently [Johnston's] model, and he followed him so closely, as even to the crossing of the legs in dying; so that where he was best, his efforts seemed to be the effect of imitation" (True Briton, 24 Oct.). "Mrs Crawford has had her day; but the sun of her genius has long sunk beneath the horizon...Many parts of her performance, we were sorry to observe, evinced the most evident decline of powers, and her tremulous accents, the debility of which was rendered the more striking from the want of several teeth, proclaimed that her days of play and action were nearly brought to a close...She was received with reiterated plaudits throughout...Nature has been very bountiful in supplying [Johnston] with a voice of much compass and melody, but he does not appear to have paid much attention to the cultivation of her favours. His transitions are often abrupt, and sometimes discordant; and the management of his tones is of so strange a nature that it appears more like two distinct voices than a judicious modulation of his natural accents" (Morning Herald, 24 Oct.). Receipts: #260 9s. (253.4.6; 7.4.6)

Event Comment: The King's Company. The exact date of this performance is not known, but the Prologue refers to "After a four Months Fast," suggesting that the theatre did not reopen until the end of the Long Vacation (24 Oct. 1681 is the beginning of Michaelmas Term). The Epilogue also seems to refer to events at Bartholomew Fair, and the Prologue to the King's visit to Newmarket, from which the King did not return until 12 Oct. 1681. Furthermore, The Impartial Protestant Mercury, No. 54, 28 Oct. 1681, reports: A Revised Play was some days since Acted on an Eminent Publick Theatre, and the Prologue is extreamly talked of. [The periodical reprints some of the lines (which are essentially those in the printed version).] The Loyal Protestant, No. 70, 29 Oct. 1681, refers to the same performance and reprints part of the Epilogue (which also is essentially that of the separately printed Epilogue). All of these elements point to a performance in mid-October. Both the Prologue and the Epilogue were printed separately, and have been reprinted by Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 43-45. Broadside copies of the Prologue and Epilogue in the Huntington Library bear Luttrell's manuscript notations that both were written by Dryden. Luttrell's date of acquisition is 13 Feb. 1681@2, an instance in which Luttrell's date of purchase does not apparently correspond closely to a date of performance

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Diana to Mrs Martyr, but "News of Mrs Martyr's husband's death having reached her the day before, an apology was made for her not playing Diana; Miss Wheeler, however, from the other house proved a very agreeable substitute" (.European Magazine, Oct. 1783, p. 310). In afterpiece the playbill assigns Lucy to Mrs Wilson, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Mrs Davenett.] Receipts: #134 19s. 6d. (133/9/0; 1/10/6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; F 2, author unknown; based on La Precaution Inutile, by Nolant deFatouville]. Public Advertiser, 13 July 1790: This Day is published Try Again (1s.)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; D 3, by Henry Neuman, based on Der Opfertod, by August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. Text (R. Phillips, 1799) assigns no parts]. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. The Doors to be opened at 6:00. To begin at 7:00 [same throughout season]. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Rice, at the Theatre. The Theatre, since the last Season, has been newly Decorated. [Beginning with 19 June the playbill: Printed by T. Woodfall, Drury Lane; on 4 Sept.: No. 104, Drury Lane.] Morning Chronicle, 27 June 1799: This Day is published Family Distress (2s.). Gentleman's Magazine, May 1800, pp. 406-8, prints a letter from "J. B." in which strong exception is taken to Kotzebue in general, and this play in particular. "Theatrical entertainments have an extensive influence upon the manners of Society. When well regulated, and the pieces for representation well selected both as to matter and manner, they may be esteemed friendly to morality, and improvers of public taste. But what shall we say when both these ends are disregarded; when moral virtue is banished from the scene, and purity of taste is destroyed by affected language and pantomimical decorations? Improvements in almost every art and science have been within a few years, rapid and important. But that is not the case with the stage; nor can it be, while Kotzebue and his friends usurp the venerable boards of Shakespeare." The writer then, in sarcastic terms, outlines the plot of Family Distress. [Pope and Miss Chapman were both from cg.

Event Comment: Benefit Mills. By Command of His Royal Highness. To which (By Command) will be added, The Coronation of Anna Bullen, with the Military Ceremony of the Champion in Westminster-Hall, for the Entertainment of . . .the Prince of Orange, who accompanies his Royal Highness to the Play. [Prince of Wales, Prince of Orange, Princess Caroline present.]

Event Comment: [Huddart, whose 1st appearance on the stage was at the Crow Street Theatre Dublin, on 14 May 1798, is identified in European Magazine, Oct. 1798, p. 258.] "In the gentle and tender scenes [Huddart] was impressive...but in the impassioned parts he was often too boisterous, and from his too eager exertion, he exhausted himself, in a great measure, before the conclusion of the piece" (Morning Herald, 16 Oct.). [Mrs Pope, as Miss Campion, had 1st appeared as Desdemona at the same theatre, 11 Mar. 1790. Mrs Wybrow was from the Royal Circus. She had appeared at cg on 6 June 1798.] Afterp iece [1st time; BALL. PI, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 1228. Text (i.e. synopsis of the ballet, and the songs) in his Circusiana (Lackington, Allen & Co., 1890), Vol. 1; it lists the cast for the Royal Circus]: Taken chiefly from the favourtie Piece of the latter Title [1st acted at the Royal Circus, 9 Apr. 1798], with Alterations and Additions by the original Author. The Music by Sanderson, and Scenery by Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, Blackmore, &c. Receipts: #294 15s. 6d. (290.8.6; 4.7.0)

Event Comment: His Royal Highness the Duke present. Mainpiece: By Terence. Afterpiece: Imitated from the Phormio by Moliere, and translated into English by Mr Otway, with some Alterations; acted by the younger King's Scholars

Event Comment: By Command of his Royal Highness the Duke, and her Royal Highness the Princess Caroline

Event Comment: Mainpiece: By particular desire. [Afterpiece call'd Merlin in the Treasurer's Account Book, but listed as Royal Chace; or, Harlequin Skeleton in the General Advertiser.] Receipts: #58 10s. 6d

Event Comment: Doors open at 6. Play to Begin exactly at 7. Books of the Interlude to be had at the theatre. Paid for a license for The Royal Garland #1 1s. (Account Book). Receipts: #173 17s. 6d. (Account Book)

Event Comment: Mrs Egerton smart figure not much of the Gentlewoman tho, appear'd in Lady Townly (Hopkins Diary). From the Theatre Royal, Dublin (MacMillan). Lady Townly, Mrs Egerton, first time (Cross Diary)

Event Comment: By Authority of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Lacy, formerly of the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane. Tickets to be had of Fosbrook, at the Box Office of the Drury Lane Theatre, and Rice, at the Box Office of the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket, where Places for the Boxes may be taken. [Address by John Taylor (Monthly Mirror, Dec. 1798, p. 370). On this night the following appeared both at dl and at the hay: Hollingsworth, Caulfield, Bannister Jun., Suett, Miss Pope, Mrs Bland.

Event Comment: Benefit for C. Kemble. Mainpiece: By permission of the Proprietors of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Morning Chronicle, 8 Aug.: Tickets to be had of C. Kemble, No. 126, Great Russel-street, Bloomsbury

Event Comment: [In Daily Courant, 8 Dec., The Libertine Destroyed had been announced for this day.

Event Comment: At the Desire of several Persons of Distinction. Afterpiece: Set to Musick by Mr Arne. Love for Love-, which was bespoke for this Day, is deferred on Account of the Indisposition of a principal Comedian. The New Revel Masque will be perform'd the Day after the Wedding

Event Comment: [Benefit on one-half value of tickets basis to nine ticket holders. The General Advertiser notice lists beneficiaries as Harrington (Prompter); Stede, Carr, Mrs Bland, Mrs Rowley.] Tickets deliver'd by Mrs Daniel, Mrs Dumont, &c will be taken. /For Box Pit Gallery Value Half-Value/Harrington 7 29 22 #8 6s. #4 3s./Stede 7 52 59 #15 9s. #7 14s. 6d./Carr 6 53 46 #14 1s. #7 0s. 6d./Mrs Rowley 27 77 44 #22 14s. #11 7s./Mrs Dumont 36 31 32 #16 17s. #8 8s. 6d./Mrs Bland 9 56 91 #19 15s. #9 17s. 6d./Mrs Dupre 5 33 42 #10 8s. #5 4s./Mrs Daniel .. 45 109 #17 13s. #8 16s. 6d./Mrs Hitchcock 34 58 31 #20 6s. ........./Totals 131 434 476 #145 9s. #62 11s. 6d./ [Mrs Hitchcock seems to have received the full value of her tickets.] This Day is Publish'd A Treatis on the Passions so far as they regard the stage, with a critical inquiry into the Theatrical Merit of Mr G k, Mr Q n, and Mr B y, the first considered in the part of Lear, the last two oppos'd in Othello. By S. Foote, Esq

Event Comment: Paid Tallow Chandler's 4th Bill #41 6s. 5d.; Spermacetti Candles, #132 18s. Mr Tomlinson for Men's cloaths #11 11s.; Mr J. French on acct #20; Miss Hopkins, 15 nights (19th Dec. incl.) #3 15s. (Treasurer's Book). [The sixth edition of Wm. Law's Absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Representations was published this year (1st. edn. 1726) This day was published the Preliminary Number of the Westminster Magazine, which, monthly, included a section called The English Theatre, which observed generally on the state of the Stage, and commented specifically on new plays. Its view of the stage in general was not as sanguine as had been that of the writer for the Town and Country Magazine (1 April 1772). "We are of opinion, that the English Theatre is now in its decline. Whether it is that the stores of Dramatic Subjects or of Dramatic Genius are exhausted, is not immediately obvious; but there is a fault somewhere....We have seen the Morning star of Wit--the Noon too is past; we have now arriv'd at its evening...There is in Arts, as in Empires, a progress which leads to Refinement; and this refinement leads to Ruin." According to the writer the meridian glory of the English stage was during the reign of Queen Anne. Reviewer damns the Irish Widow, refuses to discuss the Gamesters (revived), damns the Rose and praises the Garrick alteration of Hamlet. This year also appeard Granny's Prediction, a 53-page pamphlet attack on Mrs Barry, condemning her on moral grounds (polygamy) and on aesthetic grounds, commenting on each of her characters. By a spiteful female relative Elizabeth Franchetti.] Receipts: #142 10s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: [As afterpiece Public Advertiser announces The Rival Candidates, but see Hopkins Diary, 12 Oct.] The Managers met again to-day, but nothing settled. Hamlet was given out. I saw Mr Sheridan, he told me that Mr Lacy and he had agreed that no Play should be given out, nor any Bills put up, till they had settled this Affair, which was to be done to-Morrow at Mr Wallis's (the Attorney's) where they were all to dine. I waited on Mr Lacy, who agreed to the same, and no Bills or Paragraph were sent to the Papers. All the Business of the Theatre is at a Stand, and no Rehearsal called. Wed. 16th--Mr Sheridan, Dr Ford and Mr Linley dined today by Appointment with Mr Wallis where Mr Lacy was to have met them; about four o'clock he sent a verbal Message that he could not come to Dinner, but would wait upon them in the Evening, and about nine o'clock he came, and everything was settled to the Satisfaction (of them all) and a Paragraph sent to the Papers, and the Hypocrite and Christmas Tale was advertised for Friday, but no Play was to be done on Thursday--Covent Garden did not play on Friday (Hopkins Diary). Public Advertiser, 16 Oct., summarizes the proprietors' dispute: the Drury Lane patent had been purchased [in 1747] by David Garrick and James Lacy. On his death Lacy had devised his half-share to his son, Willoughby Lacy; on his retirement from the stage Garrick had sold his half-share to Sheridan, Ford and Linley. The original agreement between Garrick and Lacy, as recited in a document retained by the attorney Albany Wallis was that, in case of the sale of either share of the patent, or any part of either share, the seller was obligated to offer the first refusal to purchase to the other partner, and that this was to be done only when the theatre was closed for the summer. In selling one half of his share to Robert Langford and to Edward Thompson, Willoughby Lacy was--so argued his three partners--acting illegally: he had not offered to them the first refusal, and he was negotiating the sale at a time when the theatre was open. Public Advertiser, 17 Oct.. prints a statement from Lacy saying that he did not feel himself bound by the original agreement between his father and Garrick, but that, in the interest of the business of the theatre, he had asked Langford and Thompson to withdraw their claim to partnership, to which request they had acceded. Receipts: #130 9s. 6d

Event Comment: Benefit for Johnstone. 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by Thomas Knight; incidental music by William Reeve]: Partly taken from The Committee [by Sir Robert Howard]. Morning Herald, 21 June 1797: This Day is published [by G. Cawthorn] The Honest Thieves (1s.). True Briton, 25 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Johnstone, No. 19, Piazza, Covent-Garden. Receipts: #434 7s. 6d. (210.4.0; 11.18.0; tickets: 212.5.6)

Event Comment: Gentleman's Journal, November 16@2: In my first Journal I gave you a large account of the Musick Feast on St Cecilia's day; So, to avoid repetitions, I shall onely tell you that the last was no ways inferiour to the former....The following Ode was admirably set to Music by Mr Henry Purcell and perform'd twice with universal applause, particularly the second Stanza, which was sung with incredible Graces by Mr Purcell himself. [See Purcell's Works, Purcell Society, VIII, and Orpheus Britannicus, 1702, 1706, 1711. The Ode appears to have been written by Nicholas Brady.

Event Comment: The Lord Mayor's Day pageants