Event Comment: To begin exactly at 6 o'clock. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. First Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr Sarjant, at the Stage-Door of the Theatre. No Money to be return'd after the Curtain is drawn up. [Customary notice each night during the season. Significant changes only will be recorded hereafter.

Event Comment: Benefit for the Distress'd Actors who formerly belong'd to the theatre. Last Night 188th

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 12 years. [See 24 Jan. 1758.] Prologue written by Paul Whitehead. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. First Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr Sarjant (only) at the Stage-Door. No persons can be admitted behind scenes, nor any Money returned after curtain is drawn up. To begin exactly at 6 o'clock. [Customary note in succeeding bills.] Receipps: #190 14s. (Account Book). @The New Occasional Prologue@As when the merchant to increase his store@For Dubious seas, advent'rous quits the shore;@Still anxious for his freight, he trembling sees@Rocks in each buoy, and tempest in each breeze@The curling wave to mountain billow swells,@And every cloud a fancied storm fortells:@Thus rashly launch'd on this Theatric main,@Our All on board, each phantom gives Us pain;@The Aatcall's note seems thunder in our ears,@And every Hiss a hurricane appears;@In Journal Squibs we lightning's blast espy,@And meteors blaze in every Critic's eye.@Spite of these terrors, still come hopes we view,@Hopes, ne'er can fail us--since they're plac'd--in you.@Your breath the gale, our voyage is secure,@And safe the venture which your smiles insure;@Though weak his skill, th' adventurer must succeed,@Where Candour takes th' endeavor for the deed.@For Brentford's state, two kings could once suffice;@In ours, behold! four kings of Brentford rise;@All smelling to one nosegay's od'rous savor@The balmy nosegay of--the Public favor.@From hence alone, our royal funds we draw,@Your pleasure our support, your will our law.@While such our government, we hope you'll own us;@But should we ever Tyrant prove--dethrone us.@Like Brother Monarchs, who, to coax the nation@Began their reign, with some fair proclamation,@We too should talk at least--of reformation;@Declare that during our imperial sway,@No bard shall mourn his long-neglected Play;@But then the play must have some wit, some spirit,@And We allow'd sole umpires of its merit.@For those deep sages of the judging Pit,@Whose taste is too refin'd for modern wit,@From Rome's great Theatre we'll cull the piece,@And plant on Britain's stage the flow'rs of Greece.@If some there are, our British Bards can please,@Who taste the ancient wit of ancient days,@Be our's to save, from Time's devouring womb,@Their works, and snatch their laurels from the tomb.@For you, ye Fair, who sprightlier scenes may chuse,@Where Music decks in all her airs the Muse,@Gay Opera shall all its charms dispense,@Yet boast no tuneful triumph over sense;@The nobler Bard shall still assert his right,@Nor Handel rob a Shakespear of his night,@To greet the mortal brethren of our skies [upper galleries]@Here all the Gods of Pantomime shall rise:@Yet midst the pomp and magic of machines,@Some plot may mark the meaning of our scenes;@Scenes which were held, in good King Rich's days,@By sages, no bad epilogues to plays.@If terms like these your suffrage can engage,@To fix our mimic empire of the stage;@Confirm our title in your fair opinions,@And crowd each night to people our dominions.@--(Poems and Miscelaneous Compositions, Ed. Capt. Edward Thompson, 1777) Covent Garden opened with the Rehearsal with alterations. I was in the Pit. Powell, from Drury Lane, one of the new managers who have bought the patent from Rich's heirs, spoke an occasional Prologue. Shuter did Bayes pretty much to my liking, adding many crochets of his own.... Entertainment The Mock Doctor,...Young Jasper pretty well by one Massey, being his first appearance on that stage (Neville MS Diary)

Event Comment: Benefit for Suett. On this and every Evening for the Remainder of the Season the Doors will not be opened till 5:30, and the Performance will commence exactly at 6:30. 1st piece: From [The Devil upon Two Sticks, by] Foote. Gazetteer, 28 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Suett, No. 21, King-street, Bloomsbury-square. Receipts: #232 19s. 6d. (62.12.0; 19.18.6; 1.14.0; tickets: 148.15.0) (charge: #107 6s. 4d.)

Event Comment: Betterton's Company. The date of the first performance is not certain, but the evidence points toward this day. On Thursday 19 Nov. 1696, Robert Jennens reported that the two pieces had been acted four or five days together. If that day saw the fifth performance, the premiere probably occurred on 14 Nov. 1696. The Single Songs and Dialogue in Mars and Venus, set by John Eccles (Acts I and II) and Godfrey Finger (Act III), was published separately in 1697. The pieces for whom a performer is indicated are as follows: Prologue. The first Song Sung by Mrs Hudson, set by Finger: Come all, with moving songs [it is reproduced opposite page 300 in Wiley, Rare Prologues and Epilogues]. Love alone can here alarm me, sung by Mrs Ayloffe. Scorn tho' Beauty frowns to tremble, sung by Mrs Hudson. To double the sports, sung by Mrs Ayloffe. To treble the pleasures with regular measures, sung by Mrs Ayloffe. To meet her, May, the Queen of Love comes here, set by John Eccles and sung by Mrs Hudson. See Vulcan, Jealousie, Jealousie appears, set by Finger and sung by Mrs Hudson. Yield, no, no, sung by Mrs Bracegirdle and Bowman. Gildon, English Dramatick Poets, p. 115: This Play met with extraordinary Success having the Advantage of the excellent Musick of The Loves of Mars and Venus perform'd with it. Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 44-45: The Anatomist, or Sham Doctor, had prosperous Success, and remains a living Play to this Day; 'twas done by Mr Ravenscroft. A Comparison Between the Two Stages (1702), p. 20: I remember the success of that was owing to the Musick

Event Comment: [G$Goldsmith's Bee (1759, p. 9) glances at Yates's clowning in the part of the Mock Doctor in comparison with the stage business of the French actors in the same part. The Mock Doctor in France 'pleased with his latinate bamboozling of the clients, kicks up his legs, falling over backwards in his chair." The English actor just fingers his snuff box, and keeps pulling up his breeches.] Receipts: #100 (Cross)

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Peppet and Mrs Bryars, Boxkeepers to the Opera, and Betty Smith

Event Comment: Nothing under the full Price will be taken during the whole Concert

Event Comment: Benefit for Ryder. 2nd piece: Not acted these 3 years. Public Advertiser, 23 Feb.: Tickets to be had of Ryder at his house, No. 5, Bow-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #238 19s. 6d. (137.9.0; 2.17.6; tickets: 98.13.0)

Event Comment: Benefit Chetwood. At the particular Desire of several Persons of Quality. First piece: A Tragi-Comick Pastoral Farce, of Two Acts, written by the Author of The Beggar's Opera, with the Original Ballads

Event Comment: Benefit Author of The Lover's Opera and a Family under Misfortune. N.B. The Company being employ'd in reviving several Plays, &c. are oblig'd to defer Acting till farther Notice

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Dryden

Event Comment: Benefit the Author of The Mock Doctor. Mainpiece: Written by the late Sir John Vanbrugh. Afterpiece: By Desire. Done from the French of Moliere (Revised by the Author)