Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Henderson. Pit and Boxes will be laid together. Ladies and Gentlemen are most earnestly requested to come early, to prevent Inconvenience in getting to their Places, and to send their Servants to keep them by Four o'clock. [Prologue by Arthur Murphy {Works, 1786, VII, 369).] Morning Herald, 14 Feb.: Tickets to be had at the house of the late Mr Henderson [see 8 Nov. 1785], Buckingham-street, York Buildings. "The poetical address delivered by Mrs Siddons before the play was written by Murphy, and was so very dull that we will charitably suppose his feelings obstructed the operation of his fancy" (General Advertiser, 27 Feb.). Receipts: #141 9s. 6d. (140/15/0; 0/14/6; tickets: none listed) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Kemble. Mainpiece: Not acted these 2 years. "Mrs Siddons spoke the speech on mercy as it certainly should be spoken--but as in truth we never heard it spoken--as a reply to 'On what compulsion must I?' From every other Portia it has always appeared as a recitation, prepared for the occasion" (Morning Chronicle, 8 Apr.). Morning Chronicle, 20 Mar.: Tickets to be had of Kemble, No. 19, Charles-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #284 2s. 6d. (160/19/0; 20/17/6; 1/1/0; tickets: 101/5/0) (charge: #107 0s. 5d.)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: Written by O'Keeffe, Author of The Poor Soldier, &c, and perform'd at the Theatre Royal, Hay-Market, with universal Applause

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss Woollery. [As afterpiece the playbill announces A Beggar on Horseback, but "on account of Edwin's being unluckily hurt by a fall from his horse, the farce was changed to A Mogul Tale (General Advertiser, 15 July).] Morning Chronicle, 10 July: Tickets to be had of Miss Woollery, No. 5, Delahay-street, Westminster

Event Comment: Arthur and Emmeline [announced on playbill of 23 Sept.] is obliged to be deferred, on Account of the Indisposition of Bannister. Receipts: #186 5s. 6d. (142.1.0; 40.0.6; 4.4.0)

Event Comment: "[Mrs Siddons's] dress was a French grey satin gown, trimmed with dark sage coloured ribbon, edged with steel, white satin petticoat covered With tiffany, and trimmed With the same as the gown, a girdle of the same colour, a dark sage coloured cane hat ornamented with feathers and edges with gold, with a band of gauze and large bows, the ends fastened to the waist" (Daily Universal Register, 4 Oct.). Receipts: #302 2s. (281.18.0; 19.6.6; 0.17.6)

Event Comment: [This was Hooke's 1st appearance on the stage; King was from the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin.] Receipts: #252 7s. 6d. (251.13.0; 0.14.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for the London Hospital. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. 2nd Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken at the Stage Door of the Theatre; the Doors of which will be opened at 5:30, and the Performance to begin precisely at 6:30. No Money to be returned after the Curtain is drawn up, nor will any Person be admitted behind the Scenes. [Master Braham is identified in Grove. Address by Arthur Murphy (Town and Country Magazine, July 1787, p. 324).] This was the opening night of this theatre, which had been built by and was under the management of John Palmer. Following the afterpiece he explained to the audience the objections of the proprietors of dl, cg and hay to his opening the theatre. He said that he had from the Lieutenant of the Tower of London what he considered to be sufficient permission, but that he would nevertheless close the theatre temporarily. Palmer's difficulty was that he had no really legal permission from anybody for the performance of actual plays. See 3 July, and for further details the head-note to this season. World, 18 July, prints an official accoudting for this night from the theatre's treasurer: Receipts were #273 12s.; paid for music, advertisements, servants, &c. #37 10s.; lost in bad silver #1 19s.; paid the London Hospital #234 4s.; the players acted without salary

Event Comment: Benefit for Browne. [Miss Eccles, who was from the York theatre, is identified in European Magazine, July 1787, p. 64.] Public Advertiser, 16 July: Tickets to be had of Browne, No. 13, King-street, Covent Garden

Event Comment: [In afterpiece the playbill assigns Sir Harry's Servant to Dodd, but "King [asked that] Dodd, on account of illness, be released from his part in the farce. Whitfield was in consequence Sir Harry " (World, 24 Sept.).] Receipts: #185 12s. (133.18.0; 50.6.6; 1.7.6)

Event Comment: "When Priuli was relating to the Senators the impending and immediate destruction of their wives and families, the Senators, without discovering any emotion, were very pleasantly surveying the house, and laughing with their friends in the Upper Gallery. These gross enormities, that yet hang about our stage and are its disgrace, call aloud for the correcting hand of an intelligent Manager, to weed them out. Thanks to their own genius the Principals take care of themselves-the Subalterns are a disgrace. Is not King responsible for this part at one house, and Lewis at the other?" (World, 8 Oct.). Receipts: #302 2s. 6d. (274.4.0; 27.3.0; 0.15.6)

Event Comment: [Cambray was the stage name of James Fennell; he was from the Edinburgh theatre (and see 16 Oct. 1789). Ryder's 1st appearance as Iago was at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 14 Jan. 1767.] "Ryder wore his villainy on his sleeve, and evinced nothing of the insidiousness ordinarily expressed by other representatives of the part" (Public Advertiser, 13 Oct.). Receipts: #196 7s. (195.16; 0.11)