Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of NOTORIETY, advertised on playbill of 23 Oct.] Afterpiece [1st time; CO 2 , by Mrs Burke. MS: Larpent 992; not published]: With new Music [by Tommaso Giordani (Morning Herald, 25 Oct.)). Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #228 0s. 6d. (206/10/6; 21/10/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. [acted 21 Jan. 1789. Mrs Esten has 1st acted Belvidera at Bath in the season of 1786-87]. Afterpiece [1st time; M. INT 2, by John Cartwright Cross. Larpent MS 883; not published. Prologue by John Taylor (his Taylor, Poems, I, 43). Rees' 1st appearance at this theatre was on 14 May 1788]: The Overture and the whole of the Music by Dibdin. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [Most of these songs had originally appeared in Dibdin's "table entertainment," The Oddities, 1st performed at the Lyceum, 7 Dec. 1789.] Receipts: #244 18s. 6d. (234.8.0; 10.10.6)

Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. "At the conclusion of the Play, there was a division in the Audience about Rule Britannia and Lewis's Epilogue [not listed on playbill; by Miles Peter Andrews], which was, after some time, decided in favour of the latter" (World, 19 Dec.). Receipts: #491 19s. 6d. (479/13/6; 12/6/0)

Event Comment: [Litchfield, who is identified in European Magazine, Jan. 1794, p. 50, had made his 1st appearance on the stage at Richmond, 7 Sept. 1793, billed as "A Young Gentleman" (Charles Mathews, Memoirs, 1838-39, I, 70, and Thespian Magazine, Supp. 1793, p. 401). Not. Dram. states that "A person under the name of Litchfield but as I am informed in reality a Mr Holland Nephew to Mr Holland formerly of Drury Lane appeared 1st time at the HM in Richard III." But Holland was at this time acting at Bath, and did not appear in London until 31 Oct. 1796, at Drury Lane.]

Event Comment: [Mrs Twistleton, who was from the Liverpool theatre, is identified by Genest, VII, 159. "Her voice wants variety, and, possibly from too much exertion, in order to fill so large a theatre, it came upon the ear with a loud monotony, destructive of all possibility of pathetic effect" (European Magazine, Feb. 1794, p. 136). As afterpiece the playbill announces THE MIDNIGHT WANDERERS, but "Rosina succeeded the play. The Midnight Wanderers was to have been the entertainment; and we could not but lament that Mrs Mountain's indisposition should have prevented its representation" (Mormng Herald, 3 Feb.). The Account-Book notes the same change.] Receipts: #405 14s. 6d. (392/15/6; 12/19/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Lewis. 1st piece: As altered by Garrick. Not acted these 10 years [acted I June 1791]. 2nd piece: In one Act. Morning Herald, 11 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Lewis, Bow-street. Receipts: #469 13s. (294/3/6; 26/2/6; tickets: 149/7/0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: In Act I The Cardinal's Banquet. In Act II The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine. In Act V a Grand Procession to the Christening of Princess Elizabeth. Paid Charles Smith on Acct. of Upholders Work at Drury Lane Theatre #400. Powell: Henry VIII rehearsed at 10 (for Packer, lame, and Mrs Siddons); Siege of Belgrade music at 12 (for Storace, Bannister Jun., Crouch, Davis, Danby). The Iron Curtain being finish'd was this Evening exhibited for the first Time with the Epilogue [and see 21 Apr.]. "On the 24th February, 1809, this theatre was burnt down . . . Every care had been taken to guard against such a calamity. Two large reservoirs for water, on the top of the house, happened, unfortunately, at this crisis to be empty; and an iron curtain, intended to separate the auditory from the stage, for the purpose of saving a part of the edifice in case of conflagration, was, with its machinery, so much out of order as to be useless; it was, in fact, utterly immoveable" (Brayley, p. 8). Receipts: #451 8s. 6d. (389/4/0; 56/5/0; 4/6/6; tickets not come in: 1/13/0)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; T 3, by Henry James Pye. Authors of Prologue and Epilogue unknown]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. Morning Chronicle, IO June 1794: This day is published THE SIEGE OF MEAUX (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #125 9s. (117/2; 8/7)

Event Comment: Paid for Beer for the Men removing Music Books #2 19s. 6d. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns First Constantia to Mrs Powell, but she "having sprain'd her Ancle [sic] Miss Collins play'd 1st Constantia" (Powell)]. Powell: Chances rehearsed at 10 (Barrymore absent; Caulfield, Cooke, Welsh each two scenes; Trueman one scene). Receipts: #139 6s. 6d. (78/10/6; 57/16/6; 2/19/6)

Event Comment: 2nd piece: In one act. ["The following Gentlemen of the Chorus absent from this Evening Performance, viz., Messrs Boyce, Hobler, Dixon, Dorion Sen., Annereau; Dancers: Messrs G. D'Egville and Hamoir" (Powell).] Powell: Heiress rehearsed at 10; High life at 12; New Ballet [Glorious First of June] at 12. Receipts: #209 16s. 6d. (143/18/0; 63/7/6; 2/11/0)

Event Comment: [1st piece in place of A MOGUL TALE; 2nd piece of THE SON-IN-LAW, and THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD, all advertised on playbill of 17 July.)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: 11th time [i.e. in continuation of the reckoning for the previous season]. The Music composed by Baumgarten, Paisiello, Dr Arne, W. Parke. Howard and Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Receipts: #230 12s. 6d. (226.1.6; 4.11.0)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; T 5, by Joseph Berington, altered from the same, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. MS: Larpent MS 1041; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Herald, 30 Oct. It has hitherto been assumed that this play was altered by Benjamin Thompson, but "This Tragedy was translated from the German by the Rev. Jos. Berrington [sic]" (Kemble Mem.). Dr. Berington's authorship is also referred to in London Chronicle, 30 Oct. 1794. Thompson's translation was published by Vernor and Hood in 1800. Prologue by Richard Cumberland. Epilogue by George Colman, ynger (London Chronicle, 29 Oct.)]: The Dresses, Scenes and Decorations are entirely new. The Scenery in the four first Acts is the work of Signor Barzago and of his Brother; and in the fifth of Greenwood, by whom also a new Frontispiece is designed and executed. [Miss Miller, who had appeared the previous season as a chorus singer, is identified in European Magazine, Nov. 1794, p. 363.] The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 20 Apr. 1795]. Powell: Emilia Galotti rehearsed at 10. The New Frontispiece and Stage doors were exhibited for the first Time this Evening. Receipts: #317 19s. 6d. (270.8.6; 46.5.0; 1.6.0)

Event Comment: [1st piece: Epilogue by Miles Peter Andrews.] 2nd piece [1st time; MF 2, by William Pearce. In 1796 acted at cg, reduced to 1 act]: Scenery entirely new, consisting of several Views taken from the Spot, and executed by Richards. The Music selected and composed by Shield. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Morning Chronicle, 16 Nov. 1794: This Day is published Arrived at Portsmouth (1s.). The Doors to be opened at 5:15. To begin at 6:15 [see 22 Apr. 1795]. Receipts: #203 5s. (200.1; 3.4)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Mattocks. Tickets delivered for The Double Gallant will be taken. Morning Chronicle, 16 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Mrs Mattocks, No. 8, Great Russel-street, Covent-garden. Receipts: #288 5s. 6d. (119.6.0; 17.18.0; tickets: 151.1.6)

Event Comment: 1st piece [1st time; MD 5, by James Boaden, based on Herman von Unna, by Anders Fredrik, Count Skjoldebrand. Prologue by John Litchfield. Epilogue by the author (see text)]: In the course of the Play, the Customs of the Tribunal in the Citation of the Offender-the Leading away to Judgement-the Habits and mysterious Signs of the Ministers of Vengeance, will be given with Accuracy. In the last Act, the awful Assembly of the Free Judges at Midnight, with the Ceremonies of the Trial-elucidating an Institution, which, by Secrecy and Certainty of its Judgements, produced many alarming Events in the 15th Century, throughout the Germanic Empire. Morning Herald, 20 June 1795: This Day is published The Secret Tribunal (2s.). Receipts: #93 11s. (82.19; 10.12)

Event Comment: Benefit for Shade, Cameron, Nix, Woollams, Wood, Dangerfield, Wilson, Panchaud, Irish, Edwards, Wooldridge, Griffiths. Kemble Mem.: BT. the box-keepers. Receipts: #528 8s. 6d. (30.13.6; 16.7.6; 11.7.6; tickets: 470.0.0) (charge: #211 14s.)

Event Comment: 2nd piece [1st time; PREL 1, by George Colman, ynger. In 1796 the 1st scene was acted as Sylvester Daggerwood]. Morning Chronicle, 3 July 1795: This Day is published New Hay at the Old Market (1s.). 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 had of Rice at the Theatre

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Gibbs. Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years [acted 22 June 1790. Miss Logan is identified in MS list, in hay playbills now at Harvard, of new performers for the 1795 season. Mrs Kemble's 1st recorded appearance as Portia was at Edinburgh, 26 Jan. 1795]