Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Gibbs. Afterpiece: Not acted these 6 years

Event Comment: [Mrs Gilbert was from the Birmingham theatre. Epilogue to 2nd piece not listed on playbill, but "The Epilogue was vociferously called for, and spoken by Vapid" (Oracle, 24 Sept.).] Receipts: #215 3s. 6d. (198.10.0; 16.13.6)

Event Comment: 2nd piece: By permission of the Proprietor of the Theatre Royal Hay-Market. 3rd piece: The Musick composed, and selected from Cherubini, Kreutzer, and Andreozzi, by Storace. An Accurate Edition of Lodoiska to be had in the Theatre. Receipts: #302 6s. 6d. (186.13.6; 109.17.6; 5.15.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Elizabeth Inchbald. Author of Prologue unknown]: With new Dresses, Scenery, &c. Morning Herald, 4 Apr. 1797: This Day is published Wives as they Were, and Maids as they Are (2s). "The Manager of Covent Garden Theatre gives Mrs Inchbald #500 for her new Comedy" (True Briton, 13 Mar.). Receipts: #302 13s. 6d. (295.9.0; 7.4.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Munden. [Mrs Litchfield is identified in Thespian Dictionary, 1805; as Miss Hay she had acted at cg on 27 May 1796.] 2nd piece [1st time; MF 1, by John O'Keeffe. MS not in Larpent MS; not published]: Altered [by the author] from Sprigs of Laurel. True Briton, 1 May: Tickets to be had of Munden, No. 16, Clement's-Inn. Receipts: #418 8s. 6d. (122.8.6; 9.19.6; tickets: 286.0.6)

Event Comment: [Mrs Upsdell is identified in MS list, in hay playbills now at Harvard, of new performers for the 1797 season.] 3rd piece: Never acted here

Event Comment: Boxes 6s. Second Price 3s. Pit 3s. 6d. Second Price 2s. Gallery 2s. Second Price 1s. Upper Gallery 1s. Second Price 6d. No Money to be returned. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Fosbrook at the office in Russel Street. The Doors t be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 4 Dec.]. Printed by C. Lowndes next the Stage-door. The Public are respectfully informed that the Entrances to the Pit are now removed from Bridges Street to Russel Street and Wooburn Street. In Wooburn Street the Lower Saloon is opened for the accomodation of the Frequenters of the Pit, previous to Opening the office Doors of admission. Many complaints having been made by the Frequenters of this Theatre respecting the application of the Box and office keepers and other Servants of the Theatre for Benefit Tickets, Christmas Boxes, &c., the Public are respectfully informed that a full compensation being made by the Proprzetors to all the said Persons in lieu of all such emoluments, no Benefit, Gift, or Perquistite will in future be permitted to the servants of this Theatre on any pretence whatever. [On Kemble playbill Kemble has written, "See June 14th and 15th for the Benefit of the Boxkeepers, and the perpetuating of this Ruse, if it is one at all."] Afterpiece: By permission of the Proprietor of the Theatre Royal, Hay-Market. Receipts: #324 8s. 6d. (227.19.0; 94.13.6; 1.16.0)

Event Comment: "In point of voice, there are few women so highly favoured as Mrs Litchfield [whose 1st appearance at cg was on 27 May 1796]; through every gradation of tone it is perfect, combining strength and melody, it is equal to any task which the theatre (large and extensive as it is) can impose. It is suited to the firmness of declamation, the tenderness of pathos, and the burst of indignant passion" (Monthly Mirror, Oct. 1797, p. 226). The Epilogue is not listed on the playbill, but "The audience would not be satisfied without the original Epilogue [by Miles Peter Andrews], which Lewis came forward and spoke" (True Briton, 21 Sept.). [Afterpiece in place of The Poor Soldier, advertised on playbill of 18 Sept.] Receipts: #225 0s. 6d. (195.14.0; 29.6.6)

Event Comment: [Miss Humphries, who was from the Private Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill. In afterpiece the playbill retains Barrymore as Sir Rowland, and Bannister Jun. as Walter, but "The Public are respectfully informed that Bannister being suddenly afflicted with a Hoarseness, and Barrymore having met with an unfortunate Accident, are both rendered incapable of the honour of appearing before them this Evening. To prevent a disappointment of The Children in the Wood Dowton will perform...Walter, and C. Kemble Sir Rowland, presuming humbly upon the usual kind indulgence experienced upon such emergencies" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill).] Receipts: #259 18s. (160.0.6; 98.12.6; 1.5.0)

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)