Event Comment: Benefit for
Mrs Barry. Mainpiece: A Tragedy altered from
Thomson [by
Thomas Hull] never perform'd. Part of Pit laid into
the Boxes. Servants who are to keep places are desired to be at
the stage door by 4 o'clock, and those Ladies and Gentlemen who have taken seats in
the Pit are requested to come early to prevent confusion in getting to
their places.
Epilogue by
Sheridan. [This play had been refused a license on 26 March 1739, While
Walpole was still Prime Minister, probably because of such speeches as: @Is
there a cure on Humankind so fell@So pestilent, to
Prince and People,@As
the base servile vermin of a court;@Corrupt, Corrupting ministers and favourites?@How oft have such eat up
the widow's morsel,@
The Peasant's toil,
the Merchant's far-sought gain,@And wantoned to
the ruin of a nation!-
Larpent MS, op. p. 65.@ Also
the play equalizes
Christianity and
Mohammedanism before
God, and gives a slight edge to
the latter (Act IV, scene ii), suggesting
the part politics play in
Christian churches. An account of
the alterations made for
the present performance is given in
the Westminster Magazine for March.
The review concludes:
The Play was got up altoge
ther well, and reputedly acted, and is in its present state what
the Ladies call "a very pretty tragedy."