A NOTE ON THE CALENDAR
THE organization of the material in what follows is, in the main, the same
as in all the preceding volumes of this work. The “ladder” system familiar
to readers of those volumes is maintained. For the first performance of every
play in every season complete information is set forth. For later performances a
reference is made to the first one; or if need be, when cast or other changes
occur, to a subsequent one. Occasionally a new “ladder” has had to be
started in mid-season. But everything can be traced back to a fully detailed
outline of an original performance. Information printed in square brackets
or m quotation marks represents a comment not printed on the playbill
itself.
I have, however, in a few instances departed from the format used by
my colleagues, (i) The names of the male and female characters in each
cast are separated by a conventional symbol. (2) In recording the nightly
receipts the various monies received at various times each night have been
indicated as follows: at Drury Lane the total receipts, then, in a parenthesis,
the first account, the half-price and the after-money; at Co vent Garden
the same arrangement, except that, following the invariable entry in this
theatre’s Account-Books, the first account and the half-price are added
together. On a benefit night the recipient’s privately sold tickets and his
charge are also listed. (3) All entries of these receipts are to be understood
as transcribed from the Account-Books of the two theatres. (4) For the
Years covered by the present volumes virtually all the actual playbills for
every performance at Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and the Haymarket have
survived. Complete playbills also appear in the Public Advertiser until
28 1'cbruary 1794. These two sources have been conflated for every
Performance, and represent what appears in the following pages. The play-
1 s for the King’s have been taken from the same newspaper, and from
others published between 1794 and 1800.
1 wo or three other matters require explanation. (1) In information
regarding new plays reference to the Larpent MSS has been made only
3