The National Register. — London, England, 1809-12-10 00:00:00

y ~ z DEC. 10. made t heir appearance, who were soon obliged to depart though not in peace; although it is grating to an English man's feelings to see them enter the inside of a Theatre, we cannot sufficiently deprecate the conduct of the 0. P's: in filling the passages of the Theatre, and denouncing vengeance against those Heroes of the Staff. On Wednesday, iu the first act of Oscar and .Malvina, one of the horns which had been repeatedly sounded in the pit, was thrown upon the stage, and struck young Bologna. Farley took up the horn, displayed IL to the house, bowed and handed it off ; two men then came on with brooms to sweep the stage, which was covered with peas. The riotous pro ceedings outside of the Theatre have also again taken Ohm, and filled our streets with tumult; we must again ask, is the Lord Chamberlain —are, indeed, all the Ministry asleep The circumstances of the burning of the old Covent Garden Theatre, and the erection of a new one, were familiar to the Jury. Upon the opening of the latter, the Proprietors penned toe following address to the public.—" On the late calamitoui destruction of their property, the Proprietors, encouraged.by the remembrance of former patronage [" you will presently see, Gentlemen," said the Learned Serjeant, how they return thli patronage,"] instantly and cheerfully applied themselves to the erection of a new Theatre, solicitous only, that without enlarg ing the audience-part of the edifice, it might afford the public improved accommodation and security, and at the same time prove an additiontti ornament to the metropolis of the British . Fanpire."—" The public !" exclaimed the Learned Serjeant, " the public do not frequent the private boxes, which are Ire for 4001. a-year each ; the public frequent the two stank; gal lery ; art! how are they accommodated there ? Why, I was there myt:clf lately, not to see the play, I confess, for that I did ant expect to hear ; bat I was present at one of these riots, as they are called. I am a nervous man, Gentlemen ; but I con-.. fess, was not at all frightened at the riot. The view of the stage, with which the public are accommodatcd from the two shilling gallery, I can compare to nothing else thau a view through a telescope ; and the gallery is so entrenched, that even this view is not in all parts of it to be obtained. The address proceeds : " This, their most anxious wish, they flatter themselves they have solidly effected. [" As to solidity" interrupted *tie Learn ed Seijeant, " I saw a few heavy pillars as I entered the The atre,"] not only within the short space of ten months from the laying of the foundations, but under the enormou,ly expensive disadvantage of circumstances singularly unfavourable to build ing. When it is known that no less a sum than 150,000/. has been expended in order to render this Theatre worthy of Bri tish Spectators, and of the genius of their native poets; when, in this undertaking, the inevitable accumulation of at least a six fold rentage is positively stated to be incurred; and, when, in addition to these pressing incumbrances. the increased and rapid ly increasing prices of every article indispensable to dramatic representations come to be considered, the Proprietors persuade themselves that, in their proposed regulation, they shall he hon oured with the concurrence of an enlightened and liberal public.'' " Now, Gentlemen," said the Learned Stajeant, " what do you understand by this paper ? I am a plain man ; and I will tell you what I understand by it. I take it to be an appeal to the public, for their approbation of the increased prices of ad mission to the Theatre ; and, I take it, that as this appeal gives a mail the power to approve of the increase, it also enables him to disapprove of it. If it does not mean this, it is an i n sult and a mockery ; and the public are, in the course of the Address, mocked and insulted ; for, when they are told that the prices of admissionao the public part of the House are advances', in consequence of the expenditure of 150,0001. on .the Thermo, they are ant informed that the annual revenue of the private boxes alone will give the Proprietors 8/. per cent, upon this 150,0001. so that if this scheme of private boxes is carried into execution, away with all pretence for advancing the prisms of admitting the public to the Theatre." The Learned Serjeant then proceeded to state, that in conse quence of this appeal, a vast number of persons attended she Theatre, to express their disapprobation, both of the advanced prices, and of the private boxes; and he thought they were, upon both points, right. By both these innovations, in his opi nion, the Proprietors of the Theatre had forfeited their patent. Their Theatre ought to he a public one; and they must take reasonable prices of admission, and skew them to be such. Un der pretence of doing this, indeed, the accounts of the Theatre were laid before a Committee of Gentlemen, whom the Learnesi Serjeant knew to be very honourable men ; and be was only sorry they could be prevailed upon to submit to such an impo sition. In two or threa days they examined the accounts of 20 years ; and sent into the world a paper, to which he was grieved to sec their signatures. 'The public were, of course, not satis fied with this round statement; and he hoped the damages he should recover to-day, would lead to an opportunity of try* the accuracy of the Theatre's accounts. As to the private boxes, could any man defeat! them Were such things decent ? Tea 'Theatre,. dedicated to the,public, every man, who bad six or seveg sbilliugs is his ,pocket, had a right to go; and if -be got tfiera first, to get the beet place in the house. This bad always been the low af.ele4s Or ,public amusement, and always *oold be the lasa....vgb•Uilgbt, then, had the Proprietors of oast of ttpeniplacs.4&aipc arnuiemeot to tar, this seat is reserved foe any Lord A. Mkt Is set Apart for Mt. B. ? Their patent saw LAW REPORTS. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, TUESDAY, DEc. 5. Before Sir JAMES MANSFIELD, and a Special Jury. CLIFFORD, ESQ. v. BRANDON. The followiug are the names of the Jury in this Cause:— Stephen Dick, Esq. *Edmund Jeunings, Esq. William Day, Esq. George i';cott, Esq. Thomas Rogers, Esq. Mark Cooke. William Best. Thomas Ryan. John Seymour. George Reader. Thomas Greenway. Richard Norton. Mr. Serjeant BEST rose on behalf of the Plaintiff, and ob served that the Plaintiff was a Gentleman of the Bar, a man of an ancient family ; but far more distinguished for the urbanity of his manners, the extent of his learning, and the splendour of his talents. The present complaint was that of an outrageous assanit upon the person of the Plaintiff, and which, to a man of his profession, was, to the last degree, unworthy and insulting, the Defendant ordering him to be dragged before a Magistrate, sc hieb Magistrate., having heard all that could be alleged against the Plaintiff ordered him to be discharged. The answer to this charge against the Defendant was, that there was a riot in Co vent Garden Theatre, and that the Plaintiff was one of the rioters, and was therefore apprehended by the Defendant, and brought before a Magistrate, to receive justice for his share in that riot. The Learned Serjeant should not do justice to him-. self if he did not declare his conviction and agreement that, how ever illegal the measures of :he Proprietors of Covent Gar den Theatre might be, they were not to be resisted by riot : they, On the one hand, were guilty of extortion, but the public, on the other, were not, therefore, to be guilty of riot. It was not on this ground that the Learned Serjeant rested his case; and there fore if the trnth of all the Defendant's pleas could be proved this day (which the Learned Serjeant was confident it could not) they would form no answer to this action : still the Jury must find their verdict for the Plaintiff. If the Learned Serjeant had rested his case on this ground, however the Jury must have been convinced that the Managers of the Theatre had provoked the riot, still they would have been bound to find their verdict for the Defendant. But as the present case would stand, the Jury would be reduced to no such dilemma. At the same time, it was a fact that, if there had been any illegal uproar in Covent Gar den Theatre, from the stav e, and not from the audience did it arise. If, however, there had been no riot, or if there was any, if the Learned Serjeant could prove that the Plaintiff took no part in it, then, when the Jury came to the question of Damages, it was material to consider what had been the conduct of the Managers of flak Theatre; and whether they hail mistakenly taken the' Plaintiff up, without any malice towards him ; or , whether they knew him, and singled him out, without any pre tence whatever. And here he could not help admiring the dig nified moderation of the Plaintiff in not. laying his present dam ages at a large sum : it was not profit that the Plaintiff looked , for, and he had therefore laid them at the sum of only 1001. a sum which wa- no object to a gentleman, who, the Learned . Ser-' jeant rejoiced to say, was as independent in. circumstances as he was in mind. Non that eve'', that SUM would evr find, its way 'into the pocket of the Plaintiff; the Learned Serjeant pledged . himself it should he employed for the purposes of assisting these 'who ?uncured under au oppression similar to that which was complained of to-day.