The Sun. — London, England, 1801-12-24 00:00:00

he submi be de= s concerti' filed on flat Tel ) oath as ceived. Vine, some m 3ou rt, fg Mr. La [le likes; creditor arious oc rst of Ji undoubti it of Di n upon persons [1 not be t, for r mid not rdwra, )o objet be did hi nuations, been mad :van; or in returP' under rtainly the subje rdship's been stai I C 4 o, ice of wl e. This anu3 l drawn e :py that I and 0 1 1+6,06 lie mil they w I had be tre finis? .easons vas crai , they not 1;0 had be' He agreerne cloyed, tre was !e of Off ' urn. So; ;reed 0f, 4 knew I? VI r. She !red toy confidel" and 10, render I represen rnpqted (lira ce i - ion Ice he! and to which Itch it .d that I from I ai expe eding this to ovcd ig a reti -louse ,e recall :ional c. . ;, that entity t tied, 04 been , sc' from til e ; ever b !aced 1 47 , they :he rea l 2, finibh&_, had be d to 80% was aI"A ?topriezors. When these considerable sums, how_ ever,'wereinvestigated, they became ye rymaterially reduced: there appeared a bill of the little tarpenter, Jacobs, for 1661. and another of Mr. Fasbrook for 4661. 16s. 3d. but no considerable sums were to be discovered, nor was any work tobe found, or even heard of, corresponding to such a statement. — There was indeed an expence of 7001. or 8001. fora carpenter's shop. It had been a material obje& to render the Theatre incombustible, and if the direc tions of Lord Stanhope and Mr. Hartley had been followed, it might have been rendered so. But those dire&ions not having been followed, the Fire-offices Would not insure the Theatre under a very . high premiuM, which they still further increased on ac count of the carpenter's shop, which it was snp. posed by them, added very greatly to the danger of the Theatre. It was .fund that the destrudion of the carpenter's shop would save 4.001. per annum in premiums ; accordingly, in consequence of this the Carpenter's shop was destroyed. This was done without his knowledge. He had stated all he knew upon the subjed of the building of the Theatre ; he contended, that it was so far finished as to be fit for every purpose for which it had been Used before. It was the misfortune of this Theatre, that the original plan upon which it was to have been ereaed, had not been followed up, for had that excellent plan been followed up by all. parties, the subsequent embarrassments would not have arisen, nor would any occasion have been given for tho s e proceedings which were now before the Court.. Suppose the ground .around the Theatre lud been let...upon - Building-kases, he considered that it would have produced 503,1. per annum. He had thought of this, and bad spoken to several persons upon the sub. jest. He did not like to state his opinion, but he had often refleCtcd, in his own mind, on the loss the Theatre hod sustained by suffering this ground to remain unoccupied ' and producing nothing, and he was convinced that loss was not sb little as :0,0331. It seemed that Mr. Fosbrook now com- Vlained of the want of a Box-Office. The house s however, which he now occupied, had been ori ginally fitted up for him as a Box-Office, and , with that he always expressed himself perfedly satisfied. lie did not know who were the Proprietors of the Theatre, but when aertions were made involviiz his . charaCter, he felt himself called Lyon to contradict them. But unfortunately for him, those Profrietors had employed Learned C:ouno sel, by whom assertions were made in ,a language Which he could not understand, or else he would !ale answered them more fully. There was one ttint more which he wished to take notice of : A Contraa had been mentioned, or a something Which he was supposed to'have made. When he Wa:, first called upon,. relative to rebuilding the Theatre, Mr. Sheridan wanted. a Plan ; he made but a summary. Mr. Sheridan wished to know the expence 1 it was well knoWn, that in works of Illgnitude, it was_ very usual to form an Estimate accordin g to the great square ; and according to this thethod of estimation, he j rough Estimate. The Sum of So,oool. was held out to the Sub. scribers, as the Sum for which the whole would be ciimplettql. He said, he was willing to Under take it for that Sum, but no Contract was draWn• 14p, nor' was any regular Estimate made. The elkide out a :onrraCl with tht workmem, to do so much work for sa much money ; they were to receive certificates from.him of the work Perfor i med, to entitle them to yeceive the stipulated compensations for such work. Those certificates ]l e had regularly given, and the sums paid upon th em would be found to be in the total amount as he had stated the expenditure to have .been Many ether circumstances had come to his knowledg' that he could explain, but he would forbear, as he did not Wish to be irrelevant. , Mr. Ao.%tti said, it was not merely the private boxes, but Mr. Sheridan - had taken upon himself to Sell other boxes. He trusted his Lordship would Order a proper • inquiry to be made, whether the Looney so raised had been received by the Trustees. lie submitted that all the receipts out of the boxes 'should he received by a receiver. Mrr t.RI DAN said, that having listened with Patience to every word'that had been urged, after having waittd for ::very possible claim from every quarter, after having listened with some astonish_ tnent to the Learned Counsel - who had spoken last, rind with all the patience to which that Learned Centlemati had - so peculiar a claim, he now rose to offer to the Court the observations that c;:curred to Lim upon this case, and to take advantage of the indul9;ence which his Lordship had allowed him, of being heard upon this complicated question. I tpight perhaps appear strange, that having the advantage of such able assistance at the Bar, he• should wish to Plead his own cause ; it certainly did not arise from any idea entertained by him that he could do it bet /et than they could, but be had to apologize to his counsel that they had. not from the beghning been furnished with full and complete Briefs . in this case, impossible, in the progress of the cause, to - give them all the necessary infortrenion upon every point that had arisen., It therefore became I) ecessarrfor him to take upon himself the task of • troubling the Court with sonic observations upon this cause, and he was the more anxious to do so, because he felt this to be a questiOn of charaaer as well as of property. Notwithstanding what' had been insinuated by Mr. Holland (who appeared to bim to have aced upon this occasion with great in discretion, to use no stronger language), he respected the Court and himself too much to attempt to dis flay any flowers of eloquence upon this occasion be should, on the contrary, take Truth and Proof with him in every Step-he advanced, and by so doing, he should, before he .sat down, remove every a spersion that had been thrown upon his charafter end condtid, and he had no scruple to say, that upon t he Noble Lord's opinion, after having fully heard t his case, he was content to rest his claim for public t haraeter and private honour. The first case to which he should allude was, that °f Mr. Grubb; with regard to whom, the first ques. t inn to be decided was, whether he was a Proprietor 0,1 Drury-Lane Theatre or 'not i:—The Learned I `: ; ounscl who had argued on the part of Mr. Grubb, l ad contended that he was a Proprietor ; hut this r ested mr,rely on the assertion of the Learned Gen- Tteruan, for he had not offered any thing like proof. Ltd been asserted that Mr. Grubb hadpurchnsed a qearter of Drury. Lane theatre, and it was - stated that a Memorandum had been drawn up to that ef fed.—lf any such Memorandum had been executed, he should have supposed that , it would have been produced ; but in point of fad, nothing of the kind existed. Mr. Grubb had acknowledged that it was not signed by him (Mr. Sheridan), and Mr. Richardson had positively declared that it was not a final agreement, but merely a sketch.—Upon the strength of this supposed agreement, which could not be produced, it was contended that for the sum of soool. he had transferred to Mr. Grubb two 30001. shares, and one 7th of the whole management and profit of the Theatre for moo years, or as long as the Patent was to continue. When it was consider ed, that they entered the Theatre when it was in an unfinished state, that for four or five years it was necessary to have new scenes fur every play that was acted, when all this was considered, it would appear that Mr. Grubb would have obtained not less than 30,0001. for his payment of pool. They had undoubtedly a right to call him a careless and negligent mad, but they had no right to represent hint as a fool and an ideot, for he must be complete. ly infatuated, to haye.given away so large a portion Of his property to a Man whom he had not seen above four or five times. Indeed if he could have been fool enough to have offered to give his proper ty away in that manner, a man who would have ta ken it would have merited a stronger epithet. It was unnecessary to occupy the time of the Court longer upon this part of the subject : there was internal evi dence in the thing itself, which must satisfy every rational mane, that he could not have made a pre sent of so large a portion of his property to Mr. Grubb: The Memorandum, by which it was said he had made this foolish bargain, was before the Court ; he hardly knew what to call it, for it was neither an-original nor acopy. It was not a copy, be cause it Was all scratched, and interlined ; and it could not be an original, because it had neither date nor signature.—But in point of fad, the only agree ment which gave, Mr. Grubb any property in the, Theatre was, one signed on the r9th of September, ;795. Of this agreement there were three copies made, each of which was signed by I . dm (Mr. Sheri clan), by Mr. Richardson, and by Mr. Grubb, and witnessed by Mr. Peake. Smile time after, when it wasefouud that they could not agree together, a meeting was held far the purpose of coming to terms of separation. It was then stated that Mr. Grubb's interest was only founded upon the agreement of the 19th of September, and that he (Mr. Sheridan), finding that Mr. Grubb did not give that assistance which he.expeded, had a right to put an end to that agreement, upon paying the stipulated penalty of 5001. Upon that occasion Mr. Grubb declared that he had never signed the agreement of the 19th September, and offered to make oath that he had not. He did not mean to insinuate any thing against Mr. Grub's; if he wished to make a charge, he would make it openly and fairly, and therefore he was ready to declare that he really believed that Mr. Grubb had forgotten that he had signed that agreement, or otherwise he was sure he would not have denied it. At last, however, Mr: Grubb found his copy of that agreement, and found that he had signed it. He, however, acquitted Mr. Grubb of having intentionally denied that agreement, because he really believed that he had forgotten the whole transaction. But what he blamed Mr. Grubb for, was, that after having found his memory so bad upon one occasion, that he should now ha('e come and spoken with so much positiveness, about an agreement in the month of August 1795, which agreement could not be produced. But it was ask ed, whether he would deny Mr, Grubb to be a Pro prietor, when it appeared, that by a deed of 1798, signed by him (Mr. Sheridan), Mr. Grubb was styled a Proprietor, that bills were drawn by him (Mr. Sheridan) upon Mr, Grubb, as Proprietor, &c. ? With regard to the deed of 1798,he confessed he did sign it, and he was induced to do so from very par ticular circumstances, which he would not now state to the Cou'rt ; but even under those circumstances he would not sign it until a memorandum was in dorsed upon it, specifying that nothing in that In denture should atied his exclusive right and pro perty in the Theatre: it further stated, that their respedive interests were to be governed by the agreement of the 19th September, to which he had 'before alluded.—But it had been said, that he (Mr. Sheridan) had drawn Bills upon Mr. Grubb, as Pro prietor ; undoubtedly he had, because it was im possible, in a bill, to enter into a minute detail of Mr. Grubb's exaft title ; they were therefdre drawn in that manner for the sake of convenience. ft was also true, that the orders for the Theatre were in the name of Sheridan, Grubb and Richardson, Proprie tors of the Theatre, but it was for the same reason, viz. that it was impossible, in transatlions of this kind, to set forth, in accurate language, Mr.Gruhb's precise title. MI allusion had been made to the annuity.' granted to Mr. Westley ; if that deed was examined, it Would be seen, that whenever he came tOparchinemt with Mr. Grubb, he always gave him his proper title. The Learned Counsel hami con tended that Mr; Grubb was not responsible for the annuity granted to Mr. We! tley—but how did this fad stand ? Mr. Grubb wished to be Treasurer— ,wished to be Proprietor, and he supposed would have desired to be an Adore Mr. Westley had been in the Theatre above thirty. ears, and had faithfully served it ; he had also entirely managed the whole of his (Mr. Sheridan's) private affairs, in which he might, if he had not been an honest mw, have de frauded him to almost any amount, because he never kept voucher, book, or paper to.check him.—Under these circumstances, he would not consent that Mr e Westley should he deprived of his situation as Treasurer, to make room for Mr. Grubb, without allowing him an adequate compensation. When Mr. Grubb wished to undertake the office of Trea 'surer, there remained two years unexpired of an agreement between him (Mr. Sheridan) and Mr. Westley, by which the latter was to receive 5001. a-year as Treasurer ; he therefore proposed that Mr. Westley should receive soot. a-year for these two years, and zsol. a-year afterwards, during the lives-of Mr. Westley and his wife. An agreement was drawn up for this purpose, which was sem to Mr. Grubb to sign, but he kept it, anti never would return it.—Another subjed upon which the Learned Counsel had comment ed, was the shares which had been sold ; it was true \hat thirty ,seven 30001. shares had been sold, and he conceived he had as much right to create thesd shares as to .mortgave hip iiv to estate. .But it had been asked what had becotte of the money Upon this Siit3'.c.l he wished to have no secrets with the Court four of these shares had been sold to Mr. Hammersley, and with part of that money he had purchased a smell estate in Sur rey. Ten of those shares had been lodged in the hands of Dttw and Hammersley, to satisfy the un paid mortgages in consequence of the misapplica tion, if he might use that expressicw, of the ; and others of them were gone to pay debts for which Mr. Grubb would otherwise ha'. e been responsible. He bad now, he hoped, satin_ tied the Court that Mr. Grubb had no right to the title which he claimed ; indeed he believed there never was an attempt to break into private property so sillily conduCted—there never was such a clumsy attempt at a legal burglary. He was sorry to find that Mr. Grubb's situation had been such as it had ; but Mr. Grubb might, if he thought proper, get -rid of his responsibility in a fortnight, if he chose. He would do any thing in his power to assist him, but after the Affidavits he had seen in this case, no temptation under Heaven would make him enter into a partnership with Mr. Grubb. The CHANCELLOR asked, whether he under stood Mr. Sheridan correaly, when he suppo s ed him to contend that Mr. Grubb was neither a Pro prietor nor a Partner ? Mr. SH ERI o A !sr replied, that Mr. Grubb was enti tled to have been a partner, if he had advanced the money for which he had contraaed ; but, under the present circumstances, he only conceived him enti tled to receive back. the money he had advanced, with legal inierest. _ _ _ Having said thus much with regard to Mr. Grubb, he would now proceed to notice some of the observations which had fallen from Mr. Holland : it had been stated, that the Theatre had stood still for a long time after money had been provided : this was true, and he would state the cause,of these embarrassments. The plan for raising iso,oool. was first suggested by himself, and it certainly was a most advantageous plan. It was settled in 170 ; in T 792 above 30,0001. was lodged in the hands of the Bankers ; but owing to artificial delays,ereated by one of the Trustees, the building was stopped for above z 6 months. It might .be said, what was he doing all that time ? In answer to this, he should be under the necessity of stating some circumstances which would explain the cause of the delays, and of the-embar rassments which took place : He was sorry to do it, because it related to a person now no more ; but in this case, he was bound to state the truth. A Security had been entered into by Dr. Ford, Mr. Linley, and himself, frii a Debt of Mr. Lacy's to Mr. Garrick. Mr. Wallis was the only person ern, ployed upon this occasion. Some time after this, Dr. Ford retired from the Theatre, and he, (Mr. Sheridan), purchased his Share for 17,0001. Dr. Ford then retired into Wales, where, after he had resided some time, a person called upon him, for him to sign a judgment upon a bond for the seCu. rity which had been given for the debt of Lacy. Dr. Ford wrote up to him'about . it. He wrote him back word not to sign it, for his plan would soon take effea, and then tl-e mortgages upon the Theatre wQtrld be paid ofn Dr. Ford afteiwards came to London, and being alarmed about this debt retired to France ; and being pressed to come back, declared, that he had taken an oath not to return till the bond was paid. Some delay also arose respecting the patent called Killigrewia Patent ; but at length it was admitted to be a valid patent. At length the money was pro cured for paying off this incumbrance, and for enabling Dr. Ford to return to ,England.— A meeting , was appointed, and Mr. Wallis *as de sired to come and receive the 28,0001.. which was the sum due upon the Bond. When they all met at Mr. Hammersley'a, Mr. Wallis went out of the room with Mr. Troward, and remained a consider able time ; at length he came in again„. with con. siderable emotion, and said,• there was no Bond to cancel. It was at first intended to prosecute him, but it was afterwards given up. He thought it right however to say, that he did not believe that Mr. Troward knew that there was .no Bond. Mr. Holland had taken crait to himself for the dispatch with which the Theatre was ereaed, and certainly he was entitled to it, for he really did not think that any other man could , have crated such .4 substantial building in so very short a time . as he had done. He could not, however, help la menting that Mr. Holland had thought it necessary to oppose himself to him (Mr. Sheridan) as he had done upon this occasion. He would ask Mr. Holland whether he had ever reproached him be cause die estimate had fallen short of the money ne cessary- to complete the Theatre by one halt, and that instead of 80,0001. it would take 160,0001. — But he thought it was not very decorous in Mr. Holland to treat persons employed about the Thea tre with the degrecof Contempt he had done : he ought not to talk in that manner of the Little Carpen ter, who was an honest and industrious tradesman, and whose oath (unless his charafter was impeach_ ed) was entitled to as much credit as the oath of Mr. Holland himself. But it had been asked, what sums had been expended upon the Theatre, or at least upon the stage part, after Mr. Holland had left it ? The answer to that was very easy—very considerable sums had been expended, because, though he admitted the audience-part of the Thea tre was well finished, yet the part behind the cur tain was no snore like a Stage than it was like a Ship of the Line. As to accusing Mr. Holland of perjury, he had never done any such thing, nor was he now throwing out any insinuation against him. Mr. Holland was certainly correa in one part of his assertion, which was, that he only- ex tended 74,0001. Undoubtedly Mr. Holland 'on ,ly gave certificates for 74,0001. ; but did he finish the Theatre for that sum ? Certainly not for much was left to be done. Mr. Sheridan then proceeded to state several sums of money.which he had paid to different people after Mr. Holland had left the Theatre ; one sum wcts.to Mr. Hanson; for the iron curtain, which was certainly most ad mirably calculated to bring down the roof if.it was not so strong, but which could not be moved up or down But Without going into detail upon this subject, he wO4l only say, that it would take . . ifetween 30 and 4.0,t.,20;. tne TheatNe---, .4e confessed hi,e astonishment that Mr. Holland . shoUld say he had Only undertaken to build the Theatre, and not the other buildings, and that had not, in point of tad, pledged himself at all, he had only expressed his willingness to undertake it. - Mr. Shedeian then entered into a variety' of arguments, to spew that Mr. Holland considered himself as contrading, not only to beild the 'Chez. tre, but the Tavern, - &c. and that is was not a mere expression of his willingness, but a solemn undertaking to perform the w'.rk. After having argued on. this subject AL great length, Mr. Sheridan proceeded to state, that the certificates issued by, Mr. Holland, though stated to aincont - to 74,0001. amounted in fad to 77,0001. to pay which there was but 69,0001. is - sued, consequently there remained Soool. to pay: though he was not strictly answer able for this sum, yet by degrees he involved himt self in the business, and made himself responsible. He then stated, that though he had a right to sell the private boxes to finish the Theatre, yet he had applied the money to The. Mortgagees. With re gard to the Renters, he had found that 401. a night was not sutlicient, and he raised it to .}sl.' a night. With regard to An observation of Mr. Mansfield's, that the Proprietors were taking away the money, • he begged to observe, that it appeared by the .oath of Mr. Peake, that for some time past, the Proprie. tors had not received a single halfpenny ; on the contrary, they had advaneedezeool. and therefore he hoped that Mr. Manstield would, in candour, re- - trait his assertion, beca us e h e h o p e d that th:: Equity which governed the decisions of thut Court, would appear in the conduct of those who pradised in it, The first claim was from three Authors, Mr. Cobb, Mr. Hoare, and Mr. Lewis. ' The • latter Gentleman had the merit of bringing into public: notice many tales of wonder, writtep by such paltry scribblers as Chaucer, Dryden, Parnell, and others, which would otherwise have retrained in obscurity, and been buried in oblivion. He was too much of a Gentleman, however, to oppose an arbitration which he meant to propose. The Cbmedy . of - Mr. Hoare, called Indiscretion, which had given rise for a joke, had been playrd six nights, and then only_ because nothing better could be had, in which the Indiscretion appeared rather on the side of the Ma- - nager. As to the claim of Mrs. Nunn, she had only come forward because others had done so, and she was so advised. Mrs. Lowndes would not have applied,but she had made over the debt to Mr:Bloxam, and was compelled in consequence of that to make ap... plication.—Mr. Shaw had authorised him to say,. that he did not wish to press any claim of his. As to the claim of the Duke of Bedford, he had agreed originally to take an increase of rent,'making it 20001. per annum, or zol. per night in lieu of arrears ; but afterwards he had consented to rake the debentures of Mr. Richardson for the arrears, and a deed had been drawn up for that purpose,. He had understood in consequence of this, that only 4001. or 5001. Was due to his Grace, and he had no idea that the Duke of Bedford would now at in contradiaion to that Deed to which he had before agreed. Mr. Franca's mortgage-had been satisfied. With respc& to the claim of Mr. White, the Trustees had never seen the Dormant Patent, it be ing held by Mr. Const for Mr. White, until his claim trag'settled. The last claire' he had to notice, was that of - Mr. Glossop ; and be lead securities in his hand to the amount of 14001. more than his debt. • The CHANCELLOR • WiSiltd to know what was the state of the arrears of the 'i'erforrners. Mr. SHERIDAN'. replied, that although some little sourness might have arisen, on account of the arrears of the salaries, yet he was sure no 4 man en• joyed their confidence more than he did ; so much so, that there was hardly a memorandum, in the Theatre, respeding their engagements, benefits, &c. He had created a Trust-deed for the benefit of the Performers, which was in the hands of Mr. Adam. He could not avoid most earnestly entreating the protection of the Court against future law-suits up.. on these subjects; because, though the Theatre had stamina enough to surmount the many difficulties it had surmounted, yet it could not survive the pro.. teaion of ifs Trustees. He meant not to throw a refledion upon any body, but some people were so fond of the protedion that the Law afforded ta pro perty, that they never thought it was safe except when it was in a course of law. He did not wish to make any essential alteration in the propoials of agreement which had been handed up ; but perhaps it .would be better if a Treasurer was appointed, who should be out of the reach of the Proprietors, and who should be appointed by his Lordship. Having discussed t all these points, Mr. Sheridan begged pardon for troubling the Court with a few words respeding - himself. He would not pay so ill a compliment to. the Noble Lord as to thank' him for hearing him upon this occasion, because he was sure he had done it with a view to have the fullest information upon the subject; but he did thank the Noble Lord for the indulgence he had siiewn him throughout what he had . offered to the Court.— Much of what he had said related to the past; he Would now say a little about the future. Nobody held CaluMny more. cheap than he did : he did not boast of this--=if he were to live over again he would not do'so ; but he had often felt the stings of unmerited reproach, when he appeared not to feel them. BLit though he was indifferent about himself, yet no man felt more severely than he did at the idea of what others might lose by his death. The settlement of this case would relieve his mind from a load of uneasiness which had pressed upon it. The dissipation of the great property in question, was not the subject that principally dis tressed him, though he certainly could not hold it as nothing. He could not consider what this property might have been, and what his income would have been, without strong feelings of regret---% Wi t h regard -to what arose from his own want of exertion, it was no affedation to. say, that it gave him more uneasiness for the sake of others than for himself. Wh;itever appearances traigl;it have been, and however people might have diJdgte upon them, wealth was not necessary to his hap_ piness, nor he believed to his estimation i n this world, though the good opinion of those who se good opinion was really valuable, undoubtedly was.— But it was a disadvantageous circurnstana to any man, more espticially to a careles man, to have as