The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1809-10-07 00:00:00

Cops VT-GARDEN 771111771 E, OCT. S.
NS'e were in hopes that we should not again have
`hail occasion to stain our pages with the afflicting
records of such scenes of folly and dis..prace. its, we
are sorry to say. were this night continued to he
exhibited, at a place erected for the purposes of
aniusenivist suJ rational entertaininent. Our hopes
were iticee,ised, oil entering the house, before the

play coinnienced, by finding the attendance less
nuinernipi, ;tail more orderly, than on preceding'
act:amino*. But the illusion was soon dissipated ;
and, with the drawing up of the curtain, the tumult
begun. God sane the King was heard with some
patience, but wit a word of the play was listened
to. There was, however, a greater difference of

opinion manifested by the spectators, this evening,
than we have hitherto observed. The noise was by
means all on one side; but, on the contrary, the
voice of approbation appeared greatly to predo-
.)min tte. Neither were the measures of the incl.
• ooistents unre•istingly acquiesced in as heretofore.
The shout of applause repelled the howl of die-
approhatton ; and the clapping of hands, in favour
of the'performance going on, kept puce with th.
bursas of the opposite party, whenever they sun-
' ceedeil in apriugnig a rattle, or elevating a placard.
'One of the latter being dropt from the upper tier
of boxes, early in the night, alighted on one of the

lustres, and was instantly in flames. The gentle-
m en. in the hoe adjoining, were successful in get-
ting it disengaged front the glass, and extinguished;
so that, fortunately, no alarm of tire, nor any other
ill consequence, envied from this inconsiderate and
dangerous action.
As the progress of the play advanced, the cla-
mour and confusion increased ; and though the
Piiites had kept their seats daring almost the
whole of the first act, they soon returned to their
old practice of standing up during the representa-
tion. The instrinnental discord was not so great
as usual, as only one horn and one rattle made
their appearance in the pit for the first three acts,
■nd at the conclusion of the piece there had only
been another rattle added to the concert. Every
movement caused a tumult ; and, between the bra-
voes of one party, supposing the rattles's?* to he
turned out, and the exulting cries of the other, wlteu
they found their noisy friends still in safety from
the gra►p of justice, the din at length became most
insufferable. It might have been imagined, that
two of Mr. Colman's productions, instead of one,
were performing at the tame time ; for, to judge
of the savage yells and conduct of the malcon-
tents, it seemed as if the Africans were off the
stage, while John Bali was upon it. Evety night
evinces more clearly the nature of the shameless
party with whom tins oppositimi originates, and by
whom, with the casisol aid of the foolish and un-
thinking, it is carried on.

The promoters of the New .Votional Subscription
Theatre, to which we are all to be admitted, gratis.
and be allowed a pint. if not a bottle, of wine into
the bargain, seem dete►mined to have no rivals if
they can help it. even though these rivals, should
extort new prices! The etivsette of the Faction
was settled, dud their operations directed, by persons
in a box near the centre of the second tier. These
leading heroes also procured a poor wretched de-
luded female to daunt their despicable In wank,
and expose herself more to the intligiintitm of the
public, by her impudent effrontery, than we have
often witnessed persons of a similar description de-
praved enough to expose themselves to. While
the actions of this woman were meeting th • ap-
plause of her partizans, a lady in an adjoining box
di,tingniaheil her attachment to the other side, by
seizing a placard which Iced been handed forward
to be pinned to the cushion, tearing it into pieces,
and throwing it with indignation into the pit.
This was received with three cheers, loud and long.
The placards were not at all numerous; and of the
few that were produced in the pit, so hostile to their
appearance were the inmates of the homes, that not-
withstanding every attempt fur that purpow., to
the end of the play, they were successful in pro-
curing only one to be affixed to a box, and even
this was stiortly after torn down. Those we could
make out were—

" John Relish!. !
" Lower the price, for no evasion
" Will salt J sho Bull on this occasion."
" No garbled extracts to humbug John Bull."
" Retrench your expenses."

Except iii the particular box we have alluded to
as that where the enemy's head-rpiarters were esta-
blished, there was, in general, little disposition
displayed in that part of the house to interrupt the
performance. The chief seat of noise was the pit ;
and the gentlemen above in the galleries (who, as-
suredly, have nothing to complain of) occasionally
joined in chorus. Upon the whole, the uproar
was nothing like what it has been; and when we
had once or twice the satisfaction to hoar the voice
of as aotor,-.it seemed to forebode that this detest-
able and oppressive opposition was dying away, and
that we should soon have the pleasure of again par-
taking of the amusement afforded by the drama.—
During the play, the pit-performances were occa-
sionally varied by something like pitched battles
and the champions of both sides were cheered with
all the ardour of conquerors. One 111311 was, we
understand. stahlied with • knife, in the first of
them, reneontren. The pit, indeed, was a scene of
horrid coafosion, from first to last, and we should