The National Register.
London, England, 1809-11-12 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

r 24 .

THEATRICAL UPROAR.

" - bade scenic virtue form the rising age,
And Truth diffuse her radiance from the stage."

Mr. EDITOR,
IN a humorous work of the last" century, called " Great
Events from small Causes," it is shewn that the most important
affairs often depend on and arise from circumstances almost too
trivial for the notice even of diurnal historians; we are told
that the Barrier Treaty and the disgrace of the DUKE of MARL-
DoßOVoll arose from Mrs. M A stilt m's going to Court in a red
gown, and who knows how much noise may yet spring from
MARY Ails' tea's penny rattle, or Mr. RIDLEY's trumpet,
which is said to have cost about as much. 1 have heard of a
child quarrelling with its rattle, but that the repose of a Thea
trical 'Mon.trch should be disturbed by such a trifle is something
so undramatic as only to excite laughter, if we could forget that
a young female had actually been sent for that very trifle to pass
the night forlorn and unprotected amongst the dregs of society in
Tothill Fields Prison.—Jesting apart, however, the present state
of the Metropolis in consequence of these theatrical rows is too
serious to he slightly passed over; the disapprobation of the
Public is no longer confined to the Theatre, but manifests itself
in the streets, and this unfortunately has already acted asa stimulus
to the riotous and ill •disposed to infest the different parts of the
town with " Old Prices," and other clamourous vociferations, so
as not onl.; to awaken the peaceable citizens and their wives, hut
evert to disturb the Watchmen! It is in fact, Sir, no longer a
simple question between the Manager and the Public; it now
pot only deserves, but imperiously requires the interference of
the civil magistrate, not indeed in the way that interference has
already been exhibited, but in a way which
,will strike at the
root of the evil. With the moderate part of the Public, the
original rise of prices, is completely forgotten in their indigna-
tion at its accompaniments, and from the contemptuous neglect of
the Mttnager to give them fair satisfaction on the subject of the
Prices, their attention has been turned more to the affair of the
Private `-:axes than it would otherwise have been. 'With respect
to the Price,,, if the Manager had at first given his reasons in
detail for their rise, I have that opinion of John Bull's liber-
ality, that even if 151. per cent on the real capital had been
taken, he would not have objected to it in a precarious concern,
st here great part of the capital stock is certainly subject to
great deterioration from wear and tear; but when he sees this
Manager come forward with a statement tacked to the report,
but evidently not authorized by the signatures which actually
precede it, and like my " Lord Peter," when he treats his broth-
ers with a mouldy loaf and tells them that if they don't believe it
to be a nice leg of mutton, they may be d—d to all eternity,
when he sees this, Sir, he is tempted to suspect that this state-
Silent has been drawn from the wrong pigeon hole, and that he is
-fobbed off with some memoir for the special information of those
very inquisitive gentlemen, the Assessors of the Income Tax.
Our moralists exclaim against the " Private Boxes" as a novel
Imisac. . Mr. Kemble may, however, plead precedent for
them. Old STO w E tells us that even as early as ELIZABETH'S
Ogle, 66 Churches were forsaken, and play-houses thronged.
Great Inns were used for this purpose, which had secret cham-
bers and plates, as well as open stages and galleries. Here
maids and good citizen's children were inveigled and allured to
private and unmeet contracts ;"—and, now, Sir, if custom is a law,
. surely titis will suffice; John Bull, however, seems to think other-
s% ise, and his terms of pewee now are, " Old Prices, no Private
Boxes, and Brandon's discharge." Although Government have
riot yet taken notice of these nocturnal disturbances, perhaps so
inneli engaged in their performances behind the curtain, that they
have not time to attend to what is going on before it, 1 am
pleased to find that some of the public have commenced an oppo-
sition to Theatrical monopoly by a subscription for a New

NOT. le.

Theatre; to this measure a counter opposition has arisen on the
pleaof a dormant patent, but Sir, when the DA•ENANTS sold
their patent to }licit, and when his mismanagement provoked
the actors to a secession under the banners of BETTERTON, it
was the unanimous opinion of the most celebrated Lawyers, that
(he grants from CHARLES to KILLIGREW Mid DAVENANT, did
not preclude the reigning prince from giving similar licenses,
and on the delivery of this opinion, the licence was granted
which established the Theatre in Lincolns Inn Fields. What
was Law then, must surely be Law now ; unless, indeed, that some
alteration is made in the principle by that very unpopular act
which in 1737 took from the Crown the power of licensing any
more Theatres, a point which it behoves the promoters of this
plan to examine minutely. This plan, however, of a New The-
atre cannot produce that speedy remedy now so absolutely ne-
cessary; and as there seem to exist some doubts respecting the
power of the Chamberlain to interfere beyond the mere licencing
of plays, I have paid some attention to the practice of former
times, and find that even at the instance of the Performers
against the Managers in 1709, the Lord Chamberlain issued an
order forbidding the patentees of Drury Lane to perform any
longer, and the house was actually shut, whilst the Theatre in
the Hay Market was licensed both as a Play-house and an Opera
house for the use of the dissatisfied Actors. If such justice could
he administered to the Performers, how Much greater right have
the Public to demand it; the Managers, it is said, ground the
right of raising the prices on a clause in the patent authorizing
them to charge reasonable sums; of that, however, surely the
Public have a right to judge, and though it is not wished that
the house should be shut up entirely, it is not an unfair expec.
tation (in the part of the friends to order, that the Chamberlain
should use a temporary exercise of his authority until some con-
ciliatory and satisfactory means are taken to allay that ferment,
which though at present confined to theatrical operations, may be
a nucleus for scenes of riot not only disgraceful but highly dan-
gerous. When GARRICK in 1754 excited the public discontent
by the employment of Frenchmen in an English Theatre in the
famous " Chinese festival," our late gracious Sovereign was in.
duced to give a kind of sanction to it by a royal command on
the first night of performance; this, however, did not act as a
quietus to the indignation of the audience, and when the good
old monarch was told the cause of the uproarious contest, he
seemed to enjoy the scene, and actually joined in the riot by
laughing most heartily ; fortunately there was no box-keeper
reconnoitring through the peep-holes, otherwise he might, per-
haps, have been carried to Bow-street.
Even those who approve of the principle of the opposition
must, however, deprecate all riot, I shalt, therefore, just remind
my fellow citizens, that when the oppositionists to full prices,
at Covent Garden, attended regularly at the Theatre, but con.
tented themselves with laughing, hissing, and other noises, to
interrupt the play, Mr. Beard found himself obliged to submit,
and the magna charta of half-price was ratified between the
Theatric Monarch and his faithful Commons. Let then the
motto of the day be, Order, Perseverance, a fair statement to
ustify the rise, or else OLD PRICZI