The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-29 00:00:00

MANCHEtiTER.

DISTURBANCE AT THE THEATRE.
(Fan: the Manchester Mez curl' of Tuesday.)

Last night being the commencement of the sea-
son at our Theatmg, theN was, as certzli indicatioria had (given
reason to expect,,.tensidNkble lturiag the pturForaianse.
Independent of the addresses which have appeared in this and
other Newspapers, from the supporters of Mr. and Mrs.
314618ri0N, and the ungenerous incitement to tumult which
appeared in a certain Paper on Saturday last, the walls of the
town have been, . for the last three days covered with anony-
mous placards on the subject, the object of which evidently
was to produce a muster of Mr. and Mrs. M`Gibbon's friends
on the occasion.

The play selected for the opening of the theatre, was A New
ifray to Pay Old Debts, the part of Sir Giles Overreach by
Mr. BOOTII, who is engaged for a few nights. Up to the ris-
ing of the curt3in the house was by no means full ; and the
most perfect tranquillity prevailed. This calm was, however,
merely a prelude to the tempest which was destined to succeed,
for no sooner did the rising of the curtain announce the com-
mencement of the performance, than an individual in the up-
per boxes displayed a large printed placard, beariing the words
" The public demand the re-engagement of Mr. and Mrs.
M‘Gibbon."—This example was promptly followed by other
persons in different parts of the house, who displayed placards
of a similar import, being chiefly copi4 of those which had
been previously posted on the walls. The production of these
placards was the signal for a general uproar from every part of
the house ; and the voices of the first performers who made
their appearance were completely drowned 'in hisses, cries for
the manager, knocking with sticks and feet on the floors and
benches, and the mellifluous music of catcalls.

After the uproar had continued for some time, Mr. Clarke
(the successor of Mr. Al‘Gibbon as stage-manager) came to the
front of the stage, and signified his intention of addressing the
audience. With some difficulty a partial silence was obtained;
and Mr. Clarke proceeded to state, but not without frequent in-
terruptions, that Mr. Ward was unable to attend the call of the
house, being confined at home by severe indisposition. With
regard to Mr. 111'Gibbon (Mr. Clarke observed), he had not the
pleasure of knowing any thing of that gentleman, except front
report; and that report spoke highly of the respectability of
his character. Up to this point, 3lr. Clarke had been frequently
interrupted by persons demanding to know who he was—a
question which he did not think proper to answer. The audi-
ence, however, had by this time ascertained pretty generally
who he was; and when he spoke of Mr. M'Gibbon, he was
answered by loud cries of " He ought to be here instead of
you ;" and he found it impossible to obtain a further hearing.
He therefore retired, and the performance proceeded in pcifect
dumb show, and with very great celerity, the two first acts hav-
ing been got through in less than half an hour, notwithstanding
the interruptions which occurred. Soon after the commence-
inent of the third act, Mr. Clarke again made his appearance-on
the stage, and with as much difficulty as before, obtained a
sufficient degree of silence to enable him to state that lie was
directed by the managers to make a communication to the
house, and he hoped he should be protected from insult.—
(Cries of " Certainly, certainly.")—He was desired to say
that it was impossible for any of the managers to attend ;
hut they had requested him to state that arrangements had
been made for the whole of the season, which they trusted
would meet the approbation of the public. More Mr. Clarke
would have said ; and, in fact, did say ; but it was to no
purpose; he was utterly inaudible. lie therefore again re-
tired ; and the performance proceeded as before, without a
single syllable of it ever reaching the ears of the audience. A
great number of apples, oranges, pieces of orange-peel, and
other articles were thrown upon the stage during this act ;
and we-regret to say, some missiles of a more dangerous kind
were aimed at the performers. Mr. Bass narrowly escaped
being struck with something which we understood to be flint,
and which he took up and exhibited to the audience at the front
of the stage. He attempted to address the house, but could not
obtain a hearing ; and some of the fellows who were vociferat-
ing even went so far as to require that he should make an
apology : we suppose, because he did not choose to be knocked
on the head with proper tameness and submission. He of
course refused to make any such degrading concession, and was
consequently hooted whenever he appeared on the stage, and
frequently saluted with cries of" No benefit for Bass."
The latter part of the play was hurried through in the same
way as the former ; and the curtain fell considerably before
nine o'clock, the audience never having heard the voice of a
single performer. After the play Master Burke, a child of six
years old, came forward to play a concerto on the violin, which
was listened to by the audience with great attention, and warmly
applauded.
The rising of the curtain for the afterpiece, however, was
the signal for the resumption of hostilities ; the uproar con.;
tinued without intermission during the feir scenes which the
performere.walked through ; and the whole
'performance was
over -before half-past nine o'clock. After the curtain had
dropped, however, great part of the audienC.e seemed disposed
to remain : but the house was then gradually and quietly
cleared by Mr. Lavender and his assistants; who succeded in
doing it without mischief, and without producing any irrita-
tion. Indeed, so much were the 3PGibbonites pleased with
it, that, before finally departing, they proposed and gave
" three cheers for Lavender," and then " three cheers for La-
vender's men ;" after which they went out, and the house was
locked tip.
Two persons were apprehended during the performance,
on charges of throwing missiles upon the stage. They were
conveyed to the police office, where they found bail to appear at
the New Bailey to-clay. They gave their names Samuel Wil-
son, Grove-street, and Henry Hughes, Chapel-street.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE.-'---BVlweell tilt. hours of
nine and ten o'clock last night, a fire broke oat in the house
of Messrs. Cou RSE and Co., oil and colour merchants, N 0.46,
St. John-street, corner of Great Sutton-street, Clerkenwell.
The flames first skewed themselves in the basement story, at
the rear of the shop, and communicating to a quantity of hemp
and other combustible matter, any efforts to stay their pro-
gress was wholly useless, and such was the rapidity of the con-
flagration that the family, who were in the upper part of the
house, had barely time to escape with their lives before the
whole building was involved in one mass of glowing and
brilliant fire. ,The first, second, and third floors, had caught
in less than ten minutes, and though eight or ten engines,
well supplied with water, were then in full play, the roof
itself soon after tumbled in, and the flames which before
found vent only through the windows, shot upwards to ats
immense height, shedding a bright red glare cm the horizon
to a vast extent. Considerable fears being entertained of
its communicating to the warehouse at the back, in Great Sut-
ton street, which contained a large stock of oils, tallow, pitch,
turpentine, and rozin, the firemen directed their attention to
that point, whilst several of the inhabitants assisted Mr.
Course's people in the removal of .the stores; fortunately the
warehouse was parted from the dwelling.house by a yard, or
it would have been extremely difficult to have got at it, not
only on account of the volumes of suffocating smoke poured
out from every opening, but from the heat which was so
intense as to scorch the doors of the opposite houses; how-
ever, although the greater part of the property was got out
at very considerable risk, the flames ultimately did not
extend beyond the place in which they originated ; but not-
withstanding the most active exertions were made, the
dwelling-house was in less than forty minutes reduced to a
shell. As usual, there was a plentiful assemblage of the idle,
the curious, and the speculative; the latter class were certainly
industrious, and many of those who went to gaze at the bril-
liant spectacle were made to pay dearly for their curiosity. The
premises were insured, but not to the extent of property ac-
tually destroyed. There is no accounting at present for the
way in which the fire originated, except, as is supposed, that a
spark had been dropped amongst the hemp and cordage. It
is but fair to add, that the firemen and waterinen were both
prompt in their attendance, and unremitting in their exertions.

CORONER'S INQUEST ON MR. RANDALL.—Yes-
terday an Inquisition was taken before Mr. CARTER, the Sur-
rey Coroner, at the Fox public-house, in Princes-street, Lam-
bah, on the body of William Randall, Esq., aged sixty years,
who died suddenly. The deceased gentleman was observed
walking along the Lambeth-road, and when within about two
yards of Mr. Herring's coach-wheel-wright-factory he suddenly
fell on his face to the ground, and as momentarily turned him-
self on his back, but never uttered a single groan. Mr. Herring
with other persons instantly went to his assistance, when
vinegar and scorched linen was applied to his temples
and nostrils. The body was then conveyed on a shut-
ter to Surgeon Morgan, who pronounced the deceased to
be quite dead. He attempted to bleed him, but without
effect.—Mr. J. F. Young, of Paradise-street, Lambeth, knew
the deceased gentleman, and attended the family profes-
sionally. Saw him almost daily; the last time was on Saturday
last, when he appeared in perfect health ; have seen the body
since death, and from the internal appearance, is of opinion that
he died in a fit of apoplexy. The Jury, after viewing the body,
returned a verdict—" Died by the Visitation of God." The
deceased gentleman was possessed of immense wealth, and has
left a wife and ten children to lament the melancholy occur-
rence. He was a near relative to Mr. Lett, one of the active
Sivrey Magistrates.