The Sun.
London, England, 1812-10-16 00:00:00

-11. L 4 LI 1. J. .1.1.1.4

.The excellent tctuedy,.of „The Rivq4 drew a
111. in-wrens audience last: _night to Drury-Lane
Theatre.. ~i3ANNisTit irned.;to the Company,
.and
.appeafed in the character.of Acres. • He was
warmly received b,y:the audience; ,he7.looks as
well as ever, and he.performed with as much spi-
rit. Miss Dur.icAt,i made her first appearance for
the season', in the part of Julia, and was also weli
received: . •

.. , .
After the play, a.Gentleman arose in the bOrxes,
anti addressed the audience in the following
manner
a lover, a Member of the Drama,
and a . friend to the 'Theatre. (Loud: -cheering, hisser, and
hear him ') Ladies and Gentlemeti;,by•some I-may be -blamed
forytaldnu; Oh method of addressing you, as beinOnunillak:
in; to a t.-;entleinan ; but I can see no Vii-eater liturriopriet
speaking from the public boy: of'a theatre, than froM alsornin,
or.from the htistings 'at. an election.—(Lund cheering, with.
scene dist. p rG 1. a titm-)' • ,
" Ladies and Gentlemen or the talentS- and quahfica-
thins of the Ilight Honourable; Noble;- amid Illustrious Lord,
who wrote the Address Which you have heard this night re-
cited to Yon, I have 'the respect. .(ippfars,s- rind
iS iY e i known that, for several weal:_s, the Cola-
-mit:et! appoiated to manaze time conci':.ro of :this Theatre
have, by pabl:c advertisement, courted the tx-ertions of the
Literary World, to 'prepare an Address to be, spoken at the
opening of the truly magnideent structure. This "was on
their'part noble and praiseworthy; but it must be all, ~ .......
all hands, that however right they hive been, in intention,
theiy have nAoSt lamentably erred in juci4ment--727.
(Here the
.noiseand tumult was so great that the
Motor for some minutes could not proceed)
The -number- of persons who condescended to_.
furuiUi Addresses, he believed, had exceeded one
hundred, and those who thought that out of such
a number .a better could not have been Alected,
did not think so highly of the poetical talent of
the country as he did. Among them it must be
believed that some were very fine. He himself
knew of four or five of that description;--(Cries of
f‘ Your own and your son's were uniting them.-)
The bell nOw rung for the . first mrisic, and the
voice Of the speaker was lost in .the sounds which
come front. the orchestra. When the music ceased
he again attempted to address the house. The
curtain, however, at this moment rose for the
farce. Mr. HORN entered, but was obliged, by
the voice of the. audience, to retire. After .a short
pause he again came on with Mr. KNIGHT, and
attempted to compience the performauce, , but the
cries of f .of, off !! were so loud, that it,was im-
possible for theM to go on. Both. left the, stage,
and Mr.IIA'iMOND made his appearance. ":_iilenee.
being obtained, he. addressed the audience in these
words-7-

, .
" LADIEs and crENTLEMEN'
": Is it your wish that we should proceed with the farce'?"

The audience seemed generally to signify a wish
that the performance should go on, and Mr. Ray-.
:rioted bowed' and retired. The Farce recom-
menced; but the eumult continued so high, :that
for some time nothing could be heard. It .sub-
sided towards the close of the first Sceae,and went
on without interruption.. Dr. Busby resumed his
seat, having keen desire*d `by several 'persons' to
defer .what he had to say :till, the entertainment
was over.

At the end of the first act the Doctor rose again:
but had not.tirne to speak 'ucfore the *seCond• cow-
tnenced.

The performance over, he once more presented
him If.
" I have a strong, a powerful motive (says he) for.request-
ing.!:-NerAttentiou. lam a friend to-this Theatre: --1 -wish to'
opO'the way to superexcellencecto.brino- forward strong and
powerful talent, instead of letting it sink to oblivion. My son
is new in the house with an Address which, I had prepared for
the•opening of this Theatre, and nothing would be a greater.
pride and satisfaction to me than that lie should be allowed
by the Managers to rehearse it on the stage, if you will give
him:leave."
This was immediately acceded to with loud and
reite -ated bursts of applause. At this happy mo-
ment, however, when all seemed 'to favour the
Doctor's wishes, he was rudely seized by two
Bow•-street Officers, who dragged him out of the
.boxes, arid forced him towards the saloon. A
great part. of the company immediately vanished
from the boxes, and flew to the assistance of the
Doclor. A struggle ensued between them and
the officers, which at one time bore a very serious
aspect, as it was the general opinion that the
Doctorwas treated with unnecessary and unmerit-
ed Sc7erity. The result was, he was rescued, and
escwited back in triumph to the boxes,, where he
was t.-.reeted with the plaudits and huzzas of the
remnant of the audience. • •

The Address was now loudly called for, and a
wish was' expressed that the. Manager should be
solicited to grant the use of the stage.. This
brought Mr. RAYMOND forward,, who declared,
that if such was: their wish, he had'nO objection
to allow Mr. BUSBY the use of the stage. .*
Mr. BUSBY now made his second appearance
on the boards of Drury, and was well received.
The lamps had been let down, but lights heing
called, they were brought rp again, eight of them
being. unextinguished, Mr. BUSBY proceeded_ to
speak the Address, but was not honoured with all
the attention he might have expected ; and the
frequew interruptions given rendered it lmpus-
sible fo what he uttered to be 'understood.
He conninited the recitation for sonic time,
when he was stopped by the following address
from rerson ip the boxes :
" Mr.nUSBY—I Would advise You to go home, if you can-
not make q3C of a stronger voice. You ouz'ht not to prestune•
to get on that stage to detain the company, if you cannot
speak so that we may distinctly bear ; and I must tell you,
that not a word of what you say can he understood here from
the smallness of your voice, however elegant and.!arge your
ideas may be.

Mr. BUSBY requested a hearing, and proceeded
for sonic t;me, longer. Frequent interruptions,
however, marred all his,efforts, and without reach,
ing-the .conclusion of his Address, he may be said
to have ended as he began.
He had been on the stage about twentyini-
notes, wden Mr. 11A-ri‘ioND once more entered.
expressei a hope that the audience NN,'c're satis-
fied that every • attention had been paid to their
wished, aid :very indulgence shewn to the Gen-
tleinari, the stage. Ile wished to state that no-
thingeotAu be spoken there without the license-of
the Lorii! Chainberlaini anti as the Gen-leman had
been so' far indul,2-,ed, he hoped this business was
quite at an end. •
This speech was received with applause. Mr.
RAYMOND spoke to Mr. BLTSBY, who seemed dis-
posed agar to address, the audience ; but
apparqttly to the persuasions of the Manager,'
who took' him by the band,
.he suffered himself
to be led off, and bowing to the audience, both
retired. r