Star.
London, England, 1805-06-17 00:00:00

RIO? AT

'Hy: OPERA Not

• A riot tisnic place at this theatre on Satdiday even-
ing which threatened to produce the mull fcrifnis
confequenees to the property •of the Houfe. Our
Readers *ill recollea that•an intimation was fomc

time ago given to the Direitors of the Opera fron;
high EcclefiaQical Authority. that if the entertain-

.. . -
merits were not regularly doled before midnight,
profeentions would be commenced againft them.—
Defkous of complying with this mandate, the Direc-
tars have ever fence abridged the performances on
Saturday evenings ; and on Saturday, inftead of the
very long ballet of Olian, they fubftituted Paul et
Vi ginie between the Slit and fecond aft of the Opera,
and gave only the fecond aft of o.4(Arn, at the dole.
This aft contains the moft attrallive part of tie bal.
let, and particularly the brilliant Pal al Deux of the
Des Haves, which is a clef d'auvre of the art. The
refult of this arrangement however, was, that the
curtain dropt at half palt eleven o'clock. The au-
dience, very erroneoufly, as we underftand, conceiv.
ed that, had the Taft aft of the ballet been alfo per-
formed, the whole reprefentation might have beeri
terminated hefore twelve. 'Phis iLtpreflion upon the
minds of the younger part of the audience, incenfed
them to a very great degree ; and inftead of retiring
from the pit, they kept their feats, and expreffed
their difapprobation by loud hiffings and hootings.
No perfon coming forward to give any kind of ex-
planation, a more turbulent fpirit began to (hew itfelf;
and thole who were moll violent, let about commit-
ting ails of molt unwarrantable outrage.'
Firtt they proceeded to the Orcheftra, feized the
books of mufic, tore them to pieces, and fcattered
them over the live. Their fury was next exerted
.to deftroy the tin lamps made ufe of to light the mu-
sicians. About this time fame of the fervants of the
Theatre, aware of the tumultuous proceedings, came
into the Orcheftra, in order to fare as much of the

materials as poffible. They were, however, loon
compelled to evacuate it by the active part of the au-
dience. One of them, however, in the pl/e mar and
confufion of the coat, efcaped with a valuable Harp ;
and another, not fo firccetsful, was taken as he was
effecting his retreat, with a Double Bars. The af-
failants, being thus difappointed of part of the ob-
jeas of their revenite, took ample amends from what
was left behind. I hey completely defiroyed an ele-i
pant Grand Piano Forte, eßimated at the value of
too guineas, by treading it to atoms; broke every
article they could lay their hands upon, amongft
which were Double Batas, Violins, and ,Baftoons ; I
of eighteen Violins, only five furvived the horrors of
the night. The viaors Itized the necks and broken
bellies of the fiddles, holding them up in triumph,
as thefpotia °pima, the trophies of their provers ;
and, not fatisfied with this, they pulled down the
partition of the Orchefira, and made almoll a level
paftage between the pit and the nage. The next
attempt was upon the curtain, which, with the wings
of the great acne, was loon torn to p:eces. Whilft the
battle was raging, a carpenter, poffeffing more zeal
than difcretion. was endeavouring to manceovre away
a piece of the wreck, when an Honourable Gentle-
man* who is occationally heard in the Legiflature,
and who was in the Orchefira, and ailing as leader
of the band, threw a violin-cafe at his head. The
fellow dropt his booty, but fnatehing up the/mi./bet,
he fent it back, with •redoubled force, to his honour,
who dexteroufly efctped its effects by ducking his
bead, and then jumping on the Stage with great alert-
s:refs, brought back the aßonifhed carpenter to anfwer
for his temerity. The man pleaded Rrongly the in-
nocence of his intention, Rating, that he only meant
to replace the violin-cafe in its former fituation ;he
was fuffered to efcape unpunilbed.
After this
_Rom, there appeared a calm for a few
moments ; and it was hoped that the mifchief would
end here ; but it turned out, that what had happened
was only an carnet of what was to come. At one
(weep a gentleman, armed with a large Rick, deftroy.
fed the whole range of foot lamps in the front of the
Rage, which was at this time crowded with the au-
dience from the pit, fume of whom proceeded to at-
tack the Scenery with redoubled fury. A Sky-fcene
was rent to pieces, and they bagan upon the Side
Scenes, when a large portion of fcenery from the
top fell upon the Rage with great violence. Several
hats were knocked off, but fortunately ne perfon was
injured by the accident. This was ruppofed to have
been done, not with a view to hurt, but to intimidate
the affailants from keeping poffeffinn of the Rage. It
bad in rouse degree the defired effect, as a great many
of them abandoned the part of the Rage to .apoted,
though they did not wholly retreat from it. They
ranfacked the lower boxes for chairs, which they took
upon the Rage, and into different parts of the houre,
and threw them at the chandeliers, which were ele-
gant and coaly. As the glafs flew, the clamour
inereated, the atchievements of one encouraged ano-
ther, and the attack became general. The cracking
of the fcenery in one place, the flying of the glafs in
another, and the hallooing out from all quarters for
the proprietor, Mr. GOOLD, would have made one
fuppofe that "Chaos had come again." Previous to
this period of the action, a party of the Guards bad
appeared on the Rage. but they were ordered off
again, Without being allowed to interfere in any way.
A conflable or two appeared, and difplayed the en.
figns of their authority ; but initead of taking any one
into eaflody, they were In roughly hardled, that they
would have willingly reigned their dignity of office,
and all they poffeffed, to have been at fiber* them-
reins.
In the min of this confufion, Mr. Ketch appear-
ed, evidently mach hurt at the difgraceful proceed.
ings which had taken place. It was in vain he at-
tempted to make himfelf heard, or command atten-
tion. It was with difficulty we could make out what
he raid, daring the partial hearing which he obtain.
ed, but we under-Rood him to have Rated, " that the
Manager, in what he did with retina to the curtail.
ment of the Ballet, was governed by the orders
.he
received from the Public Office, at Bow-ftreet, iffirtd
at the infligation of the Bilhop of London, and which
were, in effect, not to permit the performances to be
protrafted beyond twelve o'clock on Saturday night:
why the curtain had dropped fn loon as the time men-
tioned be could not attempt to account for" This
explanation not proving ratisfaaory, the Ballet-mat-
ter, Mr. D'Eay 'cut, was nest called upon, who raid
that his inftructions were to drop the curtain at ;be
cnnehrfion of the fecond aft of the Ballet, and he had
done Co accordingly. Mr. Gooco wns then loudly
called for again, when Mr. KaLLT Item(' forward,