408 Notes for the Mouth. [OcT. 



which sense and freedom repudiate ; and which public patience will not 

 tolerate much longer. 



The accounts in the Scottish papers, of the Emigration of our Irish 

 brethren, continue as alarming as ever. Steam-packet after steam-packet 

 arrives at the quay of Glasgow; and, like the report upon the "out- 

 ward walls" of Macbeth's castle, as fast as each new bailment appears 

 in sight, " the cry" upon the JBroomielaw, " is still They come !" 

 What is to be done in case Mr. Pocoek's scheme for kite conveyance 

 succeeds, we are at a loss to imagine. The linen too, to make the kites, 

 the staple of their own manufacture ? Certainly, unless Irishmen gene- 

 rally^ found in England are declared contraband, we may look, every 

 time a wind blows from* the westward, to have the sky literally darkened 

 with their coming sails between Holy head and Dublin. This will be 

 " carrying into effect the policy of the union of the two countries" (without 

 the trouble of a motion from Mr. Maurice Fitzgerald) with a vengeance. 



The approaching commencement of the winter performances at Drury- 

 lane Theatre, has re-opened the dispute between Mr. Price and the 

 renters, as to the right of the latter to "take places" upon the force of their 

 " privilege of admission." The custom, as our readers will be aware, has 

 been on particular occasions, when very full audiences are expected to 

 refuse to " keep" or secure places for any applicant, who does not, by 

 purchasing a ticket for the night, at the time of his application, give secu- 

 rity to the house that he really intends to occupy them. The renters' claim 

 is, that their nightly " admission of right" is entitled to be held equivalent 

 in value to any nightly ticket, purchased, and that they have a general right 

 to every privilege which the present payment of admission money can secure; 

 and this right, the present manager thinks proper to deny. The quarrel is a 

 difficult one to adjust, and one which it would have been better never to have 

 made public ; because now, however it may be settled, we are afraid the 

 renters must be losers. Their right to every privilege which ready money 

 payment could afford them, is as clear in law as it is in reason and equity ; 

 and no court could entertain a doubt, we apprehend, upon the question for 

 a moment; but Mr. Price nonsuits our legal mediation, for he says You 

 (the renters) are J400 in number; if you insist upon your right to secure 

 places, you can more than fill all the places in which people choose to sit 

 in the boxes of the theatre : and, if you do this, you lose your dividend 

 for no manager can pay the rent. The case, thus, whichever way it is 

 arranged, is a difficult one : for the annual sale of their " right of admis- 

 sion" forms as much a part of the renters' gain as their annual dividend 

 and, perhaps, may be considered the more certain gain of the two. 

 Now, if they insist upon their right, Mr. Price threatens to diminish the 

 interest on their capital; for, he says, he cannot, at the present rent, keep 

 open the theatre : and, if they give their right up, then their admission 

 privilege becomes a deteriorated property, which will sell annually in the 

 market for so much the less. The poor renters thus stand in a predica- 

 ment directly the reverse of that of Macheath between his wives ; for 

 either horn of (he dilemma seems almost equally sure to impale them. As 

 the proyerb, however, in all cases of doubt, particularly directs our atten- 

 tion to the bird in hand, we should hardly recommend them to wave the 

 privilege of their free tickets. 



