THE DRAMATIC PATENTS EXAMINED. 267 



of this theatre, in his evidence before the House of Commons' Com- 

 mittee, said, (< The house, I believe, will hold about 600/ ; I am not 

 quite sure it will hold 700/." Let it, then, be taken at 650/., and let 

 us endeavour to ascertain to what extent this house, which is just 

 exactly the right size, has been filled with spectators who paid for 

 their seats, since the house was rebuilt. 



In the Chancery suit Harris v. Kemble and others, Mr. Henry 

 Robertson, the treasurer and accountant of the theatre, deposed, upon 

 oath, " that the actual average net receipts of the twelve seasons, 

 1809-1821, were 66,289^' The house usually played two hundred 

 nights in each season, or a very few beyond that number in some 

 seasons. If, then, fourteen nights and the odd nights beyond two 

 hundred, be allowed for benefits, the number of nights in each season 

 will be one hundred and eighty-six, and the average amount of the 

 house, for money paid for seats therein, from private boxes, and 

 from every source whence income could be derived, would be 356/. 

 But Captain Forbes shows that the house will hold 650/., and, conse- 

 quently, it was not much more than half filled on an average of the 

 nights during the twelve first seasons, which have been extolled as 

 the period when the house was in a flourishing condition. Did the 

 public like the large house ? did they " LIE ?" Could the large house, 

 even during this period, be profitable ? Let us inquire a little fur- 

 ther. 



Mr. Robertson shows the actual average income of the house, during 

 the twelve seasons, to have been (>6 3 289/. ; and Mr. Harris, in a de- 

 position of his before the Court of Chancery, states that the income 

 from all sources exceeded what he called the current expenses by an 

 annual average of 13,500/., which sum was applied to the payment of 

 the debts owing by the theatre. If, then, the sum of 13,500/. be de- 

 ducted from the sum of 66,289/., it will leave 52,789/. for the annual 

 average expenses of carrying on the theatre. Captain Forbes, when 

 before the Committee of the House of Commons, delivered in a state- 

 ment, and said, " Covent-garden theatre cannot be conducted for so 

 small a sum as 50,000/. a-year." In Mr. Harris's time the flourish- 

 ing time the expenses were nearly 53,000/. ; and that is probably as 

 small a sum as would now pay all the necessary expenses, including 

 the salaries of a really efficient company of performers. Towards the 

 close of the term for which the theatre was taken by Messrs. Kemble, 

 Willett, and Forbes, and when the income was reduced very much 

 below the expenditure, efforts were made to reduce the expenses to a 

 minimum. Estimates were made by managers and some of the prin- 

 cipal performers, as well as by the proprietors ; and the paper laid 

 before the parliamentary committee by Captain Forbes, and the de- 

 claration made by him that the theatre could not be conducted for 

 so small a sum as 50,000/., was probably the result of the inquiries 

 and estimates made by the treasurer, and confirmed by his own ex- 

 perience, which, in this particular, was probably as perfect as it 

 could be. 



Fifty-two thousand pounds must then be taken as the lowest pos- 

 sible sum with which the current expences of the theatre can be paid, 

 if even the absurd and unjust system of paying nightly salaries were 



