THE DRAMATIC PATENTS EXAMINED. 271 



theatres were abandoned and forgotten by a very large portion of 

 those who, under other circumstances, would have supported them. 

 Need we wonder, then, that the income of the theatre should have 

 declined, on an average of the last six seasons as compared with the 

 first six seasons, at the rate of nearly 21,000/. yearly. 



The account of the gross sums received during the twelveseasons 

 as stated by Mr. Harris gives the following result : 



Received in the first six seasons 560,214 6 8 



Received in the last six seasons 435,597 8 



Difference 124,617 6 



Annual average difference 20,769 11 



Yet in the face of these facts, exhibited on oath by the proprietors 

 themselves, they tell us that the houses are not too large. 



Disastrous as this statement shows the circumstances of the house 

 to have been, and conclusive as it is of the existence of so many 

 evils, it might be thought a sufficient condemnation of the large and 

 expensive houses ; but the ten following seasons, when the theatre was 

 held by Messrs. Kemble, Willett, and Forbes, exhibit a much more 

 deplorable account. 



Mr. Harris, in one of his depositions in Chancery, says that, when 

 he gave up the theatre to Messrs. Kemble, Willett, and Forbes in 

 1821, the floating debt was 60,000/. Captain Forbes, in his evidence 

 before the House of Commons' Committee, shows that it is now 

 84,OOOA, and, consequently, that 24,000/. have been added to it. 

 Mr. Kemble in his evidence says, " within the last few years we 

 ourselves have advanced 30,000/. ; three of the proprietors alone 

 have done it within the last ten years." 



Here, then, are the sums of 24,000/. and 30,000/., to which must 

 be added the voluntary subscription in 1829, not less probably than 

 3,000/. ; and thus the money sunk, lost, and gone cannot be less 

 than 57,000/., which is equal on an average to 5,700/. for each of the 

 ten seasons. 



Mr. Harris shows that during the first twelve seasons there was an 



annual income beyond expenses, exclusive of interest, &c. of.... 13,500 



Captain Forbes and Mr. Kemble show that there was no such "| 



income during the last ten seasons, but that there was an an- > 5,700 

 nual defalcation of. J 



Making an average difference against the ten last seasons of 19,200 



Captain Forbes, in his evidence before the House of Com- 

 mons' Committee, says, " I merely state facts. The loss has been 

 20,OOOZ. a year since 1820." This the captain attributes to the 

 minors intercepting the money on its way to the majors. This is no 

 doubt an erroneous statement : if it were correct, it would at once be 

 an answer to Mr. John Kemble' s assertion, " that the public LIED 

 that they liked the large theatres ;" as well, as to the repeated asser- 

 tions of those who have an interest in the two enormous theatres, 



