98 
Of the rows, therefore, (as they are 
called) of Monday. the 24th, and Friday 
the 28th of January, we know nothing, 
but from general notoriety. Of those 
of the two: succeeding evenings, Mon- 
day, the 31st of January, and Friday, 
February the 4th, we can speak more 
accurately ; and certainly, scenes more 
disgraceful to the promoters of them 
we have seldom witnessed; nor is it 
worth while particularly to discriminate 
the shades of turpitude between the 
respective parties. Groups of organized 
disturbers, (not constituting, together, 
a third part of the audience, and still 
less respectable, generally speaking, in 
their appearance,) drowning the voices 
of actors and actresses in one conten- 
tious clamour; ladies of character to- 
tally excluded—whether in moral re- 
prehension of the offending performer, 
or from the dread of outrage, we leave 
conjecture to decide ;—men (we can- 
not call them gentlemen) even in the 
dress boxes, some of whom had not 
the manners, even there, to take off 
their hats, clamourously applauding 
every passage which could be tortured 
into any allusion to circumstances, 
which the most moderate attention to 
decency would, at any rate, have for- 
borne to celebrate with triumphant 
acclamation, and then entering into 
personal quarrel with those who re- 
torted in equally vehement cries and 
hisses ;— organized bands, of ruffian-like 
appearance, in the pit, who—not con- 
tent with provoking and prolonging 
the irritation, by every demonstration 
of vociferous enthusiasm, and silen- 
cing dissent, in their own region, by 
pugilistic prowess,—showered indiseri- 
minate vollies of oranges and apples 
into the boxes, to the destruction of 
chandeliers, and dealt black eyes and 
broken heads* to persons who were 
sitting as silent spectators of the fray ; 
and, to crown all, the manager himself 
behind the screen of the procenium, 
witnessing, for a considerable time, this 
outrageous battery upon the side boxes, 
without any attempt at remonstrance, 
or interference; and then, when an 
orange or two glanced from their aim, 
by striking against a pillar of the as- 
sailed boxes, or being warded off by 
the hands of the person annoyed, fell 
* We do not know that any more than 
one head was broken, but that was of a 
completely passive spectator. An equally 
unoffending youth, in the same box, was, 
however, blinded, for some time, by the 
stroke of an apple on his eye. 
Topic of the Month: — The Morality of the Stage, 
[Mar. 1, 
upon the stage, coming instantly forward, 
with action of pathetic appeal, and mak- 
ing himself the accuser of the suffering 
parties!+ Such were the disgraceful 
results of that fermentation, which in- 
decorous precipitancy on the one side, 
and an equally indecent vehemence of 
pretended morality on the other, had 
provoked and excited. 
We do not mean to insinuate that an 
uninstigated audience may not, in the 
ebullition of indignant feeling, carry to 
great length their hostile resentment, 
against even a favourite actor, on the 
grounds of personal conduct. Macklin, 
many years ago, was driven from the 
stage on account of his conduct in a 
personal quarrel behind the scenes; and 
even in those foreign regions, where Mr. 
Kean expressed his anxiety that, for 
the honour of his country, his persecu- 
tion should never be reported, events 
something similar do occasionally, it 
should seem, take place: of which the 
following instance, communicated by a 
foreign gentleman, who occasionally 
favours the M.M. with his correspon- 
dence, may not be an impertinent il- 
lustration. 
Sir:—The late theatrical rows, which 
have distracted and disgraced the metropo- 
lis, put me in mind of an anecdote, which 
was related to me, some months ago, by a 
friend, who had then just returned from 
Germany, and which I beg now to trans- 
mit to you. My communication would, 
perhaps, 
+ In such a scene of tumult, it is im- 
possible for one eye to see every thing that 
passes in every part of so large a theatre. 
We speak only of what we saw. As dan- 
ger Was around us, our attention was occa~ 
sionally, of course, confined to what was 
nearest. Whether, therefore, any of the 
three or four oranges that fell upon the 
stage were originally aimed there, we can- 
not pretend to say. If they were, no re- 
prehension, or chastisement could be ‘too 
severe for the brutality which gave them 
such direction ; for Miss Smithson was on 
the stage, and of course exceedingly alarm- 
ed; and, sex alone, to say nothing of youth 
and beauty, if there were one fibre of manly 
feeling left in a biped’s breast, should have 
protected her from the agitation of such 
occurrence. But the two instances speci- 
fied in the text occurred as there related ; 
and certainly nothing was thrown upon the 
stage, either by the individual gentleman, 
or from the assaulted boxes, against which 
Mr. E. directed his accusations: they were 
the sufferers, not the annoyers, in this missile 
warfare. 
