CHARAC TERS. 



795 



Harris, with a cca'te blanche for a 

 Covent-Gardcn engagement, which 

 ■was concluded for twelve nights on 

 M'Cready's terms. The nights were 

 to be three in the last week of No- 

 vember, three in the first week of 

 December, three in the last week 

 of January, and three in the first 

 week of February. His benefit to 

 follow immediately, and the engage- 

 ment to be renewed after Easter, 

 should its success render it eligible. 

 The altercation consequent, between 

 the managers, is not Morth repeat- 

 ing, but Mr. Harley states that 

 Drury-Lane dispatched immediately 

 messengers to Liverpool, and else- 

 where, to buy off, at any price, his 

 present engagements ; but, much to 

 the credit of the boy and his friends, 

 they determined to adhere to every 

 subsisting contraCl ; an exclusive 

 engagement, however, having not 

 been made, Drury-Lane obtained 

 him for the Covent-Garden inter- 

 vals. From Birmingham he pro- 

 ceeded to Sheffield, and with the 

 same success ; on no occasion was 

 that town known to be so crowded ; 

 great numbers thronged to town in 

 all directions, and every house was 

 overloaded with visitors ; and the 

 prices of admission were raised, 

 no doubt, to oblige the gentility of 

 the place. Early in October he ar- 

 rived at Liverpool.* All his former 

 successes, however brilliant and un- 

 precedented, were there completely 

 eclipsed, (the inhabitants of Liver-' 

 pool being particularly attached to 

 dramatic amusements and prodigies,) 

 and the ordinary theatric receipts 

 greatly exceed any in the empire, 

 London and perhaps Dublin except- 

 ed : the house is also the third in mag- 

 nitude, yet the difficulty of admittance 



was such, that in a few minutes the 

 house filled : — nay, the pressure, in 

 a morning, to take places, Avas 

 such, that all the standing rigging 

 of the pressors was carried away ; 

 and hats, wigs, boots, muffs, spencers, 

 and tippets, flew about in all direc- 

 tions through the crowd. In fif- 

 teen nights Master Betty cleared 

 .^.1520 at Liverpool. From thence 

 he proceeded to Chester and Man- 

 chester, and finished his provincial 

 engagements at Lichfield ; where it 

 is said he played twice a day. 



Saturday December first, 1804, 

 was announced for his first appear- 

 ance on the London boards, and as 

 the newspapers had for months been 

 winding up the public to the high- 

 est pitch of expectation, those who 

 are acquainted with the turbulent 

 manners of a London mob, and 

 its more than Liverpool attachment 

 to prodigies of all descriptions, may- 

 form a tolerable picture of the as- 

 semblage on that occasion, and also 

 of its condu6l. — A playhouse door, 

 on a favourite night, in London, is 

 the only place where the true spirit 

 of jacobinism is to be found; there 

 all distinftions of age, sex, or rank 

 are unknown, and by force or ac- 

 cident only can pre-eminence be 

 obtained. The pressure was un- 

 paralleled : the doors were scarcely 

 opened before proclamations an- 

 nounced the house to be full. Con- 

 fusion reigned triumphant in every 

 part of the theatre. In vain was an 

 attempt made to address the audi- 

 ence ; the play commenced amidst 

 the storm, and was compelled to 

 shrink from its fury. The address 

 Mas again brought forward, and tha 

 artor had sufficient firmness to grum- 

 ble quite through it. The tragedy 



• Mcrrit, p. 47. 



