260 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



fire was not loss than 450 feet in 

 breadth. It is impossible for the 

 mind to conceive any thing more 

 magnificent than the spectacle, if 

 the idea of the horror and ruin 

 which it brougiit on the sufferers 

 could have been separated from the 

 sublimity of the object. In about 

 thirty minutes after its commence- 

 ment the Apollo on the top fell into 

 the pit, and soon alter the whole 

 of the roof fell. 



The reservoirof water on the top, 

 which our readers will recollect 

 formed with the iro'n curtain the to- 

 pic of reliance for security in the 

 prologue with which the new theatre 

 was opened, was like a mere bucket- 

 full to the volume of fire on which 

 it fell, and had no visible effect in 

 damping it. Any attempt to go 

 near the flames was totally imprac- 

 ticable — and all that was saved from 

 ruin was done by the presence of 

 mind and activity of Mr. Kent, a 

 literary gentleman, who was the 

 first to discover tlie flames. He 

 hurried to the door and gave the 

 alarm. Mr. Powell, the prompter, 

 and Mr. Johnson, the mechanist, 

 with the two watchmen, and Mr. 

 Kent, were the only persons present, 

 for being a Friday in Lent there had 

 been no play nor rehearsal. They 

 ascertained that the fire broke out 

 in the hall, under the lobby at the 

 Urydges-slreet entry, which has 

 been shut up this season, and where 

 some plumbers had been at work. 



It was, when Mr. Kent broke in, 

 confined to thatspot; andtheymade 

 an effectual attempt to get out the 

 theatre engine, and play on it from 

 their reservoir ; but in ten or twelve 

 minutes it run up the front boxes 

 and spread like kindled wax. This 

 may be accounted for from the 

 body of air which so large a hollow 



afforded, and also to the circum- 

 stance of the whole being a wooden 

 case. For our readers will recol- 

 lect that the immense pile was con- 

 structed of timber, and that the 

 frame stood for many months, exhi- 

 biting a very fine carcase of carpen- 

 ter's work before the ribs were fil- 

 led in with bricks. Timber was 

 then under 3/, per load, and the ar- 

 chitect thought that this wooden 

 frame would contribute to the pro- 

 pagation of sound. It did not, per- 

 haps, perfectly succeed in this re- 

 spect, but it certainly contributed 

 to the conflagration. Finding it im- 

 possible to prevent the destruction 

 of the building, ,the gentleman 

 saved the books from the room 

 called the treasury, and they were 

 carried safely to Mr. Kent's house, 

 in Tavistock-street. The only 

 other article saved was a bureau, in 

 Mrs. Jordan's room. Mr. Kent 

 broke the pannels of the door, and 

 brought out the bureau. All further 

 endeavours were rendered impossi- 

 ble, by the excess of heat. 



About a quarter before twelve, 

 a body of horse-guards, and foot- 

 guards, and volunteers came to the 

 place, and engines reached the spot 

 from every quarter — but they could 

 do nothing. Part of the wall next 

 to Vinegar-yard fell down, and the 

 house of Mrs. Mac Beath, the fruit- 

 erer, caught fire. The night was 

 uncommonly fine, and the body of 

 flame spread such a mass of light 

 over the metropolis, that every sur- 

 rounding object glittered with the 

 brightness of gold. Mr. Sheridan 

 was in the house of Commons as- 

 sisting in the important discussion 

 on Mr. Ponsonby's motion. The 

 house was illuminated by the blaze 

 of light. And the interest univer- 

 sally taken in the circumstance in- 

 terrupted 



