CHROKICLE. 



347 



if die whole capital had been in- 

 sured, the profit would have been 

 reduced to little more than five per ' 

 cent, though for want of this lull 

 insurance, the proprietors, being 

 in part their own insurers, sustain- 

 ed a loss by the late fire, for which 

 no compensation has been made, 

 to the amount of more than the 

 whole of their profits for the above 

 period of six years. The report 

 farther stated that the committee 

 was fully satisfied, that the future 

 profits of the new theatre at the 

 proposed advance in the prices of 

 admission, would amount to no 

 more than three and a half per 

 cent per annum upon the capital 

 expended in the theatre, if the 

 same were insured ; and that upon 

 the same supposition of insurance, 

 at the former prices of admission, 

 the proprietors would in the judg- 

 ment of the committee, annually 

 sustain a loss of nearly ^ per cent 

 per annum on their capital. 



Upon this report being made 

 public, the question arose whether 

 the common interest of 5 per cent 

 was, or was not, included in the es- 

 timate of profits ; which called 

 forth the further declaration, that 

 after deducting the legal interest 

 of 5 per cent on their capital, no 

 more than If per cent remained to 

 the proprietors for their whole pro- 

 fits. 



Notwithstanding, however, the 

 commissioners were men of busi- 

 ness, used to accounts, and hence 

 not likely to be deceived them- 

 •clves, and of a respectability 

 which seemed to preclude the pre- 

 sumption of their deceiving others, 

 their report was very far from 

 proving satisfactory to the public. 

 On rc-opening the theatre, there- 

 tore, the same discordant and hidc- 

 i)us noises were resumed, with cries 



of " Old Prices ;" '< No garbled 

 extracts to humbug John Bull," 

 &c. Placards also of like tendency 

 were exhibited in various parts of 

 the house, as, 

 " Mr. Kemble, lower your prices, for 



no evasion 

 Will suit John Bull on this occasion." 



And: 



" John Kemble, let your monopoly 

 cease, and then raise your prices as high 

 as you please," 



" No private boxes for intriguing." 



" A long pull, a strong pull, and a 

 pull altogether for old prices." 



" John Bull, be very bold and reso- 

 lute ! Never j^jjart from your resolu- 

 tion, but firmly keep your noisy sta- 

 tion." 



For the first two or three nights 

 after there-opening, these disturb- 

 ances began at the commencement 

 of the play ; but afterwards, the 

 rioters becoming tired of paying 

 the full price, did not begin till the 

 half price, and there seemed to be, 

 if not an expressed, at least, an un- 

 derstood, conspiracy, for the ob- 

 tainment of the proposed object. 

 The instruments of noise and up- 

 roar were now varied and multipli- 

 ed, and in addition to laughing, 

 singing, groaning, &c. we had an 

 accompaniment of coachmen's 

 horns and trumpets, dustmen's 

 bells, and watchmen's rattles. — 

 Many came with the symbolical 

 characters of O. P. in their hats, 

 and upon their clothes, forming 

 rings and making mock-fights in 

 the pit, and sometimes pushing in 

 a mass ; or the whole joined in the 

 notable O. P. Dance, as it was call- 

 ed, which consisted in an alternate 

 stamping of the feet, accompanied 

 with the regular cry of O. P. in 

 noisy and monotonous cadence. — 

 The performances, tiie awhile, con- 

 sisted merely in dumb show and 

 pantomimical representation. 



The 



