PLAYHOUSE. 
which fubfifted between them contributed to the fuccefs 
of their undertaking, and their efforts in the end procured 
them both riches and refpeft. 
The month of December 1761 was marked with the 
death of Mr. Rich, who had been manager under the 
patents granted by Charles the Second almoft fifty years. 
His peculiar excellence in the compofition of thof'e per¬ 
formances which demanded fhow and expenfe enabled 
him, with an indifferent company of adtors, to make a 
itand againft the greatelt performers of his time : he was 
unrivalled in the reprefentation of his favourite charadfer 
Harlequin, and pofiefled, with many foibles, fome quali¬ 
ties which commanded the efteem of his friends and ac¬ 
quaintance. On his deceafe, the bufinefs of Covent 
Garden Theatre was conduced by his fon-in-lavv Mr. 
Beard, who introduced feveral mufical pieces to the ftage, 
which were received with applaufe, and brought confider- 
able profits to thofe concerned in the houfe. The take of 
the public inclined very much to this fpecies of per¬ 
formance for feveral feafons; but, about the year 1766, 
the audiences beginning to leffen, and the adting manager 
finding no relief for a deafnefs with which he had long 
been afflicted, he became defirous of retiring from the 
buftle of theatre to the quiet of private life. In the fum- 
.mer of 1767 a negotiation was let on foot by Meffrs. 
Harris and Rutherford, for the purchafe of all the pro¬ 
perty in the playhoufe which belonged to the then pro¬ 
prietors; but, the advantage of having a capital perform¬ 
er as one of their fharers being fuggelted, Mr. Powell was 
invited to join with them, and lie recommended Mr. 
Colrnan as a perfpn from whom the undertaking would 
receive great benefit. The propofal being aflented to by 
the feveral parties, the property of the theatre was 
affigned in Auguft 1767; the condudt of the ftage was 
intruded to Mr. Colrnan, and the houfe opened on the 
14th of September. The difputes which foon afterwards 
arofe among the new managers are unworthy of any 
notice, on account of the virulence and acrimony with 
which each party feems to have been inflamed; it isfuffi- 
cient to obferve, that after they had continued a long 
time, and had received a judicial determination, they 
were amicably ended. Mr. Rutherford fold his (hare to 
Meffrs. Leake and Dagge. Powell died in July 1769 ; and 
his widow afterwards married Dr. Fifher, who by that 
means became entitled to fome part of her late hufband’s 
intereft in the theatre. Mr. Colrnan managed the affairs 
of the ftage until the year 1774, when his right was pur- 
chafed by the reft of the partners, to whom it was imme¬ 
diately affigned; and from that time, Mr. Harris, and 
fubfequently his fon, have been confidered the chief pro¬ 
prietors of this concern, at leaft till very lately. 
On the 23d of January, 1774, Mr. Lacey died, leaving 
his property in Drury-lane theatre to his fon Willoughby 
Lacey, who continued to carry on the bufinefs of the 
ftage in great harmony with his father’s old friend and 
partner. At length an event took place, which the ad¬ 
mirers of theatrical entertainments had long expedted 
with concern, and now viewed with regret. Mr. Garrick, 
at a period when his powers had fuffered little injury 
from time, and in the height of his fame and popularity, 
determined to relinquifh all connexions with the ftage, 
and retire to the honourable enjoyment of a large fortune, 
acquired in the courfe of near forty years fpent in the 
fervice of the public. His laft appearance was in the 
charadfer of Don Felix, in the play of The Wonder, on 
the 10th of June, 1776, for a charitable benefit. He was 
honoured with a brilliant and crowded audience, and was 
difmifled with the loudeft applaufes ever heard in a theatre. 
See the article Garrick, vol. viii. 
The perfons to whom Mr. Garrick transferred his 
intereft ,in the theatre, at the price of 35,000!. W'ere, 
Mr. Sheridan, a young gentleman who had already dif- 
tinguifhed himfelf as the author of two excellent drama¬ 
tic pieces, one of which, the Duenna, had been more fuc- 
cefsful than any recent production ; Mr. Thomas Linley, 
667 
an eminent compofer; and Dr. Ford, a phyfician. Thefe 
gentlemen, apparently diltrufting their abilities for fo 
new an undertaking, called to their aid the experience 
of Mr. Sheridan’s father, who was deputed to be the 
adting manager. But this fyftem, for reafons which have 
not tranfpired, lafted only a ftiort time. The elder Mr. 
Sheridan gave up his poft; and Mr. Lacey, at about the 
fame period, fold his (hare of the theatre to his remaining 
partners; but of the precife day on which he received the 
money we are not informed. 
A little theatre called China-hall at Rotherhithe, was 
opened in the fummer of 1777. It was formed out of 
the warehoufe of a paper-m3nufadturer; and, novelty 
crowning the firft feafon with fufficient encouragement, 
the proprietors ventured to embellifti and materially 
improve the premifes; the advertifement for the com¬ 
mencement of the following feafon ftating, that the pro¬ 
prietors “ have fpared no expenfe in enlarging and beauti¬ 
fying the theatre ; and, as they are determined to pre- 
ferve the exadteft pundiualityin the time of beginning, 
and to make regularity and decorum their chief ftudy, 
hope they lhall render themfelves deferving of that fa¬ 
vourable encouragement they have before experienced.” 
The prices of admiffion were, boxes 3s. pit 2s. gallery is. 
and time of commencing varied by the feafon from half- 
paft fix to fev’en o’clock. One of the performers was the 
late celebrated George Frederic Cooke. Some time in 
the winter of 1778-9 the whole building was deftroyed by 
fire. 
On the 20th of June, 1787, Mr. John Palmer opened a 
new playhoufe, called the Royalty Theatre, near Well- 
clofe-fquare, which had been built under the idea that 
the juftices of the Tower Hamlets were empowered, by 
the royalty of that fortrefs, to licenfe the performance of 
plays. It proved, however, to be otherwife; and, after 
the night of opening, when As You like it, and Mifs in 
her Teens, were performed for the benefit of a public 
charity, the theatre immediately clofed ; and the enter¬ 
tainments afterwards exhibited were burlettas, dances, 
and pantomimes, in the manner of thofe performed at 
Sadler’s Wells, See. See the article London, vol. xiii. 
p. 449. 
On the 4th of June, 1791, the old Drury Lane Theatre 
clofed for the laft time: it having been refolved to take 
it down, and rebuild a more commodious houfe on the 
fite. But, as it was impoffible that this object could be 
effeffed againft the ufual time for re-opening the winter 
feafon, the newly-built Opera Houfe (or King’s Theatre), 
in the Haymarket, was occupied by the company in 
1792-3, and the Little Theatre oppofite to it in 1793-4, 
during which feafon happened the dreadful accident no¬ 
ticed at vol. xiii. p. 125. 
The new theatre, w'hich had been built by Mr. Holland, 
and completed in a rrioft tafteful and elegant ftyle, was 
opened on the 12th of March, 1794, with a grand feledlion 
of facred mufic from Handel’s works, commencing with 
the Coronation Anthem. It afterwards opened for dra¬ 
matic performances on the 21ft of April, with the tragedy 
of Macbeth, and the farce of The Virgin Unmafked, to 
an audience which completely overflowed long before the 
curtain arofe. A Prologue, written for the occafion by 
general Fitzpatrick, was fpoken by Mr. Kemble. Mifs 
Farren fpoke an Epilogue, written by Mr. Colrnan, jun. 
in which flie allured the audience, that they need be in no 
fear of Jive, for they had water enough to “ drown them 
all in half a minute;” the curtain then drew, and fhowed 
a very fine river on the ftage, on which a waterman, in 
his boat, paffed to and fro; in addition to this, “they 
had an iron curtain preparing, fo that, in cafe of fire, 
only the feenes and the adfors could be burnt.” The 
houfe, thus perfectly fecure, was burnt to the ground in 
the year 1809, and not rebuilt till 1812. See the article 
London, vol. xiii. p. 213,14. 319,20. 529,30. 
In the mean time Covent Garden theatre had alfo been 
repaired, burnt down, and rebuilt. On the 17th of Sep¬ 
tember, s 
