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the impropriety of his conduct. The latter, on this, struck Quin in the face, who returned the blow. This being witnessed by the nobleman's companions, they drew their swords, and a general fight ensued. The police of the town not being under such strict regulation as they are at present, the proprietors called in the assistance of the district watchmen, such characters as Dogberry, Verges, &c., and the noblemen were given in charge to them. They were kept in custody all night, and examined, the next morning, before the magistrate, and held to bail, when they made restitution. His Majesty, hearing of the outrage, sent privately for a few of the ringleaders, whom he lectured rather severely on their improper conduct. And the King was pleased to order that the guards should do duty every play-night, which custom has never been dispensed with.

COLLEY CIBBER.

MACKLIN says, Nature formed Colley Cibber for a coxcomb; for though, in many respects, he was a sensible and observing man, a good performer, and a most excellent comic writer, yet his predominant tendency was to be consi

dered, amongst the men, as a leader of fashion; amongst the women, as a beau garçon. Hence, he excelled in the whole range of light fantastic comic characters. His Lord Foppington was considered, for many years, as a model for dress, and that hauteur and nonchalance which distinguished the superior coxcombs of that day. The picture of him in this character, with a stiff embroidered suit of clothes, loaded with the ornaments of rings, muff, clouded cane, and snuff box, exhibits a good lesson, to a modern beau, of the versatility and frivolity of fashion.

A DEVIL TOO MANY.

THE belief in the possibility of a supernatural appearance on the stage, existed, about the beginning of the last century, even in London, where, at this moment, it is not wholly extinguished. In "The Sorcerer," a celebrated pantomime produced by Rich, at Lincoln's Inn Fields, a dance of infernals was exhibited. They were represented in dresses of black and red, with fiery eyes and snaky locks, and garnished with every appendage of horror. They were twelve in number. In the middle of their performance, while intent upon the figure in which they had

been completely practised, an actor of some humour, who had been accommodated with a spare dress, appeared among them. He was, if possible, more terrific than the rest, and seemed to the beholders as designed by the conductor for the principal fiend. His fellow furies took the alarm; they knew he did not belong to them, and they judged him an infernal, in earnest. Their fears were excited; a general panic ensued, and the whole group fled, different ways; some to their dressing rooms, and others, through the streets, to their own homes, in order to avoid the destruction which they believed to be coming upon them for the profane mockery they had been guilty of. The odd devil was non inventus. He had invisibly fled away, through fears of another kind. He was, however, seen by many, in imagination, to fly through the roof of the house, and they fancied themselves almost suffocated by the stench he had left behind. The confusion of the audience is scarcely to be described. They retired to their families, informing them of this supposed appearance of The Devil, with many of his additional frolics in the exploit: so thoroughly was its reality believed, that every official assurance which could be made

the following day, did not entirely counteract the idea.

This explanation was given by Rich himself, in the presence of his friend Bencraft, the contriver, and, perhaps, the actor of the scheme, which he designed only as an innocent frolic to confuse the dancers, without reflecting on the serious consequences which succeeded.

PRICES OF ADMISSION, AND RECEIPTS OF THE THEATRES, IN SHAKSPEARE'S TIMES.

No distinction seems to have been made in any of the Theatres, between the company frequenting the upper galleries or scaffolds, and the pit or yard. The "groundling," and the "gallery-commoner," paid, alike, for admission to the places which they severally occupied, though that price varied with the rank and reputation of the Theatre; at the Blackfriars and the Globe, they gave sixpence; at the Fortune, twopence; and, at some of the inferior houses, as little as one penny. Thus Dekker sneers at "the groundling and gallery-commoner buying his sport by the penny." The best rooms, or boxes, at the Globe were a shilling; at Blackfriars, apparently sixpence more; and the price

was, subsequently, raised even as high as half a crown. Such were the ordinary prices of admission; but, on the first night of a new play, these were doubled, and, occasionally, if the author was particularly popular, trebled. As is still the custom in the French Theatres, at the actor's benefits, dramatic poets were admitted gratis.

Nine or ten pounds appears to have been the average, and double that sum, an extraordinary receipt, at the Globe or Blackfriars; for, although the former was much the larger house of the two, the prices being less, the receipts were nearly equal. That the expenses of the Theatre were very trifling, appears from the following entry in Sir W. Herbert's office-book, under the date of 1528. "The King's Company (which acted, indifferently, at the Globe and Blackfriars,) with a general consent, have given me the benefit of two days in the year, the one in summer, the other in winter, to be taken out of the second day of a revived play, at my own choice. The house-keepers (proprietors) have likewise given their shares, their daily charge only deducted, which comes to some 21. 5s., this 25th May, 1628. The benefit of the first day being a very unseasonable one, in respect of the

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