ir servants beforehand to occupy places until such
time as it should be convenient for the masters and mistresses to
present themselves at the theatre. When Garrick took his benefit at
Drury Lane in 1744, the play--"Hamlet"--was to begin at six o'clock,
and in the bills of the day ladies were requested _to send their
servants by three o'clock._ It was further announced that by
particular desire five rows of the pit would be railed into boxes, and
that servants would be permitted to keep places on the stage, which,
for the better accommodation of the ladies, would be railed into
boxes.

The custom of sending servants early to the theatre to secure seats in
this way was, no doubt, a very old one; and, of course, at the
conclusion of the entertainment they were compelled to be again in
attendance with the carriages and chairs of their employers.
Meanwhile, they assembled in the lobbies and precincts of the
playhouse in great numbers, and considerable noise and confusion thus
ensued. In the prologue to Carlell's tragi-comedy of "Arviragus,"
1672, Dryden writes, begging the public to support rather the English
than the French performers who were visiting London:

And therefore, Messieurs, if you'll do us grace.
Send lacqueys early to preserve your place;

and in one of his epilogues he makes mention of the nuisance
occasioned by the noisy crowd of servants disturbing the performance:

Then for your lacqueys and your train beside,
By whate'er name or title dignified,
They roar so loud, you'd think behind the stairs,
Tom Dove and all the brotherhood of bears;
They've grown a nuisance beyond all disasters,
We've none so great but their unpaying masters.
We beg you, sirs, to beg your men that they
Would please to give us leave to hear the play.

"Tom Dove," it may be noted, was a "bear-ward," or proprietor of
bears, of some fame; his name is frequently mentioned in the light
literature of the period.

At this time the servants were admitted gratis to the upper gallery of
the theatre on the conclusion of the fourth act of the play of the
evening. In 1697, however, Rich, the manager of the theatre in
Lincoln's Inn Fields, placed his gallery at their disposal, without
charge, during the whole of the evening. Cibber speaks of this
proceeding on the part of Rich as the lowest expedient to ingratiate
his company in public favour. Alarmed by the preference evinced by the
town for the ri