leaders to be
arrested, and thirty of them were sent to Newgate. While in prison,
they were supported by the subscriptions of their sympathising
brethren. Meanwhile, anonymous letters were thrown down the areas of
people of fashion, denouncing vengeance against all who attempted to
deprive the footmen of their liberty and property. A further attack
upon the theatre was expected. For several nights a detachment of
fifty soldiers protected the building and its approaches; but the
public peace was not further disturbed. The footmen were compelled to
acknowledge themselves defeated. They were admitted _gratis_ to the
upper gallery no more.

Arnot's "History of Edinburgh," 1789, contains an account of a
servants' riot in the theatre of that city on the occasion of the
second performance of the Rev. Mr. Townley's farce of "High Life Below
Stairs," originally played at Drury Lane in 1759. The footmen, highly
offended at the representation of a farce reflecting on their
fraternity, resolved to prevent its repetition. In Edinburgh the
footmen's gallery still existed. "That servants might not be kept
waiting in the cold, nor induced to tipple in the adjacent ale-houses
while they waited for their masters, the humanity of the gentry had
provided that the upper gallery should afford gratis admission to the
servants of such persons as were attending the theatre." On the second
night of the performance of the farce, Mr. Love, one of the managers
of the theatre, came upon the stage, and read a letter he had
received, containing the most violent threatenings both against the
actors and the house, in case "High Life Below Stairs" should be
represented, and declaring "that above seventy people had agreed to
sacrifice fame, honour, and profit to prevent it." In spite of this
menace, however, the managers ordered that the performance should
proceed. Immediately a storm of disapprobation arose in the footmen's
gallery. The noise continued, notwithstanding the urgent orders
addressed to the servants to be quiet. Many of the gentlemen
recognised among this unruly crew their individual servants. When
these would not submit to authority, their masters, assisted by others
in the house, went up to the gallery; but it was not until after a
battle, in which the servants were fairly overpowered and thrust out
of the house, that quietness was restored.

After this disturbance, the servants were not only deprived of the
freedom of the playhouse, bu