lic,
they were free to receive them as they pleased." When the curtain drew
up the actors were discovered standing between two files of
grenadiers, with their bayonets fixed and resting on their firelocks.
This seeming endeavour to secure the success of French acting by the
aid of British bayonets still more infuriated the audience. Even
Justice Deveil thought it prudent to order the withdrawal of the
military. The actors attempted to speak, but their voices were
overborne by hisses, groans, and "not only catcalls, but all the
various portable instruments that could make a disagreeable noise." A
dance was next essayed; but even this had been provided against:
showers of peas descended upon the stage, and "made capering very
unsafe." The French and Spanish Ambassadors, with their ladies, who
had occupied the stage-box, now withdrew, only to be insulted outside
the theatre by the mob, who had cut the traces of their carriages. The
curtain at last fell, and the attempt to present French plays at the
Haymarket was abandoned, "the public being justly indignant that
whilst an arbitrary Act suppressed native talent, foreign adventurers
should be patronised and encouraged." It must be said, however, that
the French actors suffered for sins not their own, and that the wrath
of the public did not really reach the Lord Chamberlain, or effect any
change in the Licensing Act.

For twenty years the Haymarket remained without a license of any
endurance. The theatre was occasionally opened, however, for brief
seasons, by special permission of the Chamberlain, or in defiance of
his authority, many ingenious subterfuges being resorted to, so that
the penalties imposed by the Act might be evaded. One of the
advertisements ran--"At Cibber's Academy, in the Haymarket, will be a
concert, after which will be exhibited (gratis) a rehearsal, in form
of a play, called Romeo and Juliet." Macklin, the actor, opened the
theatre in 1744, and under the pretence of instructing "unfledged
performers" in "the science of acting," gave a variety of dramatic
representations. It was expressly announced that no money would be
taken at the doors, "nor any person admitted but by printed tickets,
which will be delivered by Mr. Macklin, at his house in Bow Street,
Covent Garden." At one of these performances Samuel Foote made his
first appearance upon the stage, sustaining the part of Othello.
Presently, Foote ventured to give upon the stage of the Haymarket, a