Now and then they made havoc of the
decorations of the house, and cut and slashed the curtains, hangings,
and scenery. At Drury Lane, in 1740, when a riot took place in
consequence of the non-appearance of Madame Chateauneuf, a favourite
French dancer, a noble marquis deliberately proposed that the theatre
should be fired, and a pile of rubbish was forthwith heaped upon the
stage in order to carry into effect this atrocious suggestion. At the
Haymarket Theatre, in 1749, the audience, enraged at the famous Bottle
Conjurer hoax, were incited by the Culloden Duke of Cumberland to pull
down the house! The royal prince stood up in his box waving his drawn
sword, which someone, however, ventured to wrest from his grasp. The
interior fittings of the theatre were completely destroyed; the
furniture and hangings being carried into the street and made a
bonfire of, the curtain surmounting the flaming heap like a gigantic
flag. A riot at the Lincoln's Inn Fields, in 1721, led to George I.'s
order that in future a guard should attend the performances. This was
the origin of the custom that long prevailed of stationing sentries on
either side of the proscenium during representations at the patent
theatres.
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