Event Comment: Books of
the Opera to be sold at
the Theatre. Nothing under FULL PRICE can be taken. Opera not perform'd this season. [A riot this night in which
the benches were torn up. Led by
Fitzpatrick against
the abolishment of
the custom of admitting at half-price after
the third act. See previous disturbance at
Drury Lane. No more plays at cg until 3 March 1763 while repairs were being made to
theatre. See
Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1763,
Historical Chronicle, Th. 24: A riot happened at
Covent Garden theatre occasioned by a demand being made for full prices at
the opera
Artaxerxes.
The mischief done was
the greatest ever known on any occasion of
the like kind; all
the benches of
the boxes and Pit being entirely tore up,
the glasses and chandeliers broken, and
the linings of
the Boxes cut to pieces.
The rashness of
the rioters was so great, that
they cut aWay
the wooden pillars between
the Boxes, so that if
the inside of
them had not been iron,
they would have brought down
the Galleries upon
their heads.
The damages done amount to at least #2000. Four persons concern'd in
the riot have been committed to
the gatehouse.
The Beauties of All Magazines Selected, for March 1763 (p. 142) reprinted from
the Ledger a humorous account of this riot as told by a sailor in fabricated seaman's language: As soon as
the foresheet was clewed up...As to my 5s., why
the owners are welcome to it towards repair, for you stripp'd plank, timbers, and scantlings,-you gutted her; she look'd like a French prize, after a yard-arm engagement."