| Citation |
VGW(PA.737.038
13-20 May 1737:22 (42)
London, Feb 24. On Monday night last, a great disturbance
happened at Drury-lane Play House, occasioned by a great
number of footmen, who assembled themselves in a riotous and
tumultuous manner, with great outcries of burning the house,
unless they were immediately admitted into what they call
their gallery; and in order to strike a terror, they began
to hew down the door of the passage which leads to the said
gallery; of which Col. De Viel, who was in the house, had
immediate notice, and thereupon came out, where they were
thus assembled, and notwithstanding they threatened to knock
his brains out, he read the proclamation to them, admonish'd
them to retire, and desist from so unlawful an undertaking;
telling them, that he came as a friend and not as a foe, to
warn them of their danger. This admonition, and seasonably
reading the proclamation, had its desired effect, for they
all went off in a few minutes after the proclamation was
read, leaving the field of action to The King and the Miller
of Mansfield, a new dramatic performance, written by the
author of the Toy-Shop, which has met with great
approbation.
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