njoyed many triumphs, while it has
nevertheless experienced sundry disasters. There was great trouble,
for instance, at Drury-lane Theatre in 1755, when Mr. Garrick's
"Chinese Festival" with its French dancers was sternly, even savagely,
condemned by the audience. The manager was over-fond of spangles and
spectacles, or inclined to over-estimate his public's regard for such
matters, and a sharp but necessary lesson was read to him upon that
occasion. Then he was very obstinate, and in such wise roused the
British lion inordinately. He would not withdraw the play from his
stage; promptly the audience determined that no stage should be left
him upon which to represent either the "Chinese Festival" or anything
else. Of course he had to yield at last, as managers must when
playgoers are resolute; he had to live by pleasing, not displeasing.
But he did not give way until there had been some six nights of uproar
and riot. In vain did various noble lords and gentlemen, friends of
the management, and supporters of spectacle and the ballet, draw their
swords, endeavouring to awe malcontents, to restore order, and to
defend the theatre from outrage. The mob would have its way. The
benches were torn up, the decorations torn down, chandeliers smashed,
even scenes and properties were ruthlessly destroyed. There was,
indeed, a wild proposition rife at one time to fire the house and burn
it to the ground. Garrick could but strike his flag, and yield up his
"Chinese Festival." Still it was agreed that he had hesitated too
long. The mob therefore repaired to Southampton Street, and smashed
his window-panes, doing other mischief to his property there. He began
even to tremble for his life, and from his friends in power obtained a
guard of soldiery to protect him. Strange to say, on two of the nights
of riot the king was present--a fact that did not in the least hinder
or mitigate the violent demonstrations of the audience.

But it was not so much the ballet that gave offence as the
ballet-dancers whom Garrick had brought from Paris. They were chiefly
Swiss, but the audience believed them to be French, and at that time a
very strong anti-Gallican feeling prevailed in the land. The relations
between England and France were of an unfriendly kind; the two
countries were, indeed, on the eve of war. The French, by their
conduct in America, had incurred the bitterest English enmity. It is
true that Garrick had projected his spectacle months bef