Others were not so generous as Macklin.  The author of The Disputes between the Director of D——­y, and the Pit Potentates, one “B.Y.,” champions the cause of the non-principal players against such as Mrs. Clive, “for the low-salary’d Players are always at the labouring Oar, and at constant Expence, while the rest are serv’d up once or twice in a Week each, as very fine Dishes,” one of whom, he says, is Mrs. Clive, an “avaritious” person whom he is confident “has found, and feels, her Error by this Time."[17] The writer then details the particular hardships of Mrs. Roberts, Mrs. Horton, and Mr. Mills, hardships caused by such greedy principals as Clive.  B.Y. obviously chose to ignore the compassion of Mrs. Clive for the low-salaried players expressed in her Case.

Evidence that Mrs. Clive was in no position to be avaricious and that a debilitating cartel in fact existed is found in her own essay.  When the defected players returned to Drury Lane (except Macklin, whom Fleetwood considered the cause of the theater’s troubles) late in 1743, Fleetwood offered Mrs. Clive a salary incompatible with her talent and lower than his previous “agreements” with her.  Clive says, “They were such as I was advis’d not to accept, because it was known they were proposed for no reason but to insult me, and make me seek for better at the other Theatre; for I knew it had been settled, by some dark Agreement, that Part of the Actors were to go to Covent-Garden Theatre, and others to Drury-Lane.”

Led to believe that she would find comfort and acceptance at Covent Garden based on previous encouragement by Rich to have her join his company,[18] Mrs. Clive realized that the dark agreement was a fact, for “When I apply’d to him, he offered me exactly the same which I had refused at the other Theatre.”  She managed a bit more salary, however, and out of necessity agreed to play.  More rankling to Mrs. Clive than basic salary was her being forced to pay for her benefit.  The extant Clive-Garrick correspondence points to the pride she took in not only a “clear” benefit but one held during that part of the month she dictated.  As is the case with salary, the basis for this complaint was unreasonable manipulation by the managers, loss of freedom, and an unjustified break with tradition:  “I had had one [a benefit] clear of all Expence for Nine Years before; an Advantage the first Performers had been thought to merit for near Thirty Years, and had grown into a Custom.”

Mrs. Clive did not regularly play for Rich until December 1743, from which time she “determined to stay there,” doing all in her power to please her audiences and him.  Yet she “found, by his Behaviour to me, it was designed I should not continue with him.”  Clive’s specific exposition of Rich’s mistreatment of her is a portrait of an actress aware of her worth and of a manager at his worst.  Fired from Covent Garden—­against custom and justice—­at the end of the season