On the following night, Mr. Mallet’s tragedy of “Elvira” was played for the first time.  The disturbance was renewed, and Mr. Garrick was called for.  He was asked peremptorily:  “Will you or will you not give admittance for half-price after the third act of a play, except during the first winter a pantomime is performed?” The manager, dreading a repetition of the riot of the preceding evening, replied in the affirmative.  A demand was then made for an apology from Moody the actor, who had interfered to prevent the theatre being fired.  Moody appeared, and, after an Irish fashion, expressed regret that he had displeased the audience “by saving their lives in putting out the fire.”  This pleasantry was very ill received.  Mr. Fitzpatrick’s party insisted that the actor should go down on his knees and implore their pardon.  Moody refused with an oath, and abruptly quitted the stage.  He was received with open arms by Garrick in the wings, who assured him he should not suffer for his spirited conduct.  But the tumult in the theatre became so great, that the manager was compelled to promise that Moody should not appear on the stage while he was under the displeasure of the public.  A reconciliation was some time afterwards brought about between the actor and his audience.  It may be noted that in 1763, according to a manuscript memorandum in his own hand (discovered by Mr. Parkes), Sir Phillip Francis, the supposed “Junius,” commenced to write anonymously for the Press, the occasion being “a row in a theatre, to help Fitzpatrick out of the scrape.”

Mr. Fitzpatrick’s plan of reform was supposed to be chiefly levelled at Mr. Garrick, yet it became evident that the management of the rival theatre must be made to accept the regulations that had been imposed on Drury Lane.  With this view the rioters paid a visit to Covent Garden, where the opera of “Artaxerxes” was being represented.  Mr. Fitzpatrick delivered his inflammatory speech from the boxes, and insisted upon immediate compliance with the demands of his party.  Mr. Beard, the manager, replied with great firmness.  He stated that operas had never been performed at such low prices as at his theatre; that his expenses were very great; and, he urged, that the public should not grudge the full price of admission, seeing that no expense in the way of actors, dresses, scenery, music, and decorations of all kinds, had been spared for their entertainment.  Finally, he declined to accept the tariff of admission proposed by Mr. Fitzpatrick.  A riot then ensued, and so much damage was done that the carpenters were employed for four or five days in repairing the theatre.  Mr. Beard, however, by means of a chief justice’s warrant, brought two or three of the rioters before Lord Mansfield.  His lordship solemnly cautioned Mr. Fitzpatrick that if any loss of life were to occur in consequence of the breach of the peace he had instigated, the law would hold him accountable for the disaster.  This somewhat checked the violence of the rioters, who contented themselves thenceforward with laughing and hissing, and forbore to inflict injury upon the furniture and fittings of the theatre.  Mr. Beard, at last, finding it impossible to keep open the doors of his theatre to any purpose, submitted to the terms of the dictators; peace was restored, and half-price established.