it, assembled in a body of three hundred, and, armed with offensive weapons, broke into the theatre, and, taking forcible possession of the stage, wounded some twenty-five persons who had opposed their entrance.  Great confusion prevailed.  The Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal Family were in the theatre at the time.  Colonel Deveil, justice of the peace, who was also present, after attempting in vain to read the Riot Act ("he might as well have read Caesar’s ‘Commentaries,’” observed a facetious critic), caused some of the ringleaders to be arrested, and thirty of them were sent to Newgate.  While in prison, they were supported by the subscriptions of their sympathising brethren.  Meanwhile, anonymous letters were thrown down the areas of people of fashion, denouncing vengeance against all who attempted to deprive the footmen of their liberty and property.  A further attack upon the theatre was expected.  For several nights a detachment of fifty soldiers protected the building and its approaches; but the public peace was not further disturbed.  The footmen were compelled to acknowledge themselves defeated.  They were admitted gratis to the upper gallery no more.

Arnot’s “History of Edinburgh,” 1789, contains an account of a servants’ riot in the theatre of that city on the occasion of the second performance of the Rev. Mr. Townley’s farce of “High Life Below Stairs,” originally played at Drury Lane in 1759.  The footmen, highly offended at the representation of a farce reflecting on their fraternity, resolved to prevent its repetition.  In Edinburgh the footmen’s gallery still existed.  “That servants might not be kept waiting in the cold, nor induced to tipple in the adjacent ale-houses while they waited for their masters, the humanity of the gentry had provided that the upper gallery should afford gratis admission to the servants of such persons as were attending the theatre.”  On the second night of the performance of the farce, Mr. Love, one of the managers of the theatre, came upon the stage, and read a letter he had received, containing the most violent threatenings both against the actors and the house, in case “High Life Below Stairs” should be represented, and declaring “that above seventy people had agreed to sacrifice fame, honour, and profit to prevent it.”  In spite of this menace, however, the managers ordered that the performance should proceed.  Immediately a storm of disapprobation arose in the footmen’s gallery.  The noise continued, notwithstanding the urgent orders addressed to the servants to be quiet.  Many of the gentlemen recognised among this unruly crew their individual servants.  When these would not submit to authority, their masters, assisted by others in the house, went up to the gallery; but it was not until after a battle, in which the servants were fairly overpowered and thrust out of the house, that quietness was restored.