THE FOOTMEN'S GALLERY.
Of old the proprietors of theatres acted towards their patrons upon
the principle of "first come, first served." If you desired a good
place at the playhouse it was indispensably necessary to go early and
to be in time: to secure your seat by bodily occupation of it.
Box-offices, at which places might be engaged a fortnight in advance
of the performance, were as yet unknown. The only way, therefore, by
which people of quality and fashion could obtain seats without the
trouble of attending at the opening of the doors for that purpose, was
by sending on their servants beforehand to occupy places until such
time as it should be convenient for the masters and mistresses to
present themselves at the theatre. When Garrick took his benefit at
Drury Lane in 1744, the play--"Hamlet"--was to begin at six o'clock,
and in the bills of the day ladies were requested _to send their
servants by three o'clock._ It was further announced that by
particular desire five rows of the pit would be railed into boxes, and
that servants would be permitted to keep places on the stage, which,
for the better accommodation of the ladies, would be railed into
boxes.
The custom of sending servants early to the theatre to secure seats in
this way was, no doubt, a very old one; and, of course, at the
conclusion of the entertainment they were compelled to be again in
attendance with the carriages and chairs of their employers.
Meanwhile, they assembled in the lobbies and precincts of the
playhouse in great numbers, and considerable noise and confusion thus
ensued. In the prologue to Carlell's tragi-comedy of "Arviragus,"
1672, Dryden writes, begging the public to support rather the English
than the French performers who were visiting London:
And therefore, Messieurs, if you'll do us grace.
Send lacqueys early to preserve your place;
and in one of his epilogues he makes mention of the nuisance
occasioned by the noisy crowd of servants disturbing the performance:
Then for your lacqueys and your train beside,
By whate'er name or title dignified,
They roar so loud, you'd think behind the stairs,
Tom Dove and all the brotherhood of bears;
They've grown a nuisance beyond all disasters,
We've none so great but their unpaying masters.
We beg you, sirs, to beg your men that they
Would please to give us leave to hear the play.
"Tom Dove," it may be noted, was a "bear-ward," or proprietor of
bears, of some fame; his name is frequently mentioned in the light
literature of the period.
At this time the servants were admitted gratis to the upper gallery of
the theatre on the conclusion of the fourth act of the play of the
evening. In 1697, however, Rich, the manager of the theatre in
Lincoln's Inn Fields, placed his gallery at their disposal, without
charge, during the whole of the evening. Cibber speaks of this
proceeding on the part of Rich as the lowest expedient to ingratiate
his company in public favour. Alarmed by the preference evinced by the
town for the rival theatre in Drury Lane, Rich conceived that this new
privilege would incline the servants to give his house "a good word in
the respective families they belonged to," and, further, that it would
greatly increase the applause awarded to his performances. In this
respect his plan seems to have succeeded very well.
Cibber relates that "it often thundered from the full gallery above,
while the thin pit and boxes below were in the utmost serenity." He
proceeds to add, however, that the privilege, which from custom
ripened into right, became the most disgraceful nuisance that ever
depreciated the theatre. "How often," he exclaims, "have the most
polite audiences in the most affecting scenes of the best plays been
disturbed and insulted by the noise and clamour of these savage
spectators!"
The example set by Rich seems to have been soon followed by other
managers. For many years the right of the footmen to occupy the upper
gallery without payment was unchallenged. In 1737, however, Mr.
Fleetwood, manager of Drury Lane Theatre, announced his determination
to put an end to a privilege which it was generally felt had grown
into a serious nuisance. A threatening letter was sent to him, which
he answered by offering a reward of fifty guineas for the discovery of
its author or authors. The letter is given in full in Malcolm's
"Anecdotes of London," 1810:
"SIR,--We are willing to admonish you before we attempt our
design; and, provided you will use us civil and admit us into
your gallery, which is our property according to Formalities;
and if you think proper to come to a composition this way,
you'll hear no further; and if not, our intention is to join a
body _incognito_, and reduce the playhouse to the ground.--We
are, INDEMNIFIED."
A riot of an alarming nature followed. The footmen, denied admission
to their own gallery, as they regarded 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.
After this disturbance, the servants were not only deprived of the
freedom of the playhouse, but the custom of giving them "vails," which
had theretofore universally prevailed in Scotland, was abolished.
"Nothing," writes Mr. Arnot, "can tend more to make servants
rapacious, insolent, and ungrateful, than allowing them to display
their address in extracting money from the visitors of their lord."
After the riot in the footmen's gallery, the gentlemen of the county
of Aberdeen resolved neither to give, nor to allow their servants to
receive, any money from their visitors under the name of drink-money,
card-money, &c., and instead, augmented their wages. This example was
"followed by the gentlemen of the county of Edinburgh, by the Faculty
of Advocates, and other respectable public bodies; and the practice
was utterly exploded over all Scotland."
It was not only while they occupied the gallery, however, that the
footmen contrived to give offence to the audience. Their conduct while
they kept places for their employers in the better portions of the
house, appears to have been equally objectionable. In the _Weekly
Register_ for March 25th, 1732, it is remarked: "The theatre should be
esteemed the centre of politeness and good manners, yet numbers of
them [the footmen] every evening are lolling over the boxes, while
they keep places for their masters, with their hats on; play over
their airs, take snuff, laugh aloud, adjust their cocks'-combs, or
hold dialogues with their brethren from one side of the house to the
other." The fault was not wholly with the footmen, however: their
masters and mistresses were in duty bound to come earlier to the
theatre and take possession of the places retained for them. But it
was the fashion to be late: to enter the theatre noisily, when the
play was half over, and even then to pay little attention to the
players. In Fielding's farce of "Miss Lucy in Town," produced in 1742,
when the country-bred wife inquires of Mrs. Tawdry concerning the
behaviour of the London fine ladies at the playhouses, she is
answered: "Why, if they can they take a stage-box, where they let the
footman sit the two first acts to show his livery; then they come in
to show themselves--spread their fans upon the spikes, make curtsies
to their acquaintance, and then talk and laugh as loud as they are
able."