Kemble, on account of the giving up of the private
boxes, which, I fear, must be at last complied with.
Surely nothing ever equalled the domineering of the
mob in these days. It is to me inconceivable how
the public at large submits to be thus dictated to,
against their better judgment, by a handful of imperious
and intoxicated men. In the meantime, what
can the poor proprietors do but yield to overwhelming
necessity? Could I once feel that my poor brother's
anxiety about the theatre was at an end, I should be,
marvellous to say, as well as I ever was in my life.
But only conceive what a state he must have been in,
however good a face he might put upon the business,
for upwards of three months; and think what his poor
wife and I must have suffered, when, for weeks together,
such were the outrages committed on his house
and otherwise, that I trembled for even his personal
safety; she, poor soul! living with ladders at her
windows in order to make her escape through the
garden in case of an attack. Mr. Kemble tells me his
nerves are much shaken. What a time it has been with
us all—beginning with fire and continued with fury!
Yet sweet sometimes are the uses of adversity. They
not only strengthen family affection, but teach us all
to walk humbly with our God,
"Yours,
"S. S."
The fury of the rioters was principally directed
against John Kemble, "Black Jack," as he was called.
They never lost a certain respect for the great actress
who had served them so long and so faithfully. We
know the story of her appealing through the windows
of her sedan-chair to the riotous crowds assembled