manager, alarmed for the safety of the building, attempted to announce his
departure to the audience, but in vain. They would not listen to him, and
as a last resort he chalked in large letters on a board, "_Macready has
left the theatre_" and hoisted it before the footlights. This had the
desired effect, and the headlong crowd, with shouts and laughter, began to
tumble out. Once in the street, they sent up a loud hurrah, and dispersed
in groups to their various drinking places, to talk over their victory and
damn all Englishmen.

The fact that the mob refrained from damaging the theatre, shows that they
did not desire destruction; they had only done in their rough way what
other men deemed respectable, and even legislators, have often done, and
almost as boisterously, to prevent an obnoxious person from being heard.
They certainly had many respectable precedents for their course, and Mr.
Macready should have done what others have been compelled to do--given up
the attempt and waited for a more propitious time. That a man has a right
to play or speak, is true; but men of all grades have always asserted the
right to show their displeasure of the acting of the one or the sentiments
of the other. Not that there is any excuse for such conduct as we have
described, but it can be hardly called a serious riot, although by
whomsoever committed is unquestionably riotous in its character.

Of this contemptible, disgraceful interference of his friends in his
quarrel, Forrest had nothing to say--he kept a studied silence. How a man
with any self-respect could have refrained from denouncing it, and
repudiating all sympathy and connection with it by a public card, it will
be difficult for men of ordinary sensibility to imagine.

Macready now determined to throw up his engagement altogether, but after
much consultation and deliberation changed his mind. A letter was