MACBETH ... Macready. LADY MACBETH ... Mrs. Pope.

BROADWAY THEATRE.

_This evening will be performed_

MACBETH.

MACBETH ... Mr. Forrest. LADY MACBETH ... Mrs. Wallack.

This public exhibition of rivalry stimulated the hostility of those
opposed to Macready, and there were some fears of disturbance; but nothing
serious was anticipated--in fact, it was rather a good advertisement, and
promised full houses. Niblo, one of the managers of the Opera House,
unwisely gave out tickets for more people than the building would hold,
and when, before evening, he found they were taken, he was alarmed. It
looked as if they had been so eagerly bought up for other purposes than
merely to hear Macready. He therefore went to the Chief of Police, and
requested the presence of a force in case any disturbance should be
attempted. It was promised, but as it turned out, most of it came too late
to be of any service.

A tremendous crowd assembled in front of the building long before dark,
and the moment the doors were open, a rush was made, and the human tide
poured in, and flowing swiftly over the house, soon filled every part of
it, except the boxes. These filled up more slowly; but long before the
curtain rose, the house was packed to repletion, while the amphitheatre
and parquette were crowded with hard-looking men--a dense mass of bone and
muscle. The fashionable portion of the audience in the boxes began to feel
anxious, for not only were all the seats occupied, but all the aisles and