[43] The house closed, but re-opened for two nights on Monday, November 2, and Tuesday, November 3. The whole proceeds were given to the relations of the deceased, and to the maimed sufferers on that luckless night, the 15th of the preceding month. The entire company engaged in the theatre tendered their services gratuitously: the two nights' representations produced 290_l._ 7_s._, which was beneficially and impartially distributed by the proprietors, a proceeding which elicited the following declaration:--
"We, the magistrates, who have acted on this occasion, feel it incumbent upon us to express to the public our approbation of the conduct of the proprietors of Sadler's Wells, who used, as it appears, every possible exertion at the time, and have shown every attention to alleviate, as much as was in their power, the distress occasioned by so melancholy an event; and at the same time we feel a pleasure in bearing our testimonies to the grateful deportment of those who have experienced the attention, the humanity, and the liberal relief which has been afforded them.
[44] Bologna, jun. and Grimaldi were the two heroes in this piece, produced for the first time at Covent Garden Theatre, on Thursday, March 31, 1808.
[45] On the edge of the common, between the seventh and eighth mile stone, on the left-hand side of the road from town.
Covent Garden Theatre destroyed by fire--Grimaldi makes a trip to Manchester: he meets with an accident there, and another at Liverpool--The Sir Hugh Middleton Tavern at Sadler's Wells, and a description of some of its frequenters, necessary to a full understanding of the succeeding chapter.
Of course some unforeseen circumstance was to happen, and some unexpected demand to be made on the money so easily earned. A short time before he went to Birmingham, being short of cash, he had commissioned a friend on whom he placed great reliance to get his bill at one month for 150_l._ discounted. The friend put the bill into his pocket-book, and promised to bring the money at night. Night came, but the money did not: it had not arrived when he returned from Birmingham; the friend was nowhere to be found, and he had soon afterwards the satisfaction of paying the whole sum, without having received a sixpence of the money.