We receiv'd the Patent _January 19, 1715_,[127] and (Sir _Richard_ being obliged the next Morning to set out for _Burrowbridge_ in _Yorkshire_, where he was soon after elected Member of Parliament) we were forced that very Night to draw up in a hurry ('till our Counsel might more adviseably perfect it) his Assignment to us of equal Shares in the Patent, with farther Conditions of Partnership:[128] But here I ought to take Shame to myself, and at the same time to give this second Instance of the Equity and Honour of Sir _Richard_: For this Assignment (which I had myself the hasty Penning of) was so worded, that it gave Sir _Richard_ as equal a Title to our Property as it had given us to his Authority in the Patent: But Sir _Richard_, notwithstanding, when he return'd to Town, took no Advantage of the Mistake, and consented in our second Agreement to pay us Twelve Hundred Pounds to be equally intitled to our Property, which at his Death we were obliged to repay (as we afterwards did) to his Executors; and which, in case any of us had died before him, the Survivors were equally obliged to have paid to the Executors of such deceased Person upon the same Account. But Sir _Richard_'s Moderation with us was rewarded with the Reverse of _Collier_'s Stiffness: _Collier_, by insisting on his Pension, lost Three Hundred Pounds a Year; and Sir _Richard_, by his accepting a Share in lieu of it, was, one Year with another, as much a Gainer.
The Grant of this Patent having assured us of a competent Term to be relied on, we were now emboldened to lay out larger Sums in the Decorations of our Plays:[129] Upon the Revival of _Dryden_'s _All for Love_, the Habits of that Tragedy amounted to an Expence of near Six Hundred Pounds; a Sum unheard of, for many Years before, on the like Occasions.[130] But we thought such extraordinary Marks of our Acknowledgment were due to the Favours which the Publick were now again pouring in upon us. About this time we were so much in fashion, and follow'd, that our Enemies (who they were it would not be fair to guess, for we never knew them) made their Push of a good round Lye upon us, to terrify those Auditors from our Support whom they could not mislead by their private Arts or publick Invectives. A current Report that the Walls and Roof of our House were liable to fall, had got such Ground in the Town, that on a sudden we found our Audiences unusually decreased by it: _Wilks_ was immediately for denouncing War and Vengeance on the Author of this Falshood, and for offering a Reward to whoever could discover him. But it was thought more necessary first to disprove the Falshood, and then to pay what Compliments might be thought adviseable to the Author. Accordingly an Order from the King was obtained, to have our Tenement surveyed by Sir _Thomas Hewet_, then the proper Officer; whose Report of its being in a safe and sound Condition, and sign'd by him, was publish'd in every News-Paper.[131] This had so immediate an Effect, that our Spectators, whose Apprehensions had lately kept them absent, now made up our Losses by returning to us with a fresh Inclination and in greater Numbers.