It was but just before the
breaking out of hostilities, that they levied for themselves the very
tax which, at the close of the American war, they represented to Lord
North as certain ruin to their affairs to demand for the state. The
example has since been imitated by the managers of our Italian Opera.
Once during the war, if not twice, (I would not willingly misstate
anything, but I am not very accurate on these subjects,) they have
raised the price of their subscription. Yet I have never heard that any
lasting dissatisfaction has been manifested, or that their houses have
been unusually and constantly thin. On the contrary, all the three
theatres have been repeatedly altered, and refitted, and enlarged, to
make them capacious of the crowds that nightly flock to them; and one of
those huge and lofty piles, which lifts its broad shoulders in gigantic
pride, almost emulous of the temples of God, has been reared from the
foundation at a charge of more than fourscore thousand pounds, and yet
remains a naked, rough, unsightly heap.
I am afraid, my dear Sir, that I have tired you with these dull, though
important details. But we are upon a subject which, like some of a
higher nature, refuses ornament, and is contented with conveying
instruction. I know, too, the obstinacy of unbelief in those perverted
minds which have no delight but in contemplating the supposed distress
and predicting the immediate ruin of their country.
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