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and he spoke of his management no longer as that of a deputy, but as one having authority, such as the property only can bestow. The sum he was to give was agreed upon; all that remained was to satisfy his legal friend that the title was a good one. In the theatre itself, any prospect of a change was desirable. Peake, the treasurer, was as kind a man as ever secured a chest; but it was often empty. The performers had running accounts instead of weekly payments, and his desk was crowded with billets importing the absolute necessity of relief, or the actors would no longer play, which in that profession alone means they would no longer work.

But the Kemble and the Siddons, it was well known, were always superior to irregularity. A debt was a horror to them. The very connection of such people with the house secured its punctuality; and the common desire and the common belief of the company ran closely in the language of Shakespeare:

"That by the help of these (with Him above

To ratify the work), we may again

Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours;
All which we pine for now."

– Macbeth, fol. 1623, p. 143.

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