"
Others were not so generous as Macklin. The author of _The Disputes
between the Director of D----y, and the Pit Potentates,_ one "B.Y.,"
champions the cause of the non-principal players against such as Mrs.
Clive, "for the low-salary'd Players are always at the labouring Oar,
and at constant Expence, while the rest are serv'd up once or twice in a
Week each, as very fine Dishes," one of whom, he says, is Mrs. Clive, an
"avaritious" person whom he is confident "has found, and feels, her
Error by this Time."[17] The writer then details the particular
hardships of Mrs. Roberts, Mrs. Horton, and Mr. Mills, hardships caused
by such greedy principals as Clive. B.Y. obviously chose to ignore the
compassion of Mrs. Clive for the low-salaried players expressed in her
Case.
Evidence that Mrs. Clive was in no position to be avaricious and that a
debilitating cartel in fact existed is found in her own essay. When the
defected players returned to Drury Lane (except Macklin, whom Fleetwood
considered the cause of the theater's troubles) late in 1743, Fleetwood
offered Mrs. Clive a salary incompatible with her talent and lower than
his previous "agreements" with her. Clive says, "They were such as I was
advis'd not to accept, because it was known they were proposed for no
reason but to insult me, and make me seek for better at the other
Theatre; for I knew it had been settled, by some dark Agreement, that
Part of the Actors were to go to Covent-Garden Theatre, and others to
Drury-Lane.
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