A Renter's share in Drury-lane Theatre was advertised for sale June 1714 (a 36th) the terms 170_l._ for 23 years: 2_s. per_ night for acting days, and free admission. The Weekly Packet of Nov. 6 says, "Christopher Rich, Esq. the patentee of the Playhouse, and a great encourager of poetical performances, died two days since without seeing his new Theatre in Lincoln's-inn-fields perfected, which is left to the care, with other legacies, of his eldest son Mr. John Rich." The same paper adds, Nov. 13, that Mr. Rich, driven from the Theatre of Drury lane by his rebellious subjects, was buried at St. Andrew's Holborn from his house adjoining the King's Theatre, accompanied by several of those who had resisted his authority when living. And in the publication of December 18, is the following paragraph: "This day the new Playhouse in Lincoln's-inn-fields is to be opened, and a comedy acted there called _The Recruiting Officer_ by the company that act under the patent, though it is said that some of the gentlemen who have left the house in Drury-lane for that service are ordered to return to their colours, upon pain of not exercising their lungs elsewhere; which may in time prove of ill service to the patentee, that has been at vast expence to make his Theatre as convenient for the reception of an audience as any one can possibly be." The King and his Family were either really or _politically_ partial to Drury-lane, in preference to the Italian Opera; and visited the former frequently. The King's licence under the great seal was granted, in January 1715, to Richard Steele, Esq. to form and keep a company of Comedians, to be styled "The Royal Company of Comedians." The Evening Post of March 19, 1715, announced, "On Monday next the 21st of March the Bowling-green at Mary-le-bon will be opened, by order of the Nobility and Gentry." The Weekly Packet of June 25, 1715, shews in few words the extravagant patronage bestowed on the Italian actors at that time: "Seignior Nicolini's quail pipe continues to _lug_ the nobility and gentry by the ears, who have gone very far on his last benefit night towards equipping him for another purchase at Venice, he having already built a stately edifice there near the Rialto, upon which is written, in characters of gold, _Villa Britannica_, as a testimony that Scaliger's saying that we are _hospitibus feri_ is a downright untruth, and falsely imputed to our Nation."