However flattering these prospects seemed, they ended most unharmoniously in a fierce contention between the rival female performers Cuzzoni and Faustina, whose partizans were so vehement in the operations of hissing and clapping, that they proceeded in them even in the presence of the Princess of Wales. After this notice of the _polite_ portion of the community, the following advertisement, copied literally from the original issued by the proprietors of the Amphitheatre, will appear less wonderful and disgusting: "In Islington road, on Monday, being the 17th of July, 1727, will be performed a trial of skill by the following combatants. We Robert Barker and Mary Welsh, from Ireland, having often _contaminated_ our swords in the _abdominous corporations_ of such antagonists as have had the insolence to dispute our skill, do find ourselves once more necessitated to challenge, defy, and invite Mr. Stokes and his bold Amazonian _virago_ to meet us on the stage, where we hope to give a satisfaction to the _honourable Lord_ of our nation who has laid a wager of twenty guineas on our heads. They that give the most cuts to have the whole money, and the benefit of the house; and if swords, daggers, quarter-staff, _fury_, _rage_, and resolution, will prevail, our friends shall not meet with a disappointment.'--'We James and Elizabeth Stokes, of the City of London, having already gained an universal approbation by our agility of body, dextrous hands, and courageous hearts, need not _preambulate_ on this occasion, but rather choose to exercise the sword to their sorrow, and corroborate the general opinion of the town than to follow the custom of our _repartee_ antagonists. This will be the last time of Mrs. Stokes' performing on the stage.'--There will be a door on purpose for the reception of the gentlemen, where coaches may drive up to it, and the company come in without being crowded. Attendance will be given at three, and the combatants mount at six precisely. They all fight in the same dresses as before." Although a Coronation cannot by any means be considered as an amusement by a serious and reflecting person, there have been, and will be, numbers who see it in no other light than as a brilliant pageant. The splendour of that of George II. in October 1727 attracted vast crowds of strangers to London; and it was generally computed at the time that full 200,000 seats were provided for their accommodation in every situation which afforded even a glimpse of part of the ceremony.