And now we come to the famous Romeo and Juliet season, that of 1750-51, in which Garrick and Barry were the rival Romeos, Miss Bellamy and Mrs. Cibber the opposing Juliets. Barry, by passing to Covent Garden, was enabled to play with Quin, in "Othello," the "Orphan," "Jane Shore," "Henry V.," "Julius Cæsar," "Distressed Mother," "Fair Penitent," "Tamerlane," and "King John." In these, Barry's Faulconbridge was alone a failure, and Quin held his own so well that his terms for the season were £1000, the largest sum ever yet received by English actor; but his Richard was as little a success as Barry's Faulconbridge. Garrick, Mrs. Pritchard, and Miss Bellamy appeared together in "Zara;" at the other house,[55] Barry, Mrs. Cibber, and Mrs. Woffington, in the "Conscious Lovers." Mrs. Cibber, as Indiana, made a great point by her delivery of such simple words as these: "Sir, if you will pay the money to a servant, it will do as well!" Barry and Mrs. Woffington in Lord and Lady Townley, and Quin and Mrs. Woffington in "Macbeth," were among the attractions of Covent Garden, added to which was Rich's Harlequin; but for that also Garrick found a rival in Woodward, who played the motley hero as he played everything, with care and effect. But all these matters were as nothing when compared with the rival Romeos and Juliets. They appeared on the same night, at their respective houses, the 28th of September, 1750. At Covent Garden, the public had Romeo, Barry; Mercutio, Macklin; Juliet, Mrs. Cibber. At Drury, Romeo, Garrick; Mercutio, Woodward; Juliet, Miss Bellamy. On the first night Barry spoke a poor prologue, in which it was insinuated that the arrogance and selfishness of Garrick had driven him and Mrs. Cibber from Covent Garden. Garrick, ready to repel assault, answered in a lively, good-natured epilogue, delivered saucily by Mrs. Clive. It was considered a wonderful circumstance that this play ran for _twelve_ nights successively; Garrick played it thirteen, to show that he was not beaten from the field! At that period the Londoners, who were constant playgoers, demanded a frequent change of performance; and the few country folk then in town felt aggrieved that one play should keep the stage during the whole fortnight they were in London. Thence the well-known epigram:-- "'Well, what's to-night?' says angry Ned, As up from bed he rouses; 'Romeo again!' he shakes his head: 'A plague on both your houses!'" Contemporary journals, indeed, affirm that the audiences grew thin towards the end of the fortnight, but this seems doubtful, as Barry's twenty-third representation, in the course of the season, was given expressly on account of the great number of persons who were unable to obtain admission to his twenty-second performance.