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SEASON OF
'783-1784
ention has already been made of the financial interest
3 which Thomas Harris, the Covent Garden manager and
holder of that theatre’s patent, had from time to time taken in
JSA6 the Opera House. The running of one theatre seemed to him,
it would appear, not sufficient. Consequently, not having this year any
money invested in the King’s, he decided to build an entire new theatre.
As it chanced, he had on his assumption of the Covent Garden patent
ln 1774 fallen heir to another, and dormant, patent, on the authority of
'which the now defunct theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields had formerly operated.
He proposed to revive this patent in favor of his new theatre, which was to
be located at Hyde Park Corner and to be called the Prince of Wales. Harris
intended it to be a winter theatre in which both plays and operas were to
be performed.
On 16 June The Gazetteer reported that actual construction of this new
playhouse, “behind Grosvenor Place,” had begun, that it was making
rapid progress and would be ready for use in January 1785. If this statement
can be relied on, one wonders what became of the building and how much
°f it was actually built, inasmuch as Harris eventually abandoned the entire
project. What his reason was is not known. But seemingly he came to the
conclusion that the theatregoers of London were not sufficiently numerous
to suPport a third theatre which would, in fact, be in competition with
bis own Covent Garden. His second patent proved of use to him, however, in
later years, when for a considerable sum he sold it in 1794 to Drury Lane,
whose own patent had at that time expired.
With the arrival from Dublin of John Philip Kemble the Drury Lane
company this season was again strengthened. He made his first appearance,
633