agreements of the actors were only verbal, and were disregarded by the patentees, who refused any actor a benefit until he or she had signed a paper signifying voluntary acceptance of the condition of paying one-third to the patentees. The actors applied to the Lord Chamberlain for redress, and the patentees were directed to satisfy their claims. The patentees demurred, and the theatre was reduced to silence (6 June 1709), no performances being allowed. Rich then published an advertisement, claiming Wilks, Betterton, Estcourt, Cibber, John Mills, and Mrs. Oldfield had received nearly £2000. Rich, with other patentees, in a petition to the queen, stated their grievances against the lord chamberlain, who refused them any redress. A second petition was sent by a few of the silenced actors, members of Drury Lane. Wilks, Thomas Dogget, Cibber, and Mrs. Oldfield did not join in the petition; they had formed an agreement to join Swiney at the Haymarket, where they opened with Othello on 15 September 1709. Rich kept together Barton Booth and other actors; the order, however, remained in force, and William Collier, one of the proprietors of the patents, applied for and obtained a license, and ultimately succeeded in obtaining a lease of Drury Lane. Now that no performances were given, Rich was paying no rent, but he sought to retain the theatre in his hands. He stripped it of everything worth moving, except scenery. In The Tatler, on 15 July, No. 42, Richard Steele gave a mock catalogue of the contents of "the palace in Drury Lane, of Christopher Rich, Esquire, who is breaking up housekeeping." There are such things as a rainbow, a little faded; Roxana's nightgown, Othello's handkerchief, the imperial robes of Xerxes, never worn but once, a basket-hilted sword, very convenient to carry milk in, and the like. Collier obtained, on 22 November 1709, possession of the house. A humorous account of these proceedings is given in The Tatler, No. 99, 26 November 1709, in which Rich, depicted under the name of Divito, is said to "have wounded all adversaries with so much skill that men feared even to be in the right against him". Collier claimed to have the consent of a majority of the other renters for what he had done, and was joined by actors who had once worked for Rich. Finally Rich lost his hold on Drury Lane. Rich had already acquired a