The managers of the London theatres have declared war against
the proprietors of music halls, whom they regard as rivals. The first attack is made upon Mr. Morton, of Canterbury Hall, who is sum- moned by Mr. Benjamin Webster, of the Adelphi, for performing pantomime at the hall without being duly licensed by the Lord Cham- berlain. The matter has come before the Lambeth magistrate, and has been adjourned. Mr. Morton has a license for music and dancing. It is charged that he has exceeded the license, and has trenched on the theatres by performing stage plays. The "stage play" performed was a pantomime burlesque, with Harlequin, Columbine, Pantaloon, and Clown. There "were fairies and large demons." "Lovers' courtship was interposed by fairies and protected by demons." The question was raised was there a "plot" in the piece ? but the wit- nesses, who were playwrights, could not tell. Mr. John Johnson, "professional author," had the courage to say that a pantomime should have a plot—" love thwarted by demons in power and rescued by fairy interference." All the witnesses considered that the piece performed was a "stage play" within the meaning of the act. The ease was adjourned that Mr. Sleigh, for Mr. Morton, might bring up "a body of experts in these matters," who would prove that the per- formance was not a stage play.
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