. Amicable restoration was made to the Theatre Royal of the actors under Swiney at the
Haymarket
; and to compensate Swiney for his loss of profit, it was agreed that while
Drury Lane
confined itself to the acting of plays, he should profit by the new taste for Italian music, and devote the house in the
Haymarket
to opera. Swiney was content. The famous singer Nicolini had come over, and the town was impatient to hear him. This compact held for a short time. It was broken then by quarrels behind the scenes. In 1709 Wilks, Dogget, Cibber, and Mrs. Oldfield treated with Swiney to be sharers with him in the
Haymarket
as heads of a dramatic company. They contracted the width of the theatre, brought down its enormously high ceiling, thus made the words of the plays audible, and had the town to themselves, till a lawyer, Mr. William Collier, M.P. for Truro, in spite of the counter-attraction of the trial of Sacheverell, obtained a license to open
Drury Lane