They seized upon the best seats in the pit, and converted them into stalls, charging for admission to these a higher price than they had ever levied in regard to the boxes.

Stalls were first introduced at the Opera House in the Haymarket in the year 1829.
Dissatisfaction was openly expressed, but although the overture was hissed--the opera being Rossini's "La Donna del Lago"-- no serious disturbance arose.

There had been a decline in the public spirit of playgoers.

The generation that delighted in the great O.P.riot had pretty well passed away.

Such another excitement was not possible; energy and enthusiasm on such a subject seemed to have been exhausted for ever by that supreme effort.