On account of the length of the operas and ballets, and never being able to get 
the lady-singers ready to begin in time, the operas seldom finished till after 
twelve o'clock on Saturdays. The Bishop of London sent to inform me, that if the 
curtain did not drop before the twelfth hour, the licence should be taken away, 
and the house shut up. Against his fiat there was no appeal, and many nights have
I been obliged to order the dropping of the curtain in the midst of an 
interesting scene in the ballet.