Note 62 — Chapter VI · James Watt, Mathematical Instrument Maker.

a temporary wooden theatre was run up in 1752, but the religious prejudices of the population were violently excited by the circumstance, and the place was attacked by a mob and seriously damaged. The few persons who went there had to be protected from insults. In 1762, when some persons proposed to build a theatre, not a single individual who had ground within the burgh would grant them a site. Two years later the theatre was erected outside the precincts, and on the night on which it was opened it was wilfully set on fire by some persons instigated by the preaching of a neighbouring methodist, when it narrowly escaped destruction.