510 
stead of being confined to low districts 
in the neighbourhood of rivers, 
Allow me, also, to express my con- 
cern, that the government of this ‘coun- 
try does not amend the laws for regu- 
lating the parish roads, which are gene- 
rally subjected to the ineffective and 
barbarous system. of statute duty. 
P. Q. 
— a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
OTWITHSTANDING the splen- 
did improvements that have been 
made, of late years, ‘in the embellish- 
ment: of our theatres, every thing has 
not yet: been accomplished which a re- 
fined taste for the duxuries of theatri- 
cal entertainment might conceive and 
desire: to say nothing of what has been 
done which might reasonably be wished 
to be undone again. The mode, for 
example, of lighting up the audience 
part of the house, and the front of the 
Stage, is liable to sufficient objections. 
If the audience, indeed, are'to be re- 
garded:as ‘the spectacie, and the actors 
as the spectators, all is as it should be ; 
for, certainly, the prospect from the 
stage, when the boxes are well. filled 
with beauty and fashion, and the pit 
tolerably genteel, is splendid in the ex- 
treme: a \blaze of igaiety and glory— 
of damp. and lustre «ineffable. But all 
this» dight—this galaxy sof :wax and 
gas,.to the! vision of a part of the spec- 
tators at-least, is rather an obstruction 
than: an accommodation: a distraction 
tovall. 
‘Dark through excess of bright the stage 
appears: :’? 
and the effect upon the scene is often 
so preternatural, as to give no small 
offence to the picturesque eye. 
I ‘was led 'to these observations by 
meeting with the following account of 
a new method of illumination, which, 
it seems, has been adopted at one of 
the Italian ‘theatres: 
““« The interior of the Theatre la Fenice, 
at Venice, is now lighted up by means of 
a néw process, invented by the mechanician 
{mechanist] Localilli.’’ Pt appears, from the 
description ‘given ‘of ‘it by [in an Italian 
journal, }thatslamps concealed imithe roof, 
and fitted, up,with : parabolic + reflectors, 
throw,all. their rays of, Jight upon, an. open- 
ing one foot in diameter, in the centre. of 
the -ceiling.,, This opening is, furnished 
with an ingenious system of lenses, which 
concentrate the rays and reflect them to 
every part of the house. This mode of 
lighting presents several advantages ; ‘the 
light: is more’ -vivid- and’ more generally 
‘Superseding of Theatrical Foot-Lamps. 
[July 1, 
diffused; nothing intervenes between the 
stage and the spectators occupying an ele- 
vated situation,in front ; the lamps may be 
approached to be trimmed without the pub- 
lic perceiving it, and there is neither smeke 
nor smell proceeding from the burning of 
oil. An idea of this method may be formed 
by representing to one’sself a luminous disc 
on the sun at its zenith.” 
Lighting the whole house from one 
central point aboye, if it can be fully 
effected, must, undoubtedly, be a very 
great improvement— especially if that 
light can be thrown on the front of the 
stage, with such vividness as to remove 
the necessity of those preternatural 
abominations, the footlights; which, 
especially when an actor or actress 
comes very forward upon the audience 
(a most indecorous absurdity by the 
way!) exhibits the features, by means 
of the inverted shadows, in most ridi- 
culous, and sometimes even frightful 
caricature. I could mention one actress, 
in particular, who is very fond of thrust- 
ing a not very handsome profile across 
the orchestra, till her chin overhangs 
the pit; and who looks, upon such 
occasions, as if, instead of a nose and 
eye-brows (to say nothing of the ascend- 
ing shadows from the cheek-bones), 
she had three conical patches of court 
sticking-plaster stuck at triangles upon 
her face. This is an “ effect defective,” 
which nothing but dispensing with the 
foot-lamps can obviate. Nor is the 
Scenery, in some cases, without its 
share in the incongruous phenomena 
of up-ascending beams, whence walls 
and turrets shed their inverted shadows 
on the sky. 
These observations may, perhaps, 
appear to your wéilitarian gravity, Mr. 
Editor, as of too trivial a nature for 
your instructive pages. They have re- 
ference, however, to the progress of 
Philosophical Discovery (chemical and 
mechanical), and may suggest occasions 
for half'a score new patents. And, take 
my word for it, philosophy is not to 
your miscellany léss important, for bemg 
connected with the progress also of the 
refining luxuries of fashionable amuse- 
ments and dissipation. With the excep- 
tion of about 150 or 200 political econo- 
mists (for I understand that the whole 
economical population, who make such 
a noise, or who care about the noise, 
about profits of labour, profits of stock, 
and profits of rent, &c. do not exceed 
that number), I suspect you will find 
the reading public caring’ a great deal 
more about the philosophy of the war- 
blings of a voice or an elastic heel—a 
bravura, 
