50 CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL AT BLACKFRIARS 
To exhibit at once the size, capacity, and general features in 
a single view, I have inserted a suggestive plat of the seating 
capacity of the Blackfriars, and another of the Fortune, side by 
side,—the only two theatres whose dimensions are exactly known. 
Both are drawn to a scale of */,,”=1’. . 
In the absence of exact data as to size, number, and arrange- 
ment of seats, I first experimented with several conceivable modes 
of seating before allowing these plats to stand. If, for example, 
De Witt was correct in saying the Swan held 3000 people, then 
the Fortune, certainly considerably more capacious, must have 
accommodated more than 3000. But no method of arrangement, 
without reducing the seats to an impossible size, filling up the 
aisles, and standing the audience of the yard like corpses packed 
on end would make even the Fortine accommodate 3000. Since 
this larger theatre could not contain 3000, Priest De Witt’s dec- 
laration that the smaller Swan could may be laid to rest for all. 
time as an over-enthusiastic and very inaccurate guess.? 
From the many thousands of contemporary documents I have 
examined, directly bearing upon the life of the times, I am more 
and more convinced that the people of the time of Elizabeth and 
James were as solicitous for means of comfort as we are today. 
Quite contrary to the ill-founded notion commonly circulated by 
*Some farther conception of the Boston. 
monstrousness of De Witt’s estimate Hollis Street Theatre . . 1640 
may be gained by a comparison of Park - cK pe 1277 
the size of modern theatres. As Tremont!) 3. ine ate ae 
America boasts some of the largest Colonial 2 : : . 1653 
of the world, I quote certain sta- Chicago. 
tistics on seating capacity as pre- Thlinois +5358 4) yi a Ae 
sented in Julius Cohn’s Official The- Powers OE ae gh Seta te lease 1113 
atrical Guide (1907), XII, passim. (Garrick ie wie ot aoe 
But it will be noticed that the best Grand Opera House ce 1700 
.of these theatres are not the largest. The Studebaker . . . . 1549 
Great music halls, auditoriums, col- Chicago Opera House . 1700 
iseums, gardens, &c., are left out Auditorium (largest in the 
of the lists. world) Oey te 4079 
New York. These are representative exam- 
Belasco’s theatre Upeet 3 950 ples. An examination of official 
Gritenion rut cae ee 1100 statistics shows the seating capacity 
Daly’s «ites oe. wu ae 1150) of the, majority of oAmercanethess 
Empire 1100 tres ranges from less than 1000 to 
Garrick (Ch. Frohman) . 910 about 1500,—approximately a third 
New Amsterdam . 1675 to a half De Witt’s reported size of 
Lyceum (Dan Frohman) . 909 the Swan. 
Wallackts. < 1274 
164 
See eee 
