NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



89 



covered with barnacles, may be approached in still weather without danger, 

 though almost surrounded by rocks. 



Among places of public amusement and recreation in a great 

 city, the Theatre usually holds a principal place. So it may be with 

 that of Rio, in the estimation of the inhabitants; but few, who 

 have seen other houses of the kind, other scenic arrangements and 

 performances, can unite with them in admiration of what is to be 

 found here. 



The Theatre is situated close to the Palace, and is a poor, small, 

 dark house. Its form on the inside is an oval, at one end of which is 

 the stage, and on the other the royal box, which occupies the whole 

 Northern side of the building. Other boxes, cut off from all commu- 

 nication with the air, and hot, almost beyond endurance, extend round 

 the sides of the house, and have an open, clumsy railing in front, most 

 gaudily painted. The pit is divided into two parts ; that before the 

 royal box has forms, with a rail, against which the shoulders may be 

 leaned ; the division behind this, and beneath the seat of Royalty, is 

 separated by a barrier, and the part of the audience, stationed there, 

 must stand and listen. The house is lighted from tin sconces, fixed to 

 the pillars, which support the boxes, and a chandelier of wood, with tin 

 branches. With this elegant furniture, the scenery and other decorations 

 thoroughly correspond. Sentinels, with fixed bayonets, are placed in 

 every part of the house, and in all the avenues leading to it. 



The Performances are worthy of the place and style in which they 

 are brought out. The orchestra is small, inconvenient, and ill-supplied. 

 Many of the dramatic pieces contain representations, which a small 

 portion of good sense and taste would banish for ever from the stage. 

 One of the last scenes which I witnessed, during my first stay at Rio, 

 was the catastrophe of a tragedy. The heroine, dressed in white muslin, 

 was supposed to be put to death, while the curtain was down, by 

 severing her head from the body. Here, I think, would have been 

 an end of her part, on any other than a Brazilian stage; but, after a 

 little time, the curtain was drawn up again, for no other purpose 



M 



