LONDON. 
333 
iloxes are furnifhed with large chandeliers, elegantly 
mounted, made by Collins at Temple-bar: they are chafte 
and beautiful in their defign, which appears to be af¬ 
ter the ftyle of Piranefi, forming a graceful canopy of the 
richeft cut drops, of which there are at leaft live and 
twenty thouland : they were all modelled and cut for the 
purpofe on an entire new falhion, and they produce a In'ftre 
almoft equal to the diamond. The mountings are alfo 
coftly and elegant, combining ftrength and beauty. They 
are forty in number, fufpended from a rich filver bracket 
in front of the three tier of boxes and over the ftage-doors; 
the latter are large and magnificent, bearing nine lights 
each; thofe in front of the boxes bear five and fix lights 
each. The pit, befides its ufual lateral pafl’ages, has two 
central ones, which extend through its whole length 
from the front boxes to the orcheftra, an improvement, 
the advantage of which is molt beneficially felt, both in 
egrefs and ingrefs, when the houfe is crowded. It ought 
alfo to be mentioned, that the feats in the pit are gradu¬ 
ally elevated in a manner which greatly conduces to the 
Convenience of the audience. The eye of each individual 
is raifed fo high, that the head of the perfon fitting be¬ 
fore him will fieidom intercept his view of the ftage. The 
feats are twenty-five inches broad. The upper gallery 
is divided into five compartments, and may be thus con- 
fidered a tier of five boxes, with a feparate door at tho 
back to each; thefe doors open into a fpacious lobby, one 
fide of which is the back of the gallery, and the other the 
exterior wall of the theatre, with the windows into the 
ftreet. The lobby to the middle gallery beneath is limi- 
larly fituated. One great advantage attends this conftruc- 
tion ; in fummer, the doors of the galleries and the win¬ 
dows of the lobbies being left open, the audience in thofe 
parts cannot be opprefled by the heat, as in the former 
theatre. The flight of flairs to the upper gallery c'onfifls 
of 120 fteps; and the number of bricks laid down in feven 
months amounted to feven millions; a circumftance which 
may afford an idea of the magnitude of the edifice, and the 
celerity with which it was built. The materials are of 
the bell quality, and the building is moll fubllantial and 
fecure. Previous to its opening, its ftrength was tried by 
immenfe leaden weights placed on the feveral tiers, greatly 
Exceeding the weight of the molt crowded audience that 
could be comprefled into the houfe, and yet the building 
did not in any point give way. In the conftru&ion of 
this fplendid edifice, the calamitous fate of the late two 
great winter-theatres was not forgotten. Every means of 
lafety againft fire, or other accident, that ingenuity could 
devifie, has been adopted. At all convenient intervals are 
ilrong party-walls, with iron doors, by which, if a fire 
were to break out, it would be confined within that 
particular compartment, and be prevented from fpreading 
through the houfe. The fire-places are alfo made with 
the grates turning upon a pivot, by which means the 
front can be moved round to the back, and the fire is thus 
extinguilhed without the poflif>iliry of accident. Water- 
pipes are alfo infinuated into every part of the houfe, 
through which they are fp'read like veins through the hu¬ 
man body. Great brafs cocks, which,-when turned, would 
pour the contents into the houfe, prefent themfelves to 
the eye in the lobbies and other open places. We ought 
-to have mentioned a very great improvement in the doors, 
which not only facilitates admiflion, but which affords the 
moft fatisfaClory means of fecurity, in cafe any accident 
fhould render the immediate evacuation of the theatre ne- 
ceflary : • the doors, now, in Head of opening backwards 
or forwards, upon touching a fpring. Aide laterally, and 
are wholly removed from the paflages. 
In fpite of the late din of Bellona, the peaceful influ¬ 
ences of Thalia and Melpomene have maintained their af- 
■cendency in the JBritilh metropolis. The abfurd modern 
dinner hours of 7, 8, and 9, o’clock, have doubtlefs in¬ 
terfered with the frequent attendance of the upper ranks 
„at entertainments which take place between the hours of 
VOL. XIII. No. 924. 
fix and eleven ; yet two theatres, each capable of contain¬ 
ing 3000 perfons, arc moderately filled, and often crowded, 
through afeafoil of 200 playing nights. It is a prevail¬ 
ing weaknefs of mankind to depreciate the merit of 
every thing contemporary, and to refer all greatnefs to 
paft ages. This prejudice tinClures the writings of dra¬ 
matic fiat lefs than thofe of all other critics; yet we are 
convinced, that, in all the varied and eflential features 
of dramatic entertainments, no age has approached the 
perfection of the prefent. We may not have as contem- 
pOrariesa Shakefpeare, an Otway, a Rowe, 01a Congreve; 
neither were thofe men contemporaries of any Angle age; 
but we enjoy an equal degree of diverfe genius" in our 
contemporaries, Sheridan, Cqlrfian, Cumberland, O'Keefe, 
Dibdin, Tobin, Murphy, Inchbald, Cowley, Hoare, Mor¬ 
ton, Holcroft, and Reynolds,names which characterize the 
ftge of George III. and which will be duly eftimated by 
pofterity when viewed in conjunction with their prede- 
ceflors in the line prefented by the common perfpeCtive of 
all pall time. In like manner, if in regard to actors we 
do not enjoy the contemporaneous talents of fuch pheno¬ 
mena aS Garrick, Booth, Cibber, Quin, Woodward, Foote, 
Shuter, Pritchard, and Clive; yet no age could boaft in 
their refpeQive sKnes of ailing, of powers, greater.than 
thofe exhibited by oar own contemporaries—Kenderfon, 
Kemble, Siddoris, Edwin, Lewis, Munden, Fawcett, Cooke,, 
Young, Farren, King, Bannilter* Jordan, Emery, Ma ¬ 
thews, Litton, Lovegrove, Elliiton, and Kean. No Angle 
age ever poflefled fo great a variety of real excellence, "or 
more originality, difciplined by education and by the im¬ 
proved tafte of the public, which has reduced the bufinef* 
of the ftage to the precifion of a fcience. Greater public 
encouragement was certainly never bellowed on dramatic 
genius in all its departments, than in our days. Mr. She¬ 
ridan realized 3000I. by the fale only of his altered play of 
Pizarro; and authors of fuccefsful pieces receive from the 
theatre, from 250I. to 500I. and of the purchafer of the 
copy-right for publication, from iool. to 400!. Each the¬ 
atre employs as aClors, artifts, muficians, and mechanics, 
from 200 to 250 perfons, at Hilaries, which vary from 30I, 
to 2I. a week. Many favourite performers receive 50!. a- 
night as often as they perform ; and thirty or forty per¬ 
formers belonging to each houl'e have benefit-nights, by 
which many of them net 5 or 600I. Nor are the liberal 
profits derived from the London boards the foie reward 
of favourite performers; for, during the fummer recefs, 
they make from 30I. to iool. per week by engagements at 
various provincial theatres, many of which vie in lize and 
fplendour with the metropolitan eftablilhments. The pre¬ 
fent theatres hold about 650I. each, and when crowded 1 
about 750I. The nightly expenfes arifing from falaries, 
and various incumbrances on the proprietors, are about 
200I. fo that, if the houfes be taken at a mean of 400I. per 
night, the net profits of a leafon of 200 nights, can be 
little Ihort of 40,0001. to the proprietors. Hence the reader 
will perceive, that, if dramatic genius were not refpefta- 
ble in the prefent day, it would not be for want of recom- 
pejice; for the theatres in Goodman’s Fields and Old 
Drury, in which Garrick acquired his fame and fortune, 
did not hold above 200I. and could not therefore be ex¬ 
pected to net to the proprietors above io,oool. per an¬ 
num. And to go a little farther back, in the year 173 1-2, 
the fum of ten or twelve thoufand pounds was thought 
amply fufficient for building a new play-houfe; and the 
expected profits were about 3000I. per ann. See Gent. 
Mag. for Feb. 1732. and Monthly Mag. for June i’8i4. 
We now come to Covent-Garden Market; and, had we 
the penofthemqft elegantPerfian poets,fo fond of introduc¬ 
ing flowers and fruit in their love-fongs and erotic poetry ; 
were we pofleffed of that glowing imagination with which 
they borrow fimiles from the daughters of the gardens to 
exemplify the 1'weet objeCls of their love; we could not 
give our readers an adequate idea of the afpeCl of this 
place at an early hour in the months ox May, June, and 
6U July. 
