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 crisis, which took away all the Stock Exchange men. When a man comes to the opera, you know that he is doing good business. As Rothschild said, 'Good business in the City means a good opera season.'

"It might interest you to know that the night the German Emperor visited Covent Garden Theatre the house was worth £5,658. His box alone cost £1,000 to decorate. When, in the Jubilee year, I determined to try Italian Opera somebody remarked to me 'It's dead.' 'Very well,' I replied, 'I'll either revive it or give it a decent burial.' I did revive it, but it cost me £16,000 in six weeks. However, the next year opera was living and in a healthier state than ever, and I got my money back and had done something in the cause of art.

And now for the home of pantomime—for old Drury Lane. We crossed Bow-street together, and entered through the great portals which lead into the theatre. It is a marvellous place; you can pass through fifty rooms and find another score awaiting your inspection. As for the staircases, they are positively a Chinese puzzle to the uninitiated. These are times of merriment, days when the happy laughter of the little ones ring to the roof of the theatre at the fun and frolic of the pantomime. We