raising and lowering of such pieces of scenery
as can be worked only from above, is effected
with infinite ease and quickness. Those pieces
which represent distance, for instance, and which
close in the scenery on the stage at the back,
are let down by ropes, which, after passing
through pulleys, are brought to the galleries and
there handled with the greatest ease by the men
on duty. From these regions, too, the clouds
descend, and, if necessary, the Queen of the
Fairies among them: only in that case, as her
majesty is less ethereal than the gauzy vapours
that surround her, it will be necessary to have
recourse again to that system of counter-weight
which is in use everywhere in the theatre, and
so to balance her gilded car as that its descent
may be effected smoothly, and without any of
that jerky movement which is fatal to the dignity
of airy potentates. Mounting higher yet
to the top of all things, called the "Grid-iron,"
you find yourself still in the ship—
surrounded by a prodigious array of wooden
capstans, by which to take the example just
given—the descent of that gilded car containing
the Fairy-Queen—yes, and a retinue of attendant
sprites weighing their eight stone apiece
into the bargain—is regulated inch by inch
with elaborate accuracy. And here, too, is that
important apparatus, by means of which, and
in strict obedience to the prompter's signal,
the immortal green-curtain slowly descends, and
suggests to the audience that it is time to go
home to bed.

It is unnecessary to speak of the carpenters'
shop which is up on this high level, and extends
above the pit and over the great chandelier,
because that is the ordinary situation of
carpenters' shops in theatres; neither is it
needful—though the subject is a tempting one
—to enter the painting-room where the scenes
are prepared, there being no particular difference
between the painting-room at the Lyceum
and the same kind of studio elsewhere. The
novelties connected with the Lyceum stage, the
particulars in which it differs from anything of
which we have any knowledge in this country,
are our present subject.

At the commencement of this paper an endeavour
was made to give to the reader an idea of
the size of that great enclosed space on the
other side of the foot-lights, in the middle of
which that platform, which we call the stage, is
erected; and this was done in order to show
what enormous surroundings, above, below, and
on either side, are needed, in order to make that
comparatively small enclosure which the spectator
sees, what it is every evening from seven
o'clock till midnight. Beneath the stage, those
two stories or floors, with their iron tramways,
with carriages running along them, socketed to
receive the upright pieces which hold the scenes
above on either side, those two rows of galleries,
with communications between them, with bridges
thrown across from one to another—over all,
that great loft where the machinery for effecting
all that has to be done above the stage, stands
always ready, — these things are all needed, in
order that the scene which nightly moves the
tears or laughter of the audience may be
presented to the public with due effect. If there
were not much higher considerations to claim
our sympathy for the stage, one could hardly
help respecting an entertainment, for the proper
production of which so much elaborate ingenuity
is indispensable.

From a description of the main structure of
the new stage one may turn to a consideration
of one or two details. In every part of the
"behind the scenes,"  except, of course, the
acting stage itself, the flooring is constructed
somewhat on the principle observed in the Great
Exhibition: a space about an inch wide being
left between each of the planks and its neighbour.
This materially facilitates communication
between the different floors, so that when
any thing threatens to go wrong, or any object is
wanted to make things go right, the men on
duty can speak to each other instantly, instead
of having to run up or down stairs in order to
do so. It is possible—and this may be, under
some circumstances, most desirable—to see
through these apertures: so that men can work
in concert at a common object, each seeing
when the other is ready. It may be that light
and air are diffused over these parts of the building
by means of these openings, and it is certain
that it will be easier to keep the place clean
through their agency. The dust and dirt, of
which there is a good deal "behind," will be
swept through from floor to floor, and be very
easily collected at the lowest point, for the benefit
of the dust-contractor.

A change has been made—which will probably
turn out a great improvement—in the foot-light
arrangements of this theatre. These lights
hitherto have been too literally foot lights,
throwing indeed such a glare upon the feet, and
lower limbs of the performers, that the upper
portions of their figures suffered in consequence,
and their faces were shadowed. It is to
counteract this, that the float has been lowered
some inches—lowered, indeed, the least in the
world beneath the level of the stage, which is
sloped down gradually towards the light. By
this means the feet of the actors, and, indeed,
the stage itself, will receive a kind of half light,
and the greater blaze will be concentrated on
the faces and upper extremities of the different
characters whose movements and words we are
observing. The view from the stalls, especially
those next the stage, is also much improved.
Some remarkable and patented improvements
connected with the action of the float itself have
also been introduced, by means of which the
red or green lights can be turned on in place of
what is called the ordinary daylight, or those,
in turn, can be substituted for the others: the
change being effected by the most delicate
gradations, or in a flash, at will. Nor is it a small
thing that in case of the breaking of a glass, or
of its being necessary to substitute glasses of
one colour for those of another, the whole float
can be sunk at a moment's notice into the
regions below, and the change effected without the