Now we will go behind the scenes. Our
figures deal with twenty-one theatres only;
for we drop two as insignificant, and two also
whose work is supplied wholly through the
agency of contractors. The rest have
workpeople of their own exclusively employed on
their account, and in this way the theatres
give occupation to one hundred and forty
costumiers, tailors, &c., one hundred and sixty
machinists, eighty joiner-machinists, twenty-
five locksmith-machinists, thirty upholsterers,
thirty-five painters and decorators, one
hundred and fifty milliners and seamstresses, and
ten women engaged upon upholsterers' work.
That is to say, one hundred and sixty working
women, and four hundred and seventy
working men. Some of these are paid by the
year—most of them by the month; and the
annual amount distributed among them for
their maintenance, out of the receipts taken
from the playgoers, is twenty-four thousand
five hundred and forty-two pounds. They
earn simple livings. The chief machinists get
from forty-two to seventy-five pounds a year,
workmen from twenty-five pounds a year to
forty. Carpenters, joiners, &c., have about
the same salaries as the machinists.
Seamstresses are paid yearly between twenty-three
and twenty-seven pounds; but they commonly
work by the day, receiving for the day's work
a sum varying between a shilling and one and
eightpence, after which many remain during
the evening to serve as tiring-women, and they
who do so earn an extra tenpence. All these
people, at work for salaries varying between
seventy-five and twenty-three pounds a year,
know how to read and write; are active and
industrious; toil with a good will on behalf of
the theatre by which they are supported; and,
when a new piece is in preparation, often spend
nights in labour without thinking of
complaint. If the new piece be a spectacle, of
course many fresh hands are employed:
those of which we have here spoken are
the ordinary staff of labourers who hold
a permanent position in dependence on the
stage.

Then there are the keepers of coats and
bonnets, sellers of play-bills, letters of opera-
glasses, holders of refreshment stalls, &c.,
whom it will suffice to mention. We have
still to add to the list of people whose
industry is set in action by the theatres of
Paris. There are painters at work for them
outside their walls, who add to the previous
calculation about fifty men. There are the
hair-dressers and wig-makers, of whom it is
only known concerning seventeen theatres
that they employ, in those capacities, forty-
seven men and two women, who divide among
themselves two thousand pounds.

These are the people who receive direct
employment. Indirect employment, by the
hiring of occasional labourers, and by the
purchase of silks, velvets, and other bravery,
it would, of course, be impossible to calculate.
It will be curious, however, to observe the
comparative cost of various articles of garniture,
used in the way of costume. Costume
is cheaper than it was seventy years ago.
Though there are more bodies to dress, there
is less to be paid now for the dressing. In
1849, the cost of dress material at the Paris
Opéra for a company of two hundred bodies
was four thousand pounds. Out of this sum,
the cost of silks, velvets, and ribbons,
represents eighteen per cent.; dress for the
feet fifteen per cent., and for the head
eleven per cent.; woollen and cotton fabrics
nine per cent.; lace, embroidery, and mercers'
ware nine per cent.; armour and arms
seven per cent.; gloves, &c. four per cent.;
and two per cent. on the cost was incurred
for flowers and feathers.

Passing from the persons of the actors to
the garniture upon the stage, we find that, in
eight theatres, including the Opéra, the
expense on account of paint and material used
in stage decoration, exclusive of the workmens'
salaries and wages, amounted to nine
thousand, one hundred and sixty-six pounds.
Other accounts are also fragmentary. The
cost of gas, oil, and other light is known only for
seven of the theatres, the Opéra included; in
these it amounts to thirteen thousand, three
hundred and seventy-five pounds. The cost of
warming is known only for six theatres,
Opéra included, and amounts in these to
seventeen hundred and fifty pounds. Some
managers have also to pay rent for the
theatres they occupy; it is known only of
four such rents that they amount to ten
thousand four hundred pounds.

It will be evident from the above sketch
that theatres are not, as they are sometimes
called, temples of idleness, but mines of
industry, in which the miners work hard at
extremely modest wages to produce their
glittering results.

When we sum up the annual expenditure
of the theatres—two hundred and thirty
thousand pounds in salaries and wages,
one hundred and twenty-five thousand in
cost of materials and accessaries; adding to
these the forty-one thousand, three hundred
and seventy-five pounds taken from them in
the name of the poor—we arrive at a total
expense not very much under four hundred
thousand pounds, and only about sixteen
thousand pounds under the whole receipts.
The receipts are, however, artificial. The
amount of subvention granted to the five
privileged theatres is greater than the tax
taken from the whole twenty-five in the
name of the poor. The theatrical till in Paris
is robbed by the State with one hand, and
replenished with the other, only the robbery
is endured by all, and the replenishment
enjoyed by five. The subvention to these
amounts to a trifle more than fifty-two thousand
pounds. The poor, therefore, would be
benefited were this money paid to them; and
the stage would be the better if it were not,
after this clumsy fashion of protection, knocked