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162

roof. The dress circle of the boxes is formed by a seat in
advance of the columns, covered with a splendid canopy
projecting from the front of the second row of boxes, in
the style of the Covent Garden Theatre, London.

The peculiar form given to this part of the house places
the mass of the audience withing thirty-five feet of the
stage, securing to them the important objects of distinct
sound and perfect scenic view - an advantage which the
best theatres of Europe do not possess, although they may
exceed it in magnitude.

The dome is forty-six feet in diameter, rising six feet
to the crown, which is perforated, and formed into a ventilator,
from which is suspended an elegant chandelier,
nine feet in diameter, containing sixty paten[?] lamps enriched
with appropriate ornaments.

The effect produced by this concentration of light will
be great, inasmuch as the whole of the audience part of
the house can be brilliantly illuminated without resorting
to the detached lamps that have been in common use, and
which is destructive to finish decoration.

The proscenium is forty-six feet by twenty-five feet - an
opening well calculated to exhibit the best exhibitions of
the drama. The tympanum, over the centre of the stage,
is chastely decorated with an appropriate design, exhibiting
the claims of Thalia and Malpomene to the genius of
Shakspere, over which is seen the motto, "To raise the
genius, and to mend the heart."

There are two doors of entrance to the pit from Sixth
street, through a passage fourteen feet in width, which
passage enters a lobby paved with brick, communicating
with a bar-room, and private stairway leading into the
box lobby on the western side of the building. The pit
floor is laid on a solid inclined plpane of brick and mortar,
and will accommodate four hundred persons. The orchestra
will contain from forty to fifty persons, independent
of the musicians, and is to be approached from the bos-
lobby by a private stairway. The gallery has its entrance
from Carpenter street through a passage situated on the outside
of the building, leading to a lobby and a bar-room, and
will contain two or three hundred persons. It may be here
proper to observe, that the whole building will contain
upwards of two thousand persons, and that the doorways
are numerous and wide, opening outwards into the
surrounding streets. The principal front is on Chesnut
street, being ninety-two feet by one hundred and fifty,
built of marble, in the Italian style; the leading features
of which are an arcade, supporting a screen of composite
columns, and a plain entablature, flanked by two wings,
and decorated with niches and basso relievos representing
the tragic and comic masks with the attributtes of Apollo.

The greatest attention will be paid to the decorum of
the theatre, and special officers of police appointed, expressly
engaged for the preservation of order, and every
violation or propriety will be referred immediately to the
magistracy, without the least respect to persons.

In obedience to the suggestions of several friends of the
drama, children under twelve years of age will be admitted
to the boxes, pit and gallery, at half price. A part
of the orchestra is appropriated to the use of the audience,
for which tickets may be had in the morning, at the
box office. No smoking can be permitted, except in the
coffee-room of the third row. WARREN & WOOD

The stock company of the new Chesnut street
theatre for 1822 and '23 was thus augmented,
and which exhibited, in numbers and talent,
much of its original excellence:

Messrs. Warren, Wood, H Wallack, Joseph
Jefferson, Sr., F. C. Wemyss, Francis, Burke,
Darley, Alex. M. Wilson, Wheatley, Hathwell,
Thomas Jefferson, John Jefferson, Joseph Jefferson,
(sons of the comedian,) John Greene,
David Johnston, Bignall, Andes, Murry, Parker,
and Master James Wallack, (who figured in
children's parts.)

The ladies were numerous and excellent, viz:
Mesdames Wood, Entwisle, Darley, Burke,
Jefferson, Anderson, (formerly Euphemia Jefferson,
eldest daughter to the comedian,)
Francis, Lefolle, H. Wallack, Greene, Simpson,
Murry, Musses Matilda, Henrietta and Louisa
Hathwel, Miss Parker, &c.

We have thus sketched the history of two
eras in theatrical affairs in Philadelphia - the
first before the REvolution, under Hallam,
Douglass, Hallam & Henry, and Hallam & Hodgkinson;
the second afer the erection of the first Chesnut street theatre, under Wignell &
Reinagle, and Warren & Wood. We have
reached the limit assigned us, and have crossed
the boundary of the third theatrical era, merely
to show the manner in which the company in
the second Chesnut street theatre was constituted
during the first season. That dramatic
temple for many years refllected the glories of
the old days, but at length fell into bad hands.
Its pueposes were desecrated, and the well-won
glories of former years tarnished by the avarice,
ignorance and incompetence of modern managers.
On the 1st day of May, 1855, the last
performance was given within those walls.
The curtain fell for the last time, and now no
trace of Old Frury remains.

Some time before this sad event, curiosity led
us to the back door of the old Chesnut street
theatre. We there met our respectable old
friend, Mr. Cadwalader Griffiths, the master carpenter
of the theatre, who worthily filled that
station for many years. He invited us into the
green-room. The negro opera was being performed
that evening. The memory of other
days flashed on our mind with a melancholy
pleasure. Seated in the old arm-chair, we pondered
on the old mirror that once reflected all
the performers we have herein endevored to
sketch, who were then in all their pride and
glory, but now are dust. What did that same
old mirror now reflect, but drinking vessels and
coarse manners! In sadness brooding, we sat
there like the last man, till, aroused from the
torpor which our reminiscences throuw us into,
we exclaimed:

"Our revels now are ended; these our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded.
Leave not a rack behind: we are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."

Wrapped up in such thoughts, inspired by the
reflections of the scene, we hurried from a place
hallowed in our heart from the associations of
our youth, where once we beheld friends, father,
mother, brothers, and sisters, not one of whom
now lives to witness the closing scene of their
once joyful temple.

THE END