triumphal arch,
or some other device, a depth of 100 feet can be obtained, leaving
still a clear space of 16 feet behind the furthest scene, round the
back of which processions can double. It would otherwise be difficult
to comprehend how it is possible, as in the opera of _La Juive_, to
manoeuvre here a procession of 394 persons, including a car drawn by
eight horses.

The stage itself is covered all over with trap-doors and sliding
panels, although it feels sufficiently firm to the tread; the depth
from the boards to the ground below the stage is twenty-two feet,
divided into two floors, the lower deck--if I may so call it--being
also furnished with abundant hatchways down to the hold. On the left
of the stage, facing the audience, is a room of good size, close to
the flies; this is the property-room of the night, in which are
accumulated, previous to the performance, all the articles required
for that night, whether it be the toilette-table of a princess, or the
pallet and water-jug of a dungeon prisoner. This apartment, the reader
may easily understand, is quite distinct from the property store-room,
which contains everything required for every opera, from the crown of
the _Prophet of Munster_ to the magpie's cage in _La Gazza Ladra_.
There is one property, however, which is of too great dimensions to be
transportable. The large and fine-toned organ, used in the _Prophete_,
_Huguenots_, and _Robert le Diable_, is to the right of the stage,
opposite the property-room; and the organist, from his position, being
unable to see the baton of Mr Costa, takes the time from a lime-tree
baton fixed to the organ, which is made to vibrate by machinery under
the control of Mr Costa, from his place in the orchestra. It would
take up too much space to enter more at large into the machinery used
in theatrical entertainments; and at anyrate, the parallel slides, the
pierced cylinder--by which a ripple is produced on water--and many
other devices, however curious and interesting, could not be made
intelligible without woodcuts.

Our conductor now provided himself with a lantern, in order to lead us
to the regions under the stage; for, in consequence of the mass of
inflammable material connected with a theatre, there are as strict
regulations against going about with open lights as in a coal-pit
addicted to carbonic acid gas. Descending a trap, we reached the
so-called mazarine-floor, a corruption of the Italian _mezzanine_,
from w