oyal family as well,
were pretty sure to be found at all important performances, the most
notable were "Her Majesty's," "The Royal Italian Opera House," "The
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane." Of the latter class, the most famous--and who
shall not say the most deservedly so--were the "Haymarket Theatre," "The
Adelphi," "The Lyceum," and the "St. James' Theatre."

[Illustration: "GOING TO THE PANTOMIME."

_From a drawing by John Leech._]

"Her Majesty's Theatre," on the western side of the Haymarket, was the
original of the two Italian opera-houses in London; it was built in 1790,
on the site of an older theatre, burnt down in 1867, and rebuilt in 1869.
The freehold of some of the boxes was sold for as much as L8,000 each. The
opera season was generally from March to August; but the main attractions
and the largest audiences were found from May to July. The "Royal Italian
Opera House" occupied the site of the former Covent Garden Theatre, as it
does to-day, and was built in 1858 on the ruins of one destroyed by
fire. The building is very remarkable, both within and without. Italian
opera was produced here with a completeness scarcely paralleled in Europe.
When not required for Italian operas, the building was often occupied by
an "English Opera Company," or occasionally for miscellaneous concerts.
The "Floral Hall" adjoins this theatre on the Covent Garden side. "Drury
Lane Theatre," the fourth on the same site, was built in 1812; its glories
live in the past, for the legitimate drama now alternates there with
entertainments of a more spectacular and melodramatic character, and the
Christmas pantomimes, that purely indigenous English institution. The
"Haymarket Theatre," exactly opposite "Her Majesty's," was built in 1821;
under Mr. Buckstone's management, comedy and farce were chiefly performed.
The "Adelphi Theatre," in the Strand, near Southampton Street, was rebuilt
in 1858, when it had for a quarter of a century been celebrated for
melodramas, and for the attractiveness of its comic actors. The "Lyceum
Theatre," or "English Opera House," at the corner of Wellington Street,
Strand, was built in 1834 as an English opera-house, but its fortunes were
fluctuating, and the performances not of a definite kind. This was the
house latterly taken over by Sir Henry Irving. The "Princess' Theatre," on
the north side of Oxford Street, was built in 1830; after a few years of
opera and miscellaneous dramas, it became the scene of M