r. Charles Kean's
Shakespearian revivals, and now resembles most of the other theatres. "St.
James' Theatre," in King Street, St. James', was built for Braham, the
celebrated singer. "The Olympic" was a small house in Wych Street, Drury
Lane, now destroyed. "The Strand Theatre" was famous for its burlesque
extravaganzas, a form of theatrical amusement which of late has become
exceedingly popular. The "New Globe Theatre" (destroyed so late as 1902)
and "The Gaiety" (at the stage entrance of which are the old offices of
_Good Words_, so frequently made use of by Dickens in the later years of
his life), and "The Vaudeville," were given over to musical comedy and
farce. "The Adelphi," though newly constructed at that time, was then, as
now, the home of melodrama.

Others still recognized as popular and prosperous houses were "The Court
Theatre," Sloane Square; "The Royalty," in Soho; "The Queen's," in
Longacre; "The Prince of Wales'," in Tottenham Street, formerly the
Tottenham Theatre. Robertson's comedies of "Caste," "Our Boys," etc., were
favourite pieces there. "Sadler's Wells," "Marylebone Theatre," "The
Brittania," at Hoxton, "The Standard," in Shoreditch, and "The Pavilion,"
in Whitechapel, were all notable for size and popularity, albeit those
latterly mentioned were of a cheaper class.

South of the river were "Astley's," an old amphitheatre, "The Surrey
Theatre," and "The Victoria."

At this time (1870) it was estimated that four thousand persons were
employed in London theatres, supporting twelve thousand persons. The
public expenditure thereon was estimated at L350,000 annually.

Of "concert rooms," there were "Exeter Hall," "St. James' Hall," "Hanover
Square Rooms," "Floral Hall," connected with the Covent Garden Opera,
"Willis' Rooms," and the "Queen's Concert Rooms," connected with "Her
Majesty's Theatre."

Here were given the performances of such organizations as "The Sacred
Harmonic Society," "The Philharmonic Society," "The Musical Union," and
the "Glee and Madrigal Societies," "The Beethoven Society," and others.

"Entertainments," an indefinite and mysterious word, something akin to the
_olla podrida_ of sunny Spain, abounded.

Usually they were a sort of musical or sketch entertainment, thoroughly
innocuous, and, while attaining a certain amount of popularity and
presumably success to their projectors, were of a nature only amusing to
the completely ennuied or juvenile temperament. Readings by va