132 / 222
107
real source of income.
A Provincial Company o f
P layers was therefore engaged in 1 8 4 8 , and the
performances which this company, at first in con
junction with the Pantom ime and Ballet performances
o f the
Price
fam ily, but afterwards alone, gave 3
or 4 times a week proved so attractive, and so
replenished the treasury, that the Management, after
the lapse o f two y e a r s , were not only enabled to
pay off part o f the debt, but also to allow good
interest on the share's.
To the above favorable
r esu lt, the M asquerades, which are given several
times during the w inter, h a v e , by their success,
not a little contributed.
The large Saloon , fitted up as a theatre, is
120 ft. lo n g, 60 ft. broad, and 4 0 ft. high, with
pit and two tiers o f b o x e s, and can contain about
2 3 0 0 spectators.
The house is open on Sunday,
Monday, W ednesday, and Friday evenings; and as
the performances in V audevilles and F a r c e s,
to
which they are chiefly confined, are equal to those
at the Theatre Royal, while the price of admittance
is only one h a lf, the Casino has become a for
midable rival to the older establishment.
The
smaller sa lo o n , which in 1851 was enlarged and
furnished w ith a gallery, is usually let for concerts
and sim ilar perform ances, and can contain from
6 0 0— 7 0 0 persons. The ground floor, on which is
the B azar, is but little u sed , and experience has