Connecticut western news., 1909-05-13
A FAMOUS PLAYHOUSE
Old Drury Lane Has 0utIived
 Many ViCiSSitudeS.
4 PHENIX AMONG THEATERS.

Been the Scene of Many Conflagra-
 tions-Attaeks Upon Royalty Wishin
 Its WalIs-The Rejected Addresses"
 On the night of Feb. 24. 1909. as the house of commons was engaged upon d rather Important debdte. Sundry of the members observed through the windows faint red glow which even tu@l!y became sO alarming in its in tenSity aS tO interfere with the order ly course of the discussion. It was not long before tine news rau round the benches that Drury Lane theater was alight. and so great was the gen erGl concern at what waS considered almost n national disaster that d mo- tion was made tO adjourn the sitting Sheridan. however. uS Moore tells us in his life of the great orator. imme- diately expressed the hope-with aI air of detachment that did him the greatest credit. considering his posi- tion as principal shareholder in the theater-that "whatcver might be the extent of the present calamity it would not interfere with the public business of the country" That his courage was not daunted by so serious a personal disaster was proved by the fact that he reopened week later at the Ly- ceum.
 The destruction of The Lane"-the third building since its foundation in 1663-was one of seven familiar dis aSters to London thcaters in twenty years; but. whatever else happened, Drury Lane must be rebuilt Nor was the decision on the part of the pro- prietors unbusinesslike in the least degree. for Horace Walpole, under the date of 17J1. tells us how on the day appointed for the naturalization bill the house of commons adjourned to attend at Drury Lane, where 'Othello' was acted by MT. Debanal and his family.
 Drury Lane has passed through many vicissitudes in the course of Its exist ence. The first building was very un- favorably described by Pepys, who writes of the discomfort caused by rain that found its way through the roof and drenched the occupants of the pit and also the bad acoustic qual- ities of the place. Fire put an end to these inconveniences in 1872. The sec ond theater. which was designed by Wren and opened in 1874, had much longer life. but was on two occasions the scene of attempts unon the royal family. Tn TIC Freeman tried to shoot the Prince of Wales. who afterward became King George H.. and in 1900 George III. was the victim of a similar unsuccessful attack at the hands of a lunatic. 1t was this same building which, as Walpole relates in one of his letters, was the scene of a lively dis turbance in 1T44. when an attempt was made to introduce pantomime for the first time. So great has been the change of popular sentiment on this point since that far off date that today winter fin London without pantomime at Drury Lane is almost incredible.
 The third building. which was open ed fin 1T94, came to an untimely end. as we have seen, in 1909, and the inau- guration of its successor three years later was marked by an event of con siderable literary importance. The managers of the theater, being desir- ous of giving their new venture good sendoff. invited the public to submit to competition suitable prologues, the prize poem to have the honor of being publicly recited from the stage upon the day of opening. A host of writers, including many of the best known names in contemporary literature, re- sponded to the invitation, and this fact fortunately suggested to two Io who were beginning to'acquire n repu- tation in the world of letters, the no- tion of publishing anonymously a col lection of prologues parodying the styles of various living writers of re- pute. As it was necessary that the little volume should be issued in time for the opening of the theater, the au- thors were compelled to complete their task in six weeks, but it is doubtful whether the quality of the work suf- fered much on this account. Indeed. in the preface to the eighteenth edition, published in 1883, it is suggested that the parodies gained rather than lost in effectiveness by being struck of, as 1t were. at a white heat.
 The success of The Reflected Ad- hlNSSCS Was llAllIlShlsiAC anu AdSNAhSs The two brothers found that they had leaped into fame at a bound. and the famous authors whom they had so sue cessfully held up to kindly ridicule expressed their astonishment at the accuracy with which their pcculiari- ties of style and expression had been reproduced. It was notable achieve ment Byron. whose prologue won the prize and was delivered in due course on the Drury Lane stage, writ ing to Murray, expressed his apprecia- tion of the little volume that had made such stir in the world and in q sec ond letter told him that he liked 1t better and better" Jeffrey in 1S43 wrote that he took "The Rejected Ad- dresses" to be the very best imita- tions (and often of difficult originals that ever were made. But perhaps the comment which pleased the authors