The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-11-27

1895; Madame Violante's Booth in
Fownes's street: the Aungier street !
Theatre. and playhouse in the Earl |
OF Meath's Liberty at Rainsford street. |
Dublin saw all the great actresses and
actors that ornamented the stage
Garrick, Mossop, Spranger Barry, Mrs. !
Kitty Give, Quin, Macklin, and the
celebrated Peg Wellington, who made
her first appearance in the dancing
booth in Fownes's street. The curtain
rose at 6 o'clock, and there was no
half price in any of the theatres. The
prices were: For a box ticket, IS I'D;
latticss, As Id; pit, 3s Sd, and gallery,
rs I'd. In 1853 theatre was opened
IN Crow street, on the site of which
now stands the Catholic University
School of Medicine. In 1910 another
playhouse was opened in Capel street,
where many well.known plays, as
Richard Ill.," "She Stops to Con-
quer," THE West Indian were per-
formed, with John O'Keeffe, Macklin,
Sparks and Holcroft in the cast. In
1741 music hall was opened in Fish.
amble street, and on April 10, 1742, the
celebrated Handel performed the
Messiah" for the first time in public
in this house. The music hall after
wards became private theatre under
the management of the notorious
Buck" Jones, and after many vicissi-
tudes until the close of the last cen.
fury when it was, in 1868, incorporated
with the rapidly-growing business con.
Germ of KEENAN, and Co., and now re.
sounds again with the Harmonious
Blacksmith" differently composed. Al
ley Theatre, having fallen into bad
repair, was closed in 1888, and on its
site now stands the handsome church
of IS. Michael and John.
In 1893 Dublin experienced a par
ticularly severe winter season, the
Liffey being frozen over, and much
privation was caused by plague and
famine in the following summer. The
growth of the city about this time con-
tinued almost uninterruptedly, and in
1746 it was estimated that its circum.
ference measured about seven miles.
In 1851 the great Lying-in Hospital in
Britain (now ParnelD street was be-
gun under the direction of Bartholo-
new Mosse, well-known physician
of the day. In 1862 the fashionable
residential quarter of Dublin extend
ed to the southeast, and in this year
we find that a considerable portion of
Merrion Square was built. Owing to
floods in the Liffey the old bridge
known as Arran Bridge was carried
away in 1853, and in the following
year the foundation of the new
Queens Bridge was laid.
The Poolbeg Lighthouse was built
in 1764-S. The Birmingham Tower in
Dublin Castle which was originally
built about 1411, was shattered by an
explosion of gunpowder and rebuilt in
It's. Three years later the first regi-
ment of Dublin Volunteers under the
Duke of Leinster paraded through the
principal thoroughfares of the city.
The Royal Exchange was opened in
1873. This handsome building, now
the seat of the municipal government
| of Dublin, was commenced in 1853
from the plans of Thomas Cooley. The
funds for it's erection were provided
by the city merchants assisted by a
grant of $4,000 from the Irish Par
Lament, and a donation from the Earl
of Northumberland, the then Lord
Lieutenant. According to the Annals of
Dublin, the first Irish State Lottery
was drawn at the Music Hall in Fish
amble street in 1880. Lotteries were
a favourite form Of gambling in Dub.
lin during the eighteenth century, and
prizes ranging as high as 100000 were
offered in order to tempt the public
cupidity. "As the day of the drawing
drew Nigh" says one of the historians
of Dublin, 1.-The city became one great
gambling den. The poorest of the peo
pie bought fractions, eighths or six
teenths of tickets. The Offices
were open all night and the losers
practically tried to recoup themselves
by betting with the proprietors on the
fortunes of tickets yet undrawn." One
of these lottery offices stood at the
corner of Suffolk street and Grafton
street, and another in Capel street
near Essex Bridge. These are shown
in Nations Views of Dublin.
In 1881 the new Custom House was
commenced by the Right Hon. John
Beresford, from the designs of James
Gandon. This project was opposed by
the citizens, who, when the founda
tions were laid, proceeded to demol
ish them, led by the then High Sheriff
Beresford, however, persisted in his
enterprise, and the present beautiful
building was erected in ten years al
the cost of G250,000. This edifice
which is perhaps the finest example oil