The
"groundlings" had given place to people of fashion and social
distinction. Mr. Leigh Hunt notes that the pit even of Charles II.'s
time, although now and then the scene of violent scuffles and brawls,
due in great part to the general wearing of swords, was wont to
contain as good company as the pit of the Opera House five-and-twenty
years ago. A reference to Pepys's "Diary" justifies this opinion.
"Among the rest here the Duke of Buckingham to-day openly sat in the
pit," records Pepys, "and there I found him with my Lord Buckhurst,
and Sedley, and Etheridge the poet." Yet it would seem that already
the visitors to the pit had declined somewhat in quality. Pepys, like
John Gilpin's spouse, had a frugal mind, however bent on pleasure. He
relates, in 1667, with some sense of injury, how once, there being no
room in the pit, he was forced to pay four shillings and go into one
of the upper boxes, "which is the first time I ever sat in a box in my
life."
One does not now look to find members of the administration or cabinet
ministers occupying seats in the pit.
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