" The experiment of the barrel-organ orchestra was not often
repeated. The band of the Leamington Theatre was lent to the Warwick
house, the distance between the establishments being only two miles.
The Leamington audience were provided with music at the commencement
of the evening only; the Warwick playgoers dispensed with orchestral
accompaniments until a later period in the performances.
CHAPTER XII.
PROLOGUES.
"It is singular," Miss Mitford wrote to Mr. Fields, her American
publisher, "that epilogues were just dismissed at the first
representation of one of my plays--'Foscari,' and prologues at
another--'Rienzi.'" "Foscari" was originally produced in 1826;
"Rienzi" in 1828. According to Mr. Planche, however, the first play of
importance presented without a prologue was his adaptation of Rowley's
old comedy, "A Woman never Vext," produced at Covent Garden on
November 9th, 1824, with a grand pageant of the Lord Mayor's Show as
it appeared in the time of Henry VI. At one of the last rehearsals,
Fawcett, the stage manager, inquired of the adapter if he had written
a prologue? "No.
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