alls; stage furniture was formally arranged;
and each act terminated with the players grouped in a semicircle and bowing
obeisance to applause. The lines in Sheridan's comedies were
indiscriminately witty. Every character, regardless of his birth or
education, had his clever things to say; and the servant bandied epigrams
with the lord.

It was not until the nineteenth century was well under way that a decided
improvement was made in the physical conditions of the theatre. When Madame
Vestris assumed the management of the Olympic Theatre in London in 1831 she
inaugurated a new era in stage conventions. Her husband, Charles James
Mathews, says in his autobiography, "There was introduced that reform in
all theatrical matters which has since been adopted in every theatre in the
kingdom. Drawing-rooms were fitted up like drawing-rooms and furnished with
care and taste. Two chairs no longer indicated that two persons were to be
seated, the two chairs being removed indicating that the two persons were
_not_ to be seated." At the first performance of Boucicault's _London
Assurance_, in 1841, a further innovation was marked by the introduction of
the "box set," as it is called. Instead of representing an interior scene
by a series of wings set one behind the other, the scene-shifters now built
the side walls of a room solidly from front to rear; and the actors were
made to enter, not by walking through the wings, but by opening real doors
that turned upon their hinges. At the same time, instead of the formal
stage furniture of former years, appointments were introduced that were
carefully designed to suit the actual conditions of the room to be
portrayed. From this time stage-settings advanced rapidly to greater and
greater degrees of naturalness. Acting, however, was still largely
conventional; for the "apron" stage survived, with its semicircle of
footlights, and every important piece of stage business had to be done
within their focus.

The greatest revolution of modern times in stage conventions owes its
origin directly to the invention of the electric light. Now that it is
possible to make every corner of the stage clearly visible from all parts
of the house, it is no longer necessary for an actor to hold the centre of
the scene. The introduction of electric lights abolished the necessity of
the "apron" stage and made possible the picture-frame proscenium; and the
removal of the "apron" struck the death-blow to the Drama o