long-disused Sadler's Wells Theatre
in partnership with Mrs Warner, a capable actress, whose rendering of
Imogen went near perfection. Their design was inspired by "the hope,"
they wrote in an unassuming address, "of eventually rendering Sadler's
Wells what a theatre ought to be--a place for justly representing the
works of our great dramatic poets." This hope they went far to
realise. The first play that they produced was _Macbeth_.

Phelps continued to control Sadler's Wells Theatre for more than
eighteen years. During that period he produced, together with many
other English plays of classical repute, no fewer than thirty-one of
the thirty-seven great dramas which came from Shakespeare's pen. In
his first season, besides _Macbeth_ he set forth _Hamlet_, _King
John_, _Henry VIII._, _The Merchant of Venice_, _Othello_, and
_Richard III._ To these he added in the course of his second season,
_Julius Caesar_, _King Lear_, and _The Winter's Tale_. _Henry IV._,
part I., _Measure for Measure_, _Romeo and Juliet_, and _The Tempest_
followed in his third season; _As You Like It_, _Cymbeline_, _The
Merry Wives of Windsor_, and _Twelfth Night_, in his fourth. Each
succeeding season saw further additions to the Shakespearean
repertory, until only six Shakespearean dramas were left
unrepresented, viz.--_Richard II._, the three parts of _Henry VI._,
_Troilus and Cressida_, and _Titus Andronicus_. Of these, one alone,
_Richard II._, is really actable.

The leading principles, to which Phelps strictly adhered throughout
his career of management, call for most careful consideration. He
gathered round him a company of actors and actresses, whom he
zealously trained to interpret Shakespeare's language. He accustomed
his colleagues to act harmoniously together, and to sacrifice to the
welfare of the whole enterprise individual pretensions to prominence.
No long continuous run of any one piece was permitted by the rules of
the playhouse. The programme was constantly changed. The scenic
appliances were simple, adequate, and inexpensive. The supernumerary
staff was restricted to the smallest practicable number. The general
expenses were consequently kept within narrow limits. For every
thousand pounds that Charles Kean laid out at the Princess's Theatre
on scenery and other expenses of production, Phelps in his most ornate
revivals spent less than a fourth of that sum. For the pounds spent by
managers on more recent revivals, Phelps wou