Dickens' London Part 15

Vauxhall, the _Arabia Felix_ of the youth of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was still a fas.h.i.+onable resort, "a very pandemonium of society immorality," says a historian. This can well be believed if the many stories current concerning "prince, duke, and n.o.ble, and much mob besides," are accepted.

"_Here the 'prentice from Aldgate may ogle a toast!_ _Here his Wors.h.i.+p must elbow the knight of the post!_ _For the wicket is free to the great and the small;--_ _Sing_ Tantarara--_Vauxhall! Vauxhall!_"

The first authentic notice of Vauxhall Gardens appears in the record of the Duchy of Cornwall in 1615, when for two hundred years, through the changes of successive ages, there was conducted a round of gaiety and abandon unlike any other Anglo-Saxon inst.i.tution. Open, generally, only during the summer months, the entertainment varied from vocal and instrumental music to acrobats, "burlettas," "promenades," and other attractions of a more intellectual nature, and, it is to be feared, likewise of a lesser as well.

The exhibition usually wound up with a display of fireworks, set off at midnight. From 1830 to 1850 the gardens were at the very height of their later festivity, but during the next decade they finally sank into insignificance, and at last flickered out in favour of the more staid and sad amus.e.m.e.nts of the later Victorian period.

As for the indoor pleasures of society at this time, there were the theatre, the opera, and the concert-room. Dining at a popular restaurant or a gigantic hotel had not been thought of. There were, to be sure, the "a.s.sembly-rooms" and the "supper-rooms," but there were many more establishments which catered to the pleasures of the masculine mind and taste than provided a fare of food and amus.e.m.e.nt which was acceptable to the feminine palate.

Of the men's clubs, Brookes' and White's had long been established, and, though of the proprietary order, were sufficiently attractive and exclusive to have become very popular and highly successful. The other cla.s.s were those establishments which fulfil the true spirit and province of a club,--where an a.s.sociation of gentlemen join together in the expense of furnis.h.i.+ng accommodation of refreshment and reading and lounging rooms.

This was the basis on which the most ambitious clubs were founded; what they have degenerated into, in some instances, would defy even a rash man to attempt to diagnose, though many are still run on the conservative lines which do not open their doors to strangers, even on introduction, as with the famous Athenaeum Club.

Other clubs, whose names were already familiar in the London of d.i.c.kens'

day, were the Carleton, Conservative, Reform, University, and perhaps a score of others.

As is well known, d.i.c.kens was an inordinate lover of the drama, a patron of the theatre himself, and an amateur actor of no mean capabilities. As early as 1837 he had written an operetta, "The Village Coquettes," which he had dedicated to Harley. It was performed, for the first time, on December 6, 1836, at the St. James' Theatre. A London collector possesses the original "hand-bill," announcing a performance of "Used Up" and "Mr.

Nightingale's Diary," at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, in 1852, in which d.i.c.kens, Sir John Tenniel, and Mark Lemon took part; also a playbill of the performance of "The Frozen Deep," at the "Gallery of Ill.u.s.tration,"

on Regent Street, on July 4, 1857, "by Charles d.i.c.kens and his amateur company before Queen Victoria and the Royal Family."

The painting (1846) by C. R. Leslie, R. A., of d.i.c.kens as Captain Boabdil, in Ben Jonson's play of "Every Man in His Humour," is familiar to all d.i.c.kens lovers.

The theatres of London, during the later years of d.i.c.kens' life, may be divided into two cla.s.ses: those which were under "royal patronage," and those more or less independent theatres which, if ever visited by royalty, were favoured with more or less unexpected and infrequent visits.

Of the first cla.s.s, where the aristocracy, and the royal family as well, were pretty sure to be found at all important performances, the most notable were "Her Majesty's," "The Royal Italian Opera House," "The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane." Of the latter cla.s.s, the most famous--and who shall not say the most deservedly so--were the "Haymarket Theatre," "The Adelphi," "The Lyceum," and the "St. James' Theatre."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "GOING TO THE PANTOMIME."

_From a drawing by John Leech._]

"Her Majesty's Theatre," on the western side of the Haymarket, was the original of the two Italian opera-houses in London; it was built in 1790, on the site of an older theatre, burnt down in 1867, and rebuilt in 1869.

The freehold of some of the boxes was sold for as much as 8,000 each. The opera season was generally from March to August; but the main attractions and the largest audiences were found from May to July. The "Royal Italian Opera House" occupied the site of the former Covent Garden Theatre, as it does to-day, and was built in 1858 on the ruins of one destroyed by fire. The building is very remarkable, both within and without. Italian opera was produced here with a completeness scarcely paralleled in Europe.

When not required for Italian operas, the building was often occupied by an "English Opera Company," or occasionally for miscellaneous concerts.

The "Floral Hall" adjoins this theatre on the Covent Garden side. "Drury Lane Theatre," the fourth on the same site, was built in 1812; its glories live in the past, for the legitimate drama now alternates there with entertainments of a more spectacular and melodramatic character, and the Christmas pantomimes, that purely indigenous English inst.i.tution. The "Haymarket Theatre," exactly opposite "Her Majesty's," was built in 1821; under Mr. Buckstone's management, comedy and farce were chiefly performed.

The "Adelphi Theatre," in the Strand, near Southampton Street, was rebuilt in 1858, when it had for a quarter of a century been celebrated for melodramas, and for the attractiveness of its comic actors. The "Lyceum Theatre," or "English Opera House," at the corner of Wellington Street, Strand, was built in 1834 as an English opera-house, but its fortunes were fluctuating, and the performances not of a definite kind. This was the house latterly taken over by Sir Henry Irving. The "Princess' Theatre," on the north side of Oxford Street, was built in 1830; after a few years of opera and miscellaneous dramas, it became the scene of Mr. Charles Kean's Shakespearian revivals, and now resembles most of the other theatres. "St.

James' Theatre," in King Street, St. James', was built for Braham, the celebrated singer. "The Olympic" was a small house in Wych Street, Drury Lane, now destroyed. "The Strand Theatre" was famous for its burlesque extravaganzas, a form of theatrical amus.e.m.e.nt which of late has become exceedingly popular. The "New Globe Theatre" (destroyed so late as 1902) and "The Gaiety" (at the stage entrance of which are the old offices of _Good Words_, so frequently made use of by d.i.c.kens in the later years of his life), and "The Vaudeville," were given over to musical comedy and farce. "The Adelphi," though newly constructed at that time, was then, as now, the home of melodrama.

Others still recognized as popular and prosperous houses were "The Court Theatre," Sloane Square; "The Royalty," in Soho; "The Queen's," in Longacre; "The Prince of Wales'," in Tottenham Street, formerly the Tottenham Theatre. Robertson's comedies of "Caste," "Our Boys," etc., were favourite pieces there. "Sadler's Wells," "Marylebone Theatre," "The Brittania," at Hoxton, "The Standard," in Sh.o.r.editch, and "The Pavilion,"

in Whitechapel, were all notable for size and popularity, albeit those latterly mentioned were of a cheaper cla.s.s.

South of the river were "Astley's," an old amphitheatre, "The Surrey Theatre," and "The Victoria."

At this time (1870) it was estimated that four thousand persons were employed in London theatres, supporting twelve thousand persons. The public expenditure thereon was estimated at 350,000 annually.

Of "concert rooms," there were "Exeter Hall," "St. James' Hall," "Hanover Square Rooms," "Floral Hall," connected with the Covent Garden Opera, "Willis' Rooms," and the "Queen's Concert Rooms," connected with "Her Majesty's Theatre."

Here were given the performances of such organizations as "The Sacred Harmonic Society," "The Philharmonic Society," "The Musical Union," and the "Glee and Madrigal Societies," "The Beethoven Society," and others.

"Entertainments," an indefinite and mysterious word, something akin to the _olla podrida_ of sunny Spain, abounded.

Usually they were a sort of musical or sketch entertainment, thoroughly innocuous, and, while attaining a certain amount of popularity and presumably success to their projectors, were of a nature only amusing to the completely ennuied or juvenile temperament. Readings by various persons, more or less celebrated, not forgetting the name of d.i.c.kens, attracted, properly enough, huge crowds, who were willing to pay high prices to hear a popular author interpret his works. A species of lion-taming, which, if not exactly exciting, is harmless and withal edifying. The last two varieties of entertainment usually took place in the "Egyptian Hall," in Piccadilly, "St. James' Hall," or "The Gallery of Ill.u.s.tration" in Regent Street.

Of miscellaneous amus.e.m.e.nts, appealing rather more to the middle cla.s.s than the actual society element,--if one really knows what species of human being actually makes up that vague body,--were such attractions as were offered by "Madame Tussaud's Waxwork Exhibition," which suggests at once to the lover of d.i.c.kens Mrs. Jarley's similar establishment, and such industrial exhibitions as took place from time to time, the most important of the period of which this book treats being, of course, the first great International Exhibition, held in Hyde Park in 1851.

Further down the social scale the amus.e.m.e.nts were a variation only of degree, not of kind.

The lower cla.s.ses had their coffee-shops and, supposedly, in some degree the gin-palaces, which however, mostly existed in the picturesque vocabulary of the "smug" reformer.

The tavern, the chop-house, and the dining-room were variants only of the "a.s.sembly-rooms," the "clubs," and the grand establishments of the upper circles, and in a way performed the same function,--provided entertainment for mankind.

As for amus.e.m.e.nts pure and simple, there was the "music-hall," which, quoting a mid-Victorian writer, was a place where held forth a "_species of musical performance, a singular compound of poor foreign music, but indifferently executed, and interspersed with comic songs of a most extravagant kind, to which is added or interpolated what the performers please to term 'n.i.g.g.e.r' dances, athletic and rope-dancing feats, the whole accompanied by much drinking and smoking_." Which will pa.s.s as a good enough description to apply to certain establishments of this cla.s.s to-day, but which, in reality, loses considerable of its force by reason of its slurring resentment of what was in a way an invasion of a foreign custom which might be expected, sooner or later, to crowd out the conventional and sad amus.e.m.e.nts which in the main held forth, and which in a measure has since taken place. The only bearing that the matter has to the subject of this book is that some large numbers of the great public which, between sunset and its sleeping hours, must perforce be amused in some way, is to-day, as in days gone by, none too particular as to what means are taken to accomplish it.

There is a definite species of depravity which is supposed to be peculiarly the attribute of the lower cla.s.ses. If it exists at all to-day, it probably does lie with the lower cla.s.ses, but contemporary opinion points to the fact that it was not alone in those days the lower cla.s.ses who sought enjoyment from the c.o.c.kpit, the dog fight, the prize ring, or the more ancient bull-baiting, all of which existed to some degree in the early nineteenth century. Truly the influence of the Georges on society, of whatever cla.s.s, must have been cruelly debasing, and it was not to be expected that the early years of Victoria's reign should have been able to eradicate it thoroughly, and though such desires may never be entirely abolished, they are, in the main, not publicly recognized or openly permitted to-day, a fact which is greatly to the credit of the improved taste of the age in which we live.

Formerly it was said that there was but one cla.s.s of hotels in and near London of which the charges could be stated with any degree of precision.

The _old_ hotels, both at the West End and in the City, kept no printed tariff, and were not accustomed even to be asked beforehand as to their charges. Most of the visitors were more or less _recommended_ by guests who had already sojourned at these establishments, and who could give information as to what _they_ had paid. Some of the hotels declined even to receive guests except by previous written application, or by direct introduction, and would rather be without those who would regard the bill with economical scrutiny.

Of these old-fas.h.i.+oned hotels,--barbarous relics of another day,--few are to be found now, and, though existing in reality, are being fast robbed of their _clientiele_, which demand something more in the way of conveniences--with no diminution of comforts--than it were possible to get in the two or three private houses thrown into one, and dubbed by the smugly respectable t.i.tle of "Private Hotel."

Other establishments did exist, it is true, in d.i.c.kens' time: "The Golden Cross" and "Morley's," "Haxell's," and others of such cla.s.s, from which coaches still ran to near-by towns, and which houses catered princ.i.p.ally for the country visitor or the avowed commercially inclined. But aside from these, and the exclusive and presumably extravagant cla.s.s of smaller houses, represented by such names as "Claridge's," "Fenton's," "Limner's,"

_et als._, there was no other accommodation except the "taverns" of masculine propensities of Fleet Street and the City generally.

The great joint stock hotels, such as "The Metropole," "The Savoy," and "The Cecil," did not come into being until well toward the end of d.i.c.kens'

life, if we except the excellent and convenient railway hotels, such as made their appearance a few years earlier, as "Euston," "King's Cross,"

and "Victoria." The first of the really great modern _caravanserais_ are best represented by those now somewhat out-of-date establishments, the "Westminster Palace," "Inns of Court," "Alexandra," and others of the same ilk, while such as the magnificently appointed group of hotels to be found in the West Strand, Northumberland Avenue, or in Pall Mall were unthought of.

The prevailing customs of an era, with respect to clubs, taverns, coffee-houses, etc., mark signally the spirit of the age. The taverns of London, properly so called, were, in the earliest days of their prime, distinguished, each, for its particular cla.s.s of visitors. The wits and poets met at "Will's" in Covent Garden, and the politicians at "St. James'

Coffee-House," from which Steele often dated his _Tatler_. Later, in the forties, there were perhaps five hundred houses of entertainment, as distinguished from the ordinary "public house," or the more ambitious hotel.

The "dining-rooms," "a la mode beef shops," and "chop-houses" abounded in the "City," and with unvarying monotony served four, six, or ninepenny "plates" with astonis.h.i.+ng rapidity, quite rivalling in a way the modern "quick lunch." The waiter was usually servile, and in such places as the "Ches.h.i.+re Cheese," "Simpson's," and "Thomas'," was and is still active. He was a species of humanity chiefly distinguished for a cryptogrammatic system of reckoning your account, and the possessor of as choice a crop of beneath-the-chin whiskers as ever graced a Galway or a County Antrim squireen.

The London City waiter, as distinguished from his brethren of the West End, who are most Teutonic, is a unique character. Here is Leigh Hunt's picture of one:

"He has no feeling of noise; even a loaf with him is hardly a loaf; it is so many 'breads.' His longest speech is making out a bill _viva voce_,--'Two beefs, one potato, three ales, two wines, six and two pence.'"

A unique inst.i.tution existed during the first quarter of the last century. Some of d.i.c.kens' characters, if not d.i.c.kens himself, must have known something of the sort. Charles Knight tells of more than one establishment in the vicinity of the "Royal Exchange," where a sort of public _gridiron_ was kept always at hand, for broiling a chop or steak which had been bought by the customer himself at a neighbouring butcher's.

For this service, the small sum of a penny was charged, the profit to the house probably arising from the sale of potable refreshments.

The houses which were famous for "fine old cheese," "baked potatoes,"

"mutton or pork pies," "sheep's trotters," or "pig's faces," were mostly found, or, at least, were at their best, in the "City," though they formed an humble and non-fastidious method of purveying to the demands of hunger, in that the establishments catered, more particularly, to the economically inclined, or even the poorer element of city workers.

The rise from these City eating-houses to the more ambitiously expensive caterers of the "West End" was gradual. Prices and the appointments increased as one journeyed westward through Fleet Street, the Strand, to Piccadilly and Regent Street.

Another inst.i.tution peculiar to London, in its plan and scope at least, was the "coffee-house" of 1840, evolved from those of an earlier generation, but performing, in a way, similar functions.

At this time a "House of Commons Committee of Inquiry into the Operation of Import Duties"--as was its stupendous t.i.tle--elicited some remarkable facts concerning the fast increasing number of "coffee-houses," which had grown from ten or twelve to eighteen hundred in twenty-five years. One Pamphilon, who appears to have been the most successful, catering to five hundred or more persons per day, gave evidence to the effect that his house was frequented mostly by "lawyers, clerks, and commercial men, some of them managing clerks, many solicitors, and highly respectable gentlemen, who take coffee in the middle of the day in preference to a more stimulating drink ... at the present moment, besides a great number of newspapers every day, I am compelled to take in an increasing number of high-cla.s.s periodicals.... _I find there is an increasing demand for a better cla.s.s of reading._"