London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
A PANTOMIME AT DRURY LANE.
BOXING Day at the end of the century is still associated with Christmas boxes. As a rule, those boxes are rather a tax upon those whose duty (a duty, however, sometimes combined with a pleasure) it is to supply them. But there is to everyone, whether it be the host who has purchased it or the guest who has accepted the host's valued hospitality. I need scarcely add after these observations that I refer to a box at the Drury Lane pantomime. Every year the annual has become more difficult to compose, for the simple reason that its originator has made it a point to beat his own record. Year after year, from to , the late lessee of the National Theatre determined to make his present pantomime better than the one of the year past, and by universal consent accomplished the seemingly impossible feat. And since the death of | |
102 | Sir Augustus his successor has satisfactorily attempted the task of his predecessor. I had the privilege of witnessing the preparation for what is now known as Harris's last pantomime. As a spectacle it was the ultimate word of the century. |