Note 29 — Chapter IX · 1881. ‘OTHELLO’ AND ‘THE TWO ROSES’ REVIVED.

For a time the house was “on crutches,” as it is called, an operation of considerable architectural delicacy. In the great “cellarage” below the stage, huge storehouses filled with the rubbish of half a century, were discovered masses of decayed peacocks’ feathers, which much perplexed the explorers and everybody else, until it was recalled that these were the antique “properties” used by Madame Vestris in one of her Planché burlesques. The labour was herculean, and the indefatigable Bram Stoker threw himself with heart and soul into the business. We might lament, however, that the beautiful interior suffered somewhat in the later alterations. The elegant contour was disturbed; the double pillars, which recurred periodically in the dress tier, were reduced to a single one. The fine entrance-hall lost its symmetry from being enlarged. But such sacrifices are absolutely necessary, and are not the first that have had to be made under “the form and pressure of the time.” The alterations cost a very large sum indeed, but our manager has always been an improving tenant, and has periodically laid out vast sums on the improvement and decoration of his house.