THE

488

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“ in tlie theatre of Parma, (which is particularly cele-brated botli for sound and vision,) the frontispiece of thestage-opening is placed at a distance of no less than 40 feetfrom the termination of the spectatory, for the purpose ofopening a view of the scene to the spectators sitting nearestto the stage ; and the width of the stage-opening in thattheatre, with a view to the same desirable object, is extendedto 39 feet, exceeding by 4 feet the width which is given tothat opening of my design.

“ In discussing this subject, I have hitherto confinedmyself to those considerations connected with the form ofthe theatre, which appertain directly to the two primaryobjects of distinct sound and vision ; and I trust, that I haveshown completely, that there is no admissible form so wellcalculated to secure those objects, as that which I haveadopted in my design. But there is another considerationof great importance, which appertains to the form which Ihave chosen, and which does not relate to either of theobjects above mentioned; namely, its decided superiorityover every other form in point of beauty, for a circle is aform which will never weary or distress the eye.

“ In building our early theatres in this country, littleattention seems to have been bestowed upon the means offavouring sound or vision: in the form of those theatres, theirsides were either entirely parallel, or diverging but little fromeach other ; and if those theatres had not been confined tovery small dimensions (such as would not be consistent withthe present population and condition of the metropolis) therecan be no doubt that their form would have been found tobe extremely defective. The first gradation of improvementin this respect, appears to have been the introduction of theoval, and the horse-shoe, by rounding of the angles of theformer shape, and thus we have been approaching graduallyto that form which I now propose, and which deviates aslittle from the Greek and Roman amphitheatres, as the stateof circumstances will admit. The original theatres of DruryLane and Covent Garden, as well as the old Opera House ,and Foote’s theatre in the Haymarket, were all flat-sided ;the latter (never having been rebuilt) is so to this day.The late theatre in Drury Lane was nearly oval, and thepresent Opera House is in the form of a horse-shoe.

“ There is one other point in a great degree connected withthe form and proportions of the theatre, to which I mustadvert, before I entirely conclude this part of the subject;namely, the height of the ceiling. In forming my design, ithas been my object to avoid raising the ceiling beyond theproportion which I think it ought, for the sake of the sym-metry, to bear to the open area which it is to cover : thatproportion is, in my opinion, about three-fourths of thediameter of that area, but not less, I do not believe that theheight of the ceiling can in any degree injure or affect thesound of the voice in the lower parts of the theatre ; it maymaterially assist in conducting the sound into those parts ofthe house which are nearest to it: but it must, in everytheatre, be much too high to act as a reverberator, or sound-ing-board, to the lower parts of the house. If this were notthe fact, the voice would be quite indistinct and inaudible ina cathedral church, where the roof is at a vast height: theform of that roof, not calculated for direct reverberation ofsound, and the person uttering the sound at the reading-desk,placed in a situation by no means so well calculated to conveythe sound of his voice generally among his auditors, as thatin which an actor upon the stage is placed: yet we know,that even under all these circumstances, the voice is heardin most of the cathedral churches quite as well as it is inmany chapels ; which is a positive proof that a low ceiling isnot essential to the strength and clearness of sound in a

theatre. If it were necessary to support this opin' 011 ’ ^whispering gallery in St. Paul's cathedral would serve a3 ^ gadditional proof, that sound may be distinctly heard in aenclosed area (provided that area be in itself so cons * r ,. eC tas to facilitate the conveyance of sound) without any 0reverberation from above ; the great height of theabove the floor of the whispering gallery, together wn ,large aperture in the centre of the dome itself, are suntto demonstrate, that the extraordinary effect of sound 111whispering gallery, is in no degree produced by refertion from above. Under this conviction, I have been 1 ^enced in the height at which I have fixed the ceiling) *v ^proportion which appeared to me to be most in a y ia ^\ eD t lwith the area to be covered by that ceiling. I feel conn jthat upon a. serious and impartial attention to the fa° t3 a( j.deductions Contained in the foregoing pages, it will 00 _

mitted, that the form which I have adopted is the best 0 <

1st, as to size and capacity ; and 2nd, as to distincJt sahd vision.”

The following are the Dimensions of the Interior °fDrury Lane Theatre .

The stage-opening, 35 feet.

The widest part of the area, upon the level of theboxes, 58 feet.

Depth of the dress boxes, 9 feet 6 inches.

Depth of the three upper tiers of boxes, 8 feet. j re3 sFrom the front line of the stage to the front of th eboxes, in the widest part, 44 feet 3 inches. aSS ed

Theatre, among the ancients, a building encotnp ^with porticos, and furnished with seats of stone, or tn a bydisposed in the area of a semicircle, and ascendin 0 > t0degrees, over each other, for the use of the sped 3behold the performances. The orchestra, or place ' v11 ® or g.musicians performed, was situate in front of the spec ca lled'The stage, or place where the actors performed, wasthe orchestra. The area beyond this was called 11scenium, or pulpitum. At the extremity of the P rosC . g ofstood the scena, a large front, adorned with the 0 a(;to r3architecture ; and, behind, was the place wheremade themselves ready, called the postscenium. SeeTHEATRE. heth er

THEODOLITE, an instrument for taking angle 3 )in a horizontal or in a vertical plane. £ or th e

If 29 half-degrees of the horizontal circle be take^j jpt0length of an arc on the vernier, and this arc be < ^ lV . 1 te , h/30 equal parts, the vernier will show to a single Tdivi^ 11observing when a coincidence takes place betweenof the vernier and one of the horizontal circle, or n . t0 b eTHEOREM, (Greek,) a proposition which requndemonstrated. nosH 0 ^’

TI-IEOTHECA, (Greek, $>eos,god, and dh^a, rq>^ forIfl s

a

the receptacle for the consecrated host ; it is of varand sizes, but usually of the most costly material 3,as Monstrance or Remonstrance. ,,

THOLE, the knop or scutcheon in the midst ovault. . . cup 01 *

THOLOBATE, that part of a building on whi°is raised ; the base of a cupola. . i al - fo rDl '

THOLUS, the name given to buildings of a cnc c ircuk‘ rVitruvius employs the term to signify the roof 0building. do0 rs a ”

THOROUGH FRAMING, the framing ot u ^windows : a term not much used at present. . j C j, l"* v

THOROUGH-LIGHTED ROOMS, those w*windows on two opposite sides. „ »

THRESHOLD OF A DOOR, the sill. See '