Mr.Pepys, in his "Diary," February 12th, 1667, chronicles a conversation with Killigrew, the manager of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.

"He tells me that the stage is now, by his pains, a thousand times better and more glorious than ever heretofore.

_Now, wax candles and many of them; then, not above 3 lb.

of tallow._ Now, all things civil: no rudeness anywhere; then, as in a bear-garden," &c.

The body of the house, according to Malone, was formerly lighted "by cressets or large open lanthorns of nearly the same size with those which are fixed in the poop of a ship." The use of candles involved the employment of candle-snuffers, who came on at certain pauses in the performance to tend and rectify the lighting of the stage.