So the audience paid the increased price or stayed away from the theatre--for staying away from the theatre could now be calmly viewed as a reasonable alternative.

"The play" was no more what once it had been, a sort of necessary of life.
The example of the Opera manager was presently followed by all other theatrical establishments, and high-priced stalls became the rule everywhere.

The pit lost its old influence--was, so to say, disfranchised.

It was as one of the old Cinque Ports which the departing sea and the ever indrifting sand have left high and dry, unapproachable by water, a port only in name.

It was divided and conquered.