By one of those paradoxical contrasts in which Italy
is peculiarly rich, I have to thank Milan for a sensation
which I ought to have received anywhere else than
within her walls. The Teatro Olimpia is a building which
in our country would have very little claim to be called

' A distinguished visitor was about this time making its appearance
in the sky at early mom.
3i6 PLAYS AND PLAYERS IN MODERN ITALY

a theatre at all. It has just one flat floor, square in
shape, with — ^rotind it and slightly raised — one tier of
boxes, between which and the seats of the pit stands a
row of tables at which refreshments are served. Behind
the boxes runs a great broad corridor, on the other
side of which is a space divided, for the most part, into
offices, refreshment-rooms, &c., but which in one place
was put to a use different from any that we think of in con-
nection with the precious room available within a theatre's
walls. Possibly, lack of light suggested the experiment ;
possibly, simply that " furia ' for imitating something
which is ingrained in every ItaUan heart. All I know
is, that, wandering out from my place in the midst of
an audience neither ample nor fashionable, and sniffing
like a terrier down the long gallery, I found myself,
unaware, in the bowels of the earth. Stalactites,

Like snow or sUver or long diamond spires
Hung downward, raining forth a doubtful light.
