Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cross to the north side of the Strand. Here, between Exeter Street and Burleigh Street,
now the Strand Palace Hotel, was the Exeter Change, with small shops whose wares were,
'principally of hardware, cutlery, and inferior jewellery' (Priscilla Wakefield).
Pidcock's (later Polito's) Menagerie, a collection of exotic beasts and birds, was located
on the floor above. As the exhibits were mostly live specimens and included a hippopot-
amus that Byron said resembled Lord Liverpool, as well as lions, tigers, an ostrich and a
rhinoceros, the difficulty of keeping them must have been considerable.
In
Sense and Sensibility
one of John Dashwood's feeble excuses for not calling promptly
on his half-sisters was that he had to take his young son Harry to see the wild beasts here.
Polito's Royal Menagerie, Exeter Change, in 1812.
The Lyceum Theatre in 1817. There is a demonstration of astrology in
progress, typical of the sort of entertainments that the non-licensed
theatres put on.
Continuing back along the Strand towards Somerset House brings us to Wellington
Street. Turn left here to the Lyceum Theatre. The original theatre close to this site was built
in 1771 and, after a spell as a circus, held varied entertainments, including displaying Ma-
dame Tussaud's first waxworks exhibition in 1802.
Henry planned to take Jane there on 18 April 1811, but she had a cold and told Cassandra
it would be postponed. However, two days later:
We did go to the play after all on Saturday, we went to the Lyceum, & saw the Hypocrite, an old play
taken from Moliere's Tartuffe, & were well entertained. Dowton & Matthews were the good actors. Mrs
Edwin was the Heroine & her performance is just what it used to be. I have no chance of seeing Mrs Sid-
dons. She did act on Monday, but as Henry was told by the Boxkeeper that he did not think she would,
the places, & all thought of it, were given up. I should particularly have liked seeing her in Constance,
& could swear at her with little effort for disappointing me.
