Excerpt from The Variety Stage: A History of the Music Halls From the Earliest Period to the Present Time

To the general reader, as well as to the thoughtful observer of the social institutions of the English people, the story of the rise, progress and present condition of Variety Stage in this country presents features of peculiar attraction.

As a factor in the domestic life of the masses, its influence can hardly be overestimated, while the hold which it retains to-day on the suffrage of the people is as remarkable as it is conspicuous. Indeed, few other forms of public entertainment command so large a share of popular support as that presented by the modern Music Hall, which constitutes in itself the most formidable rival in the patronage of the populace which the legitimate stage has ever possessed.

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