3-016-899 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Shakspeare Commemoration: banquet in the pavilion at Stratford-on-Avon...the Earl of Carlisle proposing "The Memory of Shakespeare", 1864. '...the pavilion...had been so constructed that it might serve the purposes, alternately, of a dining-hall, a theatre, and a ball-room. The upper table, reserved for the president and most distinguished guests, was placed in front of the stage, in place of the movable orchestra. Behind the table were the reporters, and behind these again were the choir of Stratford church, who enlivened the proceedings with some vocal music. The floor in front of the orchestra, where the pit is situated when the pavilion is used as a theatre, were eight tables, placed at right angles to the president's table; and some other tables were placed on the stage itself, or in front of the grand tier of boxes. About 700 ladies and gentlemen sat down to eat, while there were hundreds more as spectators in the galleries. The interior of the pavilion...was seen to great advantage when filled with company and converted to the purpose of a social entertainment. The stage was backed with a landscape scene, which gave to the banquet at the tables immediately adjoining somewhat the aspect of a fête champêtre'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.