"
In 1820, if I am not mistaken, the levelling (and lowering) process
was complete. Richmond Hill's sad old windows looked no longer down
upon a beautiful country world, but out on swiftly growing city
blocks. In 1831, a few art-loving souls tried to found a high-class
theatre in the old house,--the Richmond Hill Theatre. Among them was
Lorenzo Daponte, who had been exiled from Venice, and wrote witty
satirical verse.
The little group of sincere idealists wanted this theatre to be a real
home of high art, and a prize was offered for the best "poetical
address on the occasion,"--that is, the opening of the theatre. The
judges and contestants sat in one of the historic reception rooms that
had seen such august guests as Washington and Burr, Adams and
Hamilton, Talleyrand and Louis Philippe.
Our good friend General Wetmore can tell us of this at first hand for
he was one of those present.
"It was," he says, "an afternoon to be remembered. As the long
twilight deepened into evening, the shadows of departed hosts and
long-forgotten guests seemed to hover 'round the dilapidated halls and
the dismantled chambers.
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