Drury-lane Theatre was first opened in 1663, and the present edifice, the fourth, in 1812, with a prologue by Lord Byron, the advertisement for which gave rise to the famous Rejected Addresses. Garrick opened the theatre in 1747 with Dr Johnson's prologue; and most of the great English actors have trod the boards which are now given over for the most part to pantomimes and spectacular pieces.
Drury-lane Theatre
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 4: Dionysius to Friction, p. 98
Source scan(s): p. 0107