Operatic enterprise in England, then, depends upon private initiative: this means, of course, that there are different bids for fortune made from time to time by various companies and syndicates. This has been so for many years, even so long ago as the days when Handel made a venture on his own account, in opposition to the band of wealthy titled folk who set up Buononcini to oppose him: and in so far as rivalry is provocative of effort, the existence of different companies makes for good. One body in England is, however, almost unique in being able to spend freely on singers, orchestra, and accessories. [Sidenote: =Covent Garden Opera=] This body is the Royal Opera Syndicate, formerly generally known as the Royal Italian Opera, the scene of whose labours is Covent Garden. Here another point, in which we differ from the Continental nations, must be noticed, and that is, that we have in England no Opera House. The Grand Opera of our London season is held at Covent Garden, which is nothing but an ordinary theatre, although a very large one; whereas in France and Germany the Opera House is practically sacred to the performance of opera. We have no building of a similar nature. Covent Garden, for instance, is the scene of musical festivals, sometimes of promenade concerts, of fancy dress balls, and various other functions, it being devoted to opera only at certain seasons of the year. The Royal Opera Syndicate runs a season of Grand Opera from the end of April until the end of July—a three months’ season, performances being given nightly. [Sidenote: =The Royal Opera Syndicate=] For financial support the syndicate depends upon subscribers, who take boxes and stalls for the whole of the season: the boxes, prices for which are very high, are taken by the King and Court, wealthy and titled people, and also wealthy and untitled people; in short, subscribers to the opera are fashionable, and members of “society” rather than musical. Seeing, however, that they provide the backbone of the enterprise, it is only natural that the syndicate should feel bound to consult their tastes; it thus happens that we rarely get opera in the vernacular, society preferring the words in either French, German, or Italian. To much the same cause is due the somewhat lamentable fact that opera by English composers rarely obtains a hearing. Besides the subscribers for boxes, etc., ordinary members of the public can obtain entrance at prices that are somewhat high: stalls cost a guinea each per performance (on special occasions twenty-five or thirty shillings), and the topmost gallery—from which, however, one can see well and hear better—is priced at half-a-crown; there are, of course, various intermediate prices.