Admission is expensive, but a good performance is now almost a certainty, and much thanks is due to the Royal Opera Syndicate for this. In years gone by the chief centre of interest used to be the _prima donna_ or principal tenor, all else being relegated to a slipshod background; but of late years the Syndicate has laid out much money in altering and improving the stage and stage machinery; new scenery has been painted, and the operas newly dressed; the best singers available are engaged, and a good orchestra, with good conductors, adds no little to the performances. Reliance is placed, in the main, upon certain attractive operas, but interesting novelties and _quasi_-novelties are from time to time introduced, and the whole thing may be said to be well done. [Sidenote: =History of Opera in this Country=] This was not always so, and the fortunes of Grand Opera in England have fluctuated according to the financial state of the companies responsible for its production. Opera always appears in this country to have been largely dependant upon fashionable supporters, from the times of the old Opera House in the Haymarket up to the present day. Covent Garden has had its ups and downs; it was really dubbed “Opera House” in 1847, having formerly been given over to ordinary theatrical uses, chief of which, so far as opera is concerned, was the production of Weber’s _Oberon_ in 1826, while Bishop’s operas all saw the light upon the same boards. Italian opera prevailed from 1846 to 1885, when the company came to financial grief. Opera was then carried on by Señor Lago, Sir Augustus Harris taking over the reins from 1888 to 1896. Since that date it has been in the hands of the present Syndicate. In addition to the ordinary three months’ season, the Syndicate has of late preceded their ordinary operatic productions by one or more presentations of specially prepared and rehearsed performances of Wagner’s _Ring_. For these special care and detailed work is given, and higher prices are charged; while the Wagnerian conductor, Richter, is placed in command. Of late years the Syndicate has experimented with opera in English: the _Ring_ of Wagner, the _Meistersinger_, _Madama Butterfly_, and other operas have been performed in English, and, in the main, by English and American artists, with great success. These English performances have been held during short seasons given at different periods of the year to the grand season proper, and the admission fees have been slightly less. The Syndicate also occasionally lets the house to the Moody-Manners and other opera companies.