The light still comes from the wrong place: from below instead of, naturally, from above.

In 1863, Mr.
Fechter, at the Lyceum, sank the _floats_ below the surface of the stage, so that they should not intercept the view of the spectator; and his example has been followed by other managers; and of late years, owing to accidents having occurred to the dresses of the dancers when they approached too near to the foot-lights, these have been carefully fenced and guarded with wire screens and metal bars.
Moreover, the dresses of the performers have been much shortened.

But the obvious improvement required still remains to be effected.
George Colman the younger, in his "Random Records," describes an amateur dramatic performance in the year 1780, at Wynnstay, in North Wales, the seat of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn.

The theatre had formerly been the kitchen of the mansion--a large, long, rather low-pitched room.

One advantage of these characteristics, according to Mr.Colman, was the fact that the foot-lights, or _floats_, could be dispensed with: the stage was lighted by a row of lamps affixed to a large beam or arch above the heads of the performers--"on that side of the arch nearest to the stage, so that the audience did not see the lamps, which cast a strong vertical light upon the actors.