For this new edition adds to the original merits of the work the very substantial charm of abundant illustrations, first-rate in subject and execution, and of three kinds--copper-plate likenesses of actors and other personages connected with theatrical history; a series of delicate, picturesque, highly detailed woodcuts of theatrical topography, chiefly the little old theatres; and, by way of tail-pieces to the chapters, a second series of woodcuts of a vigour and reality of information, within very limited compass, which make one think of Callot and the German [76] "little masters," depicting Garrick and other famous actors in their favourite scenes.
[77] The portraits of actors and other theatrical celebrities range from Elizabeth, from the melodramatic costumes and faces of the contemporaries of Shakespeare, to the conventional costumes, the rotund expression, of the age of the Georges, masking a power of imaginative impersonation probably unknown in Shakespeare's day.
"'No doubt,' replied the
actor in question, 'you mean the "Isabella," the "Phyllis," and the "Alexandra."'
But they have a taste for all representers and
actors of great things.
Joy always within, and they, like the
actor, inevitably without.
Gradually, too, the priests lost their hold even on the plays themselves; skilful
actors from among the laymen began to take many of the parts; and at last in some towns the trade-guilds, or unions of the various handicrafts, which had secured control of the town governments, assumed entire charge.
And as, happily, the
actors have tried to perform it in the simple fashion in which it must have been done long ago, we can get from it a very good idea of the plays which pleased our forefathers.
"I believe," said Fanny to her aunt Bertram, "there will be three acts rehearsed to-morrow evening, and that will give you an opportunity of seeing all the
actors at once."
Neither was what was commonly called the stage door; they were a sort of special and private stage doors used by very special performers, and in this case by the star
actor and actress in the Shakespearean performance of the day.
But as Nature often exhibits some of her best performances to a very full house, so will the behaviour of her spectators no less admit the above-mentioned comparison than that of her
actors. In this vast theatre of time are seated the friend and the critic; here are claps and shouts, hisses and groans; in short, everything which was ever seen or heard at the Theatre-Royal.
Probably the saying of Theodoras, the tragic
actor, was not a bad one: That he would permit no one, not even the meanest
actor, to go upon the stage before him, that he might first engage the ear of the audience.
The
actor is bidden to disrobe and wash off his powder and paint: he will not be wanted any more.