Part 22 (2/2)

But it was not so much the ballet that gave offence as the ballet-dancers whom Garrick had brought from Paris. They were chiefly Swiss, but the audience believed them to be French, and at that time a very strong anti-Gallican feeling prevailed in the land. The relations between England and France were of an unfriendly kind; the two countries were, indeed, on the eve of war. The French, by their conduct in America, had incurred the bitterest English enmity. It is true that Garrick had projected his spectacle months before this feeling had arisen. He was careful so to inform the public, and further to state that his ballet-master, M. Noverre, and his sisters were Swiss and of a Protestant family; his wife and her sister, Germans; and that of the whole _corps de ballet_, sixty in number, forty were English. But this availed not. The pit would not regard it, holding fast to their opinion that no management should bring over parley-voos and frog-eaters to take the bread out of English mouths.

Peace was at length restored in Drury Lane, and the dancers sent back.

The management lost 4000; Garrick purchasing knowledge of his public at rather a high rate.

And in England the ballet had other enemies than those who concerned themselves in regard to the nationality of its professors. It was held by many to be, if an art at all--why, then, an art of a shocking kind; they could see nothing in it but gross impropriety and unseemliness.

Now, of course, the ballet has its vulnerable side--it almost needs, at any rate it has always a.s.sumed, a scantier style of dress than is otherwise in ordinary use. And then the movements of the dancer of necessity involve greater display of the human form than is required by the simpler acts of riding, walking, or sitting. In dancing it is inevitable that there should be swaying and bending of the figure, possibly waving to and fro of the arms, certainly some standing upon the toes, and raising of the nether limbs more or less high in the air. Bereft of these measures dancing could not be; still here were matters upon which moralists, or persons who so styled themselves, were able greatly to enlarge, and concerning which Pharisees, who did not so style themselves, but were such nevertheless, had much to say.

Now just at the close of the last century the world was in very sad case; society had gone on from bad to worse: low life was of course lower than it had ever before been known to be, and high life was not nearly so high as it should have been. There was profligacy in very exalted places, and, indeed, dissoluteness and immorality everywhere.

Thereupon, in 1798, a certain Bishop of Durham made a speech from his place in Parliament in regard to the wickedness of the period; and especially he drew attention to the dancers of the opera-house. The excuse for the prelate's speech was a divorce bill; for in those days the peers spiritual and temporal were much occupied in discussing and pa.s.sing divorce bills--an employment of which they have only been deprived during quite recent years. His Grace took occasion to complain of the frequency of such bills, and, being a true patriot, charged the French Government with the despatch of agents to this country especially to corrupt our manners. ”He considered it a consequence of the gross immoralities imported of late years into this country from France, the Directory of which country, finding that they were not able to subdue us by their arms, appeared as if they were determined to gain their ends by destroying our morals; they had sent over persons to this country who made the most improper exhibitions in our theatres.” Now it was true that the manager of the opera-house at this time relied greatly upon the attractions of his ballet; operas and opera-singers having for a while lost favour with the impresario's subscribers and supporters. A leading dancer at this time, however, was an Englishwoman--an exception to the rule that makes every _premiere danseuse_ of French origin--Miss Rose, reported to be of plain features, but of exquisite figure, and gifted with singular ease and grace of movement. It is possible that Miss Rose had adopted a scantier and lighter method of attire than had prevailed with preceding dancers. She had been caricatured, yet not very unkindly, by Gillray, the drawing bearing the motto, ”No flower that blows is like the Rose.” The bishop's speech was not without effect. Indeed, he had announced his intention upon some future day to move an address to the king praying that all opera-dancers might be ordered out of the kingdom, as people likely to destroy our morality and religion, and as very probably in the pay of France. The manager of the opera-house deemed it advisable to postpone his ballet of ”Bacchus and Ariadne”

until new and improved dresses could be prepared for it. Upon the entertainment being reproduced, it was found that there had been enlargement and elongation of the skirts of the performers, with the subst.i.tution of inoffensive white silk stockings for the reprehensible hose of flesh-colour that had originally been a.s.sumed. Of course much talk followed upon this, with great laughter and ridicule; caricatures of the spiritual peers and the opera-dancers abounded. In a drawing by Gillray, Miss Rose, with other _danseuses_, is depicted performing what is called ”_La Danse a l'eveque_;” the ladies have a.s.sumed, out of excessive regard for decorousness and the bishop's arguments, that ap.r.o.n of black silk which has long been thought peculiar to prelates.

Another satirical ill.u.s.tration bore the t.i.tle of ”Ecclesiastical Scrutiny; or, The Durham Inquest on Duty.” Bishops were represented as attending in the dressing department of the opera-house; one is seen to be measuring the dancers' skirts with a tailor's yard; another arranges their stockings in an ungraceful fas.h.i.+on; while a third inspects their corsets, decreeing some change in the form of those articles of attire. The Bishop of Durham was further portrayed in another broadsheet as armed with his pastoral staff, and st.u.r.dily contesting hand to hand with the Spirit of Evil arrayed in ballet costume. In short, this subject of the bishops and the ballet-girls occupied and amused the public very considerably, and doubtless proved profitable, as an advertis.e.m.e.nt of his wares, to the manager of the opera-house.

Still the bishops kept a watchful eye upon the proceedings of the theatre. In 1805 there is record of a riot at the opera-house, ”some reforming bishops having warned the managers that if the performances were not regularly brought to a close before twelve o'clock on Sat.u.r.day evenings, prosecutions would be commenced.” Accordingly, the performances were shortened by the omission of an act of the ballet of ”Ossian,” greatly to the dissatisfaction of the audience, who a.s.saulted Mr. Kelly, the manager, commenced an attack upon the chandeliers, benches, musical instruments, &c., and indeed threatened to demolish the theatre. The curtain had fallen at half-past eleven, which the audience thought much too early. Of a certain prelate it was recorded that he frequently attended the Sat.u.r.day-night performances at the opera-house, and that upon the approach of midnight he was wont to stand up in his box holding out his watch at arm's length, by way of intimating to the spectators that it was time for them to depart and for the theatre to close. Of course this bishop could hardly have avoided seeing the ballet; but for whatever distress he may have endured on that account, a sense of his efforts to benefit his species, including of course the opera-dancers, no doubt afforded him a sufficient measure of compensation.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

CORRECT COSTUMES.

The question of dress has always been of the gravest importance to the theatrical profession. It was a charge brought against the actors of Elizabeth's time, that they walked about the town in gaudy and expensive attire. The author of ”The Return from Parna.s.sus,” first published in 1606, but held to have been written at an earlier date, specially refers to the prosperity, and the consequent arrogance of the players. He is believed to have had in view Alleyn or even Shakespeare:

Vile world that lifts them up to high degree, And treads us down in grovelling misery!

England affords these glorious vagabonds, That carried erst their fardels on their backs, Coursers to ride on through the gazing streets, Sweeping it in their glaring satin suits, And pages to attend their masters.h.i.+ps.

But it is clear that these ”glorious vagabonds” were regardful that their dress should be splendid merely. There was no thought then as to the costumes of the stage being appropriate to the characters represented, or in harmony with the periods dealt with by the dramatists. Nor did the spectators find fault with this arrangement.

It did not disturb them in the least to find Brutus and Ca.s.sius, for instance, wearing much the same kind of clothes as Bacon and Raleigh.

And in this way anachronisms of other kinds readily obtained pardon, if indeed they ever moved attention at all. Certainly the hero of an early Roman story should not have spoken of gunpowder, much less have produced a pistol from his belt; but his conduct in this wise became almost reasonable, seeing that he did not wear a toga, but doublet and hose--the dress indeed of a gallant of Elizabeth's time.

It is only in quite recent times that the correctness of stage costumes has undergone systematic consideration, and been treated as a matter of real urgency, although occasional experiments in the direction of reform are to be found recorded in early accounts of the drama. Mr. Pepys describes his visit to the theatre in 1664, to see ”Heraclius, or the Emperor of the East,” Carlell's translation of Corneille, and notes, ”the garments like Romans very well ... at the beginning, at the drawing up of the curtain, there was the finest scene of the emperor and his people about him, standing in their fixed and different postures, in their Roman habits, above all that I ever saw at any of the theatres.” But attempts to be accurate in this way were only of an intermittent kind; any enduring amendment can hardly be found until we approach a period that is within the recollection of living playgoers. Mr. Donne, lately the Examiner of Plays, writes in one of his essays on the drama: ”We have seen 'The Rivals' performed in a sort of chance-medley costume--a century intervening between the respective attires of Sir Anthony and Captain Absolute;” and he adds, ”we have seen the same comedy dressed with scrupulous attention to the date of the wigs and hoops; but we doubt whether in any essential respect that excellent play was a gainer by the increased care and expenditure of the manager.” Sir Walter Scott had previously written: ”We have seen 'Jane Sh.o.r.e' acted with Richard in the old English cloak, Lord Hastings in a full court dress, with his white rod like a Lord Chamberlain of the last reign, and Jane Sh.o.r.e and Alicia in stays and hoops. We have seen Miss Young act Zara, incased in whalebone, to an Osman dressed properly enough as a Turk, while Nerestan, a Christian knight, in the time of the Crusades, strutted in the white uniform of the old French guards!”

Even as late as 1842 a writer in a critical journal, reviewing a performance of ”She Stoops to Conquer” at the Haymarket Theatre, reminds the representatives of Young Marlow and Hastings that the costumes they wear being ”of the year 1842 accord but ill with those of 1772, a.s.sumed by the other characters.” ”The effect of the scene is marred by it,” writes the critic. And ten years before Leigh Hunt had admitted into the columns of his _Tatler_ many letters dwelling upon the defects of stage costume in regard to incongruousness and general lack of accuracy. One correspondent complains of a performance of ”The Merry Wives of Windsor” at Covent Garden, in which Bartley had played Falstaff ”in a dress belonging to the age of the first Charles;” Caius had appeared as ”a doctor of the reign of William and Mary, with a flowing periwig, c.o.c.ked hat, large cuffs, and ruffles;” while John Rugby's costume was that ”of a countryman servant of the present day.”

Another remonstrant describes Kean as dressing Oth.e.l.lo ”more in the garb of an Albanian Greek than a Moor; Richard goes through the battle without armour, while Richmond is armed _cap-a-pie_; and Young plays Macbeth in a green and gilded velvet jacket, and carries a s.h.i.+eld until he begins to fight, and then throws it away.” A third correspondent draws attention to ”The School for Scandal” and Mr.

Farren's performance of Sir Peter Teazle in a costume appropriate to the date of the comedy, the other players wearing dresses of the newest vogue. ”Even Sir Oliver,” it is added, ”appeared in a fas.h.i.+onable modern drab greatcoat.” In a note Leigh Hunt records his opinion that Mr. Farren was right, and that it was ”the business of all the other performers to dress up to his costume, not for him to _wrong_ himself into theirs,” and adds, ”there is one way of settling the matter which puts an end to all questions except that of immediate convenience and economy; and this is to do as the French do, who rigidly adhere to the costume of the period in which the scene is supposed to take place. Something of immediate sympathy is lost, perhaps, by this system, for we can hardly admire a young beauty so much in the dress of our grandmothers as in such as we see our own charmers in; but this defect is compensated by a sense of truth and propriety, by the very quaintness and novelty of the ancient aspect, and even by the information it conveys to us.”

The condition of the Parisian stage in regard to its improved and splendid scenery, decorations, and accessories owed much to the special intervention and patronage of Louis XIV. Sir Walter Scott ascribes to Voltaire ”the sole merit of introducing natural and correct costumes. Before his time the actors, whether Romans or Scythians, appeared in the full dress of the French court; and Augustus himself was represented in a huge full-bottomed wig surmounted by a crown of laurel.” Marmontel, however, claims to have had some share in this innovation, and also in the reform of the stage method of declamation, which had previously been of a very pompous kind. Following his counsels, Mdlle. Clairon, the famous tragic actress, had ventured to play Roxana, in the Court Theatre at Versailles, ”dressed in the habit of a Sultana, without hoop, her arms half naked, and in the truth of Oriental costume.” With this attire she adopted a simpler kind of elocution. Her success was most complete. Marmontel was profuse in his congratulations. ”But it will ruin me,” said the actress. ”Natural declamation requires correctness of costume. My wardrobe is from this moment useless to me; I lose twelve hundred guineas' worth of dresses! However, the sacrifice is made. Within a week you shall see me play Electra after nature, as I have just played Roxana.” Marmontel writes: ”From that time all the actors were obliged to abandon their fringed gloves, their voluminous wigs, their feathered hats, and all the fantastic paraphernalia that had so long shocked the sight of all men of taste. Lekain himself followed the example of Mdlle. Clairon, and, from that moment, their talents thus perfected, excited mutual emulation and were worthy rivals of each other.”

Upon the English stage reform in this matter was certainly a matter of slow growth. A German gentleman, Christian Augustus Gottlieb Goede by name, who published, in 1821, a long account of a visit he had recently made to England, expresses in strong terms his opinions on certain peculiarities of its theatre. ”You will never behold,” he writes, ”foreign actors dressed in such an absurd style as upon the London stage. The English, of all other nations the most superst.i.tious wors.h.i.+ppers of fas.h.i.+on, are, nevertheless, accustomed to manifest a strange indulgence for the incivilities which this G.o.ddess encounters from their performers. I have seen Mr. Cooke personating the character of Sir Pertinax McSycophant in 'The Man of the World,' in a buff coat of antique cut, and an embroidered waistcoat which might have figured in the court of Charles II.; though this play is of modern date and the actor must of course have been familiar with the current costume.

In 'The Way to Keep Him,' Mr. C. Kemble acted the part of Sir Brilliant Fas.h.i.+on, a name which ought to have suggested to him a proper style of dress, in a frock absolutely threadbare, an obsolete doublet, long pantaloons, a prodigious watch-chain of steel, and a huge _incroyable_ under his arm. This last article, indeed, was an appendage of 1802, but all the rest presented a genuine portrait of an indigent and c.o.xcombical journeyman tailor. He must have known that pantaloons and an _incroyable_ rumpled and folded together are incongruous articles of apparel--that no gentleman, much less Sir Brilliant Fas.h.i.+on, would make his appearance in a threadbare coat; and that steel watch-chains, as the chronicles of the Birmingham manufactories plainly evince, have been out of date these fourscore years. Neither would he, I am perfectly convinced, parade in such a costume off the boards of the theatre. Why then should he choose to exhibit such a whimsical figure upon them? May I venture to offer my own conjecture on the subject? The real cause probably is that an absurd costume is perfectly fas.h.i.+onable upon the English stage!”

In reply to these and similar strictures there is nothing much to be said, unless it be that actors and audience alike were content with things as they were, and that now and then reforms had been attempted, without however resulting in any particular success. Garrick had rendered the theatre invaluable services both as actor and as stage-manager, but he had been unable to effect any very beneficial change in the matter of dress. Indeed, it seems probable that his attempt to appear as Oth.e.l.lo had failed chiefly because he had followed Foote's example and attired the character after a Moorish fas.h.i.+on, discarding the modern military uniforms in which Quin and Barry had been wont to play the part. The actor's short stature, black face, and Oriental dress had reminded the audience of the turbaned negro pages in attendance upon ladies of quality at that period: ”Pompey with the teakettle,” as Quin had said, having possibly a plate of Hogarth's present in his mind; and the innovation, which was certainly commendable enough, was unfavourably received, even to incurring some contempt. Garrick's dress as Hotspur, ”a laced frock and a Ramilies wig,” was objected to, not for the good reason that it was inappropriate, but on the strange ground that it was ”too insignificant for the character.” A critic writing in 1759, while timidly advocating the amendment of stage dress, proceeds to doubt whether the reform would be ”well received by audiences who have been so long habituated to such glaring impropriety and negligence in the other direction.” Clearly alteration was a matter of some difficulty, and not to be lightly undertaken.

It is well known that Garrick, in the part of Macbeth, wore a court suit of scarlet and gold lace, with, in the latter scenes of the tragedy, ”a wig,” as Lee Lewes the actor says in his Memoirs, ”as large as any now worn by the gravest of our Barons of the Exchequer”--a similar costume being adopted by other Macbeths of that time--Smith and Barry for instance. When the veteran actor Macklin first played Macbeth in 1774, however, he a.s.sumed a ”Caledonian habit,” and although it is said the audience, when they saw ”a clumsy old man, who looked more like a Scotch piper than a general and a prince of the blood, stumping down the stage at the head of an army, were generally inclined to laugh,” still the attempt at reform won considerable approbation. At that time it was held to be unquestionable that the correct costume of Macbeth should be that of the Highlander of the snuff-shop; but in later days it was discovered that even the tartan was an anachronism in such case, and that Macbeth and his a.s.sociates must be clad in stripes, or plain colours. Even the bonnet with the eagle's feather, which Sir Walter Scott induced Kemble to subst.i.tute for his ”shuttlec.o.c.k” headdress of ostrich plumes, was held to be inadmissible: the Macbeth of the antiquaries wore a conical iron helmet, and was otherwise arrayed in barbaric armour. But when Garrick first played Macbeth there were good reasons why the reform to be introduced by Macklin at a later date could not be attempted. Mr.

Jackson, the actor from Edinburgh, who wrote a history of the Scottish stage, records that, being engaged at Drury Lane, he had resolved to make his first appearance in the part of Young Norval, in the tragedy of ”Douglas.” He writes: ”I had provided for the purpose, before I left Edinburgh, a Highland dress, accoutred _cap-a-pie_ with a broadsword, s.h.i.+eld, and dirk, found upon the field of Culloden. But here, as usual, fresh impediment arose Lord Bute's administration, from causes unnecessary here to enter upon, was become so unpleasing to the mult.i.tude, that anything confessedly Scotch awakened the embers of discussion, and fed the flame of party. Mr. Garrick therefore put a direct negative at once upon my appearance in 'Douglas;' 'Oroonoko'

was subst.i.tuted in its place; for even to have performed the play of 'Douglas' would have been hazardous, and to have exhibited the Highland dress upon the stage, imprudence in the extreme. Could I have supposed, at that period,” asks Mr. Jackson--his book bears date 1793--”that I should live to see the tartan plaid universally worn in the politest circles, and its colours the predominating fas.h.i.+on among all ranks of the people in the metropolis?” What with the predisposition of the audience in favour of the conventional court suit, and afterwards their prejudice against the Scotch, on account of the '45 and Lord Bute, Garrick could hardly have a.s.sumed tartan in ”Macbeth.” A picture by Dawes represents him in the battle-scenes of the play as wearing a sort of Spanish dress--slashed trunks, a breastplate, and a high-crowned hat!

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