THE BOOK OF THE PLAY.
Mr. Thackeray has described a memorable performance at the Theatre
Royal, Chatteries. Arthur Pendennis and his young friend Harry Foker
were among the audience; Lieutenants Rodgers and Podgers, and Cornet
Tidmus, of the Dragoons, occupied a private box. The play was "The
Stranger." Bingley, the manager, appeared as the hero of the sombre
work; Mrs. Haller was impersonated by Miss Fotheringay. "I think ye'll
like Miss Fotheringay in Mrs. Haller, or me name's not Jack Costigan,"
observed the father of the actress. Bingley, we are told, was great in
the character of the Stranger, and wore the tight pantaloons and
Hessian boots which stage tradition has duly prescribed as the costume
of that doleful personage. "Can't stand you in tights and Hessians,
Bingley," young Mr. Foker had previously remarked. He had the stage
jewellery on too, selecting "the largest and most shining rings for
himself," and allowing his little finger to quiver out of his cloak,
with a sham diamond ring covering the first joint of the finger, and
twiddling it in the faces of the pit. It is told of him that he made
it a favour to the young men of his company to go on in light-comedy
parts with that ring. They flattered him by asking its history. "It
had belonged to George Frederick Cooke, who had had it from Mr. Quin,
who may have bought it for a shilling." But Bingley fancied the world
was fascinated by its glitter.
And he read out of that stage-book--the genuine and old-established
"book of the play"--that wonderful volume, "which is not bound like
any other book in the world, but is rouged and tawdry like the hero or
heroine who holds it; and who holds it as people never do hold books:
and points with his finger to a passage, and wags his head ominously
at the audience, and then lifts up eyes and finger to the ceiling,
professing to derive some intense consolation from the work between
which and heaven there is a strong affinity. Any one," proceeds the
author of "Pendennis," "who has ever seen one of our great light
comedians X., in a chintz dressing-gown, such as nobody ever wore, and
representing himself as a young nobleman in his apartments, and
whiling away the time with light literature, until his friend Sir
Harry shall arrive, or his father shall come down to breakfast--anybody,
I say, who has seen the great X. over a sham book, has indeed had
a great pleasure, and an abiding matter for thought."
The Stranger reads from morning to night, as his servant Francis
reports of him. When he bestows a purse upon the aged Tobias, that he
may be enabled to purchase his only son's discharge from the army, he
first sends away Francis with the stage-book, that there may be no
witness of the benevolent deed. "Here, take this book, and lay it on
my desk," says the Stranger; and the stage direction runs: "Francis
goes into the lodge with the book." Bingley, it is stated, marked the
page carefully, so that he might continue the perusal of the volume
off the stage if he liked. Two acts later, and the Stranger is again
to be beheld, "on a seat, reading." But after that he has to put from
him his precious book, for the incidents of the drama demand his very
serious attention.
Dismissed from the Stranger, however, the stage-book probably
reappears in the afterpiece. In how many dramatic works figures this
useful property--the "book of the play"? Shakespeare has by no means
disdained its use. Imogen is discovered reading in her bed in the
second act of "Cymbeline." She inquires the hour of the lady in
attendance:
Almost midnight, madam.
IMOGEN. I have read three hours, then; mine eyes are weak.
Fold down the leaf where I have left! To bed!
By-and-by, when Iachimo steals from his trunk to "note the chamber,"
he observes the book, examines it, and proclaims its nature:
She hath been reading late
The tale of Tereus! here's the leaf turned down
Where Philomel gave up.
Brutus reads within his tent:
Let me see, let me see; is not the leaf turned down
Where I left reading? Here it is, I think.
How ill this taper burns! Ha! Who comes here?
And thereupon enters the ghost of Cæsar, and appoints a meeting at
Philippi.
In the third act of "The Third Part of King Henry VI.," that monarch
enters, "disguised, with a prayer-book." Farther on, when a prisoner
in the Tower, he is "discovered sitting with a book in his hand, the
Lieutenant attending;" when Gloucester enters, abruptly dismisses the
Lieutenant, and forthwith proceeds to the assassination of the king.
But Gloucester himself is by-and-by to have dealings with the "book of
the play." In the seventh scene of the third act of "King Richard
III.," a stage direction runs: "Enter Gloucester in a gallery above,
between two bishops." Whereupon the Lord Mayor, who has come with
divers aldermen and citizens to beseech the duke to accept the crown
of England, observes:
See where his grace stands 'tween two clergymen!
Says Buckingham:
Two props of virtue for a Christian prince,
To stay him from the fall of vanity;
And, see, a book of prayer in his hand;
True ornaments to know a holy man.
The mayor and citizens departing, Gloucester, in Cibber's acting
version of the tragedy, was wont wildly to toss his prayer-book in the
air. Here is an apposite note from John Taylor's "Records of my Life,"
relative to Garrick's method of accomplishing this piece of stage
business: "My father, who saw him perform King Richard on the first
night of his appearance at Goodman's Fields, told me that the audience
were particularly struck with his manner of throwing away the book
when the lord mayor and aldermen had retired, as it manifested a
spirit totally different from the solemn dignity which characterised
the former old school, and which his natural acting wholly
overturned."
A certain antiquary, when Kemble first assumed the part of Richard,
took objection to the prayer-book he affected to read in this scene.
"This book," writes Boaden, "for aught I know the 'Secret History of
the Green Room,' which Kemble took from the property-man before he
went on, our exact friend said should have been some illuminated
missal. This was somewhat inconsistent, because one would suppose the
heart of the antiquary must have grieved to see the actor skirr away
so precious a relic of the dark ages, as if, like Careless, in 'The
School for Scandal,' he would willingly 'knock down the mayor and
aldermen.'" It was at this time, probably, that antiquarianism first
stirred itself on the subject of scenic decorations. The solitary
banner unfurled by Kemble, as Richard, bore a white rose embroidered
upon it. "What!" cried the antiquaries, "a king of England battling
with invaders and yet not displaying his royal banner!" And remark was
made upon the frequent mention of armour that occurs in the later
scenes of the play. We have "locked up in steel;" "What! is my beaver
easier than it was?" "And all my armour laid into my tent;" "The
armourers accomplishing the knights;" "With clink of hammers closing
rivets up;" "Your friends up and buckle on their armour." Yet, as
Boaden relates, it was no less strange than true, that, in Kemble's
time, "excepting the breastplate and thigh-pieces on Richmond, not one
of the _dramatis personæ_ had the smallest particle of armour upon him
in either army."
There is a stage-book in "King Henry VIII." The Duke of Norfolk, in
the second act, "opens a folding-door; the king is discovered sitting
and reading pensively." The book of Prospero is spoken of, but not
seen. In "Hamlet" the stage-book plays an important part. Says
Polonius to Ophelia, when he and Claudius would be "lawful espials" of
her meeting with Hamlet:
Read on this book,
That show of such an exercise may colour
Your loneliness.
The book is now usually a missal which the lady employs at her
orisons. But it is oftentimes--for so stage-management will have
it--the identical volume with which Hamlet had entered reading in an
earlier act, and which he describes, upon being interrogated by
Polonius, as containing, "words, words, words!" and "slanders, sir!"
It was John Kemble's way, we are told, to tear out a leaf from the
book at this period of the performance, by way of conveying the
"stronger impression of Hamlet's wildness." The actor's method of
rendering this scene has not been adopted by later representatives of
the character. Indeed, a long run of the tragedy, such as happens in
these times, would involve serious outlay for stage-books, if so
destructive a system were persisted in. Moreover, there is no sort of
warrant in the text for tearing a leaf out of the "satirical rogue's"
work.
The "book of the play" frequently figures in theatrical anecdote.
Wilkinson relates, that when Reddish made his first essay upon the
stage, he inserted a paragraph in the newspaper, informing the public
that he was "a gentleman of easy fortune." He appeared as Sir John
Dorilant, in "The School for Lovers," and in the course of his
performance threw from him an elegantly-bound book, which he was
supposed to have been studying. Observing this, a gentleman in the pit
inquired of Macklin, who happened to be present: "Pray, sir, do you
think such conduct natural?" "Why, no, sir," Macklin replied gravely,
"not in a Sir John Dorilant, but strictly natural as Mr. Reddish; for,
as you know, he has advertised himself as a gentleman of easy
fortune." It has been pointed out, however, that the inaccuracy, fatal
to so many anecdotes, affects even this one. The book is thrown away
in strict accordance with the stage directions of the play; and it is
so treated, not by Sir John Dorilant, but by another character named
Belmont.
Macklin administered a similar rebuke, while his comedy of "The
True-born Irishman" was in rehearsal, to an actor personating one of
the characters, and acquitting himself very indifferently. Upon his
mispronouncing the name of Lady Kennegad, Macklin stepped up to him
and demanded angrily, "What trade he was of?" The player replied that
he was a gentleman. Macklin rejoined: "Stick to that, sir! stick to
that; for you will never be an actor."
In Farquhar's comedy of "The Inconstant," when Bisarre is first
addressed by Mirabel and Duretête, Miss Farren, playing Bisarre, held
a book in her hand, which she affected to have been reading before she
spoke. Mrs. Jordan, we are told, who afterwards assumed the character,
declined to make use of the stage-book, and dispensed with it
altogether. She sat perfectly still, affecting to be lost in thought.
Then, before speaking, she took a pinch of snuff! Half a century ago a
heroine who indulged in snuff was deemed no more objectionable than is
one of our modern heroes of the stage, who cannot forego cigars or
cigarettes.
There is a stage-book to be seen in "The School for Scandal." Joseph
Surface affects to pore over its pages immediately after he has
secreted Lady Teazle behind the screen, and while Sir Peter is on the
stairs. "Ever improving himself," notes Sir Peter, and then taps the
reader on the shoulder. Joseph starts. "I have been dozing over a
stupid book," he says; and the stage direction bids him "gape, and
throw down the book." And many volumes are needed in "The Rivals."
Miss Languish's maid Lucy returns after having traversed half the
town, and visited all the circulating libraries in Bath. She has
failed to obtain "The Reward of Constancy;" "The Fatal Connexion;"
"The Mistakes of the Heart;" "The Delicate Mistress, or the Memoirs of
Lady Woodford." But she has secured, as she says, "taking the books
from under her cloak, and from her pockets, 'The Gordian Knot' and
'Peregrine Pickle.' Here are 'The Tears of Sensibility' and 'Humphry
Clinker.' This, 'The Memoirs of a Lady of Quality,' written by
herself; and here the second volume of 'The Sentimental Journey.'"
LYDIA. Heigh-ho! What are those books by the glass?
LUCY. The great one is only "The Whole Duty of Man," where I
press a few blonds, ma'am.
LYDIA. Very well; give me the sal volatile.
LUCY. Is it in a blue cover, ma'am?
LYDIA. My smelling-bottle, you simpleton!
LUCY. Oh, the drops! Here, ma'am.
Presently the approach of Mrs. Malaprop and Sir Anthony Absolute is
announced. Cries Lydia: "Here, my dear Lucy, hide these books. Quick,
quick. Fling 'Peregrine Pickle' under the toilet; throw 'Roderick
Random' into the closet; put 'The Innocent Adultery' into 'The Whole
Duty of Man;' thrust 'Lord Aimworth' under the sofa; cram 'Ovid'
behind the bolster; there, put 'The Man of Feeling' into your
pocket--so, so--now lay 'Mrs. Chapone' in sight, and leave 'Fordyce's
Sermons' open on the table."
LUCY. O, burn it, ma'am. The hairdresser has torn away as far as
"Proper Pride."
LYDIA. Never mind; open at "Sobriety." Fling me "Lord
Chesterfield's Letters." Now for 'em!
It will be perceived that the property-master of the theatre is here
required to produce quite a library of stage-books. Does he buy them
by the dozen, from the nearest book-stall--out of that trunk full of
miscellaneous volumes, boldly labelled, "All these at fourpence"? And
does he then recover them with the bright blue or scarlet that is so
dear to him, daubing them here and there with his indispensable Dutch
metal? Of course their contents can matter little. Like all the other
things of the theatre, they are not what they pretend to be, nor what
they would have the audience think them. The "book of the play" is
something of a mystery. Let us take for granted, however, that it is
rarely interesting to the reader, that it is not one of those volumes
which, when once taken up, cannot again be laid down--which thrill,
enchain, and absorb. For otherwise what might happen? When some
necessary question of the play had to be considered, the actor,
over-occupied with the volume in his hand, fairly tied and bound by
its chain of interest, might forget his part--the book might ruin the
play. Of course such an accident could not be permitted. The
stage-book is bound to be a dull book, however much it may seem to
entertain Brutus and Henry, the Stranger and Bisarre, Hamlet and
Joseph Surface, Imogen and Lydia Languish. It is in truth, a book for
all stage-readers. Now it is a prayer-book--as in the case of Richard
III.; and now, in "The Hunchback," it is "Ovid's Art of Love."
According to the prompt-book of the play, Modus is to enter "with a
neatly-bound book."
HELEN. What is the book?
MODUS. Tis "Ovid's Art of Love."
HELEN. That Ovid was a fool.
MODUS. In what?
HELEN. In that.
To call that thing an art which art is none.
She strikes the book from his hand, and reproves him for reading in
the presence of a lady.
MODUS. Right you say,
And well you served me, cousin, so to strike
The volume from my hand. I own my fault:
So please you--may I pick it up again?
I'll put it in my pocket.
It is the misfortune of the "book of the play" to be much maltreated
by the _dramatis personæ_. It is now flung away, now torn, now struck
to earth; the property-master, it may be, watching its fate from the
side-wings--anxious not so much because of its contents or intrinsic
value, as on account of the gaudy cover his art has supplied it with,
and the pains he must take to repair any injuries it may receive in
the course of the performance.