A Book of the Play | Page 9

"Seven Years of the
King's Theatre" (1828), Mr. Ebers publishes the remonstrance of a
gentleman refused admission to the opera on the score of his imperfect
costume, much to his amazement; "for," he writes, "I was dressed in a
superfine blue coat with gold buttons, white waistcoat, fashionable
tight drab pantaloons, white silk stockings and dress shoes, _all worn
but once, a few days before, at a dress concert, at the Crown and
Anchor Tavern_." He proceeds to express his indignation at the idea of
the manager presuming to enact sumptuary laws without the

intervention of the Legislature, and adds threats of legal proceedings
and an appeal to a British jury. "I have mixed," he continues, "too much
in genteel society not to know that black breeches, or pantaloons, with
black silk stockings, is a very prevailing full dress, and why is it so?
Because it is convenient and economical, _for you can wear a pair of
white silk stockings but once without washing, and a fair of black is
frequently worn for weeks without ablution._ P.S.--I have no objection
to submit an inspection of my dress of the evening in question to you or
any competent person you may appoint." Of this offer it would seem
that Mr. Ebers did not avail himself.

CHAPTER II.
THE MASTER OF THE REVELS.
Lords of Misrule and Abbots of Unreason had long presided over the
Yuletide festivities of Old England; in addition to these functionaries
King Henry VIII. nominated a Master and Yeoman of the Revels to act
as the subordinates of his Lord Chamberlain, and expressly to provide
and supervise the general entertainments and pastimes of the court.
These had already been ordered and established after a manner that
seemed extravagant by contrast with the economical tastes of the
preceding sovereign, who yet had not shown indifference to the
attractions of poetry, music, and the stage. But Henry VIII., according
to the testimony of Hall, was a proficient, not less in arms than in arts;
he exercised himself daily in shooting, singing, dancing, wrestling,
"casting of the bar, playing at the recorders, flute, virginals, and in
setting of songs, making of ballettes; and did set two goodly masses,
every in them five parts, which were sung oftentimes in his chapel, and
afterwards in divers other places." Early in his reign he appointed
Richard Gibson, one of his father's company of players, to be "yeoman
tailor to the king," and subsequently "serjeant-at-arms and of the tents
and revels;" and in 1546 he granted a patent to Sir Thomas Cawarden,
conferring upon him the office of "Magistri Jocorum, Revellorum et
Mascorum, omnium et singulorum nostrorum, vulgariter nuncupatorum
Revells et Masks," with a salary of £10 sterling--a very modest stipend;

but then Sir Thomas enjoyed other emoluments from his situation as
one of the gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. The Yeoman of the Revels,
who assisted the Master and probably discharged the chief duties of his
office, received an annual allowance of £9 2s. 6d., and eight players of
interludes were awarded incomes, of £3 6s. 8d. To these remote
appointments of "yeoman tailor," and "Master of the Revels," is due
that office of "Licenser of Plays," which, strange to say, is extant and
even flourishing in the present year of grace.
As Chalmers has pointed out, however, in his "Apology for the
Believers in the Shakespearean Papers," the King's Chamberlain, or, as
he was styled in all formal proceedings of the time, Camerarius
Hospitii, had the government and superintendence of the king's hunting
and revels, of the comedians, musicians, and other royal servants; and
was, by virtue of the original constitution of his office, the real Master
of the Revels, "the great director of the sports of the court by night as
well as of the sports of the field by day." Still the odium of his office,
especially in its relation to plays and players, could not but attach to his
subordinates and deputies the Masters of the Revels; "tasteless and
officious tyrants," as Gifford describes them in a note to Ben Jonson's
"Alchemist," "who acted with little discrimination, and were always
more ready to prove their authority than their judgment, the most
hateful of them all being Sir Henry Herbert," appointed by Charles I. to
an office which naturally expired when the Puritans suppressed the
stage and did their utmost to exterminate the players. At the Restoration,
however, Herbert resumed his duties; but he found, as Chalmers relates,
"that the recent times had given men new habits of reasoning, notions
of privileges, and propensities to resistance. He applied to the courts of
justice for redress; but the verdicts of judges were contradictory; he
appealed to the ruler of the state, but without receiving redress or
exciting sympathy: like other disputed jurisdictions, the