with scenery by Beverley, and all under the management of
Vestris, afterwards became quite the rage.

I have previously referred to the excellence of Beverley's scenes under
the _regime_ of Madame Vestris. Extravagance in Extravaganzas, like "The
Blue Bird," "Once Upon a Time," and the like, caused the managers, in
the matter of scenery, to enter into serious competition with one
another.

Pantomime, it was thought, was doomed, as its decease at this epoch
seemed impending. It managed, however, to come again into popular
favour, but in a very different shape. Instead of the usual comic
Pantomime it was played by two different sets of performers, and having
no connection with one another. The opening scenes, like a soap bubble,
began to grow larger and larger, the double plot was abandoned, the
Transformation scene became the principal feature, and a long
Harlequinade at the _end_.

In the Pantomime of "Red Riding Hood," written by F.W. Green, and
produced at Her Majesty's Theatre, during the 'eighties, an effort was
made to compose and invent a piece of pure Pantomime. The Vokes family,
J.T. Powers, and others, appeared in this Pantomime.

In France and Italy particularly, the Mimetic Art still flourishes; but
in this country it is practically a lost Art. One of the best examples,
and most successful, we have had in recent years of this ancient form
of entertainment in this country was that of "_L'Enfant Prodigue_,"
played by Mdlle. Jane May and a French Company of Pantomimists. There
are, however, several other very brilliant Pantomimists excellent in
their Art, like the Martinetti troupe, the two brothers Renad, and the
Leopolds.

"It is a pity (observes Dickens, in 'The Theatre') that the knowledge of
it (Pantomime) cannot be more extended among our modern actors and
actresses, so few of whom understand anything about the effectiveness of
appropriate gesture. A few lessons in the business of Harlequin would
teach many a young man, for instance, the simple lesson that arms may be
moved with advantage from the shoulder as well as from the elbow; and so
we should get rid of one of the awkwardest, ugliest, and commonest of
modern stage tricks. And there would be nothing derogatory in the study.
Many of our most distinguished actors have graduated in Pantomime."

Mr. Davenport Adams, writing in "The Theatre," for January, 1882, on the
decline of Pantomime, says:--

"We may say of present-day Pantomime that the tr