effects of colour by means of silken screens of various
hues placed before the foot and side lights. He discovered, too, that
ingenious effects might be obtained by suspending gauzes between the
scene and the spectators. These are now, of course, but commonplace
contrivances; they were, however, distinctly the inventions of De
Loutherbourg, and were calculated to impress the playgoers of his time
very signally. To Garrick De Loutherbourg rendered very important
assistance, for Garrick was much inclined for scenic decorations of a
showy character, although as a rule he restricted these embellishments
to the after-pieces, and for the more legitimate entertainments of his
stage was content to employ old and stock scenery that had been of
service in innumerable plays. Tate Wilkinson, writing in 1790, refers
to a scene then in use which he remembered so far back as the year
1747. "It has wings and a flat of Spanish figures at full length, and
two folding-doors in the middle. I never see those wings slide on, but
I feel as if seeing my old acquaintance unexpectedly."

Of later scene-painters, such as Roberts and Stanfield, Grieve and
Telbin, and to come down to the present time, Beverley and Calcott,
Hawes Craven and O'Connor, there seems little occasion to speak; the
achievements of these artists are matters of almost universal
knowledge. It is sufficient to say that in their hands the art they
practise has been greatly advanced, even to the eclipse now and then
of the efforts of both actors and dramatists.

Some few notes, however, may be worth making in relation to the
technical methods adopted by the scene-painter. In the first place, he
relies upon the help of the carpenter to stretch a canvas tightly over
a frame, or to nail a wing into shape; and subsequently it is the
carpenter's duty, with a small sharp saw, to cut the edge of irregular
wings, such as representations of foliage or rocks, an operation known
behind the curtain as "marking the profile." The painter's studio is
usually high up above the rear of the stage--a spacious room, well
lighted by means of skylights or a lantern in the roof. The canvas,
which is of course of vast dimensions, can be raised to the ceiling,
or lowered through the floor, to suit the convenience of the artist,
by means of machinery of ingenious construction. The painter has
invariably made a preliminary water-colour sketch of his scene, on
paper or cardboard. Oftentimes, with the help