of a miniature stage,
such as schoolboys delight in, he is enabled to form a fair estimate
of the effect that may be expected of his design. The expansive canvas
has been sized over, and an outline of the picture to be painted--a
landscape, or an interior, as the case may be--has been boldly marked
out by the artist. Then the assistants and pupils ply their brushes,
and wash in the broad masses of colour, floods of light, and clouds of
darkness. The dimensions of the canvas permit of many hands being
employed upon it, and the work proceeds therefore with great rapidity.
But the scene-painter is constant in his supervision of his
subordinates, and when their labours are terminated, he completes the
design with numberless improving touches and masterly strokes. Of
necessity, much of the work is of a mechanical kind; scroll-work,
patterned walls, or cornices are accomplished by "stencilling" or
"pouncing"--that is to say, the design is pricked upon a paper, which,
being pressed upon the canvas, and smeared or dabbed with charcoal,
leaves a faint trace of the desired outline. The straight lines in an
architectural scene are traced by means of a cord, which is rubbed
with colour in powder, and, having been drawn tight, is allowed to
strike smartly against the canvas, and deposit a distinct mark upon
its surface. Duty of this kind is readily accomplished by a boy, or a
labourer of little skill. Scenes of a pantomime order, in which
glitter is required, are dabbed here and there by the artist with thin
glue; upon these moist places, Dutch metal--gold or silver leaf--is
then fixed, with a result that large audiences have never failed to
find resplendent and beautiful. These are some, but, of course, a few
only, of the methods and mysteries of the scene-painter's art.

CHAPTER XV.

THE TIRING-ROOM.

The information that has come down to us in relation to the wardrobe
department of the Elizabethan theatre, and the kind of costumes worn
by our early actors, is mainly derived from the diaries of Philip
Henslowe and his partner, Edward Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich
College. Henslowe became a theatrical manager some time before 1592,
trading also as a pawnbroker, and dealing rather usuriously with the
players and playwrights about him. Alleyn married the step-daughter of
Henslowe, and thereupon entered into partnership with him. Malone has
made liberal extracts from Henslowe's inventories, which bear date
1598-99, and w