ke 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 personae_ 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 m