"
There have been, from time to time, protests, unavailing however,
against the tyranny of the opera-managers. In his "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.
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