, and
obtained new 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.
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