John Street. Sometimes the Puritan
troopers were mean enough to accept the hard-earned money of these
poor players, and, nevertheless, to interrupt their performance,
carrying them off to be imprisoned and punished for their breach of
the law. But their great trouble arose from the frequent seizure of
their wardrobe by the covetous soldiers. The clothes worn by the
players upon the stage were of superior quality--fine dresses were of
especial value in times prior to the introduction of scenery--and the
loss was hard to bear. The public, it was feared, would be loath to
believe in the merits of an actor who was no better attired than
themselves. But at length it became too hazardous, as Kirkman relates,
in the preface to "The Wits, or Sport upon Sport," 1672, "to act
anything that required any good cloaths; instead of which painted
cloath many times served the turn to represent rich habits." Kirkman's
book is a collection of certain "scenes or parts of plays ... the
fittest for the actors to represent at this period, there being little
cost in the cloaths, which often then were in great danger to be
seized by the soldiers.
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