Walls; and I couldna git ony
at fourpence, so yer awn the landlord a penny: and he says it's time
you was payin' what's doon i' the book." The senate broke up amidst
the uproarious laughter of the audience.
Upon our early stage a kind of biscuit--a "marchpane"--was consumed by
the players when they required to eat upon the stage. In "Romeo and
Juliet" one of the servants says: "Good thou, save me a piece of
marchpane." In Marston's "What you Will" occurs the passage:
Now work the cooks, the pastry sweats with slaves,
The marchpanes glitter.
And in Brome's "City Wit" Mrs. Pyannet tells Toby Sneakup: "You have
your kickshaws, your players' marchpanes--all show and no meat."
Real macaroni in "Masaniello," and real champagne in "Don Giovanni,"
in order that Leporello may have opportunities for "comic business" in
the supper scene, are demanded by the customs of the operatic stage.
Realism generally, indeed, is greatly affected in the modern theatre.
The audiences of to-day require not merely that real water shall be
seen to flow from a pump, or to form a cataract, but that real wine
shall proceed from real bottles, and be fairly swallowed by the
performers.
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