Still, calls before the
curtain have now become such common compliments, that even the
dressers of the theatre may yet obtain this form of recognition of
their deserts.
The services of a mute double to assist the illusion of the scene, or
to spare a leading performer needless fatigue, have often been
required upon the stage. Such a play as "The Corsican Brothers" could
scarcely be presented without the aid of a mute player to take the
place, now of Louis, now of Fabian dei Franchi, to personate now the
spectre of this twin, now of that. In former days, when the deepest
tragedy was the most highly esteemed of theatrical entertainments,
funeral processions, or biers bearing the corpses of departed heroes,
were among the most usual of scenic exhibitions. Plays closed with a
surprising list of killed and wounded. But four of the characters in
Rowe's "Fair Penitent" are left alive at the fall of the curtain, and
among those survivors are included such subordinate persons as
Rossano, the friend of Lothario, and Lucilla, the confidante of
Calista, whom certainly it was worth no one's while to put to death.
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