Fig. 4. PART OF A WALL-HANGING OF SILK AND WORSTED TAPESTRY-WEAVING ON STRING WARPS. (An Episode in the Siege of Troy. Early Fourteenth Century. Flemish.) These Akhmim specimens are of the highest interest, not merely because they exemplify the tapestry-weaving process, but also on account of the extraordinary variety of their patterns. Fig. 3 is a reduced illustration of a portion of a linen burial-cloth (or it might even have been a curtain) on which the principal ornamentation consisted of a pair of winged figures holding up a wreath encircling a cross and other emblems. This device occurs in carved ivory book-covers, used by Romans and Byzantines in the fourth and sixth centuries. It re-appears in Italian sculptures of the fifteenth century, and the Persians of the Sassanian dynasty adopted it from their vanquished foes the Romans, causing it to be sculptured and apparently peaches (or fruit of the sacred Persea at Hermopolis), recalls the style of some of those mosaics worked with small tessera, a specimen of which, with ducks represented in it, is in the sacristy of S. Maria in Trastevere at Rome. This little square (Fig. 2) is only slightly reduced in size. The original at South Kensington came from Akhmim. The threads-both warp and weft-are very small as compared with those used in Fig. 3 or those in Fig. 4. The colouring is bright, and the texture of the material so glossy as at first sight to seem to be silken. It is, however, of fine flax and worsted. Squares like this one were conventional decorations of loose garments shaped like tapestry-weaving were made separately and not as parts of other textiles. The process thereupon became specialised, and large frames, in which webs of stout strong warps could be fixed, came into use. The peculiar characteristics of twisting coloured threads between and around the warps, and of pressing them together with a comb, were, however, the same as in the inserted tapestry-weavings. It would require more space than is now available to give a sketch of the gradual development in size of tapestry hangings. Earlier hangings of this class seem to have been of considerable length as compared with their width; and the needle-embroidered linen stripsome 210 feet in length and 18 inches wide-commonly known as the Bayeux Tapestry, is probably the most tury later such patterns were superseded by figure subjects. To the revival of painting in Italy, frescoes for wall decorations, such as Giotto's at Padua, was the change largely due; for from the fourteenth century onwards designs for tapestry-woven wall-hangings were chiefly in the nature of compositions with figures illustrating episodes of sacred and secular history, and of the same decorative intention as the wall-paintings of Italy. The reproduction of the figure designs in tapestryweaving possessed a marked peculiarity, which was enhanced as the designers became more and more careful to observe the influence which the process necessarily exercised upon the textile reproductions of their works. A certain quality of flatness, due to comparative absence of perspective, and the rich ornamental effects of wealth in well-contrasted details, figures, and groups, are features in representative tapestries of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. As illustrative of this, we have selected a portion of a famous tapestry-hanging long known to connoisseurs as one of a set illustrating the Siege of Troy, which hung in the château of the Chevalier de Bayard, near Grenoble. The late Monsieur Jubinal, to whom this remaining piece formerly belonged, has written of it, "Architecture, costumes, arms, all denote that this monument of tapestry-weaving dates from the commencement of the fifteenth century. The lettering of the legends explaining the subject has even certain characteristics which belong to the lettering of the late fourteenth century." The knightly panoplies are unplumed, and plumes were not generally worn in helmets until after the middle of the fifteenth century. The subject of the design is the assistance given by Queen Panthesilea and her Amazons to King Priam during the Siege of Troy. Fig. 4 displays the tent of "Pirus," with the youthful king in the midst of his atten dants. Outside, and to the left, is the mêlée of fighting Greeks and Trojans; and towards the foreground is Queen Panthesilea in armour, on a richly caparisoned palfrey, striking Diomedes to the ground. Some literary interest attaches to this episode, which, as a post-Homeric continuation of the account of the Siege of Troy, has been set forth by Quintus Smyrnæus-a fourth-century Roman poet, and imitator of the Greek cyclic poets, Arctinus and Lesches. Flemish, Italian, French, Spanish, and English tapestry-woven wall-hangings have been produced in abundant quantities since the fifteenth century, and the bare mention of the fact must suffice here. The Chinese have adapted, or, indeed, may only have revived the process. They usually employ silk warps and wefts, thereby carrying the effects of the art to what may be their limits in regard to minute and dainty work. Fig. 5 is taken from a silken tapestry-weaving of modern Chinese make. But the finesse of the work does not surpass that of the Egypto Persian piece of the seventh century shown in Fig. 2. ALAN S. COLE. The Child-Players of the Elizabethan Age. ROM the earliest days of the English drama down to our own time a performance by child - actors has always proved a most popular and fascinating form of entertainment. The miniature companies which have of late years appeared in comic operas, and in that most charming phantasy, Alice in Wonder land, have attracted as large audiences and earned as much applause as many accomplished actors of riper years. The piquancy of seeing small boys gravely representing high officials of State draws full houses to the children's plays, and the babies' want of skill is forgiven-almost forgotten -in the wonder that the little people should be able to act at all. We can trace this taste for child-players a very long way back in the history of the stage. In the reign of Henry VII. we hear that the Duke of Norfolk used to divert himself by making the boys who sang in the choir of his chapel act interludes, and this example seems to have been quickly followed by the King, so that the master of the children of the chapel ought to have been chosen as much for his powers of dramatic instruction as for his musical talents. Little girls who, to the great detriment of the children's stage, were not allowed to act, seem to have contributed in other to the Royal entertainment. In the Houseways hold Book of Henry VII. we find the following item of expense-"To a litel mayden that daunceth, 12£," and further on, made proclamations to much the same effect. The King's servants of "expert habilitie and connyng in the science of musique" would go into some church in which there was known to be a particularly good singer. If the choir got wind of this intrusion the good singer would develop a sudden cold, and croak out his solo in a manner anything but tempting; but sometimes the kidnapper would steal in unperceived the unconscious soloist would sing con amore, and, the anthem over, would be borne off to one of the Royal chapels, leaving his old choir to get on as best they could without him. No ex The example of the children of the King's Chapel had encouraged other choirs to give dramatic performances, and in 1527 we hear of a great representation of a Latin moral, given by the children of St. Paul's before the King, the French Ambassadors, and Cardinal Wolsey. The Ambassadors were being entertained at Greenwich with a great banquet and other revels, and the thirty-eight children of St. Paul's came down by boat, with their masters and their ushers, to perform the play. The boats, "as well hoom as to the Kourt," cost "12d." each, so the charge for "frayght" amounted to 6s. The moral, in every sense of the word, seems to have been the exposition of the absurdities of the Reformation, but in the list of dramatis persona, besides Luther and his wife, whose appearance is reasonable enough, we read of the most extraordinary characters. being represented. The Dauphin and his brother, and, presumably the Apostles, Peter, Paul, and James, seem all to be a little out of place; but "the Lady Pees (Peace) in "laydy's apparell all whyght and ryche," must have been an extremely picturesque figure. pense seems to have been spared on those of the costumes which were new for the occasion, but some of the dresses which had been worn in the revels of the preceding May were now used again. The play appears to have had much success, but it is to be feared that the children went back to St. Paul's feeling extremely hungry, for only 3s. 2d. was expended on beer, ale, and bread "for xxxviij chylldyrn, the master, the usher, & the masstres that et & dranke." When the children of St. Paul's were not acting at Court, they seem to have usually performed in their own schoolroom, where 4d. was the modest price charged for a ticket. In the reign of James I.—many years after that penurious repast at Greenwich-we find that the plays at St. Paul's began an hour later than at other places of dramatic entertainment, for whereas three o'clock was the usual hour at which the performance began, the curtain at St. Paul's only rose at four-after prayers. The gates were shut at six, so that the play was obliged to end in two hours. As the children had no special plays written for them, the task of fitting the performance in must have been extremely difficult. Fancy, at the crisis of a thrilling drama, finding that the actors had only five minutes to disentangle all the threads of the plot ! In the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, there is not much mention of child-players, but in Elizabeth's time their performances became extremely popular. It was in the latter half of this reign that the children gave their first representation of Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels. This play, with its fanciful masques, its exquisite songs, and its frequent dances, was perhaps one of the most charming performances that childplayers ever attempted, for there is nothing incongruous in Cupid, Mercury, and Cynthia being acted by children. In this semi-masque even the presence of the richlydressed gallants who, going to the theatre to be seen, not to see, took their seats on the stage, must have contributed something to the picturesqueness of the whole spectacle. Perhaps the prettiest scene in the playprettier even than the one in which the "Queen and huntress chaste and fair" holds her court in state, "seated in her silver chair," is the one in which Mercury calls to Echo to become embodied and ascend to the light of day. She comes, still mourning over the fate of Narcissus :"O Narcissus, Thou that wast once and yet art my Narcissus, The Ben Jonson's Poetaster, which the children also acted about this time, must have been thoroughly enjoyed by the boys themselves. We can fancy nothing which would have amused them more to act than the scene where the unfortunate Crispinus is forced, by emetic pills, to bring to light the long and pompous words which he was so fond of using. About the year 1589 or 1590-the exact date is uncertain-the performances at St. Paul's were put an end to for a few years. probable reason for this suppression was that the children had brought Martin Marprelate on the stage-an unpardonable offence in the eyes of the Lord Mayor-and the next plays of importance which we find them acting are Marston's Antonio and Mellida, and Antonio's Revenge. It is probably of their performances of tragedies like the last-named play that Shakespeare speaks when he says of the children that "they so berattle the common stages-so they call them that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and dare scarce come thither." (Hamlet, Act II., scene 2.) Certainly, it is true that we can hardly imagine a child giving tragic weight and dignity to the terrible lines spoken in the Prologue to Antonio's Revenge : (As from his birth being hugged in the arms Pierc'd through with anguish pant within this ring, If ought of these strains fill this consort up, We cannot help feeling aghast that children should have been taught such lines as these, where the misery of human life is dwelt upon with almost oppressive force, and we turn with relief to the lighter plays of Dekker and of Lilly, in which the child-players appeared at about this time. It would be difficult to imagine more charming lines for a boy-singer than those given to Apelles in Lilly's Campaspe: A song like this-with its lyric sweetness and its courtly grace-would have made even a dull performance worth witnessing, and it must be acknowledged that Campaspe, taken as a whole, is very dull, though the representation of Alexander the Great, Aristotle, and Diogenes by children, must have been extremely entertaining. After the death of Elizabeth, the master of the children of the chapel received renewed letters patent, authorising the old system of kidnapping, and adding that if the children, "after serving three years, lose their voices, they shall be sent to College to be taught at the King's charge." In the year 1603-4 the company was re-modelled under the name of "Children of the Queen's Revels." A proclamation issued by James I. enacted that four of "the Queen's servants" were "from tyme to tyme to provide, keep, and bring up a convenient number of children, and them to practise and exercise in the qualitie of playing, by the name of Children of the Revells to the Queene,' within the Black fryers, in our Cittie of London, or in any other convenient place where they shall thinck fitt for that purpose. Provided always, that no such plays and shewes shall be presented before the said Queene our wife by the said children, or by them anywhere publickly acted, but by the approbation and allowance of Samuel Daniell, whom her pleasure is to appoint for that purpose." It seems, therefore, that the Children of the Revels had four under-masters to instruct them; with Samuel Daniell at their head to superintend the choice of plays, and, presumably, the manner of performance. Time had played havoc with the young actors, and Nat Field was the only one of the old company who was enlisted among the ranks of the new. Tho. Day, Joh. Underwood, Will. Ostler, and Tho. Marton, all of whom acted in the Poetaster, had drifted off in different directions, and we learn from Ben Jonson himself the fate of Salathiel Pavy-the best "old man" among the child-actors : "Weep with me, all you that read This little story, And know for whom a tear you shed Death's self is sorry. 'Twas a child that so did thrive In grace and feature, As heaven and nature seemed to strive Yet three fill'd zodiacs had he been And did act, what now we moan, Old men so duly As, sooth, the Parca thought him one, So, by error, to his fate They all consented, But viewing him since, alas, too late, And have sought, to give new birth, In baths to steep him; But being so much too good for earth, Among the plays which we hear of as having been performed by the Children of the Queen's Revels in 1609 is Ben Jonson's Silent Woman. The names of some of the members of the company were then as follows: Nat. Field, Gil. Carie, Hugh Atwell, Joh. Smith, Will. Barksted, Will. Pen, Ric. Allen, and Joh. Blaney. The only two of these young actors with whose history we are in any way acquainted are Nat. Field and Hugh Atwell. We know more of Field's life and doings than of those of most of the performers and dramatists of the day. About 1606 or 1607, two or three years before the children's performance of the Silent Woman, Nat. Field took the principal part in Chapman's Bussy D'Ambois. As at this time he was twenty years old, he may be said to have been rather an old child, but his smooth-shaven face, judging by his portrait at Dulwich, may have made him look younger than he was, and we cannot wonder that the child-players should have been unwilling to part with their best actor. In 1610 Field's first play, Woman is a Weathercock, was acted privately by the Children of the Revels at Whitehall, and at the Whitefriars Theatre, whither they migrated about that time. His other play, An Amends for Ladies, was publicly acted at Blackfriars in 1612. Ben Jonson calls Field "the Burbage of his stage, and from other commendatory notices we gather that he was one of the most celebrated actors of his day. His burial is registered at St. Anne's, Blackfriars, 20th Feb. ruary, 1632. Perhaps the play which gives us the best idea of the habits of actors and audience at the performances of the children is Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle, which was acted by one of the child-companies at about this time. In this incomparable burlesque three of the spectators (a citizen, his wife, and their apprentice) leap upon the stage during the Prologue. The citizen and his wife insist upon the apprentice taking a leading part in the performance, to the great confusion of the original plot of the play, and they continually interrupt the dialogue by conver sation with, and comments on, the performers. 'Didst |