Page:The Story of Nell Gwyn.djvu/33

Rh equipped at the expense of the King. Old court dresses were contributed by the gentry, and birthday suits continued to be presented as late as the reign of George II. The scenery at the Duke's House was superior to the King's, for Davenant, who introduced the opera among us, introduced us at the same time to local and expensive scenery. Battles were no longer represented

or coronations by a crown taken from a deal table by a single attendant.

The old stock plays were divided by the two companies. Killigrew had Othello, Julius Cæsar, Henry the Fourth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream; four of Ben Jonson's plays—The Alchemist, The Fox, The Silent Woman, and Catiline; and the best of Beaumont and Fletcher's—A King and No King, The Humorous Lieutenant, Rule a Wife and have a Wife, The Maid's Tragedy, Rollo, The Elder Brother, Philaster, and The Scornful Lady; with Massinger's Virgin Martyr and Shirley's Traitor. Davenant played Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Henry the Eighth, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest; Webster's Duchess of Malfi and Mad Lover; Middleton's