MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 85 



good fortune and the stupidity of the Pugliesi, embarked and set sail : but 

 here their luck ended. They had scarcely got out of the gulf, when they 

 were attacked by pirates, and Corbara lost, not only his riches, but his life. 

 Colonna, it appears, was not killed ; but his name was never more heard of.' 

 " Of the two remaining Corsicans who still honoured Apulia with their pre- 

 sence, Boccheciampe, the artilleryman, shortly after threw himself into the 

 castle of Brindisi, which was attacked by a French ship of the line, and he 

 was killed during the bombardment, while courageously working a gun. The 

 other, i. e. De Cesare, the livery-servant, ossia, the duke of Saxony, had a 

 longer and more brilliant career : he became thejfortunate commander-in-chief 

 of numerous bands. He took the large and strong cities of Trani, Molfetta, 

 Andria, and Martina ; he joined the royalists of Apulia to the Calabrians 

 conducted by Cardinal Ruffo, who had been chiefly encouraged to undertake 

 his famous expedition by the easy exploits of the Corsicans ; and, after some 

 nine months, he saw the restoration of the legitimate Bourbon, Don Ferdi- 

 nando. What became of him then, we know not. The royal house of Na- 

 ples was not very grateful, nor likely to have much affection for a footman, 

 who could so ably represent royalty. It may be hoped, however, that he 

 made hay while the sun shone ; but even if he did not, provided only that the 

 Bourbons spared him the gallows, so clever a fellow as De Cesare was not 

 likely to starve in a credulous world like this." 



HISTORY OF STAGE COSTUME. 



" During the first half of the eighteenth century, that is to say, from the 

 first appearance of that regular suit of clothes worn by our great-grandfathers 

 under the name of coat, waistcoat, and breeches, to the days of Garrick and 

 Kemble, the custom continued of dressing even historical personages accord- 

 ing to the fashion of the passing moment ; and although, in point of fact, it 

 was no more ridiculous to represent Hamlet in a full suit of black velvet of the 

 cut of Queen Anne's time, than it was in the days of Charles to dress Falstaff 

 in the habit of that reign, the stiff-skirted coat, the long wig, court sword, and 

 cocked hat, have a more ludicrous effect on the modern spectator than the an- 

 cient cavalier costume of 1640. But the attempt that occasionally manifested 

 itself to combine, in imitation of the French actors, the habits of widely dif- 

 ferent eras, produced a melange, the absurdity of which is in our present day 

 absolutely convulsive ! The celebrated Booth is said by his biographer to 

 have paid particular attention to his dress ; so much so, that when playing 

 the ghost in Hamlet, he covered the soles of his shoes with felt, in order to 

 prevent the sound of his footsteps being heard, and so increase the supernatural 

 effect of his appearance. Yet who does not remember Pope's lines descriptive 

 of his appearance in Cato ? which character he originally represented on the 

 production of the tragedy in 1712 : 



Booth enters : hark the universal peal ; 



But has he spoken 1 not a syllable. 



What shook the stage and made the people stare? 



Cato's long- wig, flowered gown, and lacker'd chair. 



" Imagine Cato now, appearing in a flowered robe de chambre, and a finely 

 powdered full-bottom wig, There would be a ' universal peal ' indeed of 

 laughter: yet the fashion of wearing full -bottom wigs with the Roman dress 

 (or at least what was intended for such), and other heroic costumes, lasted till 

 within the recollection of many now living. A valued friend of ours saw 

 Haward play Tamberlain in a full bottomed wig, as late as 1765. Aickin, he 

 informs us, was the first who enacted that part without it ; and, what was 

 perhaps more ridiculous still, Garrick, who has been so bepraised for his re- 

 formation of stage costume, played King Lear in a habit intended to look an- 

 cient, while Reddish in Edgar, and Palmer in the Bastard, were in full-dress 

 suits of their own day ; and the Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia of the tragedy 

 in hoops! Richard the Third, also, was played by Garrick in a fancy dress, 



