Read more
Excerpt from The True Historie of the Knyght of the Burning Pestle: Full of Mirthe and Delight
And beyond the roof of the stage, is the ele vated lodge or tower which can also be seen from outside the theatre. Here some of the drop-scenes appear to have been kept; from here, in one play of 1592, Venus was per haps let down from the top of the stage; and in the door or window 'of this lodge appears the trumpeter who announces the time for the play to begin. It is three o'clock of the afternoon. The pit is already full of spectators, talking and cracking nuts together, wondering - it may be - why the sign over the stage reads The London Merchant when the playbills all about town announced The Knight of the Burn ing Pestle. Boatloads of later comers are hurrying over the Thames, and they can not only hear the trumpet from the tower but perhaps see the ¿ag hanging from it. When it has sounded twice you may see the young gallants and their pages coming on the stage, lighting their tobacco and settling themselves to show their cloaks to the best advantage, while the aristocrats in the boxes do the same. There is a murmur of expeétation; then a third blast from the tower; and the Prologue boy, in cloak and wreath comes on to introduce the play.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
