or interest.
The word _Histrio_ is said to be of Etruscan origin; the Tuscans,
therefore, had their theatres; but little information can now be
gleaned respecting them. It was long before theatres were firmly and
permanently established in Rome; but the love of these diversions
gradually became too powerful for the censors, and the Romans grew,
at last, nearly as fond of them as the Greeks. The latter, as St.
Augustine informs us, did not consider the profession of a player as
dishonourable: "Ipsos scenicos non turpes judicaverunt, sed dignos
etiam praeclaris honoribus habuerunt."--_De Civ. Dei_. The more prudish
Romans, however, were less tolerant; and we find in the Code various
constitutions levelled against actors, and one law especially, which
would not suit our senate, forbidding senators to marry actresses; but
this was afterwards relaxed by Justinian, who had broken it himself.
He permitted such marriages to take place on obtaining the consent
of the emperor, and afterwards without, so that the lady quitted the
stage, and changed her manner of life. The Romans, however, had at
least enough of kindly feeling towards a Comedian to pray for the
safety, or refection, of his soul after death; this is proved by a
pleasant epitaph on a player, which is published in the collection
of Gori:--

Pro jocis, quibus cunctos
oblectabat,
Si quid oblectamenti apud
vos est
Manes, insontem reficite
Animulam."

_COSTUME._

It is probable that the imagination of the spectator could without
difficulty dispense with scenes, particularly if the surrounding
objects were somewhat removed from the ordinary aspect of every-day
things; if the performance were to take place, for example, in the
hall of a college, or in a church.

The costume that prevails at present almost universally, is so
barbarous and mean, and it changes in so many minute particulars so
frequently, that it is impossible to conceive the hero of a tragedy
actually wearing such attire. A more picturesque dress seems therefore
to be indispensable; but the essentials of the costume of any time,
from which dramatic subjects could be taken, are by no means costly.
All that is absolutely necessary in vestments to content the fancy,
might be procured at a trifling expense, and the hero or heroine
might be supplied with the ordinary apparel of Greece, or Rome, or of
any other country, at a small price. We must carefully distinguish,
however, betw