to value them, I assure you. I hope
you will not fight for them!

_Wigs are very important. Unbleached calico is a very fair imitation
of the skin of one's head._ A skull-cap made of it will do for a bald
pate, or, with a black pig-tail and judicious face-painting, will turn
any smooth-faced actor into a very passable Chinaman. Flowing locks of
tow, stitched on round the lower part, will convert it into a
patriarchal wig. _Nigger wigs are made of curly black horsehair
fastened on to a black skull-cap._ Moustaches and whiskers can be
bought at small expense, but if well painted the effect is nearly as
good.

As to _face-painting_. Rouge is indispensable, but care must be taken
not to overdo it. The eyebrows must be darkened with sepia or Indian
ink, and a camel's-hair brush--especially for fair people. With the
same materials you must deepen all the lines of the face, if you want
to make a young person look like an old one. The cheek lines on each
side of the nose, furrows across the forehead, and crow's-foot marks
by the eyes, are required for an old face; but if the audience are to
be very close to the stage, you must be careful not to overdo your
painting. Violet powder is the simplest and least irritating white for
the skin. Rouge should be laid on with a hare's foot. If your "old
man" is wearing a bald wig, be careful to colour his forehead to match
as well as possible with his bald pate. All these applications are
more or less irritating to one's skin. It is said to be a mistake to
_wash_ them off. Cold cream should be rubbed over the face, and then
wiped off with a soft towel.

As a parting hint, my dear Rouge Pot, when you have passed the stage
of child-plays in rhyme--but do not be in a _hurry_ to discard such
universal favourites as _Dick Whittington_, _Beauty and the Beast_,
and _Cinderella_--don't be too ambitious in your selection from
"grown-up" plays. As a matter of experience, when _we_ got beyond Miss
Corner we took to farces, and found them very successful. There are
many which play well in young hands, and only require the omission of
a few coarse expressions, which, being intended to raise a laugh among
"roughs" in the gallery of a public theatre, need hardly be hurled at
the ears of one's private friends.

I am bound to say that competent critics have told me that farces were
about the most difficult things we could have attempted. I can only
say that we found them answer. Partly, perhaps, beca