t the theatres, the armour of one of the kings of England
having been brought from the Tower for the due accoutrement of the
champion. And here we may note a curious gravitation of royal finery
towards the theatre. Downes, in his "Roscius Anglicanus," describes
Sir William Davenant's play of "Love and Honour," produced in 1662, as
"richly cloathed, the king giving Mr. Betterton his coronation suit,
in which he acted the part of Prince Alvaro; the Duke of York giving
Mr. Harris his, who did Prince Prospero; and my lord of Oxford gave
Mr. Joseph Price his, who did Lionel, the Duke of Parma's son."
Presently we find the famous Mrs. Barry acting Queen Elizabeth in the
coronation robes of James II.'s queen, who had before presented the
actress with her wedding suit. Mrs. Barry is said to have given her
audience a strong idea of Queen Elizabeth. Mrs. Bellamy played
Cleopatra in a silver tissue "birthday" dress that had belonged to the
Princess of Wales; and a suit of straw-coloured satin, from the
wardrobe of the same illustrious lady, was worn by the famous Mrs.
Woffington, in her performance of Roxana. The robes worn by Elliston,
when he personated George IV., and represented the coronation of that
monarch upon the stage of Drury Lane, were probably not the originals.
These became subsequently the property of Madame Tussaud, and long
remained among the treasures of her waxwork exhibition in Baker
Street. A tradition prevails that Elliston's robes were carried to
America by Lucius Junius Booth, the actor, who long continued to
assume them in his personation of Richard III., much to the
astonishment of the more simple-minded of his audience, who naively
inquired of each other whether the sovereigns of Great Britain were
really wont to parade the streets of London in such attire? Among
other royal robes that have likewise descended to the stage, mention
may also be made of the coronation dress of the late Queen Adelaide,
of which Mrs. Mowatt, the American actress, became the ultimate
possessor.

Many noblemen and fine gentlemen also favoured the actors with gifts
of their cast clothes, and especially of those "birthday suits"--Court
dresses of great splendour, worn for the first time at the birthday
levees, or drawing-rooms of the sovereign. As Pope writes:

Or when from Court a birthday suit bestowed,
Sinks the lost actor in the tawdry load.

Indeed, to some of the clothes worn by actors a complete history is
atta