of clowns," as Theodore Hook called him. This great comic
artist devised the eccentric costume still worn by clowns--the
original whiteness of the Pierrot's dress being used as a groundwork
upon which to paint variegated spots, stars, and patches; and nearly
all the "comic business" of modern harlequinades is of his invention.
The present dress of the harlequin dates from the beginning of the
century only. Until then the costume had been the loosely fitting
parti-coloured jacket and trousers to be seen worn by the figures in
Watteau's masquerade subjects. In the pantomime of "Harlequin Amulet;
or, The Magic of Mona," produced at Drury Lane in 1800, Mr. James
Byrne, the ballet-master, the father of the late Mr. Oscar Byrne,
appeared as harlequin in "a white silk shape, fitting without a
wrinkle," into which the coloured silk patches were woven, the whole
being profusely covered with spangles, and presenting a very sparkling
appearance. The innovation was not resisted, but was greatly
applauded, and Mr. Byrne's improved attire is worn by all modern
harlequins.

Some eighty years ago John Kemble, addressing his scene-painter in
reference to a forthcoming pantomime, wrote: "It must be _very short,
very laughable_, and _very cheap_." If the great manager-actor's
requirements were fairly met, it is certain that the entertainment in
question was of a kind very different to the pantomime of our day--a
production that is invariably very long, rarely laughable, and always
of exceeding costliness. Leigh Hunt complained in 1831 that pantomimes
were not what they had been, and that the opening, "which used to form
merely a brief excuse for putting the harlequinade in motion," had
come to be a considerable part of the performance. In modern pantomime
it may be said that the opening is everything, and that the
harlequinade is deferred as long as possible. "Now the fun begins,"
used to be the old formula of the playbills announcing the
commencement of the harlequinade, or what is still known in the
language of the theatre as the "comic business." Perhaps experience
proved that in point of fact "the fun" did not set in at the time
stated; at any rate the appearance of harlequin and clown is now
regarded by many of the spectators as a signal for the certain
commencement of dreariness, and as a notice to quit their seats. The
pantomime Kemble had in contemplation, however, was of the fashion
Leigh Hunt looked back upon regretfully. Harl