r dull reading.

Without doubt the modern pantomime opening owes much of its form to
modern burlesque and extravaganza, of which the late Mr. Planche may
be regarded as the inventor. Mr. Planche's first burlesque was
produced at Drury Lane in 1818, and was called "Amoroso, King of
Little Britain." "The _author_!" wrote a fierce critic in
"Blackwood"--"but even the shoeblacks of Paris call themselves
_marchands de cirage_!" Mr. Planche had compensation, however. His
burlesque was quoted in a leading article in _The Times_; the King of
Little Britain's address to his courtiers, "My lords and
gentlemen--get out!" was alluded to in relation to a royal speech
dissolving Parliament. "Amoroso" was a following of "Bombastes
Furioso." But, by-and-by, Mr. Planche was to proceed to "Pandora,"
"Olympic Revels," "Riquet with the Tuft," and other productions, the
manner and character of which have become identified with his name.
Gradually he created a school of burlesque-writers indeed; but his
scholars at last rebelled against him and "barred him out," a fate to
which schoolmasters have been often liable. Still burlesque of the
worthy Planche form, and of the spuriously imitative kind, which
copied, and at the same time degraded him, grew and throve, and at
last invaded the domains of pantomime. "Openings" fell into the hands
of burlesque-writers, their share in the pantomime work ceasing with
the transformation scene; punning rhymes and parodies, and comic
dances, delayed the entrance of clown and harlequin, till at last
their significance and occupation seem almost to have gone from them.
The old language of gesture, with perhaps the occasional resort to a
placard to supplement and interpret the "dumb motions" of the
performers (a concession to, or an evasion of the old prohibition of
speech in the "burletta houses"), vanished from the stage. The
harlequinade characters ceased to take part in the opening, and that
joy to youthful cunning of detecting the players of the later scenes
in the disguises of their earlier presentment--harlequin, by the
accidental revelation of parti-colour and spangles, and clown by the
chance display of his motley trunk and hose--was gone for ever. Smart
young ladies in the blonde wigs, the very curt tunics, the fleshings
and the high heels of burlesque, appeared in lieu of these; and the
spectacle of the characters in the opening loosening tapes and easing
buttons in good time to obey the behest of t