Note 39 — HORACE AND JAMES SMITH

Lord Mayor of the theatric sky. This alludes to Leigh Hunt, who, in The Examiner, at this time kept the actors in hot water. Dr. Johnson's argument is, like many of his other arguments, specious, but untenable; that which it defends has since been abandoned as impracticable. Mr. Whitbread contended that the actor was like a portrait in a picture, and accordingly placed the green curtain in a gilded frame remote from the foot-lights; alleging that no performer should mar the illusion by stepping out of the frame. Dowton was the first actor who, like Manfred's ancestor in the Castle of Otranto, took the liberty of abandoning the canon. 'Don't tell me of frames and pictures,' ejaculated the testy comedian; 'if I can't be heard by the audience in the frame, I'll walk out of it!' The proscenium has since been new-modelled, and the actors thereby brought nearer to the audience.