Note 172 — Chapter XX · TRINCOMALEE TO GALLE
Reading edition
On such occasions the stage was a rush-strewn scaffolding, with a light cloth canopy, and that scenic effects were not costly may be inferred from such entries in the accounts of the play-giving guilds as the following:—‘Paid for mending of Hell, 2d. For keeping fire at ditto, 4d. For setting the world on fire, 5d. To Crowe for making three worlds, 3s.’ The chief actors received 3s. 4d. each, but the prima donna only 2s.
It is curious to learn that, as in China at the present day, so in Britain prior to A.D. 1661, no women might appear on the stage, so that for at least half a century all Shakspeare’s daintiest dames were impersonated by youths!