To abandon him
altogether was sacrilege. Yet the mutation of public taste offered, as
the only alternative to his abandonment, the obligation of bestowing
on his work every mechanical advantage, every tawdry ornament in the
latest mode.
Pepys fully approved the innovations, and two of the earliest of
Shakespearean adaptations won his unqualified eulogy. These were
D'Avenant's reconstructions of _The Tempest_ and _Macbeth._ D'Avenant
had convinced himself that both plays readily lent themselves to
spectacle; they would repay the embellishments of ballets, new songs,
new music, coloured lights, and flying machines. Reinforced by these
charms of novelty, the old pieces might enjoy an everlasting youth. No
spectator more ardently applauded such bastard sentiment than the
playgoing Pepys.
Of the two pieces, the text of _Macbeth_ was abbreviated, but
otherwise the alterations in the blank-verse speeches were
comparatively slight. Additional songs were provided for the Witches,
together with much capering in the air. Music was specially written by
Matthew Locke. The liberal introduction of song and dance rendered the
piece, in Pepys's strange phrase, "a most excellent play for variety.
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