our Mysteries in England were represented. For this information we are indebted to the elder Scaliger, in whose Poeticks is the following curious passage: "Nunc in Gallia ita agunt fabulas, ut omnia in conspectu sint; UNIVERSUS APPARATUS dispositis sublimibus sedibus. Personæ ipsa nunquam discedunt: qui silent pro absentibus habentur. At enimvero perridiculum, ibi spectatorem, videre te audire, et te videre teipsum non audire quæ alius coram te, de te loquatur; quasi ibi non sis, ubi es; cum tamen maxima poetæ vis sit, suspendere animos, atque eos facere semper expectantes. At hic tibi novum fit nihil; ut prius satietas subrepat, quam obrepat fames. Itaque recte objecit Eschylo Euripides apud Aristophanem in Ranis, quod Niobem et Achillem in scenam introduxisset capite co-operto; neque nunquam ullum verbum qui sint loquuti 2." That is, "At present in France [about the year 1556] plays are represented in such a manner, that nothing is withdrawn from the view of the spectator. The whole apparatus of the theatre consists of some high scats ranged in proper order. The persons of the scene never depart during the representation: he who ceases to speak, is considered as if he were no longer on the stage. But in 2 Jul. Cæs. Scaligeri Poetices Libri Septem. folio, 1561, lib. i. Julius Cæsar Scaliger died at Agen, in the province of Guienne in France, on the 21st of October, 1558, in the 75th year of his age. He wrote his Poeticks in that town a few years before his death. Riccoboni gives us the same account in his History of the French Theatre. In the representations of the Mysteries, the theatre represented paradise, heaven, hell, and earth, and all at once; and though the action varied, there was no change of the decorations. After an actor had performed his part, he did not go off the stage, but retired to a corner of it, and sate there in full view of all the spectators." Historical and Critical Account of the Theatres of Europe, 8vo. 1741, p. 118. We shall presently see, that at a much later period, and long after the Mysteries had ceased to be exhibited, "though the action changed, there was no change of decoration," either in France or England. truth it is extremely ridiculous, that the spectator should see the actor listening, and yet he himself should not hear what one of his fellow-actors says concerning him, though in his own presence and within his hearing as if he were absent, while he is present. It is the great object of the dramatick poet to keep. the mind in a constant state of suspence and expectation. But in our theatres, there can be no novelty, no surprise insomuch that the spectator is more likely to be satiated with what he has already seen, than to have any appetite for what is to come. Upon this ground it was, that Euripides objected to Eschylus, in The Frogs of Aristophanes, for having introduced Niobe and Achilles as mutes upon the scene, with a covering which entirely concealed their heads from the spectators." Another practice, equally extraordinary, is mentioned by Bulenger in his treatise on the Grecian and Roman theatres. In his time, so late as in the year 1600, all the actors employed in a dramatick piece came on the stage in a troop, before the play began, and presented themselves to the spectators, in order, says he, to raise the expectation of the audience. "Putem tamen (quod hodieque fit) omnes actores antequam singuli agerent, confestim et in turba in proscenium prodiisse, ut sui expectationem commoverent 3." I know not whether this was ever practised in England. Instead of raising, it should seem more likely to repress, expectation. I suppose, however, this writer conceived the audience would be amimated by the number of the characters, and that this display would operate on the gaping spectators like some of our modern enormous play-bills; in which the length of the show sometimes constitutes the principal merit of the entertainment. 3 Bulengeri de Theatro, 8vo. 1600, lib. i. p. 60, b. Mr. Warton observes that Moralities were become so fashionable a spectacle about the close of the reign of Henry the Seventh, that " John Rastall, a learned typographer, brother-in-law to Sir Thomas More, extended its province, which had been hitherto confined either to moral allegory, or to religion blended with buffoonery, and conceived a design of making it the vehicle of science and philosophy. With this view he published A new Interlude and a mery, of the nature of the iiij Elements, declaring many proper points of philosophy naturall, and dyvers straunge landys, &c. In the cosmographical part of the play, in which the poet professes to treat of dyvers straunge landys, and of the new-found landys,' the tracts of America recently discovered, and the manners of the natives are described. The characters are, a Messenger, who speaks the prologue, Nature, Humanity, Studious Desire, Sensual Appetite, a Taverner, Experience, and Ignorance." ORIGIN OF TRAGEDY AND COMEDY. As it is uncertain at what period of time the ancient Mysteries ceased to be represented as an ordinary spectacle for the amusement of the people, and Moralities were substituted in their room, it is equally difficult to ascertain the precise time when the latter gave way to a more legitimate theatrical exhibition. We know that Moralities were exhibited occasionally during the whole of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 4 History of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 364. "Dr. Percy supposes this play to have been written about the year 1510, from the following lines: Within this xx yere ⚫ Westwarde he found new landes 'That we never harde tell of before this.' "The West Indies were discovered by Columbus in 1492." Ibid. and even in that of her successor, long after regular dramas had been presented on the scene'; but I suspect that about the year 1570 (the 13th year of Queen Elizabeth) this species of drama began to lose much of its attraction, and gave way to something that had more the appearance of comedy and tragedy. Gammer Gurton's Needle, which was written by Mr. Still, (afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells,) in the 23d year of his age, and acted at Christ's College Cambridge, in 1566, is pointed out by the ingenious writer of the tract entitled Historia Histrionica, as the first piece" that looks like a regular comedy;" that is, the first play that was neither Mystery nor Morality, and in which some humour and discrimination of character may be found. In 1561-2, Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, and Thomas Norton, joined in writing the tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex, which was exhibited on the 18th of January in that 5 The licence granted in 1603 to Shakspeare and his fellowcomedians, authorises them to play comedies, tragedies, histories, interludes, morals, pastorals, &c. See also The Guls Hornbooke, 1609: “ -if in the middle of his play, (bee it pastoral or comedie, morall or tragedie,) you rise with a shrewd and discontented face," &c. It is not easy to determine in what class we ought to place some of the dramatick compositions of that age. Decker himself wrote a production which perhaps he might have considered as a moral, called " If it be not good the Devil is in it." It is said in the Biographia Dramatica to be taken from Machiavel's Marriage of Belphegor, to which it bears no sort of resemblance. The story is shortly this: Pluto, after a dialogue with Charon, not destitute of broad satirical humour, dispatches several fiends as his emissaries upon earth; one of them seduces a virtuous king, another corrupts a convent of Friars, and a third completes the wickedness of an usurer. At the close of the drama, the king is informed of the infernal character of the person who had given him such bad advice, and is saved by repentance; but the others are carried to hell, which is then displayed to the view of the spectators. What follows is disgustingly horrible. Ravillac and Guy Faux are introduced among others, undergoing torment amidst the laughable and coarse jests of the fiends. This play was printed as it had been lately acted in 1612, after the stage had been in possession of all Shakspeare's dramas. BoswELL. year by the Students of the Inner Temple, before senting plays. Of the latter piece, which, as Mr. It has been justly remarked by the same judicious In confirmation of what has been suggested, it may 6 Vol. iii. pp. 355, et seq. 7 Among the memoranda of my lamented friend, Dr. Farmer, "6. 104. Complaint of a riot at the plays at Trinity, 1610. &c. 1600. "11. 110. Decree against Plays and Games upon Gogmagog “13. 12. Windows broke during the comedy at Kings, 1595. 13. 117. Players at Chesterton, 1590." STEEVENS. |