lators, in that they did not tie themselves to the originals, but made changes and added whole scenes, as they though! fit; which is remarked by Warton as showing that dramatic writers "now began to think for themselves, and that they were not always implicitly enslaved to the prescribed letter of their models." The pieces do not seem to require further uotice.

In the years 1568 and 1580, inclusive, the accounts of the Revels furnish the titles of fifty-two dramas performed at Court, none of which have survived, save as some of them may have served as the basis of plays written afterwards, and bearing other names. Of these fifty-two pieces, so far as we may judge from the titles, a few of which were given in the preceding Chapter, eighteen appear to have been on classical subjects; twenty-one, on subjects from modern history, romance, and other tales; while seven may be classed as comedies, and six as Moral-plays. It is also to be noted, that at this time the Master of the Revels was wont to call different sets of players before him, hear their pieces rehearsed, and then choose such of them as he judged fit for royal ears; which infers that the Court rather followed than led the popular taste, since most of the plays so used were doubtless already known on the public stage.

This may probably be taken as a fair indication how far the older species of drama still kept its place on the stage. Moral-plays lingered in occasional use till long after this period; and we even hear of Miracles performed now and then till after the death of Elizabeth. And this was much more the case, no doubt, in the country towns and villages than in the metropolis, as the growing life of thought could not but beat lustiest at the heart; and of course all the rest of the nation could not bridle Innovation, spurred as she was by the fierce competition of wit in London. Certain parts, however, of the Morals had vigour enough, it appears, to propagate themselves into the drama of comedy and tragedy after the main body of them had been withdrawn.

An apt instance of this is furnished in A Knack to Know a Knave, entered at the Stationers' in 1593, but written several years before. It was printed in 1594, and the title-page states that it had been acted "sundry times by Edward Alleyn and his company," and that it contained "Kempe's applauded merriments of the men of Gotham." Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich College, was the leading actor of the Lord Admiral's company; and after the death of Richard Tarlton, in 1588, William Kempe, who at a later period was of the same company with Shakespeare, bore the palm as an actor of comic parts. The play is made up partly of allegorical personages, and partly of historical; the chief of the latter being, King Edgar, St. Dunstan, Ethenwald, Osrick, and his daughter Alfrida. From reports of Alfrida's beauty, Edgar gets so enamoured of her, that he sends Ethenwald, Earl of Cornwall, to court her for him. The Earl, being already in love with the lady, is distressed that he cannot court her for his own bride: he arrives, is introduced by her father; his passion gets the better of his commission; he wooes and wins her for himself, and has her father's full consent. returns to Edgar; tells him she will do very well for an earl, but not for a king: Edgar distrusts his report, and goes to see for himself, when Ethenwald tries to pass off the kitchen-maid upon him as Alfrida: the trick is detected; Dunstan counsels forgiveness; whereupon the King generously renounces his claim. There is but one scene of "Kempe's applauded merriments" in the play, and this consists merely of a blundering dispute, whether a mock petition touching the consumption of ale shall be presented to the King by a cobbler or a smith.

He

As to the allegorical persons, it is worthy notice that several of these have individual designations, as if the author, whoever he might be, had some vague ideas of representative character, that is, persons standing for classes, yet clothed with individuality, — but lacked the skill to work them out. Such is the Bailiff of Hexham, who represents

tne iniquities of local magistrates. He has four sons, Walter, representing the frauds of farmers; Priest, the sins of the clergy; Coneycatcher, the tricks of cheats; and Perin, the vices of courtiers. Besides these, we have Honesty, whose business it is to expose crimes and vices. The Bailiff, on his death-bed, calls his sons around him, and makes a speech to them:

"Here have I been a bailiff threescore years,
And us'd exaction on the dwellers-by;
For, if a man were brought before my face
For cozenage, theft, or living on his wit,
For counterfeiting any hand or seal,
The matter heard, the witness brought to me,
I took a bribe and set the prisoners free.

So by such dealings I have got my wealth."

The Devil makes his appearance several times, and, when the old Bailiff dies, carries him off. At last, Honesty exposes the crimes of all classes to the King, who has justice done on their representatives. This part of the play seems intended as a satire on the vices of Court and country..

The piece is in blank-verse, and in respect of versification makes considerable improvement on the specimens hitherto noticed. A short passage, which is all we have room for, will show that the writer was not wholly a stranger to right ideas of character and poetry. It is where Ethenwald, on being introduced by Lord Osrick to his innocent daughter, complains of a "painful rheum" in his eyes, so that he cannot look up:

“Osrick. I am sorry that my house should cause your grief.Daughter, if you have any skill at all,

I pray you use your cunning with the earl,
And see if you can ease him of his pain.
A.frida. Father, such skill as I receiv'd of late
By reading many pretty-penn'd receipts,
Both for the ache of head and pain of eyes,
I will, if so it please the earl to accept it,
Endeavour what I may to comfort him.-

My lord, I have waters of approved worth,
And such as are not common to be found;
Any of which, if please your Honour use them,
I am in hope will help you to your sight"

CHAPTER V.

SHAKESPEARE'S IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS.

TOUCHING the general state of the Drama a few years before Shakespeare took hold of it, we have some contemporary notices which must now be produced. In 1578, George Whetstone published his History of Promos and Cassandra, a drama in two parts, upon which the Poet founded his Measure for Measure, as may be seen at length in our Introduction to that play. In the Dedication of his work, Whetstone has the following passage, where he evidently has in view some particular plays which he had seen performed:

"The Englishman, in this quality, is most vain, indiscreet, and out of order. He first grounds his work on impossi bilities; then in three hours runs he through the world, marries, gets children, makes children men, men to conquer kingdoms, murder monsters, and bringeth gods from heaven, and fetcheth devils from hell. And, that which is worst, their ground is not so unperfect, as their working indiscreet; not weighing, so the people laugh, though they laugh them, for their follies, to scorn: many times, to make mirth, they make a clown companion with a king; in their grave councils they allow the advice of fools; yea, they use one order of speech for all persons, -a gross indecorum; for a crow will ill counterfeit the nightingale's sweet voice: even so affected speech doth misbecome a clown. For, to work o

comedy kindly, grave old men should instruct, young men should show the imperfections of youth, strumpets should be lascivious, boys unhappy, and clowns should speak disorderly; intermingling all these actions in such sort as the grave matte. may instruct, and the pleasant delight; for without this change the attention would be small, and the liking less."

Some further points of information are supplied by Stephen Gosson, whose School of Abuse, which was a general invective against the stage, came out in 1579. Only two years before, Gosson himself had written two plays, one called The Comedy of Captain Mario, the other a Moralplay entitled Praise at Parting. He also avows himself the author of an historical play called Catiline's Conspiracies, of which he speaks as follows: "The whole mark I shot at in that work was, to show the reward of traitors in Catiline, and the necessary government of learned men in the person of Cicero, which foresees every danger that is likely to happen, and forestalls it continually ere it take effect." And he mentions several other dramas; one called The Blacksmith's Daughter, setting forth "the treachery of Turks, the honourable bounty of a noble mind, and the shining of virtue in distress;" also, one called The Jew and Ptolemy, having for its subject "the greediness of worldly choosers, and the bloody mind of usurers." Besides these, he speaks of "two prose books played at the Bell Savage," describing "how seditious estates with their own devices, false friends with their own swords, and rebellious commons with their own snares, are overthrown." From all these he admits that good moral lessons might be drawn, and so marks them out for exception from his attack. From his specifying two of them as "prose books," it is to be presumed that all the others were in verse.

The School of Abuse was taken in hand by Thomas Lodge, and in 1581 Gosson made a rejoinder in his Plays Confuted in Five Actions, where we have the following: