ure," and various other collections of novels, to which Shakespeare, afterwards, had recourse, as well as comedies, in English and other languages, were carefully examined, to furnish matter for the stage.

The precursors of Shakespeare, who were most famous as dramatic authors, were Robert Greene and Thomas Lodge, remarkable for their humorous satire; George Peele, a flowery and most ingenious poet; Christopher Marlow, a fine tragic writer, of great state and sweetness in his verses; Thomas Nashe, a comic author and satirist; John Lyly, the Euphuist; and Thomas Kyd, whose works contain passages not unworthy of the best of his successors. These all contributed greatly to advance the improvement and perfection of the English stage; and though there be many blemishes to be found in their productions, and much affectation and pedantry, an unfettered spirit of true poetry runs through them all, with language often dignified and harmonious, and always nervous. At length, about 1591, the great luminary of the dramatic world blazed out upon England, and began to produce that inimitable series of plays, which, for more than two centuries, have been the delight, the admiration, and the boast of his countrymen. His excellences are numerous and varied, but the charms of his versification, the beauty of his descriptions, the sublimity of his language, his irresistible humor, and the exquisite nature which pervade the whole of his writings,—are perhaps the most striking features of his splendid genius. His time, too, formed the Golden Age of the

drama; since the vigorous language and learning of Ben Jonson, the wit and sweetness of Dekker, the thought of Marston, the gravity of the classical Chapman, the grace and comic vein of Beaumont and Fletcher, the copious genius of Middleton, the pathos of Webster, and the easy mirth of Heywood,- formed an assemblage of more dramatic talent than has ever been witnessed in all the years that have since elapsed.

The most illustrious of these was during the reign of Elizabeth, when literature was advancing under the influence of the Reformation, and the works of the British dramatists began to be stamped with that boldness and energy, that graceful simplicity and exquisite nature, which were so entirely their own.* This is the character of "the best words of the best authors;" whilst the coarse jests and gross language which frequently deform some of their finest and most serious scenes, must be attributed to the imper-, fection of manners, the slow advance of genera! civilization, and the remains of that rude humor, which introduced its dissolute and profane merriment

Queen Elizabeth, at the request of Sir F. Walsingham, and with the advice of the Master of the Revels, selected twelve performers out of some of the companies of her nobility which used to act before her, as her own dramatic servants, and to be called the Queen's Players. Of these, Robert Wilson, of "a quick, delicate, refined, extemporal wit," and Richard Tarleton, of "a wondrous, plentiful, extemporal wit," were two. This company, sworn as the Queen's servants, was organized in the year 1583.

into even the sacred stories of the Scripture mysteries. Much of the old poetical spirit remained until the civil wars, when the drama was overthrown in the confusion and violence which ravaged the country; and the restoration brought over that French taste which had been so long familiar to the English exiles. The tide of foreign extravagance and obscenity, of unnatural declamation and unmeaning frivolity, was too powerful for opposition, and even Dryden's splendid talents yielded to the vicious fashion; though their lustre continually breaks forth, notwithstanding their prostitution. With more or less of the same characteristics, the English drama was supported by Otway, Southerne, and Rowe; and afterwards by the many excellent comic and tragic authors of the last century. Slowly and gradually it became purified from its dissolute and profane wit, and if at present the talents of the olden time be no longer evident, the immorality attending them has also departed.

The most important event in the history of the English stage, is that which Puritanism caused, which not only upset the constitution, but entirely suppressed plays and play-houses. This event took place on the 11th of February, 1647, at which time an ordinance was issued by the Lords and Commons, whereby all stage players, and players of interludes and common plays, were declared to be rogues, and liable to be punished according to the statutes of the thirty-ninth of Queen Elizabeth, and seventh of King

James I. To this act was an abridgment, which, two days afterwards, was published, for the suppression of stage-plays and interludes. It made five different provisions on the subject: 1. It declared all players rogues, within the meaning of the 39th Elizabeth and 7th James I. 2. It authorized the lord-mayor, justices of the peace, and sheriffs to pull down and demolish all stage galleries, seats, and boxes. 3. It inflicted the punishment of public whipping upon all players for the first offence, and for the second offence they were to be deemed incorrigible rogues, and dealt with accordingly. 4. It appropriated all money collected from the spectators to the poor of the parish. 5. It imposed a fine of five shillings upon every person present at the performance of a play.

Before the promulgation of this severe ordinance, the performances of the stage had been frequently interrupted, even from the commencement of hostilities between the king and the parliament. Of the several actors at that time employed in the theatres, the greater part, who were not prevented by age, went immediately into the army, and, as might be expected, took part with their sovereign, whose affection for their profession had been shown in many instances previous to the open rupture between him and the people.

The event of war was alike fatal to monarchy and his people. After a violent and bloody contest, both fell together the king lost his life by the hands of the executioner; the theatres were abandoned and destroyed, and those by whom they used to be occu

pied were either killed in the wars, worn out with old age, or dispersed in different places, fearful of assembling, lest they should subject themselves to the penalty of the ordinance, and give offence to the ruling powers. The fate of their royal master being determined, the surviving dependants on the drama were obliged again to return to the exercise of their profession. In the winter of the year 1648, they ventured to act some plays at the " Cockpit," but were soon interrupted and silenced by the soldiers, who took them into custody in the midst of one of their performances, and committed them to prison.

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Amidst the gloom of fanaticism, and whilst the royal cause was considered desperate, Sir William Davenant, without molestation, exhibited entertainments of declamation and music, after the manner of the ancients, at Rutland-house. He began in the year 1656, and two years afterwards removed to the Cockpit," where he performed until the eve of the Restoration. The performance of Davenant's opera of "The Siege of Rhodes," in 1656, is to be looked upon as the first step towards the revival of dramatic performances, and more properly belongs to the transactions of the reign of Charles II. From this period until the present, the English stage has disarmed fanaticism of its power, and identified the drama with the highest order of the liberal arts.

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