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Comedies of the Imagination carry us into a world of pure Romance, where men and women move in the ethereal atmosphere of fancy. They have lost none of their reality as human beings. But their vices and their follies exact a milder censure than in actual life; their actions and their passions have a grace and charm beyond the lot of common mortals. Strictly speaking, the Romantic Tragedy and the Romantic Comedy of Shakspere present the same material, the same philosophy, the same conception of existence, under different lights and with a different tone of sympathy. How Shakspere meant his Comedies to be interpreted, may be gathered from the induction to The Taming of the Shrew,' from the title of A Midsummer Night's Dream,' from the magic of Prospero, and from the woodland solitudes of Arden. In these creations he avoids the ordinary ways of social life, chooses fantastic fables, or touches tales of Italy with an enchanter's wand. Lyly in his Court Comedies had preceded Shakspere on this path of art, and Fletcher followed him, although at a wide interval. After defining Shakspere's Comedy as the Comedy of pure Imagination and Romantic incident, in which the master's unrivalled character-drawing was displayed with no less strength, but to less awful purpose, than in his Tragedy; we may divide the comedies of Fletcher into two main classes, describing the one class by the name of Romantic

1 Mercutio, for example, in Romeo and Juliet is a comic character, and Angelo in Measure for Measure is deeply tragic. The part of Shylock is a tragic episode within a comedy; the part of Imogen is hardly less tragic than that of Cordelia, except in the conclusion of the plot. See Professor Ward's History for some excellent critical observations upon this point.

Lustspiel, or Play of Fanciful Amusement, the other by that of Romantic Comedy of Intrigue. In the former of these species. represented by The Pilgrim,' The Sea Voyage,' and 'The Island Princess,' Fletcher handles romantic incident with something of Shaksperian grace. In the latter, including The WildGoose Chace,' 'The Spanish Curate,' and 'The Chances,' he follows the French and Spanish manner. The remote scenes in which Fletcher laid the action of his plays, the fluency of thought, fertility of invention, and exquisite poetic ease with which he wrought and carried out his complicated plots, raise both types of comedy above a common level, and give them the right to rank at no immeasurable distance below Shakspere's. Perusing these light and airy improvisations, our fancy is continually charmed and our attention. fascinated. But when we reflect upon their characters, we are forced to regard these men and women as the figures of a pantomime, the creatures of a poet's reverie, who, doing right or wrong, are moved by springs of wayward impulse, and who feel no moral responsibilities like those of daily life. It is just here that Fletcher's inferiority to Shakspere in the Comedy of the Imagination is most strongly felt. While his Romantic Lustspiel reveals the outward show of things, and plays upon the superficies of human nature, Shakspere's unfolds the very soul of man made magically perfect, and his imagination freed from all impediments to its aërial flight. Sir Thomas Browne has said, 'We are somewhat more than ourselves in our sleep;' and these words might be applied to Shakspere's comedies. There we move in a land of dreams, peopled by shapes

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brighter and more beautiful than those of this gross earth, lighted by larger suns that shine through softer air.

Besides Comedies of Imagination and Romantic Intrigue, the fancy of the minor dramatists ran riot in many other hybrid species. They interwove the Italian Pastoral with classic legend or with transcripts from English rural life, invented graceful allegories like Dekker's 'Fortunatus,' or Day's Parliament of Bees,' and adapted motives of the Masque at Court to the legitimate Drama. It would not serve a useful purpose to pursue this analysis further. It is enough to indicate how large a part Imagination and Romantic Fancy played in English comic art.

What is now known as Farce was not a common form of Comedy in the Elizabethan age. The custom of the theatre demanded five-act pieces; and though many plots are essentially farcical, the method of conducting them necessitated by so large a scale of treatment, altered their dramatic quality. Gammer Gurton's Needle' and Ben Jonson's 'Bartholomew Fair' may be mentioned, however, as strictly farcical compositions. The 'Silent Woman,' again, is rather a Titanic Farce than a true Comedy of Character or Manners

In plays belonging to the Comedy of Manners we gain faithful studies of daily life in London. Their realism makes them valuable; but the majority are coarse, and not a little tedious to read. The stock personages resemble those of Latin Comedy-a jealous husband, a wilful wife, a stupid country squire, a parasite, a humorous serving-man, a supple courtier, a simple girl, an apish Frenchman, a whining Puritan,

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a woman of the town, a gallant, a swaggering bully, a conceited coxcomb. The playwrights, when engaged upon such pieces, sought success by movement, broad fun, lively dialogue, good-humoured satire, and roughly outlined silhouettes of character. They threw them off rapidly, and took no care to preserve them for posterity. Marston in his preface to the Fawne apologises for its publication: If any shall wonder why I print a comedy, whose life rests much in the actor's voice, let such know that I cannot avoid publishing.' He here alludes to the booksellers' practice of having plays taken down by shorthand, and so presenting them for sale in a pirated and garbled state. Marston makes a similar defence for the 'Malcontent:' 'Only one thing affects me, to think that scenes invented merely to be spoken should be inforcively published to be read.' So truly did the life of these things consist in action,' that passages were often left for the extempore declamation of the actors. Sometimes the whole conduct of the piece depended on their powers of improvisation. They were then provided with programmes of the acts and scenes, and of the entrances and exits of the several persons. These programmes received the name of Platt' or chart, from which we probably derive the word 'plot.' They were hung up on the screen-work of the stage for reference and study. In Italy such outlines of comedies were called Scenario.'

In reading the ordinary Comedy of Manners, all these circumstances must be taken into consideration. We must remember that the effect of such plays, even where written, depended on the actors, who were

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trained more strictly to their business then than now. The old custom of maintaining jesters in castles and at Court bred a class of men whose profession it was to entertain an audience with mimicry, ludicrous tricks, and sharp sayings. Continued through centuries, the skill of these jesters reached a high degree of excellence, through the tradition of buffoonery established, and through the emulation which impelled each Fool of eminence to surpass his predecessors. The celebrity of Tarleton, Green, Summer, Kempe, and Robert Wilson, proves that the comic playwrights could rely upon an able band of interpreters. It may even be asserted that the popular talents of these jesters proved an obstacle to the development of higher Comedy in England, by accustoming the public taste to jigs and merriments, solo pieces and inventions of the clown, instead of encouraging a demand for seriously studied art.

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Dekker and Massinger, Middleton and Shirley, claim notice among the minor playwrights who dignified the Comedy of Manners by solid and thoughtful workmanship. But it was from Jonson that this species received the most masterly handling. comedies in their way, as truly as those of Shakspere, are the productions of indubitable and peculiar genius. He never wrote at random. He never sought to please the populace by exhibitions of mere shallow merriment; nor did he always succeed in riveting their attention by the ponderous stage-antics of his 'learned sock.' Those who would not worship his Muse were treated by him with contempt. He pursued his own

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