small share in its composition. Thomas Sackville, the only son of Sir Richard Sackville, was born at Buckhurst, in Sussex, in 1536; studied at Oxford and Cambridge, where he acquired a high reputation as a poet, both in Latin and English; and afterwards became a student of the Inner Temple. It was while a student there that he wrote his tragedy. He was the author of two other poems, -The Induction, a noble and dignified preface to the Mirror for Magistrates, and The Complaint of the Duke of Buckingham. After travelling in France and Italy, he returned to England, and entered public life, and soon after 1566 was created Lord Buckhurst. He became a great favourite with the queen; and after the death of Burleigh, succeeded him as Lord High Treasurer. In 1604 he was created Earl of Dorset by King James, died in 1608, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The play of Gorboduc is regularly divided into five acts and scenes, and is so far an imitation of the classical drama that it has a chorus of 'four ancient and sage men of Britain,' although in the main it may be regarded as an early example of the romantic drama. Preceding each act there is a dumb show intended to prefigure what is to occur, although, as Warton remarks, it is not always typical of the ensuing incidents.' In that which precedes Act V., the impropriety has been committed of introducing a troop of soldiers, 600 years before Christ, with fire-arms, which are discharged to indicate the bloodshed about to ensue. Such anachronisms were frequent enough in the old miracle and moral plays, and, as is well known, Shakespeare himself occasionally nods' in this respect. 'Dumb show' was not entirely disused even in the more advanced days of the stage. The subject of this drama is taken from the early legendary history of Britain, and the following is Hawkins' abstract of the plot :

'Gorboduc, a king of Britain about 600 years before Christ, made in his lifetime a division of his kingdom to his sons Ferrex and Porrex. The two young princes within five years quarrelled for universal sovereignty. A civil war ensued, and Porrex slew his elder brother Ferrex. Their mother Viden, who loved Ferrex best, revenged his death by entering Porrex's chamber in the night, and murdering him in his sleep. The people, exasperated at the cruelty and treachery of this murder, rose in rebellion and killed both Viden and Gorboduc. The nobility then assembled, collected an army, and destroyed the rebels. An intestine war commenced between the chief lords; the succession of the crown became uncertain and arbitrary for want of the lineal royal issue; and the country, destitute of a king, and wasted by domestic slaughter, was reduced to a state of the most miserable desolation.'

The tragedy ought properly to have ended with the fourth act, for there the catastrophe is complete; but the author has eked out the play, 'certainly not very amusingly, by various harangues and narrations, relative to the civil war which followed the death of all the members of the royal family.' Although no doubt vastly superior in design and execution to most of the preceding and contemporary theatrical performances, it cannot,' says Mr. Collier, 'be disputed that the story proceeds with laborious sluggishness, and that the dialogue is generally as weighty as the plot it developes. The speeches are usually of most tedious extent, and the thoughts and sentiments more than sufficiently trite and commonplace.' Still, considering the circumstances under which this drama was produced, taking into account the rubbish which had possession of the stage at the time, the wretched examples which the author had before him for imitation, as the foundation of our regular tragic drama, it must be considered on the whole a creditable performance. Notwithstanding its inflated language, bad taste, and want of individuality in the characters, the language is occasionally vigorous, and often sweet and musical. This great improvement it has on its predecessors, which, however, was not generally adopted for many years after, viz. its want of rhyme; it is written in

blank verse. As we have seen before, Marlowe was the first to introduce this improvement on the public stage. A few extracts from this play will be found at the end of this Introduction.

At the same time as Gorboduc, or possibly a little earlier, was written a comedy which exists in manuscript in a mutilated state, and is spoken of with approval by Mr. Collier. It is entitled Misogonus, and is probably founded on an Italian novel.

Another dramatist, who wrote about the same time as Sackville, was Richard Edwardes, born 1523, died 1566; he was a native of Somersetshire, and was educated at Oxford. Little else appears to be known about him, except that he was the author of several plays, the names of only two of which have come down to us, Palemon and Arcite, and Damon and Pythias, the latter alone being extant. It was acted in 1564, but was probably written somewhat earlier. It is a tragicomedy written in rhyme, and is full of all kinds of dramatic improprieties and absurdities, but contains some sweet and fanciful though conceited poetry; altogether, it is a fair production for the time, and may be regarded as one step in advance towards the perfection of the regular drama.

In 1566 appeared Bishop Still's Gammer Gurton's Needle, a comedy of the same class as Ralph Roister Doister, though much inferior to that production. The plot turns on the loss of Gammer Gurton's needle, which, after much talk and searching, is found sticking in the seat of her servant Hodge's breeches. The language is even more coarse and antiquated than in its predecessor, which may be accounted for by the lower class of characters that form the dramatis persona. It contains one of the earliest drinking songs in the language, which, as it has considerable merit and a jolly ring about it, we shall make bold to quote here:

'Back and side go bare, go bare,

Both foot and hand go cold:

But belly, God send thee good ale enough,
Whether it be new or old.

I cannot eat, but little meat,
My stomach is not good;

But sure I think, that I can drink
With him that wears a hood.
Though I go bare, take ye no care,
I am nothing a cold;
I stuff my skin so full within
Of jolly good ale and old.
Back and side go bare, etc.

I love no roast, but a nut-brown toast,
And a crab laid in the fire;

A little bread shall do me stead,
Much bread I not desire.

No frost nor snow, no wind, I trow,
Cau hurt me if I wold,

I am so wrapt, and throughly lapt
Of jolly good ale and old.
Back and side go bare, etc..
And Tyb my wife, that as her life

Loveth well good ale to seek,
Full oft drinks she, till ye may see

The tears run down her cheek;
Then doth she trowl to me the bowl,

Even as a malt worm should;
And saith, sweet heart, I took my part
Of this jolly good ale and old.

Back and side go bare, etc.

Now let them drink, till they nod and wink,
Even as good fellows should do,

They shall not miss to have the bliss
Good ale doth bring men to:

And all poor souls, that have scoured bowls,
Or have them lustily trold,

God save the lives of them and their wives,
Whether they be young or old.
Back and side go bare, etc.'

In the same year as Bishop Still's play appeared, there were represented at Gray's Inn two plays by George Gascoigne (born 1536, died 1577); the one entitled The Supposes, being a translation from Gli Suppositi of Ariosto, and the other Jocasta, adapted from the Phoenisse of Euripides by Gascoigne and a poet named Francis Kinwelmarsh. The former is mainly a close translation from the original, and is remarkable chiefly as being the earliest extant specimen of an English play written in prose. The Supposes, which is more of an adaptation than a translation, is, like Gorboduc, written in blank verse, and contains

many passages of spirit, force, and harmony. We quote the following description of the fight between Eteocles and Polynices (Act V.):

'Oh blind unbridled search of sovereignty,
Oh tickle train of evil attained state!
Oh fond desire of princely dignity!
Who climbs too soon, he oft repents too late.
The golden mean the happy doth suffice;
They lead the poasting day in rare delight,
They fill (not feed) their uncontented eyes,
They reap such rest as doth beguile the
night;

They not envy the pomp of haughty train,
Nordread the dint of proud usurping swords;
But plast alow more sugred joys attain,
Than sway of lofty sceptre can afford.
Cease to aspire, then; cease to soar so high,
And shun the plague that pierceth noble
breasts.

To glittering courts what fondness is to fly
When better state in baser towers rests!'

1

We cannot afford to notice more in detail the productions which appeared previous to the time when the 'great race' of Elizabethan dramatists, commencing with Lilly, began to pour forth their unequalled productions; indeed there are few pieces extant, produced during that time, of any great merit in themselves, and we have noticed those above mentioned chiefly to show the reader when and how the regular drama came into being. Enough has been said to prove that shortly after 1560 it was fairly afloat on the sea of literature; and as a proof that the morality was being rapidly superseded by its more vigorous and life-like successor, as well as of the immense productiveness of the period between 1560 and 1580, we may mention that while, during that time, only six moralities were represented at court, there were enacted forty-six regular tragedies and comedies, none of which are now extant.

As we are mainly concerned here with the drama as a form of literature, we have not thought it necessary, and, indeed, we have not space, to give any details concerning it in its theatrical aspect. With regard to theatres, it must suffice to say that long after the commencement of the regular drama, moralities and even regular plays were played in public on stages erected in the open air, very often in inn yards. The Belle Savage in London was a favourite locality for such performances. It would appear, however, that latterly it was customary to represent plays in private in such places as the Inns of Court, and the residences of the sovereign and the nobility. The first regularly licensed theatre was opened at Blackfriars in 1576; and in a very short time it had about half a dozen rivals, as The Theatre in Shoreditch, The Curtain near Belle Savage, Paris Garden, Whitefriars, and others. The Globe theatre, with which Shakespeare was connected, was erected on the Bankside in Southwark about 1593, where also were erected The Rose, The Hope, and The Swan theatres. In the time of Shakespeare there would appear to have been at least a dozen of these buildings. 'The theatres were constructed of wood, of a circular form, open to the weather, excepting over the stage, which was covered with a thatched roof. Outside, on the roof, a flag was hoisted during the time of the performance, which commenced at three o'clock, at the sounding or flourish of trumpets. The cavaliers and fair dames of the court of Elizabeth sat in boxes below the gallery, or were accommodated with stools on the stage, where some of the young gallants also threw themselves at length on the rush-strewn floors, while their pages handed them pipes and tobacco, then a fashionable and highly-prized luxury. The middle classes were crowded in the pit or yard, which was not furnished with seats. Moveable scenery was first introduced by Davenant after the Restoration, but rude imitations of towers, woods, animals, or furniture, served to illustrate the scene. Το point out the place of action, a board containing the name, painted or written in large letters, was hung out during the performance.' Actresses were not seen on the stage till after the Restoration, the female parts being taken by boys

or effeminate-looking young men. It was customary for the king or queen and some of the nobles to retain companies of actors in their service for their own entertainment, although they were also allowed to act in public; hence the phrases attached to the titles of many old plays, 'Acted by the Queen's Majesty's Servants,' 'the Earl of Leicester's Servants,' etc. As will be seen in the following pages, many of the dramatists were actors as well.

SPECIMENS OF EARLY ENGLISH DRAMAS.

In order to illustrate the preceding remarks, and enable the reader to judge for himself of the nature and progress of the early English drama, we shall here give specimens of a miracle play, and of an early comedy and tragedy. We have not space to introduce a morality; but as, with the exception of the characters, it differed but little from a miracle play, an example of a morality can be dispensed with, especially as we have given an abstract of one or two in the Introduction, which we have also done in the case of one of the best Interludes.

The miracle play we have selected is the one entitled Noah's Flood, from the Chester series; it was played by the 'Water Leaders and the Drawers of the Dee.' The whole series appears to have been played at one time, and to have occupied a number of days. Previous to the commencement of their exhibition, were read the Banes or proclamation, which gives an account of the supposed origin of the plays, and assigns to each of the trade-companies the part it is to take in the performance. Noah's Flood was the third in the order of performance, being preceded by The Fall of Lucifer, and The Creation and the Fall.

The first speaker is God, who laments the universal wickedness of the world, declaring his determination to exterminate 'man, beast, worm, and fowl.' He then gives Noah the details of the construction of the ark, and the play proceeds as follows::

God then gives Noah a list of all the animals he is to take with him into the ark, concluding by declaring that he shall cause rain to fall for forty days and nights in order that men may be destroyed for their 'unrights.'