Poticary. By the mass, there is a great lie. Palmer. Sir, whether that I lose or get, Lady. Pedlar. A greater! nay, know ye any so great? For my part judgment shall be prayed. The Pedlar then proceeds to give his award, and of course decides in favour of the Palmer, who has thus unwittingly, by the confession of all, told the greatest lie: Thus I award by way of judgment: Notwithstanding the rudeness of the language and the coarseness of the fun of this unique play, it is full of humour, sarcasm, liveliness, and vigour of expression, and is, on the whole, not an unworthy harbinger of the regular British comic drama. Besides the two above spoken of, other interludes by Heywood are-A play between John the husband, Tyb his wife, and Sir John the priest; it is a 'merry play,' resembling in its structure and composition a one-act farce; The Play of the Weather, written to enforce and illustrate a point of natural philosophy, and under the name of Jupiter, to vindicate Providence in the course and distribution of the seasons. Both these were printed in 1533, but probably written much earlier. The last interlude we shall notice is one of some importance, in so far as it bears the same relation to the serious drama that Heywood's productions do to comedy. It was published about 1530, and bears the following title: 'A new comedy in English, in manner of an interlude, right elegant and full of craft of rhetoric, wherein is showed and described, as well the beauty and good properties of women, as their vices and evil conditions, with a moral conclusion and exhortation to virtue.' The characters are the hero Calisto, the heroine Melibea, Danio her father, Sempronio, a parasite, and a procuress Celestina. The following is Mr. Collier's account of the plot: 'The story is simply this: Calisto, a gay young man, is in love with Melibea, the daughter of Danio, but she dislikes him. By the advice of a parasite, called Sempronio, he engages by gifts old Celestina, who keeps a common brothel, on his side. She endeavours to seduce the heroine into her house to meet Calisto, but failing, pretends that he has a dreadful fit of the toothache, which cannot be cured without the loan of the relic-hallowed girdle of Melibea, aided by the maiden's prayers. Melibea, thus importuned, consents to lend her girdle (which seems to be taken figuratively for a much less innocent concession), and immediately after she has given it, she repents her rashness, confesses her fault to her father, puts up prayers to Heaven for assistance and forgiveness, and the performance ends with a moralization and warning to old and young by Danio.' There are several other interludes extant, written about the same time as these just mentioned, but we have not space to go further into the subject; and indeed, considering the aim of this Introduction, more details on this point are unnecessary, as we have said enough to show that early in the sixteenth century English comedy had come into being, though in a sufficiently crude state. It is the writer's fault if the reader has not also been able to understand clearly the influences which were at work about the middle of the sixteenth century, tending to give rise to a kind of serious drama, whose characters would be entirely distinct both from the scriptural and saintly personages of the miracle play and the tiresome abstractions of the morality. Into the latter, as we have seen, were gradually introduced, alongside the abstract impersonations peculiar to the moral, characters taken both from everyday life and from history; and to us it seems that this must have had a considerable share in suggesting the forms of the regular drama, known as Tragedy and History. There may have been other influences at work which we have now no means of ascertaining, and previous to the appearance of the first regular tragedy, there may have existed moral plays much more nearly resembling it in their characters and construction than any now extant. Still, we think that the mixed moral plays which have come down to us, containing, as some of them do, a serious or tragical element, combined with the interludes and earlier comedies, which in their construction approximate closely to the form of the legitimate drama, would of themselves be to a great extent suggestive of the earliest form assumed by the regular serious drama. No doubt, however, the greater attention given to the Greek and Roman classics, consequent on the revival of learning, during the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, had its share in giving birth to the last form assumed by the English drama. One of the interludes, Thyestes, took its title from a Homeric hero, and the moral Jack Juggler is founded on a comedy of Plautus. It is also known the Andrea of Terence was not only translated but acted before the middle of the sixteenth century; and somewhat later a drama appeared having for its title Julius Cæsar. Later still, we learn from Gosson's School of Abuse, published in 1579, there existed dramas bearing such titles as Cæsar and Pompey, The Fabi, Cupid and Psyche, etc.; and Gosson also informs us that 'comedies in Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish, have been thoroughly ransacked to furnish the playhouses in London.' These statements show that somewhere about the middle of the sixteenth century the attention of British play-writers was attracted not only to the dramatic and other productions of Greece and Rome, but also to the theatrical productions of the continental nations, in some of which the regular drama had begun to flourish. While, then, the British drama of the latter half of the sixteenth century is doubtless the legitimate child of the later moral plays, it appears highly probable that the influences just mentioned had something to do in helping to give it birth, and in bestowing upon it the character which ultimately marked it. The English drama, it is well known, in reference to subject, is divided into tragedy, comedy, and a species which may partake of the nature of either of these, known as history or chronicle-history. The use of the terms tragedy and comedy was well enough defined both by the Greek and Roman dramatists; but in the earlier days of the English drama they appear to have been used indifferently to designate any kind of play, and were sometimes also applied to poetical compositions of other kinds. The play of Appius and Virginia is styled by its author a 'tragical comedy;' and Bale calls his miracle play, God's Promises, a tragedy, and his Christ's Temptation a comedy. Before his time, 'tragedy' was used to signify any serious narrative in verse, and even late in the reign of Elizabeth the term was applied to other besides dramatic productions. Dante, we know, calls his Inferno a commedia. The terms, however, with the rise of the regular drama, began to be generally confined to theatrical productions; and although we have already attempted to define them, we shall here take the liberty of quoting a paragraph from the work of Mr. Collier, in which he describes the terms with particular reference to their use in the English drama: 'By tragedy and comedy, I mean theatrical productions, the characters in which are either drawn from life, or are intended to represent life, whether those characters be actual or imaginary; the terms include also a species of drama, well known of old in the literature of this country, called "history," or chronicle-history," which consisted of certain passages, or events detailed by annalists, put into a dramatic form, often without regard to the course in which they happened; the author sacrificing chronology, situation, and 1 circumstance to the superior object of producing an attractive play. It is the disregard of the trammels of the unities which constitutes our "romantic drama," whether the story be real or fictitious; and from the earliest period to the time of Shakespeare, there is not a play in our language in which they are strictly observed. The words "romantic drama" have reference to form and construction merely, and do not in any respect relate to sentiment or language.' In order to connect this Introduction with the body of the work, we shall conclude by noticing one or two of the earliest extant regular comedies and tragedies. As we shall give specimens of these, our remarks here will be brief. Judging from the remains that have reached our time, comedy had its birth at least ten years before tragedy. The earliest extant regular English comedy, discovered not many years ago, is entitled Ralph Roister Doister; it was certainly in existence in 1551, though probably written some years earlier. Its author was Nicholas Udall, a native of Hampshire, who was born in 1506, matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1520, and died about 1557, after having been successively Master of Eton and Westminster Schools. He appears to have written other comedies, but this is the only one which has come down to us, and in the prologue the author calls it a comedy or interlude. From this prologue we might infer that the comedies of Plautus and Terence were the models which he endeavoured to imitate. Before the discovery of Udall's play, the palm of precedence in point of time was given to Gammer Gurton's Needle, a comedy by Bishop Still, written not much earlier than 1566, and much inferior both in plot, construction, and literary merit to Ralph Roister Doister. The latter is regularly divided into five acts and scenes; and whereas Still's play depicts the manners of coarse rustic life, the scene of Udall's comedy is in London, and it possesses much interest as representing in no slight degree the manners of more polished society, exhibiting some of the peculiarities of thinking and acting in the metropolis at the period when it was written. The plot is interesting and well conducted, the language on the whole natural and vigorous, the characters marked by considerable individuality. As we shall give as much of this comedy as will enable the reader to judge of its merits for himself, it is unnecessary to notice it more minutely; it is certainly a great advance on the meagre interlude. It is written in rhyme, but it was not till the time of Marlowe that the stage was fairly freed from this trammel, and even Shakespeare himself sometimes concludes his speeches with a jingle. There was an interval of ten years before the next regular extant drama made its appearance. Not that during this time no other theatrical productions besides morals made their appearance, -the probability is that there were; and Mr. Collier thinks that the play we are about to notice was preceded by a tragedy upon Luigi da Porto's famous novel of Romeo and Juliet; and it is known that in 1559 and 1560 respectively, appeared translations of two of Seneca's tragedies, The Troas and Thyestes, by Jasper Heywood, son of the author of the Interludes. Between 1559 and 1566, other eight translations from the same author appeared by various hands. However, we are speaking only of those dramas that have reached our own time. The earliest extant drama which may be regarded as the harbinger of the regular tragedy, was played before the queen at Whitehall, by the members of the Inner Temple, on the 18th of January 1561, and was first printed in 1565 under the title of The Tragedy of Gorboduc, although in the second edition of 1571 it is entitled The Tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex. The author of this piece was Thomas Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset, who appears to have been assisted by Thomas Norton, although it is probable that the latter had a very 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 slee 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: I cannot eat, but little meat, I am nothing a cold; I love no roast, but a nut-brown toast, A little bread shall do me stead, Much bread I not desire. No frost nor snow, no wind, I trow, I am so wrapt, and throughly lapt And Tyb my wife, that as her life Back and side go bare, etc. Now let them drink, till they nod and wink, 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, 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 Phænissæ 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 |