Charles the Sixth, in 1402, and had for near 150 years exhibited religious plays, built their new theatre on the site of the Duke of Burgundy's house; and were authorised by an arret of parliament to act, on condition that "they should meddle with none but profane subjects, such as are lawful and honest, and not represent any sacred Mysteries." Representations founded on holy writ continued to be exhibited in Italy till the year 1660, and the Mystery of Christ's Passion was represented at Vienna so lately as the early part of the present century.

Having thus occasionally mentioned foreign theatres, I take this opportunity to observe, that the stages of France so lately as in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign were entirely unfurnished with scenery or any kind of decoration, and that the performers at that time remained on the stage the whole time of the exhibition; in which mode perhaps our Mysteries in England were represented. For this information we are indebted to the elder Scaliger, in whose Poeticks is the following curious passage: "Nunc in Gallia ita agunt fabulas, ut omnia in conspectu sint; UNIVERSUS APPARATUS dispositis sublimibus sedibus. Personæ ipsæ nunquam discedunt: qui silent pro absentibus habentur. At enimvero perridiculum, ibi spectatorem videre te audire, et te videre teipsum non audire quæ alius coram te de te loquatur; quasi ibi non sis, ubi es: cum tamen maxima poetæ vis sit, suspendere animos, atque eos facere semper expectantes. At hic tibi novum fit nihil; ut prius satietas subrepat, quam obrepat fames. Itaque recte objecit Eschylo

'Riccoboni's Account of the Theatres of Europe, 8vo. 1741, p. 124.

Euripides apud Aristophanem in Ranis, quod Niobem et Achillem in scenam introduxisset capite co-operto; neque nunquam ullum verbum qui sint loquuti." That is, "At present in France [about the year 1556] plays are represented in such a manner, that nothing is withdrawn from the view of the spectator. The whole apparatus of the theatre consists of some high seats ranged in proper order. The persons of the scene never depart during the representation: he who ceases to speak, is considered as if he were no longer on the stage. But in truth it is extremely ridiculous, that the spectator should see the actor listening, and yet he himself should not hear what one of his fellowactors says concerning him, though in his own presence and within his hearing as if he were absent, while he is present. It is the great object of the dramatick poet to keep the mind in a constant state of suspence and expectation. But in our theatres, there can be no novelty, no surprise: insomuch that the spectator is more likely to be

Jul. Cæs. Scaligeri Poetices Libri Septem. Folio, 1561, Lib. I. c. xxi. Julius Cæsar Scaliger died at Agen, in the province of Guienne in France, on the 21st of October, 1558, in the 75th year of his age. He wrote his Poeticks in that town a few years before his death.

Riccoboni gives us the same account in his History of the French Theatre. "In the representations of the Mysteries, the theatre represented paradise, heaven, hell, and earth, and all at once; and though the action varied, there was no change of the decorations. After an actor had performed his part, he did not go off the stage, but retired to a corner of it, and sate there in full view of all the spectators." Historical and Critical Account of the Theatres of Europe, 8vo. 1741, p. 118. We shall presently see, that at a much later period, and long after the Mysteries had ceased to be exhibited, "though the action changed, there was no change of decoration," either in France or England

satiated with what he has already seen, than to have any appetite for what is to come. Upon this ground it was, that Euripides objected to Eschylus, in The Frogs of Aristophanes, for having introduced Niobe and Achilles as mutes upon the scene, with a covering which entirely concealed their heads from the spectators."

Another practice, equally extraordinary, is mentioned by Bulenger in his treatise on the Grecian and Roman theatres. In his time, so late as in the year 1600, all the actors employed in a dramatick piece came on the stage in a troop, before the play began, and presented themselves to the spectators, in order, says he, to raise the expectation of the audience. "Putem tamen (quod hodieque fit) omnes actores antequam singuli agerent, confestim et in turba in proscenium prodiisse, ut sui expectationem commoverent."3 I know not whether this was ever practised in England. Instead of raising, it should seem more likely to repress, expectation. I suppose, however, this writer conceived the audience would be animated by the number of the characters, and that this display would operate on the gaping spectators like some of our modern enormous play-bills; in which the length of the show sometimes constitutes the principal merit of the entertainment.

Mr. Warton observes that Moralities were become so fashionable a spectacle about the close of the reign of Henry the Seventh, that " John Rastall, a learned typographer, brother-in-law to Sir Thomas More, extended its province, which had been hitherto confined either to moral allegory, or

3

⚫ Bulengeri de Theatro, 8vo, 1600, Lib. I. p. 60, b.

to religion blended with buffoonery, and conceived a design of making it the vehicle of science and philosophy. With this view he published A new INTERLUDE and a mery, of the nature of the iiij Elements, declaring many proper points of philosophy naturall, and dyvers straunge landys, &c. In the cosmographical part of the play, in which the poet professes to treat of dyvers straunge landys, and of the new-found landys, the tracts of America recently discovered, and the manners of the natives are described. The characters are, a Messenger, who speaks the prologue, Nature, Humanity, Studious Desire, Sensual Appetite, a Taverner, Experience, and Ignorance."4

As it is uncertain at what period of time the ancient Mysteries ceased to be represented as an ordinary spectacle for the amusement of the people, and Moralities were substituted in their room, it is equally difficult to ascertain the precise time when the latter gave way to a more legitimate theatrical exhibition. We know that Moralities were exhibited occasionally during the whole of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and even in that of her successor, long after regular dramas had been presented on the scene; but I suspect that about the

• History of English Poetry, Vol. II. p. 364. "Dr. Percy supposes this play to have been written about the year 1510, from the following lines:

Within this xx yere

"Westwarde he found new landes

'That we never harde tell of before this.'

The West Indies were discovered by Columbus in 1492.” Ibid. • The licence granted in 1603 to Shakspeare and his fellowcomedians, authorises them to play comedies, tragedies, histories, interludes, morals, pastorals, &c. See also The Guls

year 1570 (the 13th year of Queen Elizabeth) this species of drama began to lose much of its attraction, and gave way to something that had more the appearance of comedy and tragedy. Gammer Gurton's Needle, which was written by Mr. Still, (afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells,) in the 23d year of his age, and acted at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1566, is pointed out by the ingenious writer of the tract entitled Historia Histrionica, as the first piece "that looks like a regular comedy;" that is, the first play that was neither Mystery nor Morality, and in which some humour and discrimination of character may be found. In 1561-2, Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, and Thomas Norton, joined in writing the tragedy of Ferrer and Porrex, which was exhibited on the 18th of January in that year, by the Students of the Inner Temple, before Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall. Neither of these pieces appears to have been acted on a publick theatre, nor was there at that time any building in London constructed solely for the purpose of representing plays. Of the latter piece, which, as Mr. Warton has observed, is perhaps "the first specimen in our language of an heroick tale written in verse, and divided into acts and scenes, and cloathed in all the formalities of a regular tragedy," a correct analysis may be found in THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY, and the play itself within these few years has been accurately reprinted.

6

Hornbooke, 1609: " if in the middle of his play, (bee it pastoral or comedie, morall or tragedie,) you rise with a shrewd and discontented face," &c.

Vol. III. pp. 355, et sey.