paris paris paris among these there is one called founded on the e de p la p le le de la li ue le et la de com � � � � paris the eighth item the following for further particulars of which see s catalogue la du m la th le l de la de comedy � la th cl les et d arc etc etc not nearly so numerous com die du et les la etc add to these several collected works which however probably include many of the above the works du de ci j et la p de etc the number and names of these plays seem to prove that france had a drama embracing a wide range of subjects and that she had even then the courage to passages of her own history yet gives the english credit for being the first to do this and printed many of them in provincial towns whereas the english plays of the day were all printed in london they compel you in to own that france had in this century a greater and more diffused drama than england this is the second stage of observation you now go a little deeper and you can hear of no great tragic s in france before nor do the titles of books of imply that such actors existed now the early english theatre and you find many actors of the th century celebrated by their with intelligent and descriptive criticism of these actors many retired with fortunes their wills of large and various property were drawn in grand form proved duly and are to be seen in doctors to this day monuments of the grandeur of the dramatic operations in their time and of the piety and charity as wall as worldly respectability the artists of the scene can attain to when their self respect is not by the prejudices and their property by the brutal of their see richard s will in the to vol iii p s will p large property in of the eighth houses shares in the globe and theatres and plate and furniture and presents to his fellow actors and several relations not forgetting the poor of his parish s will p dealing with still larger property in all its principal forms and not forgetting the poor s will p s will p s will by which the poor of the of st and st s benefit to this day is p will sly s p as for edward a famous actor of the century he built a grand theatre while he lived at a cost fully equal to six thousand pounds of our present money see s annals of the stage vol iii p and dying a noble institution to his country college several actors and of are spoken of by eye witnesses in terms of high but that carries conviction vague me like the smoke of burning weeds and his successor in comedy the richard the third and in everything are in prose and verse yet it was matter of doubt whether the latter could equal and his in certain parts they had created those who following the of and pope fancy that was the root of the british stage instead of the fruit may be surprised to learn that not only had most of these actors secured a reputation some years before but that famous actors had lived and retired or died before a line had an established reputation in yet was on the stage and famous ten years before him richard who had the ear of the town four years before was the son of james a respectable actor whom we find at the head of a company in here then is a great acting drama in england existing about but greatly advanced in and as i shall show in full career in the next discovery we make by the help of solomon and other in legal evidence is a remarkable one the true clue to many things on which conjecture has been wasted that at this period the and the theatre were not in england but the eighth rivals and in fact deadly enemies that it was always the interest of a proprietor of a play to keep it oat of print there were two kinds of authors as there were of actors the paid authors and the sharing authors of whom was one and on a smaller scale another it was not the sharing author s interest to print his play and the paid author lost the right to print his the sharing s parental feeling and made him print eventually but only when the theatre had worn the play quite out because then his interest no longer his p f and a p but the sharing actors whose vanity sided with their interest held the bought plays tight and kept them out of print with the keenest jealousy they kept them under lock and key they hid them they destroyed them when all their precautions were as happened now and then by double m s or short hand they appealed to some great officer of state to restrain the or they bought the off or grinned and closed their stage door to the author they did this to robert lent unto robert the th march to give unto the to the of patient the sum of robert was the stage manager � s p for the of bought plays restrained by the lord see a ms in lord s office places vol iii p nor was this i think mere jealousy of the press five out of six could not read but enabled other theatres to play their pieces a it was who first announced that between and a host of pieces had been produced and in london and most of them perished � vol iii p a existed in those days and long before so did right bat 