The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-04-10

In the same year (lo0o) hicnefu 1nWsios
made second venture with " PAlamon and Ar
cyte." play which was acted before Queen
Elizabeth In the hall OF Christ Church. OXFORD.
At the beginning OF tho performance part
OF the stage fell down. whereby three persons
were killed. but the scaffoldink was recon
structed. the play went on. and the Queen en-
joyed II, giving eight guineas to one OF the
young actors Henceforth the making OF
plays goes on apace. A Harleian manuscript
contains a warrant for the payment OF 1884 W.
Cd. on account OF the cost OF playAatp ourt from
July. 1857. to March. 1873 Eight pieces are
enumerated. namely. "As Plain As Can BE"
"The Painful Pilgrimage" Jack and Gill"
"six Fools" wit md VIII. "e"Frodisahty,"
"orestes." and "The King Of Scots" Tho do.
tails OF the account show that In plays at
court some scenery WAS used. This
memorandum by no means compre-
bends all the dramas presented before
Elizabeth during the period In question.
In the single year Of 1871 there we're enacted
before her, Lady Barbara" "1phiGsniA."
Ajax and Ulysses" "Narcissus.". "C1cfiden
and Radiamant y and paris and viene." :
II was three years Inter that the Earl
OF Leicester procured for those OF his
servants forming his own company OF
players the first royal patent to .
dramatic company. By this patent James
Burbage and four others were privileged to
act within the city OF London and its Liberties.
and in any other city. provided their plays had
been previously inspected and allowed by the
Master OF the Revels. It is an interesting
fact that the earliest English plays were pre-
scented to the people chiefly on Sundays
and saints days. Before tho Reformation
the usage which stills prevails In Roman
Catholic countries gave the holiday time after
Kit 49, lot ant
In the reformed Church Of England the disci-
pline OF Calvin. who laid stress upon the keep
Ing holy OF the Sabbath day. was not accepted
Mt all points. although insisted upon by that
section OF the Anglican community which was
called Puritan" or "Precisian." Tolerance OF
Sunday sports became indeed in after years
one OF the principal grounds OF contest be-
tween Puritans and their opponents. 1t was
because the Mayor and corporation repre-
scented Puritan opinion that 1t proved scarcely
possible for any actors to live undcr tho con-
troll Of the city Of London. James Burbage
and hts companions were ultimately driven
to look for place outside OF the Lord
Mayors jurisdiction. where they might still
be within reach OF urban audiences. They ac-
cordingly erected in 1876. outside the city
bounds. two houses. called res pectively Tho
Theatre" and Tho Curtain" At this time.
when tho first theatres were built, Shake
speare was twelve years old. In the same
twelvemonth Sterhen Gosson. graduate OF
Oxford. came up to London and attached him
self in tho double capacity OF author and
player. to the new Curtain Theatre. He wrote
q tragedy ON "Catiline's Conspiracies" and
comedy called Captain Mario" now lost
Three years later he became convert to the
Puritan tcnets. and lifted up his voice In
denunclation OF the stage. publishing
pamphlet called Tho School OF Abuse"
containing "a pleasant invective against poets.
pipers. players. testers. and such like cater
pillars Of tho commonwealth" Gosson dedi-
Gated his School OF Ab1se" to Philip Sidney.
apropos OF which Edmund Spenser. then q
young man OF about six and twenty. wrote In
Optober. 1879. to his friend. Gabriel Harvey:
Now books hear OF mono. but only OF one
that writing o certain book and dedtcating 1t
to Master Sidney. was for his labor scorned:
II ct least 1t be In the goodness OF that nature
to scora." There can be little doubt that the
Puritan outcry against poets. brought homo
to him by tho dedication OF Gosson's pam.
phlet. caused Sidney tn write in 1880 OF 1854
his Apology for Poetry" which boldly chal-
lengrd for the poats art the, foremost, place
am ong tho exercises OF mans intsalect-. Sid
ney did not hesitate to say that Of all sciences
II speak still OF human and according to tho hui
man conceit) is our poet the monarch. For he
doth not only show tho way. but giveth SO sweet
q prospect into tho way as will cntice any man
to enter into it.. Nay. he doth as II your Jour
ney should lie through fair vineyard. at the
first give you cluster Of grapes: that full OF
that taste you may long to pass farther. He
beginneth not with obscure definitions.
which must blur the margent with inter-
pretations and load the memory with doubt
fulncss: but he cometh to you with words
got in delightful proportion. either accom-
panied with or prepared for. tho well-en-
skill OF music: and with tale. for
sooth. he cometh unto you: with tale which
holdeth children from play and old men from
the chimney corner. And pretending no
more doth intend tho winning OF the mind
from wickedness to virtue. even as the child is
often brought to take most wholesome things
by hiding them in such others as have pleas
ant taste"
Prof. Morley's volume. which ends. as We
have said. with the year 1879. leaves the stage
nearly ready for Shakespeare. to whom and his
dramatists Mr. Morley will de-
vote separate volume OF this history
v.
Let us now look back moment to trace the
origin OF the English novel The stages of its
growth are cutlOuSiy analogous 10 tnOSe OF
tho English drama. beginning with transla-
tons from the Latin. proceeding to transla-
tions from the Italian and other modern Euro
pean languages. and finally venturing upon
original plots and tirst-hand Characterization.
Tho development OF the novel. however, was
much slower and more interrupted than was
that OF the drama. for we And Fielding and
flourishing about century and o
half after Shakespeare and Ma.lowe. English
prose fiction may be said to have begun with
William Painters Palace OF Pleasure" Which
in its original form wGs published under
another title in 1862. 1t was at first planned
on small scale as collection OF stories se-
lected and translated out Of Lvy. The author
subsequently resolved tn add tales translated
from Italian and French. and In 1850 issued
the first part OF the expanded work. contain
ing sixty novels. to which forty were appended
in the final edition. We may say at once that
the twenty fifth volume Of the second Part.
printed in 1867. was the Italian tale OF
"'Romeo and Juliet" As to his sources.
Painter drew twenty eight Of his stories from
classical authors, including Lyy, Herodo