The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-04
THE ENGLISH DRAMA
" From Mystery Play to
SHAKESPEARE, by Dr.. Hume
AT St. Mary's School Last Night, DR.. Thomas
Hume, Of The University, Traced The
Preparation for Genius.

Last night at ST Mary's School, Dr.
Thomas Hume, of the University of
North Carolina, lectured on the English
drama previous to Shakespeare's day,
and traced its development to the mas
terpieces of the great playwright.
The audience was large and gave the
most strict attention to the speaker. Dr.
Hume said it was one of the best aud
fences he had ever had.
From the Mystery Play to Shakes
peare, or the preparation for genius.
was the subject of DR.. Hume's lecture.
DR.. Hume said in part:
'The dramatic instinct is natural and
imperative. The singular fact is that
it was first fostered by religion, as is
evident in both Greek and English liter
allure. The church has originated it and
then been forced to combat it's evil eX-
cesses The sacred play of the Middle
Ages survives ct Ober Ammergau and in
the Tyrol Alps. The dramatiZation of
scripture began in the ''Easter offices"
and in the high church festivals, and at
length passed into the open air under
the management of the trades guilds.
AT Chester County, York, the whole cy-
Gle of Bible history, Old and
New Testament, was presented in pla"s
enacted on wheeled platforms
for the delectation of the people.
Grotesque elements, suggested by Eng
lish rustic or town life gradually in
vaded these solemn themes. The Feast
of the ASS grew ont of the Balaam and
the nativity pageants. The devil came
to be an absurd figure. The INVITING of
old Joseph as unfit husband for the
young Virgin Mary by the gay bucks,
his rivals, brought down the house, etc.
This populariZation Of the sacred mystery
prepared for comedy , The comprehen-
sive theme was the development Of hu-
manity through sin and suffering,
through the sacrifice and resurrection Of
Christ. There was crisis, climax, un-
winding the conclusion furnished by the
Bible elements themselves. ApocTyphai
books supplied legend and fancy. The
passage came easily to- the moral or
allegorical play of the virtues and the
vices. The short interlude was on the
way to Roster Doister, which combined
the parasite types with English social
features. Certain types grew into COM
edy. Thus Shakespeare's fools came
from the Greek Plautus, the grotesque
devil and his companion, the vices or
iniquity.
The verse of the drama begun in Cor
boduc, was ennooled and made flexible
by Marlowe and was ready for Shakes
peare's skillful varying of its pauses and
liquid use of it. Marlowe employed old
chronicles in Edward the Second and
legend in Barabbas the Jew, and Shakes
peare had the artistic instinct to create
out of those his Merchant of Venice and
his great history plays. Greene taught
him his idyllic setting of women, his
trick of placing the young prince on the
level of the people, and Hal and Perdita,
ard "As You Like IT. charms us. Lillys
euphistic "Endymion' showed him prose,
dialogue which he knew how to release
from it's stiff form in the elder play
wright.
The Renaissance color Shakespeare
knew how TO seize, and he flooded his
work with it, representing all the COM
plexity of modern life in plays that vio-
late the Greek unities, but preserve the
true artistic and spiritual oneness Of
aim and movement. Genius, we see, is
preluded and prophesied While it makes
good its claim to individuality and true
originality
On Friday night Dr. Hume lecturcd
at Fayetteville to a large audience on
"Shakesperian Side-lights on Old Eng
lish life