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THE ancient accounts of the Chamberlain of the borough of Stratford exhibit a number of payments made out of the funds of the corporation for theatrical performances. In 1569, when John Shakspere was chief magistrate, there is a payment of nine shillings to the Queen's players, and of twelve pence to the Earl of Worcester's players. In 1573 the Earl of Leicester's players received six shillings and eightpence. In 1574 "my Lord of Warwick's players" have a gratuity of seventeen shillings, and the Earl of Worcester's players of five and seven pence. In 1577 "my Lord of Leicester's players" receive fifteen shillings, and "my Lord of Worcester's players" three and fourpence. In 1579 and 1580 the entries are more circumstantial: :

"1579. Item paid to my Lord Strange men the xith day of February at the comaundement of Mr. Bayliffe, vs.

Pd at the comandement of Mr. Baliffe to the Countys of Essex plears, xivs. vid.

1580. Pd to the Earle of Darbyes players at the comaundement of Mr. Baliffe, viiis. ivd.” It thus appears that there had been three sets of players at Stratford within a short distance of the time when William Shakspere was sixteen years of age. We shall here endeavour to present a general view of the state of the stage at this point of its history; with reference to the impressions which theatrical performances would then make upon him who would be the chief instrument in building up upon these rude foundations a noble and truly poetical dramasuch a view as may enable the reader to form a tolerable conception of the amusements which were so highly popular, and so amply encouraged, in a small town far distant from the capital, as to invite three distinct sets of players there to exhibit in the brief period which is defined in the above entries.

It is a curious circumstance that the most precise and interesting account which we possess of one of the earliest of the theatrical performances is from the recollection of a man who was born in the same year as William Shakspere. In 1639 R. W. (R. Willis), stating his age to be seventy-five, published a little volume, called Mount Tabor,' which contains a passage which is essential to be given in any history or sketch of the early stage.*

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"UPON A STAGE-PLAY WHICH I SAW WHEN I WAS A CHILD.

"In the city of Gloucester the manner is (as I think it is in other like corporations) that, when players of enterludes come to town, they first attend the mayor, to inform him what nobleman's servants they are, and so to get licence for their public playing; and if the mayor like the actors, or would show respect to their lord and master, he appoints them to play their first play before himself and the aldermen and common council of the city; and that is called the mayor's play, where every one that will comes in without money, the mayor giving the players a reward as he thinks fit, to show respect unto them. At such a play my father took me with him, and made me stand between his legs, as he sat upon one of the benches, where we saw and heard very well. The play was called 'The Cradle of Security,' wherein was personated a king or some great prince, with his courtiers of several kinds, amongst which three ladies were in special grace with him, and they, keeping him in delights and pleasures, drew him from his graver counsellors, hearing of sermons, and listening to good counsel and admonitions, that in the end they got him to lie down in a cradle upon the stage, where these three ladies, joining in a sweet song, rocked him asleep, that he snorted again, and in the mean time closely conveyed under the clothes wherewithal he was covered a vizard like a swine's snout upon his face, with three wire chains fastened thereunto, the other end whereof being holden severally by those three ladies, who fall to singing again, and then discovered his face, that the spectators might see how they had transformed him going on with their singing. Whilst all this was acting, there came forth of another door at the farthest end of the stage two old men, the one in blue, with a sergeant-at-arms his mace on his shoulder, the other in red, with a drawn sword in his hand, and leaning with the other hand upon the other's shoulder, and so they two went along in a soft pace, round about by the skirt of the stage, till at last they came to the cradle, when all the court was in greatest jollity, and then the foremost old man with his mace stroke a fearful blow upon the cradle, whereat all the courtiers, with the three ladies and the vizard, all vanished; and the desolate prince, starting up barefaced, and finding himself thus sent for to judgment, made a lamentable complaint of his miserable case, and so was carried away by wicked spirits. This prince did personate in the moral the wicked of the world; the three

*This account was first extracted by Malone in his Rise and Progress of the English Stage.' It has been given also, with the correction of a few inaccuracies, by Mr. Collier.

ladies, pride, covetousness, and luxury; the two old men, the end of the world and the last judgment. This sight took such impression in me, that when I came towards man's estate it was as fresh in my memory as if I had seen it newly acted."

We now understand why the bailiff of Stratford paid the players out of the public money. The first performance of each company in this town was the bailiff's, or chief magistrate's, play; and thus, when the father of William Shakspere was bailiff, the boy might have stood "between his legs as he sat upon one of the benches." It would appear from Willis's description that The Cradle of Security' was for the most part dumb show. It is probable that he was present at its performance at Gloucester when he was six or seven years of age; it evidently belongs to that class of moral plays which were of the simplest construction. And yet it was popular long after the English drama had reached its highest eminence. When the pageants and mysteries had been put down by the force of public opinion, when spectacles of a dramatic character had ceased to be employed as instruments of religious instruction, the professional players who had sprung up founded their popularity for a long period upon the ancient habits and associations of the people. Our drama was essentially formed by a course of steady progress, and not by rapid transition. We are accustomed to say that the drama was created by Shakspere, Marlowe, Greene, Kyd, and a few others of distinguished genius; but they all of them worked upon a foundation. which was ready for them. The superstructure of real tragedy and comedy had to be erected upon the moral plays, the romances, the histories, which were beginning to be popular in the very first days of Queen Elizabeth, and continued to be so, even in their very rude forms, beyond the close of her long reign.

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We have very distinct evidence that stories from the Sacred Scriptures, in character perhaps very little different from the ancient Mysteries, were performed upon the London stage at a period when classical histories, romantic legends, and comedies of intrigue, attracted numerous audiences both in the capital and the provinces. At the period which we are now describing there was a fierce controversy going forward on the subject of theatrical exhibitions; and from the very rare tracts then published we are enabled to form a tolerably accurate estimate of the character of the early theatre. In one of these tracts, which appeared in 1580, entitled A Second and Third Blast of Retrait from Plaies and Theaters,' we have the following passage :-" The reverend word of God, and histories of the Bible, set forth on the stage by these blasphemous players, are so corrupted by their gestures of scurrility, and so interlaced with unclean and whorish speeches, that it is not possible to draw any profit out of the doctrine of their spiritual moralities. For that they exhibit under laughing that which ought to be taught and received reverendly. So that their auditory may return made merry in mind, but none comes away reformed in manners. And of all abuses this is most undecent and intolerable, to suffer holy things to be handled by men so profane, and defiled by interposition of dissolute words." (Page 103.) Those who have read the ancient Mysteries, and even the productions of Bishop Bale which appeared not thirty years before this was written, will agree that the players ought not wholly to have the blame of the "interposition of dissolute words." But unquestionably it

was a great abuse to have "histories of the Bible set forth on the stage;" for the use and advantage of such dramatic histories had altogether ceased. Indeed, although Scriptural subjects might have continued to have been represented in 1580, we apprehend that they were principally taken from apocryphal stories, which were regarded with little reverence even by those who were most earnest in their hostility to the stage. Of such a character is the very curious play, printed in 1565, entitled 'A pretie new Enterlude, both pithie and pleasaunt, of the story of King Daryus, being taken out of the third and fourth chapter of the third book of Esdras.' This was an interlude that might acceptably have been performed, at the commandment of the bailiff of Stratford, by my Lord Strange's men, in February, 1580; and we request therefore the indulgence of our readers whilst we endeavour to describe what such a performance would have been.

The hall of the Guild, which afterwards became the Town Hall, was the occasional theatre of Stratford. It is now a long room, and somewhat low, the building being divided into two floors, the upper of which is used as the Grammar School. The elevation for the Court at one end of the hall would form the stage; and on one side is an ancient separate chamber to which the performers would retire. With a due provision of benches, about three hundred persons could be accommodated in this room; and no doubt Mr. Bailiff would be liberal in the issue of his invitations, so that Stratford might not grudge its expenditure of five shillings. A plain cloth curtain-"the blanket" of the stage is drawn on one side; and "the Prolocutor" comes forward with solemn stride, to explain the object of 'The worthy Entertainment of King Daryus:'—

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The stage-direction then says, "The Prologue goeth out and Iniquity comes in." This is "the formal Vice Iniquity" of Richard III.; the "Vetus Iniquitas" of The Devil is an Ass; the Iniquity with a "wooden dagger," and "a juggler's jerkin with false skirts," of The Staple of News.' But in the interlude of 'Darius' he has less complex offices than are assigned him by Gifford— "to instigate the hero of the piece to wickedness, and, at the same time, to

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protect him from the devil, whom he was permitted to buffet and baffle with his wooden sword, till the process of the story required that both the protector and the protected should be carried off by the fiend; or the latter driven roaring from the stage by some miraculous interposition in favour of the repentant offender."* The first words which Iniquity utters indicate, however, that he was familiar with the audience, and the audience familiar with him :

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"How now, my masters; how goeth the world now?

I come gladly to talk with you."

And in a most extraordinary manner he does talk; swaggering and bullying as if the whole world was at his command, till Charity comes in, and reads him a very severe lecture upon the impropriety of his deportment. It is of little avail; for two friends of Iniquity-Importunity and Partiality-come to his assistance, and fairly drive Charity off the stage. Then Equity enters to take the quarrel against Iniquity and his fellows; but Equity is no match for them, and they all make way for King Darius. This very long scene has nothing whatever to do with the main action of the piece, or rather what professes to be its action. But the Stratford audience is a patient one; and the Vice, however dull was his profligacy, contrived to make them laugh by the whisking of his tail and the brandishing of his sword, assisted no doubt by some well-known chuckle like that of the Punch of our own days. King Darius, however, at length comes with all his Council; and most capital names do his chief councillors bear, not unworthy to be adopted even in Courts of greater refinement-Perplexity and Curiosity. The whole business of this scene of King Darius is to present a feast to the admiring spectators. Up to the present day the English audience delights in a feast; and will endure that two men should sit upon the stage for a quarter of an hour, uttering the most unrepeatable stupidity, provided they seem to pick real chicken-bones and drink real port. The Darius of the interlude feasted whole nations-upon the representative system; and here, at Stratford, Ethiopia, Persia, Judah, and Media, ate their fill and were very grateful. But feasts must have their end; and so the curtain closes upon the eaters, and Iniquity "cometh in singing :"—

"La, soule, soule, fa, my, re, re,

I miss a note I dare well say:

I should have been low when I was so high;
I shall have it right anon verily."

Again come his bottle-holders, Importunity and Partiality; and in the course of their gabble Iniquity tells them that the Pope is his father. Unhappily his supporters go out; and then Equity attacks him alone. Loud is their debate; and faster and more furious is the talk when Constancy and Charity come in. The matter, however, ends seriously; and they resolving that it is useless to argue longer with this impenitent sinner, "somebody casts fire to Iniquity,” and he departs in a tempest of squibs and crackers. The business of the play now

* Ben Jonson's Works. Note on The Devil is an Ass.'

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