fantastic neighbors the French; and that, even in France, Corneille with all his reputation never recovered the kick that was given to it by the necessity he was under of courting an auxiliary in the Flying Horse."

Sensitive Dibdin! Could you revisit the glimpses of the moon you might take comfort in knowing that the pros and cons of stage realism have been argued ever since you left this sphere of action, and occasionally by men who look upon the whole question as essentially modern. The theatre of Shakespeare's time was not, to be sure, troubled with an excess of realism (to which fortunate circumstance we doubtless owe the introduction of so much beautiful imagery in his works), but scenic effects and gorgeous costumes, by no means unknown even then, were soon to play an important part in the drama.

There is no doubt that while the new entertainments proved a welcome change for a public which was pretty much like any other in its love of novelty, they distinctly tended to lower the tone of the stage, particularly at a season when morals on either side of the footlights were none too rigid, to speak politely, and when the new order of production gave such ample excuse for license. One writer, in comparing the times of Shakespeare with those of the Restoration, observes that once "many people thought a play an innocent. diversion for an idle hour or two, the plays themselves being then more instructive and moral; whereas of

late the playhouses are so extremely pestered with wizard masks, and their trade occasioning continual quarrels and abuses, that many of the more civilized part of the town are uneasy in the company, and shun the theatre as they would a house of scandal.”

The popularity of the Duke's house was not relished by the King's Company, and an attempt was made to stem the tide of success by producing, at Drury Lane, parodies ridiculing the sumptuous affairs that were turning the heads of the Londoners. But the audiences insisted on having their heads turned, notwithstanding, and the "Gentlemen of the Grand Chamber," with their lace and pretty scarlet uniforms, and their fair companions, found themselves in the position of dethroned favorites. But all this rivalry had an end, for in 1682, when Killigrew and Davenant were both dead, the two companies were united, through the instrumentality of Betterton, and began their joint season at the new Drury Lane Theatre.

While these changes are going on Mr. Jeremy Collier, M. A., is collecting material for his Short View of the Immortality and Profaneness of the English Stage, which is to create quite a stir and send the author's name down to posterity-whereby he has an advantage over most of the censors of the drama. In the preface of this volume Mr. Collier announces his conviction that "nothing has gone farther in Debauching the Age than the StagePoets and Play House." Further on he explains: "The business of plays is to recommend Vertue and

discountenance Vice; To shew the Uncertainty of Humane Greatness, the suddain Turns of Fate, and the Unhappy Conclusions of Violence and Injustice. 'Tis to expose the Singularities of Pride and Fancy, to make Folly and Falsehood contemptible, and to bring every thing that is Ill under Infamy and Neglect. This design has been oddly pursued by the English Stage. Our Poets write with a different view, and are gone into another Interest. 'Tis true, were their intentions fair, they might be Serviceable to this Purpose. They have in a great measure the Springs of Thought and Inclination in their Power. Show, Musick, Action and Rhetorick, are moving Entertainments; and, rightly employed, would be very significant. But Force and Motion are Things indifferent, and the Use lies chiefly in the Application. These Advantages are now, in the Enemies Hand, and under a very dangerous management. Like Cannon seized, they are pointed the wrong way; and by the Strength of the Defence the Mischief is made the greater. That this complaint is not unreasonable, I shall endeavor to prove by shewing the Misbehaviour of the Stage, with respect to Morality and Religion. Their Liberties in the Following Particulars are intolerable, viz.: Their Smuttiness of Expression; their Swearing Prophaneness, and Lewed Application of Scripture; Their Abuse of the Clergy, Their making their top Characters Libertines, and giving them Success in their Debauchery."

There is warrant for some of the critical Jeremy's

Jeremiad, but we are about to see the stage enter upon an epoch whose glory shall not be dimmed for over a century, and in which there shall be a distinct improvement in some of the characteristics complained of in the Short View. Collier will be thought of simply as a literary freak, but the names of Betterton, of Oldfield, of Woffington, of Garrick, and of Kean will linger pleasantly in the world's memory for many a day.

"A$

CHAPTER III.

"THE ENGLISH ROSCIUS."

S it was said of Brutus and Cassius, that they were the last of the Romans; so may it be said of Mr. Betterton, that he was the last of our tragedians," wrote one of his admirers and biographers, and his opinion was shared by many a theatre-goer who had so often delighted in the versatile genius of the greatest actor of his age. Thomas Betterton, the English Roscius as he was called by his contemporaries, began life under circumstances singularly in contrast with the distinction he was later to achieve. He was born in Westminster about 1635, his father, Matthew Betterton, holding the respectable but not particularly exalted position of an under-cook in the kitchen of Charles I. As a lad the future Roscius was quiet and studious, and received a fairly good education. Very little is known of his early years, however, and there has even been a dispute as to the bookseller to whom he was apprenticed. It was probably Rhodes, the whilom prompter and wardrobe-keeper of the Blackfriars, who discreetly set up a book-shop at Charing * Gildon's Life of Betterton.