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To avoid the necessity of perpetually citing authorities, we may observe that the materials for the life and writings of Richard Edwards are derived from Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses, by Bliss; from Dodsley's Old Plays, (last edition) vol. i.; from Baker, Biographia Dramatica; from Payne Collier, History of Dramatic Poetry; from the Paradise of Dainty Devices, (by Brydges, edit. 1810); from Campbell, Specimens of English Poetry; and a few other new pieces of less moment.

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1564, but it it had probably been composed long before. Both with queen and nobles, with court and university, it was evidently a favourite: the reason is, that the regular drama was in its infancy when good taste was not to be expected; when dulness was mistaken for gravity, and conceit for genius. Another performance, Palemon and Arcyte, which was made to entertain Elizabeth, at Christ Church, Oxford, about two months before the author's death, was still more admired. When the performance was concluded, she sent for him, spoke warmly of the gratification which the piece had given her, and promised him more substantial marks of her favour. To a boy who acted the part of Emilia, she gave eight guineas, no inconsiderable sum in those days, and wonderfully large in one of her penurious disposition. But the only merit of this drama lay in the acting: a cry of hounds, in particular, in the quadrangle of the college, highly delighted the young students, who believed that the human voice imitating the cry was a real chase actually passing at the time, and who could not avoid exclaiming, in regard to the supposed fox, "There, there, he's caught!" Gratified with the power of the illusion, the queen observed, "Excellent!" these boys, in very truth, are ready to leap out of the windows to follow the hounds!"

The latter of these dramas, Palemon and Arcyte, we have not seen; but Damon and Pythias is before us : and if we may estimate the author's pieces from it, we have little reason to regret the loss of his other compositions. "The serious portions," observes a living writer, "are unvaried and heavy; and the lighter scenes grotesque, without being humorous." All kinds of dramatic propriety are disregarded; and among other absurdities, the author has placed the collier of Croydon at the court of Dionysius, where we have some very coarse dialogues between him and a couple of lackeys, Jack and Will. Such monstrosities, however, are not

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The plot of the English comedy (which was first
printed in 1565) relates to the loss of a needle while the
Gammer was sewing the inexpressibles of her servant
Hodge; to her anxiety for its recovery; to her suspicion
of its having been stolen by a neigbbour; to her con-
sequent intrigues and quarrels, in which even the parson
of the parish, Dr. Rat, was forced to interfere; and to
its subsequent discovery, from its incommoding the seat
of poor Hodge. The language is as low as the plot,
being in the broadest provincial dialect of the age. The

Mr. Payne Collier's History of Dramatic Poetry.
For the Four P.'s of Heywood, see the first volume.

† Ralph Roister Doister was written by Nicholas Udall, of whom nothing

English Stage, vol. ii.

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