Plays of this sort, in which human qualities and faults are drawn apart and isolated, where the "Dramatis Personæ" are called Avarice, Hypocrisy, Good Counsel, would have led straight to the comedy of characters, if the English temper and genius had not finally put obstacles in the way. Obstacles there were for at this very period, England was becoming more and more individualised and concentrated, breaking the ties which had, for centuries, united her to Rome, establishing her own form of religion, gaining a firmer belief in her own originality, power, and greatness. Her temperament could therefore develop more freely, and it led her towards experience rather than abstraction, and towards the study of individuals rather than of types. In France, the evolution was perfected, and Avarice, Hypocrisy, and Good Counsel assumed a permanent place in the literature of the world under the names of Harpagon, Tartuffe, and Eliante. In every country, some farcical scenes and real life personages had been associated, in moralities, with grave abstractions. Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth played," 1584, and the continuation of the same: "The Pleasant and Stately Morall of the three Lords and three Ladies of London," 1590, are satirical moralities which enjoyed great success. Allegorical personages are mixed with real ones, for example, in the "Lamentable Tragedie mixed full of plesant mirth . . . of Cambises" (a title fully justified) by Th. Preston, London, 1570 (?), and in "A new Tragicall Comedie of Appius and Virginia," by R. B., London, 1575, 4to. Cf. below, pp. 428, 454, n. 2. In "Godly queene Hester," an "enterlude drawen oute of the Holy Scripture," pr. 1561 (ed. Greg, 1904, Bang's "Materialen "), where Ahasuerus appears as reigning "from India to Ethiopia plaine," real life personages predominate. In "Kyng Daryus taken out of the . . . thyrd Booke of Esdras," 1565, and "Johan the Evangelyst" (before 1557? Malone Society), real personages play only a secondary part; in "Johan' in particular the scriptural pretext is of the thinnest, and the play is one long allusion to contemporary manners and religious quarrels. Yvell Counsayle has experienced at Coventry what the pillory was: ... There knaves set me on the pyllery, So sore that my nose dyd blede (1. 375). centuries, that is, during the whole period in which this kind of drama flourished in England, fights, dances, songs,1 suppers at the tavern,2 patriotic appeals,3" boasts" from exalted personages,4 had relieved the dulness of sermonlike speeches. So had also the pranks of the Vice (the clown in a way, or fool, of these early plays, the Badin of the French stage),5 and the roarings of the Devil with his crew of subaltern fiends. Sad to say, when we remember ' Songs especially were frequent. In the newly recovered "Enterlude of Welth and Helth," entered 1557, all the personages begin their part by a song in English, French, or Dutch; Health and Wealth open the play with "a ballat of two parts"; Ill-will enters "with some jest" not otherwise specified. Reprinted by the Malone Society, 1907. 2 In "The Interlude of the Four Elements," 1510(?); "A goodly Enterlude of Nature," by Medwall, 1538; "The Enterlude of Youth," 1555, etc. 3 Consider Englyshmen, how valiant they be and ferce, Remembre what nombre of men, or artilerie, and good ordinance, Same "Enterlude of Welth and Helth," Malone Society, 1. 580. This trust in artillery and God is worthy of note; cf. above, vol. I. p. 491. 4 Mundus. Assarye, Acaye and Almayne, Canadoyse, Capadoyse and Cananee, Babyloyne, Brabon, Burgoyne and Bretayne (etc., etc., etc.) Arn castyn to my werdly wyse. "The Castle of Perseverance," ab. 1425, in "The Macro Plays," ed. Furnivall and Pollard, Early English Text Society, 1904, p. 82. 5 In "Godly queene Hester," pr. 1561, Hardydardy plays the part of the fool (= Vice): Ye wene I lacke wytte, it may well be so! Yet a fole, when it doth happe, may somtyme chaunce to stoppe a gappe When wyse men wyll not mell. (1.659). Unedifying speeches were delivered by the Vice; Puttenham declares that certain jingles of rimes are low and vulgar, and fit such light or lascivious Poemes, which are commonly more commodiously uttered by these buffons or vices in playes then by any other person."-" Arte of English Poesie," 1589, ed. Arber, 1895, p. 97. Cf. above, vol. I. p. 491. the good intentions of the authors, Vice and Devil were the most popular and best applauded of their characters. In one of the oldest English moralities the audience is notified that the devil is ready to enter, but that he will not come before the collection has been made: let them be generous if they want to see Tytivillus. We shall 'gather mony" now, says New Guise, Ellys ther xall no man hyme se... Now-a-days. Hi lovyth no grotis, nor pens or to-pens: Gyf ws rede reyallys, yf ye wyll se hys abhomynabull presens.' On rarer occasions, a more difficult means of pleasing was resorted to, and genuine touches of humour enlivened the audience, creating a precedent for no less a master than Sheridan: Envy, strongly suspected of mischief and asked his name, answers, "Charity." 2 In France, the various elements crudely juxtaposed in early moralities became, by degrees, harmoniously fused; abstractions ceased to be so abstract; low realism was no longer so low, and dramatists came gradually nearer to the high comedy of characters. In London, the part allotted to realities went on increasing; the many little occurrences with which ordinary existences are encumbered, encumbered also the plays of authors bent upon copying life; abstract personages disappeared, and the comedy of manners and observation remained in possession of the stage. A visible sign of these early beginnings remained, however the custom of giving to the characters names which are like labels; comedy writers followed in the wake of morality writers; Sheridan accepted the custom as well as Massinger; after Ambition and Hypocrisy, we had 1 2 "Mankind," ab. 1475, "Macro Plays," ed. Furnivall and Pollard, p. 17. "A new Interlude of Impacyente Poverte, newly imprynted,” 1560. Sir Giles Overreach and Joseph Surface. This habit, which dates back several centuries, is not yet entirely lost. Lending itself easily, like any kind of allegorical writing, to all sorts of ends, the morality, so long as it continued acceptable to the public, was made use of not only by the good people who wanted to instruct, but also by the politics and fanatics who wanted to convince or confute. Newspapers did not exist; the play, either performed or merely printed, was one of the most effective means of propagating ideas. In moralities, therefore, offering a mixture of allegory and historical facts, international rivalries were discussed, or the changes in religion, Philip's ambitions, and the Pope's decrees. Philip resented being derided somehow, somewhere, in the distant isle, and on hearing of an English play being performed in which the Holy See, the Catholic faith, and he himself, were held up to ridicule, he hastened the preparations for the Armada; neither the piratical attempts of the English on his possessions, nor the friendship recently formed between Elizabeth and the Sultan, had thrown him into such a rage. The stage play was indeed a powerful weapon; Catholics turned it against Protestants, and Protestants against Catholics; and the men in office, whose motto, whatever party happened to be in power, was ever the same peace and conformity, tried to silence scoffers. Roo put Wolsev into a comedy, and Wolsey put Roo into prison, "His Majesty has received a summary of one of these [comedies] which was recently represented, in which all sorts of evil is spoken of the Pope, the Catholic religion, and the King, who is accused of spending all his time in the Escurial with the monks of S. Jerome, attending only to his buildings and a hundred other insolences which I refrain from sending to your Serenity." H. Lippomano, Venetian ambassador to Spain, to the Doge and Senate, July 20, 1586; "Calendar of State Papers . . . in the archives of Venice,” vol. viii. Cf. as an example of a political morality, Lyndesay's "Thrie Estaits," above, vol. II. p. 118. one good turn deserves another. Several of John Bale's plays, his "Thre Lawes," his "Kynge Johan" were, as we have seen, scenic diatribes against the Pope and the Catholics, a mixture of history and abstractions, vague ranting and definite accusations. Clement VII. had paid, we are told, For hys papacye, Thre hondred thousand good duckates of lawful monye. Under the features of King John, Bale had described Henry VIII., and sided with him in the question of supremacy, unceremoniously transferred from the sixteenth to the thirteenth century.1 Catholics did not fail, so long as they could, to use the same weapons, witness the " Merye Enterlude entitled Respublica, made in the . . . first yeare of the most prosperous Reigne of our moste gracious soverainge quene Marye the first."2 There figured, as personages, "Avarice allias policie, the Vice of the playe," "Oppression, allias Reformation, an other gallaunt," and "Nemesis, the goddes of redresse and correction," which goddess, the prologue ominously informs us, was none other than the Queen herself: 37 66 66 1 Above, vol. II. p. 195. By the same, several religious plays: "Johan Baptystes,' The Temptacyon of our Lorde," 1538, etc., and other dramatic works, a list of which is supplied by him in his "Catalogue," several ("Proditiones Papistarum," De Imposturis Thomæ Becketi," etc.) being lost. In his " Index Britanniæ Scriptorum," Bale attributes to youthful Edward VI. the composition of a play in the same style: "Edwardus sextus Anglorum rex II ætatis anno scripsit Comediam de meretrice Babylonica," "Index," ed. R. L. Poole and Mary Bateson, Oxford, 1902, p. 67. 2 Reprinted, e.g. by Brandl, " Quellen des weltlichen Dramas,' 1898, p. 281. A different play, also a morality, in which figured Humanum Genus, Reason, Veritye, Plentie, Skarsitie, Good and Bad Angel, etc., was performed at Mary's coronation; we know only who the characters were and what stuffs were purchased (including two pairs of wings for the angels) to dress them.-Mrs. Charlotte C. Stopes, in Athenæum, September 9, |