beft introduction to an account of the internal economy and ufages of the English theatres in the time of Shakspeare, (the principal object of this differtation,) I fhall take a curfory view of our most ancient dramatick exhibitions, though I fear I can add but little to the researches which have already been made on that fubject. Mr. Warton in his elegant and ingenious Hiflory of English Poetry has given fo accurate an account of our earliest dramatick performances, that I fhall make no apology for extracting from various parts of his valuable work, fuch particulars as fuit my prefent purpose. The earlieft dramatick entertainments exhibited in England, as well as every other part of Europe, were of a religious kind. So early as in the beginning of the twelfth century, it was cuftomary in England on holy feftivals to reprefent, in or near the churches, either the lives and miracles of faints, or the most important ftories of Scripture. From the subject of thefe fpectacles, which, as has been obferved, were either the miracles of faints, or the more myfterious parts of holy writ, fuch as the incarnation, paffion, and refurrection of Christ, these scriptural plays were denominated Miracles, or Myfteries. At what period of time they were first exhibited in this country, I am unable to afcertain. Undoubtedly, however, they are of very great antiquity; and Riccoboni, who has contended that the Italian theatre is the most ancient in Europe, has claimed for his country an honour to which it is not entitled. The era of the earlieft reprefentation in Italy, founded on holy writ, he has placed in the year 1264, when the fraternity del Gonfalone was 6 The French theatre cannot be traced higher than the year 1398, when the Mystery of the Paffion was reprefented at St. Maur. eftablished; but we had fimilar exhibitions in England above 150 years before that time. In the year 1110, as Dr. Percy and Mr. Warton have obferved, the Miracle-play of Saint Catharine, written by Geoffrey, a learned Norman, (afterwards Abbot of St. Alban's,) was acted, probably by his fcholars, in the abbey of Dunstable; perhaps the firft fpectacle of this kind exhibited in England." William Fitz-Stephen, a monk of Canterbury, who according to the beft accounts compofed his very curious work in 1174, about four years after the murder of his patron Archbishop Becket, and in the twenty-first year of the reign of King Henry the Second, mentions, that "London, for its theatrical exhibitions, has religious plays, either the reprefentations of miracles wrought by holy confeffors, or the fufferings of martyrs." 8 "Apud Duneftapliam-quendam ludum de fancta Katerina (quem MIRACULA vulgariter appellamus) fecit. Ad quæ decoranda, petiit a facrifta fancti Albani, ut fibi cape chorales accommodarentur, et obtinuit." Vitæ Abbat. ad calc. Hift. Mat. Paris, folio, 1639, p. 56. 8" Lundonia pro fpectaculis theatralibus, pro ludis feenicis, ludos habet fanctiores, repræfentationes miraculorum quæ fanéti confeffores operati funt, feu reprefentationes paffionum, quibus claruit conftantia martyrum." Defcriptio nobiliffimæ civitatis Lundoniæ. FitzStephen's very curious defcription of London is a portion of a larger work, entitled Vita faneli Thomae, Archiepifcopi et Martyris, i. e. Thomas a Becket. It is afcertained to have been written after the murder of Becket in the year 1170, of which Fitz-Stephen was an ocular witnefs, and while King Henry II. was yet living. A modern writer with great probability fuppofes it to have been compofed in 1174, the author in one pailage mentioning that the church. of St. Paul's was formerly metropolitical, and that it was thought it would become fo again, "fhould the citizens return into the island." In 1174 King Henry II. and his fons had carried over with them a confiderable number of citizens to France, and many English had in that year also gone to Ireland. See Diflertation prefixed to Fitz-Stephen's Defcription of London, newly tranflated, &c. 4to. 1772, p. 16.-Near the end of his Defcription is a paffage Mr. Warton has remarked, that " in the time of Chaucer, Plays of Miracles appear to have been the common refort of idle goffips in Lent: Therefore made I my vifitations To prechings eke, and to thise pilgrimages, "And in Pierce Plowman's Creed, a piece perhaps prior to Chaucer, a friar Minorite mentions thefe Miracles as not lefs frequented than markettowns and fairs: • We haunten no taverns, ne hobelen about, At markets and Miracles we meddle us never." The elegant writer, whofe words I have just quoted, has given the following ingenious account of the origin of this rude fpecies of dramatick entertainment: "About the eighth century trade was principally carried on by means of fairs, which lafted feveral days. Charlemagne established many great marts of this fort in France, as did William the Conqueror, and his Norman fucceffors in England. which afcertains it to have been written before the year 1182: "Lundonia et modernis temporibus reges illuftres magnificofque peperit; imperatricem Matildam, Henricum regem tertium, et beatum Thomam" [Thomas Becket]. Some have fuppofed that instead of tertium we ought to read fecundum, but the text is undoubtedly right; and by tertium, Fitz-Stephen must have meant Henry, the fecond fon of Henry the Second, who was born in London in 1156-7, and being heir-apparent, after the death of his elder brother William, was crowned king of England in his father's lifetime, on the 15th of July, 1170. He was frequently styled rex filius, rex juvenis, and fometimes he and his father were denominated Reges Anglia. The young king, who occafionally exercised all the rights and prerogatives of royalty, died in 1182. Had he not been living when Fitz-Stephen wrote, he would probably have added nuper defunctum. Neither Henry II. nor Henry III. were born in London. See the Differtation above-cited, p. 12. 9 The Wif of Bathes Prologue, v. 6137. Tyrwhitt's edit. The merchants who frequented these fairs in numerous caravans or companies, employed every art to draw the people together. They were therefore accompanied by jugglers, minftrels, and buffoons; who were no lefs interested in giving their attendance, and exerting all their fkill on thefe occafions. As now but few large towns exifted, no publick fpectacles or popular amusements were established; and as the fedentary pleasures of domestick life and private fociety were yet unknown, the fair-time was the feafon for diverfion. In proportion as thefe fhews were attended and encouraged, they began to be set off with new decorations and improvements: and the arts of buffoonery being rendered ftill more attractive, by extending their circle of exhibition, acquired an importance in the eyes of the people. By degrees the clergy obferving that the entertainments of dancing, mufick, and mimickry, exhibited at these protracted annual celebrities, made the people lefs religious, by promoting idleness and a love of feftivity, profcribed thefe fports, and excommunicated the performers. But finding that no regard was paid to their cenfures, they changed their plan, and determined to take these recreations into their own hands. They turned actors; and inftead of profane mummeries, prefented ftories taken from legends or the Bible. This was the origin of facred comedy. The death of Saint Catharine, acted by the monks of faint Dennis, rivalled the popularity of the profeffed players. Mufick was admitted into the churches, which ferved as theatres for the reprefentation of holy farces. The feftivals among the French, called La fete de Foux, de l'Ane, and des Innocens, at length became greater favourites, as they certainly were more capricious and abfurd, than the interludes of the buffoons at the fairs. These are the ideas of a judicious French writer now living, who has inveftigated the hiftory of human manners with great comprehenfion and fagacity." "Voltaire's theory on this fubject is alfo very ingenious, and quite new. Religious plays, he fuppofes, came originally from Conftantinople; * where the old Grecian ftage continued to flourish in fome degree, and the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides were reprefented, till the fourth century. About that period, Gregory Nazianzen, an archbifhop, a poet, and one of the fathers of the church, banifhed pagan plays from the stage at Conftantinople, and introduced ftories from the Old and New Teftament. As the ancient Greek tragedy was a religious fpectacle, a tranfition was made on the fame plan; and the choruffes were turned into Chriftian hymns. Gregory wrote many facred dramas for this purpose, which have not furvived thofe inimitable compofitions over which they triumphed for a time: one, however, his tragedy called Xpiolos Taoxwv, or Chrifl's Paffion, is still extant. In the prologue it is faid to be an imitation. of Euripides, and that this is the first time the Virgin Mary had been introduced on the ftage. The fashion of acting spiritual dramas, in which at first a due degree of method and decorum was preferved, was at length adopted from Conftanti 2" At Conftantinople" as Mr. Warton has elsewhere observed, "it feems that the stage flourished much, under Juftinian and Theodora, about the year 540: for in the Bafilical codes we have the oath of an altrefs, μη αναχωρείν της πορνείας. Tom. VII. p. 682, edit. Fabrot, Græco-Lat. The ancient Greek fathers, particularly faint Chryfoftom, are full of declamation againft the drama; and complain, that the people heard a comedian with much more pleafure than a preacher of the gofpel." Warton's Hiftory of English Poetry, Vol. I. p. 244, n. |