Chorus (consisting of Gismunda's maids) not only concludes the first four acts with long lyrical reflections, but that several verses are sung.

"The Misfortunes of Arthur'-likewise a piece adapted for the stage by eight gentlemen of Gray's Inn, and played before the Queen on the 28th of February, 1587-was written by Thomas Hughes (with the exception of the introduction and some choruses) and printed in the same year. This play deserves a short notice, partly because it again shows that it was more especially the learned schools of the lawyers and others (at that time known by the name of Inns) which, being affected by the general predilection for the stage, introduced the new element of culture into the English drama, partly also because it proves how great an influence Gorboduc' had exercised upon the formation of the plays with an antique tendency, and lastly, because it stands a shade higher than its prototype 'Gorboduc,' no doubt in consequence of a reaction on the part of the popular theatre. For although, even in this case, the action is still extremely imperfect, and the whole piece consists almost entirely of long, either of lyrico-elegiac, or deliberating speeches, from which the chorus after every act draws the general moral, still these speeches are not so didactic and pedantic, but turn upon existing interests, and proceed directly from the passions and affections of the dramatic characters. The latter are more powerfully delineated; especially apparent is the definite and truthful manner in which the avarice, the unbridled love of dominion, the energetic and passionate nature of Mordred is contrasted with the quiet, heroic grandeur of Arthur. The language is not only as dignified and appropriate, but also more animated, more drastic, the blank verse freer and more skilfully managed. And whereas the play of 'Gorboduc' ends in a tame afterplay, evaporating, as it were, in an uncertain future which is not in any way represented, we here have a first, even though a feeble, attempt to found the whole action upon a general idea. The piece opens by the ghost of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, whom Arthur had deeply injured and

* Reprinted in the Five Old Plays, Forming a Supplement, etc. By J. P. Collier, London, 1833. pv. 5–80.

shamefully murdered, giving an account of what he has suffered, and calling for revenge; he remains, as it were, invisibly present, and then concludes the whole with words expressing his satisfaction with the accomplishment of the work of revenge, and pronounces a prophetic blessing on England and her Virgin Queen. Arthur's tragic fate, the infidelity of his wife, and his death by the hand of his son, to whom he himself had given the death-blow, appear accordingly as the result of a higher retaliating power, of a moral necessity; except that this power stands as it were outside of the action, and that the criminal deeds lie in the oblivion of a Past, above which the Arthur of the Present-in his gentle, thoughtful, heroic greatness, which is throughout represented as his character--has long since risen.

CHAPTER VII.

THE THEATRE OF THE COURT.

RICHARD EDWARDS AND JOHN LILLY.

THESE attempts of developing or, it may be, of first establishing tragedy by means of ancient models, went hand in hand with the endeavours made simultaneously to raise comedy in the same way from the low life of the people, into the higher spheres of human society, by giving it more of an intellectual character, more refinement and elegance of form. As these tragedies owed their origin to the festivities arranged for the Queen and her court, so it was no doubt in the Queen's Court Theatre that the first attempts of a more refined comedy were first brought to light. As in the case of the former, the latter also appear to have met with great success; it was felt that a want had thereby been satisfied. The universally popular drama, if in future it wished to afford amusement and satisfaction, had, in regard to external form also, to endeavour to raise itself to a level with the state of the national culture. Particularly famous in their day were the two plays of Richard Edwards (music master in the Royal Chapel), composed and published a year before his death, which took place in 1566; these plays were entitled 'Palæmon and Arcitas,' and 'Damon and Pythias.' A contemporary, Thomas Twine, calls Edwards:

"the flower of our realm And Phoenix of our age.”

The first of these plays is lost; the second, 'The excellent Comedie of two the most faithfullest Freendes, Damon and Pithias, newly imprinted, etc.,' has been reprinted in the latest edition of Dodsley's collection.* In the prologue Edwards calls it a tragicall commedie,' * Printed first in 1571; in Dodsley, i. 180-261.

probably because the subject, the well-known story of the two friends and of the tyrant Dionysius, has a serious colouring. Even the choice of the subject, however, was a mistake; it is obviously too simple, too lyrical, too undramatic. The piece, accordingly, is again wanting in action; long discourses between the Court-philosopher Aristippus and the sycophantic parasite Carisophus about court life, friendship, etc., then between Damon and Pythias about their mutual love, some good theories as regards the best mode of governing, which the privy counsellor Eubulus imparts in vain to the tyrant; another long discussion between the two friends which of them shall die first, and lastly, a few comic dialogues between the servants Stephano, Jack, and Will, among themselves, and with Grimm the collier fill, at least, one half of the piece without being in the slightest degree connected with the actual subject. The alternating chant between Eubulus and the nine Muses, who suddenly appear (behind the scenes), and also the introduction of the old collier, and the long scene between him and the servants (introduced without rhyme or reason), are especially invented to fill up the interval between Damon's departure and his return. And yet these comic parts, which are borrowed from the popular stage, and are written in the style of popular humour, are, in a dramatic respect, the best parts of the whole play. For otherwise it is heartily tedious with its fine phrases, its many sententious passages, and its display of classical learning-not merely the utterly superfluous character of Aristippus, not merely Carisophus, Eubulus, and Dionysius, but even Jack and Will make use of fragments of Latin and French. The language is indeed refined, but wanting in elevation and elasticity; the piece is still not divided into acts or scenes, and moves clumsily in the usual long Alexandrines with interpolated songs. It is obvious that if the English drama had been confined to the Court, or had come under the sway of the Court theatre with its tendency to follow the antique, it would very likely have become as stiff, frosty, and unnatural a thing as French tragedy in the time of Louis XIV.

Of the fifty-two dramas which, according to the 'Accounts of the Revels at Court' between 1568-80, were performed

6

before the Court, and which have unfortunately all been lost no less than eighteen (to judge from their titles) were borrowed from ancient history and the heroic legends,* and all were more or less founded upon antique models. The History of Error,' which was played on New Year's Eve, 1577,† was undoubtedly an imitation of the 'Menæchmi' of Plautus, and probably formed the groundwork of Shakspeare's Comedy of Errors.' Among these pieces there were no doubt many in the style and character of the above-mentioned works of Edwards. Authors at this time also turned their attention to the Italian Theatre in order, by means of its more refined culture, to polish the coarse manners of the English popular stage. Thus, for instance, George Gascoigne translated Ariosto's comedy of Gli Suppositi' into English, under the title of The Supposes.' It was performed in 1566 in Gray's Inn before the Queen, and appeared in print the same year. But as it is a pretty faithful translation of the original, in its first prosaic form, it possesses but little interest for us here.

The real creator of Court comedy was John Lilly (Lyly, Lillie, Lilie, or Lily). He was born in 1554, entered the University of Oxford in 1569, and there took his degree of B.A. in 1573, that of M.A. in 1575.§ His best known work, and the one which more especially established his celebrity, *Collier, ii. 24 f.

† Collier, i. p. 237.

Reprinted in Hawkins, l.c., iii. 7–86.

These dates from Wood's Athenæ Oxoniensis and the Oxford Register do not agree with those given by the editor of the Old Plays being a Continuation, etc., (i. 199) and with him Collier (l.c., i. 240) who place the second of Lilly's two petitions to the Queen (in the Harley collection),—in which he mentions his thirteen years at court and intimates that they were spent in the writing of plays-in the year 1579. For according to this Lilly must have been in the Queen's service, and have written plays as early as 1566, and hence could not have entered the University of Oxford in 1569. In the second edition of my work I drew attention to this contradiction; F. W. Fairholt, the editor of Lilly's dramatic works, now explains that the two petitions are without date, and that the supposition that the first of them belonged to the year 1576, the second to 1579, was founded only upon a remark made by Oldys (MS. notes to Langbaine in Brit. Mus. Lib.), who has obviously made a mistake. See The Dramatic Works of John Lilly with Notes and Some Accounts of his Life and Writings by F. W. Fairholt, London, 1858, i., p. xvii.