in their Action Anâ—… to lengthen out the time had interlarded many Apocryphal Matâ—…ers not contained in the Acts of the Apostles that their Play might last three or four days longer thereby to get the more Money from the People Adding moreover at the beginning or at the end Drolls and wanton Farces and by that means had made it hold out for six or seven months together By means whereof the Divine Service was neglected no body went to Church Charity grew cold besides all the Adulteries Fornications Mockeries and Derisions unexpressible More â—…specially in the first place on Holy-days from eight or nine a Clock a-mornings the People left their Parish-Mass Sermon and Vespers to take their place at the Playâ—…house and sâ—…aid there till five in the Afternoon So that Preaching was left oss the Preachers finding no body to hear them And the â—…eople as they came back from the Play house would publickly and loudly mock at the Plays and Actors repeating some words they had heard knockt out of joynt at the Play or some part ill acted saying in derision The Holy Ghost was loâ—…h to come down and the like And generally the Parsons of the Parishes to have their pastime at the Plays have left off the Afternoon Prayers on Holy-days Or have said them alone by themselves at Noon an hour not usual nor Canonical And even the King's Chaplains in the Chappel of the Houshold whilst the Plays lasted have on Holy-days said the Evening-Prayers at Noon And besides ran them off post-haste to be gone to the Play-house A thing undecent unusual of evil example and contrary to the holy Councils of the Church namely the Council of Carthage where it is said Qui die solemni praetermisso Ecclesiae conventu ad spectacula vadit excommunicetur 2. â—…reaching is more decent for the Instruction of the People provided 't is done by Theologians men of Learning and Knowledge than are the Plays made by those that are ignorant and illiterate who neither know what they speak nor what they act representing the Acts of the Apostles the Old Testament and the like Histories which they pretend to Act. 3. It is plain by Natural Reason that without first kâ—…owing the Truth one cannot make a â—…iction for Fiction is to be something as near the Truth as may be whereas neither the Masters nor the Actors know the A B C. Thâ—…y 〈◊〉 neither the Bible nor any prophane Learning being Mechanicks as Coblers Botâ—…hers Porters that câ—…n neither read nor write nor â—…ave been train'd to the Stage or that sort of exercise Neither is their Tongue wâ—…l hung nor have they proper Language nor can thâ—… accent the words or give them a dâ—…cent 〈◊〉 Nor do they know at all whaâ—… tâ—…ey are about or what it is they sâ—…y so that sometimes they chop one word into three sâ—…p in the middle of a sentence mâ—…king it a question which is a sentence oâ—… Admiration accenting aâ—…d pronouncing with tâ—…eir gesâ—…ure eveâ—…y thing Kim Kam quite contrary causing a laughter and hooting in the Play-â—…ouse that instead of turning to Eâ—…ification there is nothing but scandal and dâ—…rision 4. The â—…arccs and wanton Interludes which they miâ—… with the Mysâ—…eries Ecclesiastical â—…ake it a thing forbidden by all the Councils aâ—… the Doctors all agree 5. It is visible that what they do is for Lucre only as they would do with a Tavern or Trade And they raise the price which the â—…irst year was twenty and twenty five â—…rowns the next thirty and thirty six Crowns and is this present year forty and fifty Crowns of the Sun for every Box. 6. Great mischief by Assignations under colour of going to the Plays Adulteriâ—…s c. 7. The Plays occasion Junketing and expences extraordinary amongst the common people so that which a Handy-craâ—…ty-man has earn'd in a week shall be all spent in one day at the Plays and the Junketing and Drunkenness whereby his Wife and poor Children susfer all the week 8. Charity so much impaired that within the six weeks that the Plays have continued the Alms are lessen'd 3000 Livres Nothwithsâ—…anding all which one Royâ—…r a Fish-seller a Carpenter a Câ—…ler and otâ—…rs their Companions have a-new for this next year undertaken to have acted the Old Testament and set a price for hereafter to get money from the people Of all which the King's Attorney General being informed hâ—…th put a stop to their fartâ—… er proceedings They shew a Letter of Priviledge they had obtained from the King By the Letters it appears they had suggested to the King that what they did wâ—…s out of pure Zeal and Devotion and for the Edisication of the â—…eople which is false and besides their quality and circumstances speak the contrary and what they do is barely a Trade for gain Moreover in the Old 〈◊〉 â—…e many things not so proper to be declarâ—…â—…o the People weak and simple that may be drawn in to turn Jews for want of understanding For these considerations a stop is put to their Acting of the Old Testament till the good pleasâ—…re will and intention of the King when inform'd of those matters shall be known The said Attorney General also presented another Complaint against the former Company that they might put into the Poors Box out of their Profits for their representing the Acts of the Apostles eight hundred Livres till farther order the like against the Company that acted Chriâ—…t's Passion The Council for the Strolers saith He comes not to answer the Charge against them that show the Acts of the Apostles but for the new Company only of the Mystery for the Old Testament And true it is that the King two years since having sometimes seen them 〈◊〉 the Mystery of the Passion and by the account then made him how well they played the Acts of the Apostles and that it was worth his while also to see the Representation of the Old Testament Royer above-named being then present did promise the King to get the Old Testament Acted And thereupon the King gave leave to the said Roâ—…er to have the Representation of the Old Testament and granted him Letters Patents accordingly This Record abridg'd here in the translation giving so particular an History of the Sage in those days is added at length in the Original at the end of the Book King Francis liv'd about five or six years after And then were the Coâ—…ans both French and Italians all packt off and banished the Kingdom In 1597. Peter l'Ariveu publishâ—…d Comedies written as he tells us in imitation of the Antient Greeks Latins and Modern Italians And the end he proposed was according to â—…orace Quelque profit contentement ensemble After him Alexander Hardy attempted Tragedy whose works were 〈◊〉 ann 1625 Not long 〈◊〉 succeeded the famous Corneille who begâ—…n to write for the Stage afâ—…r Hardy's Model And now if the French Theatre did not rise to equal the glory of the Romans and Antient Greeks it was
The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa His Poetry Ramond Beringhier Four Daughters four Queens Rob. Grosthead His Provencial Poetry Other Languages stubborn Chaucer refin'd our English Which in perfection by Waller His Poem on the Navy Royal beyond all modern Poetry in any Language Before him our Poets better expressed their thoughts in Latin Whence Hoveden might mistake and his Malice A Translation from Grosthead The Harp a Musick then in fashion Five Tragedies from Joan Queen of Naples Forreigners all call'd French Plays by the Parish-Clerks of London What under H. VIII flourish under Queen Elizabeth The Gorboduck French much behind-hand with us Tragedy with us but a shadow Chap. 7. Othello More of a piece In Tragedy four parts Fable the Poets part Cinthio's Novels Othello altered for the worse Marriage absurd forbidden by Horace Fable of Othello Use and Application Othello's Love-powder High-German Doctor Venetians odd taste of things Their Women fools Employ Strangers Hate the Moors Characters Nothing of the Moor in Othello of a Venetian in Desdemona Of a Soldier in Jago The Souldiers Character by Horace What by Shakespear Agamemnon Venetians no sense of Jelaousie Thoughts in Othello in a Horse or Mastiff more sensibly exprest Ill Manners Outragious to a Nobleman to Humanity Address in telling bad news In Princes Courts In Aristophanes In Rabelais Venetian Senate Tâ—…eir Wisdom Chap. 8. Reâ—…lections on the Julius Caesar. Men famous in History To be rob'd of their goâ—…d name Sacriledge Shakespear abuse of History Contradiction in the character of Brutus Villon and Dante that Hugh Capet from a Butcher Preparation in Poetry Strong reasons in Cassius Roman Senators impertinent as the Venetian Portia as Desdemona The same parts and good breeding How talk of Business â—…ispers Brutus's Tinder-box Sleepy Boy Fiddle Bruâ—…us and Cassius Flat-foot Mimicks The Indignity Laberius Play of the Incarnation The Madonna 's Shouting and Baâ—…tel Strolers in Cornwal Rehearsal law for acting it once a week The Catiline by Ben. Johnson Why an Orator to be vir bonus Ben cou d distinguish Men and Manners Sylla's Ghost The speeâ—…h not to be made in a blind Corner Corneille Common sence teaches Unity of Action The Chorus of necessity keep the Poet to time and place No rule observ'd A Life in Plutarch Acts of the Apostles Ben is fidus interpres Is the Horse in Mill in slat opposition to Horace Tristing tale or corruption of History unfit for Tragedy In contempt of Poetry Aristophanes not the occasion of the Death of Socrates Was for a reformation in the service book With what address he effected it Sarpedon's Fast of divine institution The leâ—… sally from or Parenthesis in the ancient Comedy of more moment than all our Tragedies English Comedy the best Extrait des Registres du Parlement du Vendredy 9. Decembre l'an 1541. Monsieur de S. André President ERRATA Page 8. l. 10. Beau. p. 10. l. 5. ingenieuses p. 21. l. 20. habergâ—…ons CHAP. I. The CONTENTS The Chorus keeps the Poet to Rules A show to the Spectators Two Senses to be pleased The Eye by the Show and by the Action Plays Acted without Wordâ—… Words often better out of the way Instances in Shakespear Ben. Johnson and Seneca Noted To the Ear Pâ—…onunciation is all in all The Story of Demosthenes Mistakes in Judging Two sorts of Judges At Athens a Third sort Judges upon Oath In France Judges divided about the Cid Cardinal Richelieu against the Majority Aâ—… the Thomas Morus weeping unawares Horace Angry with Shows The French Opera inconsistent with Nature and Good sense Burlesk Verse At Paris Christ's Passion in Burlesk A Tragedy of Aeschylus The defeat of Xerxes The Subject and Oeconomy How imitated for our English Stage King John of France Francis 1. Prisoners The Spanish Armado in 88. An imitation recommended to Mr. Dreyden WHAT Reformation may not we expâ—…ct now that in France they see the necessity of a Chorâ—…s to their Tragedies Boyer and Racine both of the Royal Academy have led the Dance they have tried the success in the last Plays that were Presented by them The Chorus was the root and original and is certainly always the most necessary part of Tragedy The Spectators thereby are secured that their Poet shall not juggle or put upon them in the matter of Place and â—…ime other than is just and reasonable for the representation And the Poet has this benefit the Chorus is a goodly Show so that he need not ramble from his Subject out of his Wits for some foreign Toy or Hobby-horse to humor the Multitude Aristotle tells us of Tâ—…o Senses that must be pleas'd our Sight and our Ears And it is in vain for a Poet with Bays in the Rehearsal to complain of Injustice and the wrong Judgment in his Audience unless these Two sensâ—…s be gratified The worst on it is that most People are wholly led by these â—…wo senses and follow them upon content without ever troubling their Noddle farther How many Plays owe all their success to a rare Show Even in the days of Horace enter on the Stage a Person in a Costly strange Habit Lord What Clapping what Noise and Thunder as Heaven and Earth were coming together yet not one word spoken Dixit 〈◊〉 aliquid nil sâ—…ne quid placit Ergo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 violas imitatâ—… 〈◊〉 Was there ought said trâ—…th no What then did touch ye Some Prince of 〈◊〉 or â—… Mamamouchâ—… It matters not whether there be any Plot any Characters any Sense or a wise Word from one end to the other provided in our Play we have the Sâ—…nate of Rome the Venetian Senate iâ—… their Pontificalibus or a Blackamoor Ruâ—…ian or Tom Dove or other Four leg'd Hero of the Bear-Garden The Eye is a quick sense will be in with our Fancy and prepossess the Head strangely Another means whereby the Eye misleads our Judgment is the Action We go to see a Play Acted in Tragedy is represented a Memorable Action so the Spectators are always pleas'd to see Action and are not often so ill-natur'd to pry into and examine whether it be Proper Just Natural in season or out of season Bays in the Rehearsal well knew this secret The Two Kings are at their Coranto nay the Moon and the Earth dance the Hey any thing in Nature or against Nature rather than allow the Serious Councel or other dull business to interrupt or obstruct Action This thing of Action finds the blindside of humane-kind an hundred ways We laugh and weep with those that laugh or weep we gape stretch and are very dotterels by example Action is speaking to the Eyes and all Europe over Plays have been represented with great applause in a Tongue unknown and sometimes without any Language at all Muny peradventure of the Tragical Scenes in Shakespear cry'd up for the Action might do yet better without words Words are a sort of heavy baggage that were better out of the way at the push of Action especially in
Incarnation The Madonna 's Shouting and Battel Strollers in Cornwal Rehearsal law for acting it once a week The Catiline by Ben. Johnson Why an Orator to be vir bonus Beâ—… cou'd distinguish Men and Manners Sylla's Ghost The speech not to be made in a blind Corner Corneille Common sence teaches Unity of Action Thâ—… Chorus of necessity keep the Poet to time and place No rule observ'd A Life in Plutarch Acts of the Apostles Ben is fidus interpres Is the Horse in Mill in flat opposition to Horace Trisling tale or corruption of History unfit for Tragedy In contempt of Poetry Aristophanes not the occasion of the Death of Socrates Was sor a reformation in the service book With what address he effected it Sarpedon's Fast of divine institution The least sally from or Parenthesis in the ancient Comedy of more moment than all our Tragedies English Comedy the best IN the former Play our Poet might be the bolder the persons being all his own Creatures and meer fiction But here he sins not against Nature and Philosophy only but against the most known History and the memory of the Noblest Romans that ought to be sacred to all Posterity He might be familiar with Othello and Jago as his own natural acquaintance but Coesar and Brutus were above his conversation To put them in Fools Coats and make them Jack-puddens in the Shakespear dress is a Sacriledge beyond any thing in Spelman The Truth is this authors head was full of villainous unnatural images and history has only furnish'd him with great names thereby to recommend them to the World by writing over them This is Brutus this is Cicero this is Caesar. But generally his History flies in his Face And comes in flat contradiction to the Poets imagination As for example of Brutus says Antony his Enemy Ant. His life was gentle and the Elements So mixt in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the World this was a Man And when every body judg'd it necessary to kill Antony our Author in his Laconical way makes Brutus speak thus Bru. Our Course will seem too bloody Caius Cassius To cut the Head off and then â—…ack the Limbs Like wrath in death and envy afteâ—…wards For Antony iâ—… but a Limb of Caesar Let 's be Sacrificers but not Butchers Caius We all stand up aâ—…ainst the Spirit of Caesar And in the Spirâ—… of 〈◊〉 there is no blood O that we then cou'd come by Caesars Spirit And not dismember Caesar but alas Caesar must bleed for it And gentle friends Let 's kill him boldly but not wrathfully Let 's carve him as a dish fit for the Gods Not hew him as a Carkass fit for Hounds And let our Hearts as subtle Masters do Stir up their Servants to an act of rage And after seem to chide ' em This shall make Our purpose necessary and not enviouâ—… Which so appearing to the common eyes We shall be call'd Purgers not murderers And for Mark Antony think not of him For he can do no more than Caesars arm When Caesars head is off In these two speeches we have the true character of Brutus according to History But when Shakespear's own blundering Maggot of self contradiction works then must Brutus cry â—…ut Bru. Stoop Romans stoop And let us bath our hands in Caesars blood Up to the Elbows Had this been spoken by some King of France we might remember Villon Se fusse des hoirs Hue Capel Qui fut extrait de boucherie On m'eut parmy ce drapel Fait boire de l'escorcherie And what Dante has recorded Chiamato fui di lá Ugo ciapetta Di me son Nati i Philippi e ' Loigi Per cui novellamente e ' Francia retta Figlivol fui d'un Beccaio di Parigi For indeed that â—…anguage which Shakespear puts in the Mouth of Brutus wou'd not suit 〈◊〉 be convenient unless from some son of the Shambles or some natural off-spring of the Butchery But never any Poet so boldly and so barefac'd flouâ—…d â—…long from contradiction to contradiâ—… A little preparation and forecast might do well now and then For his Desdemona's Marriage He might have helped out the probability by feigning how that some way or other a Black-amoor Woman had been her Nurse and suckl'd her Or that once upon a time some Virtuoso had transfus'd into her Veins the Blood of a black Sheep after which she might never be at quiet till she is as the Poet will have it Tupt with an old black ram But to match this pithy discourse of Brutus see the weighty argumentative oration whereby Cassius draws him into the Conspiracy Cas. Brutus and Caesar what shou'd be in that Caesar Why shou'd that name be sounded more than yours Write them together yours is as fair a name Sound them it doth become the mouth as well Weigh them it is as heavy conjure with them Brutus will ftart a Spirit as soon as Caesar. Now in the names of all the Gods at once Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed That he is grown so great Age thou art sham'd Rome thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods When went there by an Age since the great flood But it was fam'd with more than with one man When could they say till now â—…hat talk'd of Rome That her wide Walls encompass'd but one man Now it is Rome indeed and â—…oom enough When there is in it but one only Man One may Note that all our Authors Senators and his Orators had their learning and education at the same school be they Venetians Black-amoors Ottamitâ—…s or noble Romans Brutus and Cassius here may â—…ap sentences with Brabantio and the Doge of Venice or any Magnifico of them all We saw how the Venetian Senate spent their time when amidst their alarms call'd to Counsel at midnight Here the Roman Senators the midnight before Coesar's death met in the Garden of Brutus to settle the mattâ—…r of their Conspiracy are gazing up to the Stars and have no more in their heads than to wrangle about which is the East and West Decius â—…ere lies the East doth not the day break here Caska Nâ—… Cinna O pardon Sir it doth and yoâ—… grey lines That fret the Clouds are Messengers of Day Caska You shall confess that you are both deceiv'd Here as I point my Sword the Sun arises Which is a great way growing on the South Weighing the youthful season of the year Some two months hence up higher toward the North He first presents his fire and the high East Stands as the Capitol directly here This is directly as Bays tells us to shew the World a Pattern here how men shou'd talk of Business But it wou'd be a wrong to the Poet not to infoâ—…m the reader that on the Stage the Spectators see Brutus and Gassius all this while at Whisper together That is the importance thâ—…t deserves all the attention But the grand question wou'd be does the Audience hear 'em Whisper