England and to warn persons against the papacy, by making direct comparisons of the events of the reign of King John-especially the arrogance of the Pope, the sentence of excommunication which he passed upon the whole kingdom, the murder of the king at the instigation of the priests, etc.—with the conditions of England under Edward. The allegorical figures are introduced only to throw a clearer light upon this relation of the great difference between the times, and hence also upon the author's intentions, by endeavouring to give the individual events a more general significance. It is in a similar style that Nathaniel Wood in his Excellent new Commedie, Intitled : The Conflict of Conscience,' † treats the story of the Italian lawyer Francis Spiera. The prologue expressly intimates that the figure of Philologus is meant to represent Francis Spiera, and the principal events of his lifehis embracing the cause of the Reformation, the lawsuit which is in consequence brought against him (in this case by the allegorical figures of Tyranny, Hypocrisy, and Avarice), his summons before the Cardinal,' his defence, his return to papacy (in this case the work of Sensual Suggestion represented in consequence of the threat of prison and torture), finally his repentance of it, and his suicide-form the subject-matter of the play.

One step further in this direction was made by Thomas Preston's Lamentable Tragedy mixed ful of pleasant mirth, conteyning the Life of Cambises, King of Persia,' etc., which was probably composed in 1561. The author was a man of education and had studied at Cambridge. His work, however, is a rather crude and bungling performance: Cambyses at the beginning declares his intention of marching into Egypt, and appoints Judge Sisamnes as Regent. The latter abuses his power, and on the accusation of Common Complaint, supported by Proof and Trial, the king, who has meanwhile returned, orders him to be put to death. After this Cambyses commits all possible

*The piece exists among the publications of the Camden Society, for which society it has been re-published by Collier.

+ Printed in 1581, but no doubt written at least twenty years earlier, Collier, ii. 358 ff.

Imprinted at London 8.a.

Reprinted in Hawkins, i. 251-319.

kinds of villainous deeds one after the other, kills the son of his counsellor, because the latter reproaches him with being addicted to drink, causes his own brother Smirdis to be murdered, because he is said to have wished the king dead, gives his step-daughter in marriage against her will -she is already married-and causes her to be put to death, because she reproaches him with having murdered his brother, and finally appears with his own sword run through his body (it has pierced him while he was mounting his horse) in order to die a miserable death. Between these are inserted comic scenes, in which three brawlers, a courtesan, and a few peasants and the wife of one of these, headed by Vice under the name of Ambidexter, exhibit their coarse humour-scenes which do not only stand in no sort of connection with the main action, but which, instead of bringing it to a point, usually end in a general row. The piece is remarkable only because the allegory is in so far repressed that it is now represented only by Vice-more in the nature of a double-tongued servant than like the Vice of the old Moralities--and by all kinds of general names given to persons who have no individual character because they represent the common people, or servants and subordinate personages. Thus in place of the citizens oppressed by Sisamnes there appear Common's Cry, and Common's Complaint, in place of the legal proceedings Proof and Trial, in place of the two assassins Cruelty and Murder, in place of a poor citizen Small Abilitie, and in place of the hangman Execution. The moral of the whole lies in the rules which a good king has to observe in order to live in conformity with his dignity, and is explained in the prologue. The epilogue concludes in the customary manner with good wishes "for our noble Queen."

Akin to the above in style and character is 'The New Tragicall Comedie of Appius and Virginia, etc., by R. B. Imprinted at London in 1575.'* It has not yet been ascertained who the author, R. B., is; the play, however, was written very much about the same time as Preston's 'Cambyses,' that is, in the first years of Elizabeth's reign.† * Reprinted in Dodsley, l.c., xii. 431 ff.

† See note in Dodsley, l.c., p. 349.

To judge from the contents it is a bare skeleton of the well-known story of the Decemvir Appius Claudius and Virginia; it is only the essential features that have been adhered to amid the many deviations in the detail. Appius appears at the very first as possessing a violent passion for Virginia, and as having formed the plan of bringing her to his house with the help of his client Claudius, who claims her as his daughter. Virginius is not in the field, Virginia is not betrothed to Icilius (the latter does not appear at all); all the small features that give colour to the picture, all the individualising accidental and collateral circumstances which give life, light, and shade, are wanting. After Appius, without more ado, has commanded the father to deliver up Virginia till the affair has been decided, Virginius bursts out into the words:

‘O man, o mould, oh mucke, o Clay, o Hell, o hellish hounde,
O false judge Appius, etc.'

and Virginia entreats to be killed. This takes place between the scenes, and Virginius goes to Appius and tells him what he has done. The latter invokes Justice and Reward to punish the murderer, and they actually appear, but condemn Appius himself to suffer death. He is accordingly led off by Virginius, but as we afterwards hear from the latter, Appius has killed himself in prison. His accomplice, Claudius, is condemned to the gallows, but is pardoned at the intercession of Virginius; it is only Haphazard, 'the Vice,' who in the end is actually hanged. Besides Justice and Reward, there appear the other allegorical figures of Conscience, Comfort, Rumour, Fancy, Doctrina, and Memoria, without, however, interfering with the action; the two last-mentioned figures appear only at the end, in order to erect a monument in honour of Virginia's virtue. The double nature of Haphazard forms, as it were, the mediator between the allegorical and the historical personages. He is a species of Every Man's man, but appears more particularly to be in the service of Appius; he is at the same time the clown of the piece, and, together with the servants of Virginius (Mansipulus, Mansipula and Servus), who are of exactly the same mind as himself

plays the coarse comic scenes, which in this case, again, are appended to the main action like a vulgar and inappropriate decoration. The piece, as a whole, is distinguished only by the fact that in the tragic portions we find the first, although, indeed, unsuccessful attempt, to form an actual pathetic diction, and that accordingly the most vulgar farce alternates with the most exaggerated, most lamentable pathos. In this respect the piece may be regarded as the first point of transition to Kyd's and Marlowe's tragedies (for it certainly was performed upon the popular stage, as is evident from the stage directions). The verse is the Alexandrine with fourteen syllables, as in Preston's 'Cambyses'; still, we also meet with very short lines with alternate rhymes, as in Skelton.

The allegory by degrees dropped more and more out of the action, and disappeared, as it were, into the extremities, until, finally, allegorical figures, like Vengeance in the celebrated Hieronimo,' and in 'The Spanish Tragedy,' or of Fortune and Death in 'Soliman and Perseda'-accompany the action only in the form of a prologue or chorus.

6

F

CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST REGULAR COMEDY.

BEFORE, however, the Moralities began to be thus transformed into actual dramas in the manner and by such plays as were discussed in our last chapter,* and before the Miracle plays, by such attempts as Jacob and Esau' and other pieces of a similar kind, came within a closer proximity to their highest perfection, which was attained by George Peele's 'David and Bethsabe' (the oldest known example of a regular drama from Bible History), Comedy, with the help of ancient examples, arose out of Heywood's Interludes, and, in some instances, manifested so great a degree of development, that these have been justly hailed as the first regular dramas. The earliest piece of this kind was not discovered till the year 1818; up to that date Gammer Gurton's Needle' was thought to be the oldest. It was written by Nicholas Udall, a scholar, who was born about the year 1505, and after 1534 and for several successive years was headmaster of Eton, afterwards headmaster of Westminster, and died in 1556.† The play, in all probability, did not appear in print till the year 1566: but as it is already mentioned in Wilson's 'Rule of Reason,' as early as the year 1551, it must have been generally known at that time; nay, to judge from some allusions occurring in the play, it was perhaps written between the years 1530-40. It bears the title of Ralph Royster Doyster,' and the author himself in the prologue calls it,

* To these plays, in the domain of comedy, may further be added. Tom Tiler and his Wife, The Disobedient Child, by Thom. Ingeland (both written between 1560-70), and some others. (Collier, l.c., p. 353 f. 360 f.)

For further details about him and his life see W. D. Cooper's edition of Ralph Roister Doister, a Comedy by N. Udall, and the Tragedy of Gorbobuc, etc. (Printed for the Shakspeare Society, London, 1847); Introductory Memoir, p. xi. ff.

Collier, Hist. ii., 446 f.