in their works. "Of late days," says Stow, "in place of those stage plays* hath been used comedies, tragedies, enterludes and histories both true and fayned."-Beaumont and Fletcher, in the prologue to "The Captain," say, "This is nor Comedy, nor Tragedy, Polonius in "Hamlet" commends the actors, as the best in the world, "either for tragedie, comedie, historie, pastorall," &c. And Shakspeare's friends, Heminge and Condell, in the first folio edition of his plays, in 1623, have not only entitled their book "Mr. William Shakspeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies" but in their table of contents have arranged them under those three several heads; placing in the class of histories, "K. John, Richard II., Henry IV., 2 pts. Henry V., Henry VI., 3 pts. Rich. III., and Henry VIII.;" to which they might have added such of his other plays as have their subjects taken from the old Chronicles, or Plutarch's lives. Although Shakspeare is found not to have been the first who invented this species of drama, yet he cultivated it with such superior success. and threw upon this simple inartificial tissue of scenes such a blaze of genius that his histories maintain their ground in defiance of Aristotle and all the critics of the classic school, and will ever continue to interest and instruct an English audience. Before Shakspeare wrote, historical plays do not appear to have attained this distinction, being not mentioned in Q. Elizabeth's license in 1574|| to James Burbage and others, who are only impowered “to use, exercyse, and occupie, the arte and facultye of playenge comedies, tragedies, enterludes, stage-playes, and such other like."-But when Shakspeare's histories had become the ornaments of the stage, they were considered by the public, and by himself, as a formal and necessary species, and are thenceforth so distin The Creation of the World, acted at Skinners Well in 1409. † See Stow's Survey of London, 1603, 4to., p. 94, (said in the title page to be "written in the year 1598.") See also Warton's Observations on Spenser, vol. ii. p. 109. The same distinction is continued in the 2d and 3d folios, &c. See Malone's Shaksp. vol. i. part ii. p. 31. guished in public instruments. They are particularly inserted in the license granted by K. James I., in 1603,* to W. Shakspeare himself, and the players his fellows; who are authorized "to use and exercise the arte and faculty of playing comedies, tragedies, histories, interludes, morals, pastorals, stageplaies, and such like." The same merited distinction they continued to maintain after his death, till the theatre itself was extinguished; for they are expressly mentioned in a warrant in 1622, for licensing certain "late comedians of Q. Anne deceased, to bring up children in the qualitie and exercise of playing comedies, histories, interludes, morals, pastorals, stageplaies, and such like." The same appears in an admonition issued in 1637 by Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, then Lord Chamberlain, to the master and wardens of the company of printers and stationers; wherein is set forth the complaint of his Majesty's servants the players, that "diverse of their books of comedyes and tragedyes, chronicle-historyes, and the like," had been printed and published to their prejudice, &c. This distinction we see, prevailed for near half a century; but after the Restoration, when the stage revived for the entertainment of a new race of auditors, many of whom had been exiled in France, and formed their taste from the French theatre, Shakspeare's histories appear to have been no longer relished; at least the distinction respecting them is dropped in the patents that were immediately granted after the king's return. This appears not only from the allowance to Mr. William Beeston in June 1660,2 to use the house in Salisbury-court "for a playhouse, wherein comedies, tragedies, tragi comedies, pastoralls, and interludes, may be acted," but also from the fuller grant (dated August 21, 1760)|| to Thomas Killegrew, Esq., and Sir William Davenant, knt., by which *See Malone's Shaksp. vol. i. pt. ii. p. 40. Ibid. p. 49. Here Histories, or Historical Plays, are found totally to have excluded the mention of Tragedies; a proof of their superior popularity. In an Order for the King's Comedians to attend K. Charles I. in his summer's progress, 1636 (Ibid. p. 144), Histories are not particularly mentioned: but so neither are tragedies: they being briefly directed to "act playes, comedyes, and interludes, without any lett," &c. Ibid, p. 139. This is believed to be the date by Mr. Malone, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 239. Ibid. p. 244. they have authority to erect two companies of players, and to fit up two theatres "for the representation of tragydies, comedyes, playes, operas, and all other entertainments of that nature." V. We have now brought the inquiry as low as was intended, but cannot quit it, without entering into a short description of what may be called the Economy of the ancient English stage. Such was the fondness of our forefathers for dramatic entertainments, that not fewer than nineteen play-houses had been opened before the year 1633, when Prynne published his Histriomastix.* From this writer it should seem that "tobacco, wine and beer,"† were in those days the usual accommodations in the theatre, as within our memory at Sadler's Wells. With regard to the players themselves, the several companies were (as hath been already shown)‡ retainers, or menial servants to particular noblemen, who protected them in the exercise of their profession; and many of them were occasionally Strollers, that But while Shakspeare was the favourite dramatic poet, his histories had such superior merit, that he might well claim to be the chief, if not the only historic dramatist that kept possession of the English stage; which gives a strong support to the tradition mentioned by Gildon, that, in a conversation with Ben Jonson, our bard vindicated his historical plays, by urging, that, as he had found "the nation in general very ignorant of history, he wrote them in order to instruct the people in this particular." This is assigning not only a good motive, but a very probable reason for his preference of this species of composition; since we cannot doubt but his illiterate countrymen would not only want such instruc- * He speaks in p. 492, of the Playhouses in Bishopgate tion when he first began to write, notwith-street, and on Ludgate Hill, which are not among the standing the obscure dramatic chroniclers who preceded him; but also that they would highly profit by his admirable lectures on English history so long as he continued to deliver them to his audience. And, as it implies no claim to his being the first who qualities, spend 2d., 3d., 4d.. 6d., 12d., 18d., 2s.. and someintroduced our chronicles on the stage, I see not why the tradition should be rejected. Upon the whole, we have had abundant proof that both Shakspeare and his contemporaries considered his histories, or historical plays, as of a legitimate distinct species, sufficiently separate from tragedy and comedy; a distinction which deserves the particular attention of his critics and commentators; who, by not adverting to it, deprive him of his proper defence and best vindication for his neglect of the Unities, and departure from the classical dramatic forms. For, if it be the first canon of sound criticism to examine and work by whatever rule the author prescribed for his own observance, then we ought not to try Shakspeare's Histories by the general laws of tragedy or comedy. Whether the rule itself be vicious or not, is another inquiry; but certainly we ought to examine a work only by those principles according to which it was composed. This would save a deal of impertinent criticism. *See Malone's Shaksp. vol. vi. p. 427. This ingenious writer will, with his known liberality, excuse the difference of opinion here entertained concerning the above tradition. seventeen enumerated in the Preface to Dodsley's Old Plays. Nay, it appears from Rymer's MSS. that twenty-three Play houses had been at different periods open in London: and even six of them at one time. See Malone's Shaksp. vol. i. pt. ii. p. 48. So, I think, we may infer from the following passage, viz. "How many are there, who, according to their several times 48. or 5s. at a play-house day by day, if coach-hire, boathire, tobacco, wine, beere, and such like vaine expences, which playes do usually occasion, be cast into the reckon ing?" Prynne's Hystriom. p. 322. But that tobacco was smoked in the playhouses, appears from Taylor the water-poet, in his proclamation for tobacco's propagation. "Let play-houses, drinking-schools, taverns, &c., be continually haunted with the contaminous vapours of it; nay (if it be possible) bring it into the Churches, and there choak up their preachers." (Works, p. 253.) And this was really the case at Cambridge: James I. sent a letter, in 1607, against "taking tobacco" in St. Mary's. So I learn from my friend Dr. Farmer. A gentleman has informed me, that once going into a church in Holland, he saw the male part of the audience sitting with their hats on, smoking tobacco, while the preacher was holding forth in his morning gown. See the extracts above, in p. 139, from the Earl of Northumb. Houshold Book. See the Pref. to Dodsley's Old Plays.-The author of an old invective against the Stage, called a third Blast of Retrait from Plaies, &c., 1580, 12mo., says, "Alas! that private affection should so raigne in the nobilitie, that to pleasure their servants, and to upholde them in their vanitye, they should restraine the magistrates from executing their office!.... They [the nobility] are thought to be covetous by permitting their servants... to live at the devotion or almes of other men, passing from countrie to countrie, from one gentleman's house to another, offering their service, which is a kind of beggerie. Who indeede, to speake more truelie, are become beggers for their ser vants. For comonlie the good-wil, men beare to their Lordes, makes them draw the stringes of their purses to extend their liberalitie." Vid. pag. 75, 76, &c. travelled from one gentlemen's house to another. Yet so much were they encouraged, that, notwithstanding their multitude, some of them acquired large fortunes. Edward Allen, master of the play-house called the Globe, who founded Dulwich College, is a known instance. And an old writer speaks of the very inferior actors, whom he calls the hirelings, as living in a degree of splendour, which was thought enormous in that frugal age.* At the same time the ancient prices of admission were often very low. Some houses had penny-benches.† The "two-penny gallery" is mentioned in the prologue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Woman-Hater,‡ and seats of three-pence and a groat seem to be intended in the passage of Prynne above referred to. Yet different houses varied in their prices that play-house called the Hope had seats of five several rates from six-pence to half-a-crown. But a shilling seems to * Stephen Gosson, in his Schoole of Abuse, 1579, 12mo. fo. 23, says thus of what he terms in his margin Playersmen: "Over lashing in apparel is so common a fault, that the very hyerlings of some of our Players, which stand at revirsion of vi s. by the week, jet under gentlemens noses in sutis of silke, exercising themselves to prating on the stage, and common scoffing when they come abrode, where they look askance over the shoulder at every man, of whom the Sunday before they begged an almes. I speake not this, as though everye one that professeth the qualitie so abused himselfe, for it is well knowen, that some of them are sober, discreete, properly learned, honest housholders and citizens, well-thought on among their neighbours at home" [he seems to mean Edw. Allen above mentioned], "though the pryde of their shadowes (I meane those hangebyes, whom they succour with stipend) cause them to be somewhat il-talked of abroad." .... In a subsequent period we have the following satirical fling at the showy exterior and supposed profits of the actors of that time.-Vid. Greene's Groatsworth of Wit, 1625, 4to. "What is your profession?"-"Truly, sir,.. I am a Player." "A Player? ..... I took you rather for a Gentleman of great living; for, if by outward habit men should be censured, I tell you, you would be taken for a substantial man." "So I am where I dwell.... What, though the world once went hard with me, when I was fayue to carry my playing-fardle a foot-backe: tempora mutantur.... for my very share in playing apparel will not be sold for two hundred pounds.... Nay more, I can serve to make a pretty speech. for I was a country author, passing at a Moral, &c." See Roberto's Tale, sign. D. 3. b. So a MS. of Oldys, from Tom Nash, an old pamphlet writer. And this is confirmed by Taylor the Water-poet, in his Praise of Beggerie, p. 99. "Yet have I seen a begger with his many, [sc. vermin] Come at a play-house, all in for one penny." So in the Belman's Night-walks by Decker, 1616, 4to. "Pay thy two-pence to a player, in this gallery thou mayest sit by a harlot." Induct to Ben Jonson's Bartholomew-fair. An ancient satirical piece, called "The Blacke Book, Lond. 1604, 4to." have been the usual price* of what is now called the Pit, which probably had its nanie from one of the play-houses having been a Cock-pit.† The day originally set apart for theatrical exhibition appears to have been Sunday; probably because the first dramatic pieces were of a religious cast. During a great part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the playhouses were only licensed to be opened on that day;‡ but before the end of her reign, or soon after, this abuse was probably removed. The usual time of acting was early in the afternoon, plays being generally performed talks of "The six-penny Roomes in Playhouses;" and leaves a legacy to one whom he calls “Arch-tobacco taker of England, in ordinaries, upon stages both common and private." *Shaksp. Prol. to Hen. VIII.-Beaum. and Fletch. Prol. to the Captain, and to the Mad-lover. This etymology hath been objected to by a very ingenious writer (see Malone's Shaksp. vol. i. pt. ii. p. 59), who thinks it questionable, because, in St. Mary's church at Cambridge, the area that is under the pulpit, and surrounded by the galleries, is (nov) called the pit; which, he says, no one can suspect to have been a cock-pit, or that a playhouse phrase could be applied to a church.-But whoever is acquainted with the licentiousness of boys, will not think it impossible that they should thus apply a name so peculiarly expressive of its situation: which from frequent use might at length prevail among the senior members of the university; especially when those young men became seniors themselves. The name of pit, so applied at Cambridge, must be deemed to have been a cant phrase, until it can be shown that the area in other churches was usually so called. So Ste. Gosson, in his Schoole of abuse, 1579, 12mo., speaking of the players, says,These, because they are allowed to play every Sunday, make iiii or v. Sundayes at least every week, fol. 24.-So the author of a Second and Third Blast of Retrait from Plaies, 1580, 12mo. "Let the magistrate but repel them from the libertie of placing on the Sabboth-daie. . . . To plaie on the Sabboth is but a privilege of sufferance, and might with ease be repelled, were it thoroughly followed," pag. 61, 62. So again, Is not the Sabboth of al other daies the most abused?... Wherefore abuse not so the Sabboth-daie, my brethren ; leave not the temple of the Lord.".... "Those unsaverie morsels of unseemelie sentences passing out of the mouth of a ruffenlie plaier, doth more content the hungrie humors of the rude multitude, and carrieth better rellish in their mouthes, than the bread of the worde," &c. Vid. pag. 63, 65, 69, &c. I do not recollect that exclamations of this kind occur in Prynne, whence I conclude that this enormity no longer subsisted in his time. It should also seem from the author of the Third Blast above quoted, that the churches still continued to be used occasionally for theatres. Thus, in p. 77, he says, that the players (who, as hath been observed, were servants of the nobility), "under the title of their maisters, or as reteiners, are priviledged to roave abroad, and permitted to publish their mametree in everie temple of God, and that throughout England, unto the horrible contempt of praier." "He entertaines us" (says Overbury in his character of an Actor) "in the best leasure of our life, that is, be I say "no English Actress-on the public stage," because Prynne speaks of it as an unusual enormity, that "they had French-women actors in a play not long since personated in Blackfriars Playhouse." This was in 1629, vid. page 215. And though female parts were performed by men or boys on the public stage, yet, in masques at court, the queen and her ladies made no scruple to perform the principal parts, especially in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. Sir William Davenant, after the Restoration, introduced women, scenery, and higher prices. See Cibber's Apology for his own Life. See a short Discourse on the English Stage, subjoined to Flecknor's "Love's Kingdom," 1674, 12mo. It appears from an Epigram of Taylor, the Water poet, that one of the principal Theatres in his time, viz. The Globe on the Bankside, Southwark (which Ben Jonson calls the Glory of the Bank, and Fort of the whole parish), had been covered with thatch till it was burnt down in 1813. See Taylor's Sculler, Epig. 22, p. 31. Jonson's Exe cration on Vulcan. Puttenham tell us they used Vizards in his time, "partly to supply the want of players, when there were more parts than there were persons, or that it was not thought meet to trouble princes chambers with too many folkes." Art of Eng. Poes. 1589, p. 26. From the last clause, it should seem that they were chiefly used in the Masques at Court. comedies at Venice, he says, "The house is very beggarly and base, in comparison of our stately playhouses in England: neyther can their actors compare with ours for apparrell, shewes, and musicke. Here I observed certaine things that I never saw before: for I saw women act, a thing that I never saw before, though I have heard that it hath been sometimes used in London: and they performed it with as good a grace, action, gesture, and whatsoever convenient for a player, as ever I saw any masculine actor."* It ought, however, to be observed, that, amid such a multitude of playhouses as subsisted in the Metropolis before the Civil Wars, there must have been a great difference between their several accommodations, ornaments, and prices; and that some would be much more showy than others, though probably all were much inferior in splendour to the two great theatres after the Restoration. * ** The preceding Essay, although some of the materials are new arranged, hath received no alteration deserving notice, from what it was in the Second edition, 1767, except in Section iv., which in the present impression hath been much enlarged. This is mentioned because since it was first published, the History of the English Stage hath been copiously handled by Mr. Thomas Warton in his "History of English Poetry, 1774, &c." 3 vols. 4to. (wherein is inserted whatever in these volumes fell in with his subject); and by Edmond Malone, Esq., who in his "Historical Account of the English Stage,' (Shaksp. vol. i. pt. ii., 1790). hath added greatly to our knowledge of the economy and usages of our ancient theatres. * Coryate's Crudities, 4to., 1611, p. 247. 14 I. Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly, were three noted outlaws, whose skill in archery rendered them formerly as famous in the North of England, as Robin Hood and his fellows were in the midland counties. Their place of residence was in the forest of Englewood, not far from Carlisle, (called corruptly in the ballad English-wood, whereas Engle- or Ingle-wood signifies wood for firing.) At what time they lived does not appear. The author of the common ballad on "The pedigree, education, and marriage, of Robin Hood," makes them contemporary with Robin Hood's father, in order to give him the honour of beating them: viz. The father of Robin a forrester was, As the Pindar of Wakefield does know: to one or two other passages in our old poets "With loynes in canvass bow-case tyde:* I have only to add further concerning the principal hero of this ballad, that the Bells were noted rogues in the north so late as the For he brought Adam Bell, and Clim of the time of Queen Elizabeth. See in Rymer's Clough, And William a Clowdéslee To shoot with our Forester for forty mark; This seems to prove that they were commonly thought to have lived before the popular hero of Sherwood. Our northern archers were not unknown to their southern countrymen: their excellence at the long-bow is often alluded to by our ancient poets. Shakspeare, in his comedy of "Much adoe about nothing," act 1, makes Benedicke confirm his resolves of not yielding to love by this protestation, "If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat,* and shoot at me, and he that hits me, let him be clapt on the shoulder, and called Adam :" meaning Adam Bell, as Theobald rightly observes, who refers Bottles formerly were of leather; though perhaps a wooden bottle might be here meant. It is still a diversion in Scotland to hang up a cat in a small cask, or firkin, half filled with soot; and then a parcel of clowns on horseback try to beat out the ends of it, in order to show their dexterity in escaping before the contents fall upon them. Foedera, a letter from Lord William Howard to some of the officers of state, wherein he mentions them. As for the following stanzas, which will be judged from the style, orthography, and numbers, to be of considerable antiquity, they were here given (corrected in some places by a MS. copy in the Editor's old folio) from a black-letter 4to. Imprinted at London in Lothburge by Wm. Copland (no date). That old quarto edition seems to be exactly followed in Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry, &c. Lond. 1791," 8vo., the variations from which, that occur in the following copy, are selected from many others in the folio MS. above mentioned, and when distinguished by the usual inverted 'comma' have been assisted by conjecture. 66 In the same MS. this ballad is followed by another, entitled Younge Cloudeslee, being a continuation of the present story, and reciting the adventures of William of Cloudesly's son: but greatly inferior to this both in merit and antiquity. * i. e. Each with a canvass bow-case tied round his loins. |