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acters, took place during the earlier part of the 16th century; and 
' with this, aided by the Greek dramatic literature, which now began 
to be studied, the genuine English drama took its rise. 
“Ralph Doyster Doyster, a dramatic picture of London Life,” 
written by Nicholas Udall, master of Westminster school about the 
year 1550 is, as far as is known, the first English comedy. Next 
comes “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,” a comedy written by John Still, 
bishop of Bath and Wells, a humourous but somewhat coarse writer 
of that period. It is to be observed that both these plays were 
written by clergymen. As specimens of something between the 
Moral plays and the then modern drama, the interludes of John 
Heywood may be mentioned. He was a wit and musician at the 
court of King Henry VIII. MHeywood’s dramatic compositions 
embraced all the fun of the broadest farce, coupled with no small 
amount of skill and talent. One of these productions called “The 
four P.’s,” turns upon a dispute between a Palmer, a Pedlar, a 
Pardoner, and a Poticary, as to who shall tell the grossest false- 
hood, when the Palmer incidentally states he never saw a woman 
out of patience in his life, which takes the rest off their guard, and 
they immediately yield him the palm. 
The regular drama from the first was divided into two parts, 
Comedy and Tragedy. ‘Tragedy is of later origin than Comedy, 
being taken from the elevated portions of the Moral plays, and 
from the pure models of Greece and Rome. The earliest 
known tragedy is that of “Ferrex and Porrex,” composed by 
Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset, and it was played before Queen 
Elizabeth by the students of the Inner Temple in January, 1561. 
By a sudden and enormous stride the English drama reached 
the magnificent creations of Shakespere in a few years after the 
productions of its earliest perfect specimens. Not half a century 
after John Heywood amused the court of King Henry VIII, 
Queen Elizabeth and her Maids of Honour assembled to witness the 
misfortunes of old John Falstaff, or to admire the greatest tragedies 
