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only one famous dramatist, Philip Massinger, an unfortunate 
author, whose days were spent in obscurity and poverty. He 
wrote the play of “A New Way to Pay Old Debts.” The 
principal character, Sir Giles Overreach, being a satire upon a 
famous Judge of the Star Chamber, one Sir George Mompesson, 
an old and griping usurer. This dramatist was singularly gifted, 
and wrote with-delicacy, force, and expression. He died in 
London, and was buried at Covent Garden, where a stone, for 
more than a century, recorded that here lies Philip Massinger, “a 
stranger.” John Ford was another writer of this age, as was 
Thomas Heywood, who wrote upwards of two hundred plays, very 
few of which have remained to the present day. Speaking of the 
men and boys who represented the female characters, it is some- 
what amusing to us who have so many talented ladies to represent 
the beautiful creations of the dramatist, to find that, in the time of 
Charles I., the curtain could not be allowed to rise because Juliet 
had not shaved, or Portia had to remove a heavy beard. The old 
dramatists, too, had other things to fight against than men playing 
women’s parts,—the theatres were generally platforms run up in 
Inn yards, where the galleries around formed the boxes and dress 
circle. In Gloucester and Worcester, several old-fashioned Inns 
are still remaining, where tradition states that Shakespere had 
played his part. In London the first licensed theatre, the Black- 
friars, was not erected till 1576, and then the stage portion alone 
was covered, leaving the audience part exposed to the rain and 
cold. 
It must have been a hard thing for the dramatist in those days 
to have seen his plays acted for the first time—it being customary 
for the gay gallants to sit upon the stage (which was then strewn 
with rushes), during the performance, and join in freely with the 
actor commenting upon the ability or weakness of the conception 
of the author. 
The want of scenery and other adjuncts must have militated 
