Jj 



DRAM A. 



ing the mind.-, of tin- people from Uie Pagan i. 

 nics, particularly thi 1 Bacchanalian and culcnd.tr\ 

 remonics, by the substitution of Christian spectacles 

 partaking of the saiiu- spirit of !!c. nt But a 



still carlit-r, :uul more curious, sp<.cimc:i of theatri- 

 <-f sacred I mentioned by 



tlie hi-torian i-i poetry. Some fragmcuts (he 



say*) of ail ancient Jewin play on tin- F.xodu-*, or the 

 departure of the Israelites from Egypt, are yet pre- 

 served in Greek iambics. Tlie principal character-* of 

 this dnuna, are Muses, Sapphira, and God from the 

 bush. Moses delivers the prologue, or introduction, 

 in a speech of sixty lines, and his roil is turned into 

 a serpent on the stage. The author of this pic- 

 T'zekicl, a Jew, who was called 'o tat \v&xix.ur Tfy- 

 3i *-*i1f, or tin- tragic poet of the .lews. Mr Warton 

 is of opinion, that Ezekiel composed tills play in imi- 

 tation of the Greek drama, at the close of the second 

 century after the destruction of Jerusalem ; andcvm 

 in the time of Harocbas, as a political -.pccL-iclc, with 

 a view to animate his countrymen with hopes of a fu- 

 ture deliverance and restoration. Boilcati, in the sub- 

 joined verses, considers the ancient pilgrimages to have 

 introduced those sacred mysteries into France. 



("Aft no* dnots aycux le theatre abharrc. 



/'( long-tcmi dant la France ttnc phiisir ignorv 



De Pekritu, ait on, ttne troupe griasicrc 



* public, a Pant, y monta la premiere ; 



Et totement tike en la timplicite, 



Jnna let mints, la I'ierge, et Die*, ;>nr piii'\ 



I>e tavoir, a la Jin, dissipant Ci^iiorance, 



fit voir, de ce projet, la devote imprudence : 



On chasta ce* docteun pn'ckant saw mission, 



On vit renaitre Hector, Andramaqut, //ion. 



The authority to which Boileau alludes is Moncs- 

 trier, an intelligent French antiquary. The pilgrims 

 who returned from Jerusalem, St James of Compos- 

 tella, St Beaume of Provence, and others, composed 

 songs on their adventures, intermixing recitals of pas- 

 sages in the life of Chri.it, descriptions of his cruci- 

 fixion, of miracles, and martyrdoms. To these tiles, 

 which were recommended by a pathetic chaunt, anil 

 a variety of gesticulations, the credulity of the multi- 

 tude gave the name of visions. These pious itinerants 

 travelled in companies, and taking their stations in the 

 most public streets, and sinning with their staves in 

 their hands, and their hats and mantles fantastically 

 adonied with shells and emblems painted in various 

 colours, formed a sort of theatrical spectacle. At length 

 their performances excited the charity anil commission 

 of some citizens of I'.-ri.*, who erected a theatre, in 

 which they might exhibit their religious stoiies with 

 the addition of scenery and decorations. To those 

 (continues the ingenious author already quoted) who 

 re accustomed to contemplate the great picture of hu- 

 man follies which the unpolished ages ot Europe hold 

 up to our view, it will not appear surprising, that the 

 people who were forbidden to read the events of the 

 sacred history in the Bible, in which they were faith- 

 fully and beautifully related, should, at the same time, 

 be permitted to see them represented on tlie 

 disgraced with Uie grossest improprieties corrupted 

 with inventions and additions of the most ridiculous 

 kind sullied with impurities, and expressed in the 

 language and gesticulations of the lowest farce. On 

 the whole, the mysteries appear to have originated 

 among the ccclcsiiinticx, and were, most probably, first 

 acted, at least with any degree of form, by the monks. 

 Tl* play wf St Cuthvrm was performed by the novices 



at Ihm.-table Abbey, in the eleventh century, under the r>rn>. 

 Mi|H'rinUndance of (.uoliroy, a Parisian vclcia-: : *"- ' 

 and the e\hibilion of tlii by the mem! 



I' Cox entry and other j>; 



From the end of the 1 1th to the verge ofthi- - Trouta* 



tury, the troubadours were the pre-eminent pi-ot- 

 mpe; but it do*.-, not appear that they coin 

 ly. either to the formation of a regular the itiv or 

 refinement of drain Ti- . 



sehne Faydit. one of the principal ; 

 are, however, mentioned us a]> ( i. 

 thirteenth century; and one of them, writ: 



ir 1-JlO, entitled // 



M of PriesU, is still extant. It is a \ ioler;; 

 the Roman cKrgy. I'aydit, it a], 

 author and an actor. About the \ 



Parasols, another troubadour, eon f rroh, 



tragedies det Ceslex de Jchanne li<i/i,c >! .\(./;/<-.,. 'J'hi-, A. n. ijso. 

 Jane, queen of Naples, was a monster, who, at 

 teen \c;u-sofagc, assassinated her husband, an. I 

 finished her career by being smothered lx.-r.u-in lo 

 mattre.sses. The troubadour, who celebrated her < \- 

 ploits and death, was her conteni|>orarv. and must llave 

 celebrated her crimes while she was yet living. 



During the fourteenth century, the dramatic hi 

 of Europe pre-cnts nothing but sacred myMcrics. The 

 church itself might, indeed, be said to become a tin 

 festivals were not merely celebrated, but represented. 

 On the death of the three kings, (tlie fcMival alter 

 Christmas, Kill called Hogmanay in Scotland,) t 

 priests, habited like kings, conducted by the figun- of 

 a star which appeared at the top of the church, went 

 to a manger, and oflered their gifts. The > 

 were 1 , in all proba'.nlity, for the iiio-t p-irt acted with 

 dumb show. To trace the fi.>t transition fioni i 

 to the regul.ir drama, or to ascertain which of the na- 

 tions of Knrope had the honour of first making that 

 transition, is a tuck of extreme difficulty. It .- 

 however, upon the whole, most admissible, that ltai\ 

 may first claim that distinction. In the age of I.d- a ' 

 ren/o de Medici, (says tlie elegant historian of that 

 house,) those ill-judged representation! (the myMcries) 

 began to assim'e a more respectable form, and to be 

 united with dialogue. One oi' the earlie.-t examples of 

 the sacred drama, is the Rtjtprete*t**O1U of St 

 vanni and St Paolo, by Lorenzo de Medici. Cimtacci 

 "ires, that this piece was written at the time of 

 the marriage of Maddelena, one of the daughters of 

 Loren/.o, to I'rancisco t ibo, nephew of Innocent \'1I1. 

 and that it was performed by his own children ; there 

 being many p:r-sa;i;rs which seeni to lie intended as 

 precepts for such as are entrusted with the direction of 

 a state, and which particularly point out the line of 

 conduct which he and his aiuotors had pursued, in ob- 

 taining and preserving their influence in i-'lor. 

 The coadjutors of Loren/.o in this attempt to m< li 

 the imperfect st.,te of the drama, were 1'eo lie Icari, 

 Bernardo I'ulci, and his wile Madonna Aiitoni.i de 

 Tanini. That l.oren/o had it in conU -mplation to em*- 

 ))Uv drauiatic composition in other subjects, i- .1) o aji- 

 parent. Among his poem, there is t'oiind an attempt 

 to substitute the deifies of Greece and Home for the 

 saints and martyrs of the Christian church ; but the 

 jealous temper of the national religion seems, for a 

 time, to have restrained the progress which might have 

 been otherwise made in this important depaUnicnt of 

 letters. After a faint dawn in the tivgcdie-* oi' Galcot- 

 to, Antonio da Pixtoia, mid Bernardo Accolti, the rise 

 of' the Italian draiua properly commence* with Triwi- 



2 



