184 THE FINE ARTS. 
their pieces as well as those of Shakspeare, with certain modifications to 
adapt them to the altered taste of the age, are still the ornaments of all 
stages. The French drama had its origin in the above mentioned Mys- 
teries, and had always at first a mystic and religious tendency; but about 
the close of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, Racine, Cor- 
neille, and Moliére formed, according to the rules of Aristotle, a sort of 
canon, to regulate the planning and composition of a drama, and this canon 
is still to all intents and purposes in full force. 
The German drama was cultivated the last. Here too the first begin- 
nings were sacred tragedies and mysteries, which were performed by 
students; but as early as the 15th century the comedies of Terence were 
represented at Augsburg, and about a hundred years later the sacred 
comedies were performed by the pupils of the high schools both in public 
places and before private companies. The reformation here introduced a 
change, as in the Protestant high schools these performances ceased, although 
they were continued down to the 18th century in the Jesuit colleges. Out 
of the so-called itinerant students who took part in these performances there 
were now formed regular companies of players, who traversed the country 
up and down in all directions, staying as long at a place as the people cared to 
witness and listen to their tragedies, farces, andjests. The first strolling com- 
pany of the kind who gained for themselves a certain reputation was that of 
Master Velten or Veltheim, who obtained their license in Saxony at the end 
of the 17th century: they accordingly styled themselves the ‘“ Royal Polish 
and Elector of Saxony’s privileged Court-comedy,” although they wandered 
about everywhere and performed in every considerable town of Germany. 
This company was the first to produce regularly composed dialogue pieces, 
which were translated by Velten from the Italian and Spanish, and doubt- 
less too from the French; still the impromptu comedy retained its footing 
a good while longer in Germany. Several other troupes were formed after 
the pattern of Velten’s; and these had among themselves a body of laws 
regulating the profession, in which the several classes of parts were as 
sharply distinguished from each other as at present. There was a king’s agent, 
a tyrant’s agent, a pantaloon, a merryman (styled cowrtesan, the former 
jack-pudding), &c. In the middle of the 18th century, when Germany 
advanced with giant steps in the cultivation of letters and arts, the drama 
also partook of the general progress; since men of talents and learning, as 
Schréder, Eckhof, Iffland, &c., devoted themselves to it, and rendered the 
actor’s profession respected and honorable. At this time too began the 
erection of permanent theatres, where the better artists had engagements for 
life and received pensions for their old age, while youthful talents were 
cultivated in the newly erected theatrical schools. A distinguished reputa- 
tion was gained and has been maintained down to the latest times by the 
Castle-theatre and the theatre at the Carinthian gate in Vienna, and by the 
theatres in Manheim, Gotha, Weimar, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, 
Dresden, Leipsic, &c., which were under the direction of such men as Dal- 
berg, Goethe, Schroder, Eckhof, Iffand, &c. The most flourishing period of 
the scenic art was at the close of the preceding and the commencement of the 
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