Young—William Gager's Defence of Academic Stage. 615 
you doe; whoe ever would resemble owre Melantho, with your 
Laureolus x ? the on represented by an ingenuus boye, and for her 
lewdnes imagined to be hanged within; the other acted by Lentulus , 
a man noblye descended, expressinge perhapps openly one the 
Stage, the deformytye of the same punishment, what likenes 
is there betweene owre yonge men, puttinge on the persons of 
Antinous , and the rest of Penelope's wooers; and betweene gentyll- 
men of the noble race of Fabius, in their owne persons, not so muche 
cownterfettinge others, as expressinge their owne scurrilytyes? 
suche as owre Antinous , and the rest of the woers, can not iustly 
be charged with; no not owre Irus, or Vlysses 1 2 3 . for thoughe Juuenal 
thought it dishonorable and shamfull, as he well might, that noble 
men shoulde take blowes and whirrytts openly, and that the 
peeple should rather have pittyed, then liked suche behaviour in 
their nobylytye, yet he thought so rather in respect of the actors, 
beeinge <!p. 49> suche as thay weare, that is, noble men (as it 
appeerethe by the whole drifte of his Satyr, alleaged by you so 
muche, which is not agaynst Playes, for them he nowhere, that I 
knowe, reprehendethe, but to shewe that trwe nobylytye is to be 
esteemed by the vertues of the mynde, and not by bludd, or 
ancyent howses) then for any other thinge, specialy if it weare no 
wurse, then is represented in owre Irus or Vlysses. for neyther 
would Juuenal hym selfe, if he weare alyve, reprehend eyther the 
speeches thay vse, or the devyse of bringinge them in so meane 
and beggerlye, because bothe are Homer's; neyther is their any 
suche thinge in their partes, that may make vs base or ridiculous, 
or scurryle, for representinge them. Vnhappy Vlysses, to whome as 
it was fatall ever to be in troble in his life, so is he more hardly 
dealt withall after his deathe, that his person may not honestly be 
resembled withowte note of infamye to the Actor, which if I had 
knowne, howsoever he returned in Ithacam, he shoulde never have 
cumne in Scenam by my means. Agayne, what resemblance is 
there betweene owre Hippodamia only singing, Eurymachus only 
sayinge, Phemius bothe singinge and sayinge, all three represented 
by suche as thay weare; and betweene Nero, playinge menn’s, 
weemen’s, and minstrells partes vpon the Stage in Rome 3i l lett us 
therfor consider breefely the force of your arguinge. Many noble 
men, and Nero hym selfe, weare infamous, for playinge, thoughe 
freely, menn’s and weemen’s partes, and specialye Nero for sing¬ 
inge like a fidler on the Stage; Ergo Schollers and the Students of 
Christchurche, are to be noted with a marke of infamye, for play¬ 
inge, thoughe gratis , suche partes as thay did in Vlysse Reduce; 
1 See above, p. 612, note 1. 
2 See above, ibid. 
3 See above, ibid. 
