PLAYHOUSE 
kept pofleffion of the ftage for a very confiderable time. 
So late as the reign of Janies the Firft, a myjiery was exhi¬ 
bited at Oxford before that monarch and his queen, in 
■which Adam and Eve are faid to have been reprefented on 
the ftage in almoft their primitive limplicity, without 
giving the fmalleftoffence to the fpeftators. 
Thefe mummeries have, however, been laid afide in this 
country for more than 200 years. Not fo in Pruffia, 
where fo lately as Oft. 1817, it was thought fit to ifi'ue a 
circular letter from the Minifter of Police, by which all 
police-officers are ordered to take the ftrifteft care that 
“-ftrolling players, puppet-lhow men, and the like, fhall 
not publicly reprefent any fcenes from the Bible or the 
paffion of our Saviour.” 
It will furprife the reader dill more to find fuch repre- 
fentations about the fame time in France. An intelligent 
traveller, in a letter dated Strafburg, 20th Sept. 1816, 
gives the following account of a reprefentation at the 
theatre there a few evenings previoufiy to the above date. 
“ On the curtain being drawn up, there was difplayed, 
midway between the ftage and ceiling, a young perfon 
reprefenting an angel moving his wings with a gentle 
winnowing motion, and regarding, at the fame time, with 
looks of benign complacency, a young woman, whofe 
eyes were fixed on him with the molt reverential awe; all 
the while the harmonica, a moft heavenly inftrument, 
concealed from view, played a facred tune, which added 
greatly to the delufion of the fcene. You will fcarcely, 
I think, require to be informed that this reprefented the 
Annunciation after the celebrated pifture by Guido; at 
lead, if you had witnefled it with me, you, who have feen 
that famous pifture, would have inftantly recognifed a 
ftriking refemblance. Scarcely had the flight murmur of 
approbation, or rather of delight and fatisfaftion, which 
followed the falling of the curtain,Tubfided, when it was 
again drawn up, difclofing the fhepherds at the manger, 
after the great pifture of Dominechino, the harmonica 
playing as in the former fcene. The third fcene, likewife 
accompanied by the fame delightful inftrument, was the 
adoration of the wife men after the pifture by Rembrandt. 
The next reprefented the miracle performed by our 
Saviour on the young man of Nain, by railing him to life 
from the bier on which he was carried out from the houfe 
of his widowed mother, after the pifture by Leonardo 
da Vinci. The fifth and laft fcene of this firft aft was the 
appearance of Chrift to two of his difciples at Emmaus ; 
where, as he fat at meat, he difcovered himleif to them 
in the breaking of bread. Thefe two laft fcenes were 
accompanied by the organ. 
“The firft fcene of the fecond aft was the Lord’s 
Supper; the twelve at table, as in the pifture by Guido ; 
and the difciple whom Jefus loved leaning on his bofom. 
the next was the wafhing of feet, in which our Saviour is 
reprefented on his knees before Simon Peter. The 
Scourging previous to the crucifixion was the third fcene 
of this aft, and was accompanied by the voices of females 
fingingm parts. This fcene contained a great number of 
perfons, as, befides Jefus, Pontius Pilate, the chief priefts, 
the executioner, with upraifed hand, ready to ftrike,, the 
remote part of the ftage was covered with Roman foldiers 
and Jewiffi rabble. The arrangement of this fcene had 
been taken, I thought, from the pifture by Salvator Rofa. 
The crown of thorns was the fourth and concluding fcene 
of this aft. It reprefented Jefus arrayed in a magnificent 
robe of purple, and holding a reed in his right hand. He 
was in the midft of his perfecutors, fome of whom were 
kneeling in mockery before him. This fcene, like the 
former, was accompanied by a plaintive long. 
“The drop-fcene now fell for the fecond time; and on 
being again raifed, difplayed the Crucifixion' in all its 
horrors. The perfons introduced here were the fame as 
in the laft fcene, with the addition of the Mother of Jefus, 
the two Maries, and the malefaftors; but this moll 
ftriking fcene was very ffiort, owing either to the painful 
nature of the fubjeft, or to the inability of thofe on the 
Von. XX. No. 1398. 
G53 
crofs to bear a longer fufpenfion by the arms and head. 
The Defcent from the Crofs was likewife a fhort fcene, 
ending as foon as the body was received into the arms of 
Jofeph of Arimathea. Our Saviour’s Refurreftion from 
the dead, with an accompaniment of a powerful organ, was 
the laft fcene. Here the keepers appointed by the chief 
priefts and Pharifees appear watching at the mouth of the 
fepulchre, the door of which is blocked up by a great 
Hone; the angel of the Lord defcends, rolls back the 
ftone with apparently fuper-human ftrength, and fits upon 
it; the keepers fall down fenfelefs, Jefus rifes from the 
dead, and while he is afcending towards heaven the cur¬ 
tain drops. Thus ended this awful reprefentation, the 
remembrance of which, from its ftriking charafter, height¬ 
ened by the unexpefted manner in which I witnefled it, 
can never be effaced from my memory. 
“In this reprefentation, unlike the Myfteries or Mira¬ 
cles which were formerly afted in England, there was not 
a word fpoken; and, with exception of fcenes fourth and 
fifth of the firft aft, and fecond and third of the laft aft, 
little or no motion.” 
Toreturn from this digreffion. The firft Engliffi drama 
approaching to a regular tragedy, was called Ferrex and 
Par rex ; it was afted before queen Elizabeth, on the 18th 
of January, 1561, by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple. 
It partakes rather of the charafter of an hiftorical than of 
a claffical drama; although more nearly allied to the 
latter clafs than the chronicle plays which afterwards 
took pofleflion of the ftage. The three firft afts were 
written by Richard Norton, the two laft by Thomas 
Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurll: the plot is from 
the Englifh chronicles. Sir Philip Sidney highly com¬ 
mends this play, which he calls by the name of Gorboduc, 
from one of the principal characters. Afted by a learned 
body, and written in great part by the principal author of 
the Mirror for Magillrates, the firft of Englifh tragedies 
afl'umed in fome degree the honours of the learned bufkin ; 
but, although a chorus was prefented according to the 
claflical model, the play was free from the obfervance of 
the unities, and contains many irregularities feverely 
condemned by the regular critics. 
Englifh comedy, conlidered as a regular compofition, is 
faid to have commenced with Gammer Gurton’s Needle. 
This comedy was the fuppofed compofition of John Still, 
Mailer of Arts, and afterwards bifhop of Bath and Wells. 
It was afted in Chrift-Church College, Cambridge, in 
1575. It is a piece of low humour; the whole jell 
turning upon the lofs and recovery of the needle with 
which Gammer Gurton was to repair the breeches of het¬ 
man Hodge; but, in point of manners, it is a great cu- 
riofity, as the curta fuppellex of our anceftors is fcarcely 
any where fo well defcribed. The popular charafters alfo, 
the Sturdy Beggar, the Clown, the Country Vicar, and 
the Shrew, of the fixteenth century, are drawn in colours 
taken from the life. The unity of time, place, and 
aftion, are obferved through the play with an accuracy of 
which France might be jealous. The time is a few hours ; 
the place, the open fquare of the village before Gammer 
Gurton’s door; the aftion, the lofs of the needle; and 
this, followed by the fearc'n for and final recovery of that 
neceffary implement, is intermixed with no other thwart¬ 
ing or lubordinate interell, but is progreffive from the 
commencement to the conclufion. This play was firft 
printed in 4to. in the year 1661. The original title runs 
thus: “A Ryght Pythy, Pleafant, and merie, Comedie; 
intytuled Gammer Gurton’s Nedle; played on the Stage 
not longe ago in Chrilte’s Colledge in Cambridge; made 
by Mr. S. Mailer of Arts : Imprynted at London in Fleete 
Streeate, beneth the Conduit, at the Signe of St.John 
Evangelift, by Thomas Colwell.” It was printed in the 
ancient black letter, but has been republifiled in a more 
legible manner, yet Hill preferving the ancient way of 
fpelling, in Dodlley’s Colleftion of Old Plays. It is re¬ 
markable that the earlieft Englifh tragedy and comedy are 
both works of conliderable merit; that each partakes of 
8 D the 
