500 
vious information to the magiftrates, re- 
prefented in a comedy, in the moft licen- 
tious manner, the irregularities aod immo- 
ralities of the clergy. “[hefe new a&ors 
_ were ipeediiy punifhed for their infolence: 
not only were nine of them f-ntenced to 
perform a pilgrimage to Rome, but an or- 
dinance was iffued forbidding all comedies 
that had not been examined and permitted 
by the magiftrates of the city. The faine 
circumftance occurred at Vofmeer, at Zi- 
erikzee, in Zealand, and at feveral other 
places. However, neither laws, procla- 
mations, nor punifhments, were capable 
of reftraining the fatires of the Redenry- 
kers ; and their boldnefs at length in- 
cre:fed to fuch a degree, that in 1564 
plays of every kind were prohibited ar 
Hariem, unlefs they had been read and 
approved by the bifhop, or by perfons of 
his appointment. At the fame time the 
ecclefiaftics had recourfeto a much more 
certa'n method of preventing the difgrace 
and the ridicule to which they were expo- 
fed by thefe fatirical pieces. Thoy re- 
prefented to the people in the moi odious 
Jight, and painted in the blacke# colours, 
ali the members of thefe Redesirykkamers, 
both alors and ausnors. The people be- 
lieved ail that was told them ; the actors 
foon Joft all the efteem of their fellow-citi- 
zens, and that profeflion was branded 
with a difgrace which thofe who practice 
it have never been able to wipe cff, and 
which even at the prefent day exhibits 
traces of dexterous ard durable revenge. 
In truth, the morals of the Dutch come- 
dians were, in general, bad enough to af- 
ford. foundation for the calumnies that 
were circulated againit them, In this in- 
fiance, as in many others, people afcribed 
to a whole clais the vices which degraded 
the greateit part ef its members ; an m- 
juftice-which, though common, does net 
lefs deferve to be repiobated by every im- 
partial judge. ; ; 
Tt was to thefe Redenrykers, and the 
afiociations dependent on them, that the 
real Dutch age owed its origin. In 
this new inftitution the alors were not 
obliged to.be poets; in the fame-> manner 
as thefe laft had no neceffity to be aétors, 
if the two qualifications were not combi- 
ned.in the fame perfon. It was at the be- 
ginning of the 17th century that Samuel 
Cofter, a member of the ancient Redeuryk- 
kamer of Amiterdam, laid the ground- 
work cf the greag national theatre, the re- 
putation of which teveral juftly-ceiebrated 
aétors have eftablifhed ard extended. Dr. 
Samuel Cofter, ia fpite of the excommuni- 
cations which all the preachers fulminated 
Abridged Hiftory of the Dutch Stage. 
{ May 1; 
againft him, erected, in 1617, -1n the Keis 
zer{gragt, a theatre which was called Cof- 
ter’s Academy, where the pieces of thofe 
times were acted. 
Among the theatrical pieces here allu- 
ded to, it is neceffary to mention, in par- 
ticular, thofe of Bredero and of Cofter 
himfelf ; the dramas of Brandt, a cele- 
brated hiftorian, and of Hooft, both an 
hiftorian and a poet ; and a few tragedies 
by John Vos, Anflo, and others. Hooft 
was early engaged for the theatre, for 
which he wrote two hiftorical tragedies ; 
one intitled ‘* Baro,” and the other ‘* Ge- 
rard van Velfen, and a comedy abounding 
in wit, (‘* Warenar met de pot,”) which 
did great honour both to the author and 
to the new theatre. What likewife con- 
tributed to their fuccefs was the great ta- 
kents of Carelzoon van Ziermerfz, the belt 
actor of his time in Holland. ; 
Gerard Brandt, well kcown fer his Hif= 
tory of the Reformation, and his Life of 
the great Ruyter, diftinguifhed himfelf as 
early as bis feventeenth year as a dramatic 
wiiter ; and his trage:iy of Torquatus ob. 
tained univerlal applauie. Diiappointed 
love, however, transformed the dramatic 
author into a parfon, and Brandt was loft 
to the theatre. The glazier Jchn Vos 
likewife deferves a place among the beft 
peets who then cultivated dramatic com- 
pohtion. His tragedy of Aranand Titus 
obtained him fuch reputation, that, vain” 
of his talents, ke undertuck a fecend tra- 
gedy, Medea, in which, defpifing all the 
rules of the drama, he gave the reins en- 
tirely to his genius. In his farce of Oe- 
none, Vos gives a moft indecent deferip- 
tion of the manners of the loweit clafs of 
the people at Amfterdam. He is likewife 
jufily reproached with having, while he 
was manager, rejected the plays of other 
authers, or with having wilfully diftribu- 
ted the parts {o improperly, that none but 
his own could polfible have any fuccefs. 
For the reft, no:witnitanding the horror 
excited by feveral of the feenes of his Aran 
and Titus, it contains paflages indicative 
of a fuperior and aftonifhing imagination ; — 
his piétures have a kind ot terrific beau- 
ty ; his verfes are excellent ; but neither 
order nor regularity pervades that piece : 
Itis a complete chaos, in which bombaf, 
low buffo.nery, and common place, are 
found among paflages the moft {ublime. 
The Aha{uerus of Schubart, and feveral 
other piays, greatly refemble in their man- 
ner that of Vis. We have nothing from 
the pen of Anflo but the tragedy iatitled 
The Pariian Wedding, written in 1649 ¢ 
Vondel coniidered him an elegant poet. 
Bredere - 
/ 
