Chapter XXIII

HISTORY OF DRAMATIC LITERATURE FROM 1600 TO 1650.

Decline of the Italian Theatre 591
Filli de Sciro 592
Translations of Spanish Dramas 592
Extemporaneous Comedy 593
Spanish Stage 593
Calderon--Number of his Pieces 593
His Comedies 593
La Vida es Sueno 594
A Secreto agravio secreta vengança 595
Style of Calderon 595
His Merits sometimes overrated 596
Plays of Hardy 596
The Cid 597
Style of Corneille 598
Les Horaces 598
Cimia 598
Polyeucte 599
Rodogune 599
Pompey 599
Heraclius 599
Nicomède 600
Faults and Beauties of Corneille 600
Le Menteur 600
Other French Tragedies 600
Wenceslas of Rotron 600
Popularity of the Stage under Elizabeth 601
Number of Theatres 601
Encouraged by James 601
General Taste for the Stage 601
Theatres closed by the Parliament 602
Shakspeare’s Twelfth Night 602
Merry Wives of Windsor 603
Measure for Measure 604
Lear 604
Timon of Athens 604
Pericles 605
His Roman Tragedies--Julius Cæsar 606
Antony and Cleopatra 606
Coriolanus 606
His Retirement and Death 607
Greatness of his Genius 607
His Judgment 607
His Obscurity 608
His Popularity 608
Critics on Shakspeare 609
Ben Jonson 609
The Alchemist 609
Volpone, or The Fox 610
The Silent Woman 610
Sad Shepherd 611
Beaumont and Fletcher 611
Corrupt State of their Text 611
The Maid’s Tragedy 611
Philaster 612
King and no King 613
The Elder Brother 613
The Spanish Curate 613
The Custom of the Country 613
The Loyal Subject 613
Beggar’s Bush 613
The Scornful Lady 614
Valentinian 614
The Two Noble Kinsmen 615
The Faithful Shepherdess 615
Rule a Wife, and have a Wife 616
Some other Plays 616
Origin of Fletcher’s Plays 616
Defects of their plots 616
Their Sentiments and Style Dramatic 617
Their Characters 617
Their Tragedies 617
Inferior to their Comedies 618
Their Female Characters 618
Massinger--Nature of his Dramas 619
His Delineations of Character 619
His Subjects 619
Beauty of His Style 620
Inferiority of his Comic Powers 620
Some of his Tragedies particularized 620
And of his other Plays 620
Ford 621
Shirley 621
Heywood 622
Webster 622
His Duchess of Malfy 622
Vittoria Corombona 622