Chapter X: Appendix: C (1)

DOCUMENTS OF CRITICISM

[There is much vain repetition in learned controversy, whether
literary or ethical. I have attempted, by extract or summary,
to indicate the main critical positions taken up by writers of
different schools with regard to plays, and at the same time
to preserve the incidental information which they furnish on
points of stage history. It does not seem to me necessary to
do more than cite, as of minor importance, and practically
adding nothing, T. Becon, _The Catechisme_ (1564, _Works_, i,
f. cccccxxxii); E. Hake, _Merry Maidens of London_ (1567),
_A Touchstone for this Time_ (1574), sig. G 4^v; E. Dering,
_Catechisme for Householders_ (1572); T. Brasbridge, _Poor Man’s
Jewel_ (1578); R. Crowley, _Unlawful Practises of Prelates_ (>
1583), sig. B 3^v; N. Bownde, _Doctrine of the Sabbath_ (1595),
211; J. Norden, _Progress of Piety_ (1596, ed. _Parker Soc._),
177; T. Beard, _Theatre of God’s Judgments_ (1597), 193, 197,
374; W. Vaughan, _The Golden Grove_ (1600), i. 51; F. Hering,
_Rules for the Prevention of the Sickness_ (1603), sig. A 4^v;
R. Knolles, _Six Books of a Commonweal_ (1606, from J. Bodin,
_Six Livres de la République_, 1576–8, 1601), vi. 1; W. Perkins,
_Cases of Conscience_ (1608, ed. T. Pickering), 118; R. Bolton,
_Discourse of True Happiness_ (1611), 73; L. Bayly, _Practice of
Piety_ (_c._ 1612, ed. Webster, 1842), 182, 190; O. Lake, _Probe
Theologicall upon the Commandments_ (1612), 267; J. Dod and R.
Cleaver, _Exposition of the Ten Commandments_ (1612); G. Wither,
_Abuses Stript and Whipt_ (1613), ii. 3; D. Dyke, _Michael and
the Dragon_ (1615), 216. Probably such references could be
multiplied indefinitely; they show how dread of the stage became
a commonplace of pastoral theology. Thomas Spark’s _Rehearsal
Sermon_ (1579) is only known from the citation of it by Munday
(cf. No. xxvii, _infra_).]

i. 1489 (?). DESIDERIUS ERASMUS.

[From _Epistola_ 31, to an unnamed friend (P. S. Allen, _Opus
Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami_, i. 123), conjecturally
dated by Mr. Allen in 1489. Erasmus more briefly commends the
educational use both of Terence and Plautus in _De Ratione
Studii_ (1511, _Opera_, i. 521). In 1532 he edited Terence, and
to the same year belongs _Epist._ 1238 (_Opera_, iii. 2, 1457),
which praises the comedies without re-arguing at length the
ethical controversy; cf. W. H. Woodward, _Desiderius Erasmus
concerning the Aim and Method of Education_ (1904), 28, 39, 113,
164.]

Est enim in his Terentianis comoediis mirifica quaedam sermonis puritas, proprietas, elegantia ac, vt in tam antiquo comico, horroris minimum; lepos (sine quo rustica est omnis, quantumuis phalerata, oratio) et vrbanus et salsus. Aut hoc igitur magistro aut nemine discere licebit quo pacto veteres illi Latini, qui nunc vel nobis peius balbutiunt, locuti sint. Hunc itaque tibi non modo etiam atque etiam lectitandum censeo, verumetiam ad verbum ediscendum.

Caue autem ne homuncionum istorum imperitulorum, imo liuidulorum garritus te quicquam permoueant, qui vbi in ineptissimis authoribus Florista, Ebrardo Graecista, Huguitione se senuisse viderunt, nec tantis ambagibus ex imperitiae labyrintho potuisse emergere, id vnicum suae stulticiae solatium proponunt, si in eundem errorem suum iuniores omnes pelliciant. Nefas aiunt a Christianis lectitari Terentianas fabulas. Quam ob rem tandem quaeso? Nihil, inquiunt, praeter lasciuiam ac turpissimos adolescentum amores habent, quibus lectoris animum corrumpi necesse sit. Facile vnde libet corrumpitur qui corruptus accesserit. Syncerum nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit. Itane isti religiosuli ad caetera vel vtilissima talpis caeciores, ad vnam, si qua est, lasciuiam capreae sunt? Imo capri ac stolidi nihil sibi praeter nequitiam, qua sola imbuti sunt (indocti quippe iidemque mali), rapientes, non vident quanta illic sit moralitas, quanta vitae instituendae tacita exhortatio, quanta sententiarum venustas. Neque intelligunt totum hoc scripti genus ad coarguenda mortalium vitia accommodatum, imo adeo inuentum. Quid enim sunt comoediae, nisi seruus nugator, adolescens amore insanus, meretrix blanda ac procax, senex difficilis, morosus, auarus? Haec nobis in fabulis, perinde atque in tabula, proponuntur depicta; vt, quum in moribus hominum quid deceat, quid dedeceat, viderimus, alterum amemus alterum castigemus. En, in Eunucho Phaedria ille ex summa continentia in summam ineptiam amore, tanquam morbo validissimo, immutatus, adeo vt eundem esse non cognoscas; quam pulchro exemplo docet amorem rem esse et miserrimam et anxiam, instabilem et prorsus insaniae turpissimae plenam. Assentatores istos, pestilens hominum genus, Gnatonem suum, artis suae principem, spectare iubeto. Iactabundi et sibi placentes, quales diuitum plerosque imperitos videmus, Thrasonem suum spectent ac tandem cum sua magnificentia quam ridiculi sint intelligant.

Sed de his latius (quum [quae] de litteris scripsimus edemus) nostra leges, volente quidem Deo. Ad praesentem locum satis fuerit tetigisse comoedias Terentianas; modo recte legantur, non modo non ad subuertendos mores, verum etiam ad corrigendos maximopere valere, certe ad Latine discendum plane necessarias iudicauerim. An potius istud ex Catholicon, Huguitione, Ebrardo, Papia caeterisque ineptioribus sperare iubebunt? Mirum vero si his authoribus quis quid Latine dicat, cum ipsi nihil non barbare locuti sint. Huiusmodi amplectatur, qui balbutire volet; qui loqui cupiet, Terentium dicat, quem Cicero, quem Quintilianus, quem Hieronymus, quem Augustinus, quem Ambrosius et iuuenes didicere et senes vsi sunt; quem denique nemo, nisi barbarus, non amauit.

ii. 1523–31. IOHANNES LUDOVICUS VIVES.

(_a_)

[From Commentary on St. Augustine, _De Civitate Dei_ (1522),
viii. 27. The book was placed on the _Index Expurgatorius_,
‘donec corrigatur’, and Rainolds, _Th’ Overthrow of
Stage-Playes_, 161, says that this was one of the offending
passages. Vives, a Spaniard by birth, was lecturer at Louvain
1520–3, mainly in England 1523–8, and at Bruges 1528–31.]

At qui mos nunc est, quo tempore sacrum celebratur Christi morte sua genus humanum liberantis, ludos nihil prope a scenicis illis veteribus differentes populo exhibere, etiam si aliud non dixero satis turpe existimabit quisquis audiet, ludos fieri in re maxime seria. Ibi ridetur Iudas, quam potest ineptissima iactans, dum Christum prodit: ibi discipuli fugiunt militibus persequentibus, nec sine cachinnis et actorum et spectatorum: ibi Petrus auriculam rescindit Malcho, applaudente pullata turba, ceu ita vindicetur Christi captiuitas. Et post paulum, qui tam strenue modo dimicarat, rogationibus unius ancillulae territus abnegat magistrum, ridente multitudine ancillam interrogantem, et exibilante Petrum negantem. Inter tot ludentes, inter tot cachinnos et ineptias solus Christus est serius et seuerus. Quumque affectus conatur moestos elicere, nescio quo pacto non ibi tantum, sed etiam ad sacra frigefacit, magno scelere atque impietate, non tam eorum qui vel spectant vel agunt, quam sacerdotum, qui eiusmodi fieri curant. Sed hisce de rebus loquemur forsan commodiore loco.

(_b_)

[From _De Tradendis Disciplinis_, iii. 6 (1531, _Opera_, vi.
328).]

After comparing the Latinity of Plautus and Terence for school purposes, he adds:

Ex vtroque cuperem resecta quae pueriles animos iis vitiis possent polluere ad quae naturae quasi nutu quodam vergimus.

(_c_)

[From _De Causis Corruptarum Artium_, ii. 4 (1531, _Opera_, vi.
99).]

Venit in scenam poesis, populo ad spectandum congregato, et ibi sicut pictor tabulam proponit multitudini spectandam, ita poeta imaginem quandam vitae; vt merito Plutarchus de his dixerit, Poema esse picturam loquentem, et picturam poema tacens, ita magister est populi, et pictor, et poeta: corrupta est haec ars, quod ab insectatione flagitiorum et scelerum transiit ad obsequium prauae affectionis, vt quaecunque odisset poeta, in eum linguae ac stili intemperantia abuteretur: cui iniuriae atque insolentiae itum est obuiam, primum a diuitibus potentia sua, et opibus, hinc legibus, quibus cauebatur, ne quis in alium noxium carmen pangeret: tum inuolucris coepit tegi fabula; paullatim res tota ad ludicra, et in vulgum plausibilia, est traducta, ad amores, ad fraudes meretricum, ad periuria lenonis, ad militis ferociam et glorias; quae quum dicerentur cuneis refertis puerorum, puellarum, mulierum, turba opificum hominum, et rudium, mirum quam vitiabantur mores ciuitatis admonitione illa, et quasi incitatione ad flagitia, praesertim quum comici semper catastrophen laetam adderent amoribus, et impudicitiae; nam si quando addidissent tristes exitus, deterruissent ab iis actibus spectatores, quibus euentus esset paratus acerbissimus. In quo sapientior fuit qui nostra lingua scripsit Celestinam tragicomoediam; nam progressui amorum, et illis gaudiis voluptatis, exitum annexuit amarissimum, nempe amatorum, lenae, lenonum casus et neces violentas: neque vero ignorarunt olim fabularum scriptores turpia esse quae scriberent, et moribus iuuentutis damnosa ... Recentiores in linguis vernaculis multo, mea quidem sententia, excellunt veteres in argumento deligendo. Nullae fere exhibentur nunc publicae fabulae quae non delectationem vtilitate coniungant.

iii. 1531. SIR THOMAS ELYOT.

[From _The Governour_, i. 13 (ed. H. H. S. Croft, i. 123).]

‘They whiche be ignoraunt in poetes wyll perchaunce obiecte, as is their maner, agayne these verses [Horace, _Epist._ ii. 1. 126–31], sayeng that in Therence and other that were writers of comedies, also Ouide, Catullus, Martialis, and all that route of lasciuious poetes that wrate epistles and ditties of loue, some called in latine _Elegiæ_ and some _Epigrammata_, is nothyng contayned but incitation to lechery.

First, comedies, whiche they suppose to be a doctrinall of rybaudrie, they be undoutedly a picture or as it were a mirrour of man’s life, wherin iuell is nat taught but discouered; to the intent that men beholdynge the promptnes of youth unto vice, the snares of harlotts and baudes laid for yonge myndes, the disceipte of seruantes, the chaunces of fortune contrary to mennes expectation, they beinge therof warned may prepare them selfe to resist or preuente occasion. Semblably remembring the wisedomes, aduertisements, counsailes, dissuasion from vice, and other profitable sentences, most eloquently and familiarely shewed in those comedies, undoubtedly there shall be no litle frute out of them gathered. And if the vices in them expressed shulde be cause that myndes of the reders shulde be corrupted: than by the same argumente nat only entreludes in englisshe, but also sermones, wherin some vice is declared, shulde be to the beholders and herers like occasion to encreace sinners.’ Quotes Terence, _Eunuchus_, v. 4. 8–18, on the moral end of comedy and virtuous counsel from Plautus, _Amphitruo_, ii. 2. 17–21; Ovid, _Remedia Amoris_, 131–6; and Martial, _Epigr._ xii. 34. ‘Wherfore sens good and wise mater may be picked out of these poetes, it were no reason, for some lite mater that is in their verses, to abandone therefore al their warkes, no more than it were to forbeare or prohibite a man to come into a faire gardein, leste the redolent sauours of swete herbes and floures shall meue him to wanton courage, or leste in gadringe good and holsome herbes he may happen to be stunge with a nettile. No wyse man entreth in to a gardein but he sone espiethe good herbes from nettiles, and treadeth the nettiles under his feete whiles he gadreth good herbes. Wherby he taketh no damage, or if he be stungen he maketh lite of it and shortly forgetteth it. Semblablye if he do rede wanton mater mixte with wisedome, he putteth the warst under foote and sorteth out the beste, or, if his courage be stered or prouoked, he remembreth the litel pleasure and gret detriment that shulde ensue of it, and withdrawynge his minde to some other studie or exercise shortly forgetteth it.... So all thoughe I do nat approue the lesson of wanton poetes to be taughte unto all children, yet thynke I conuenient and necessary that, when the mynde is become constante and courage is asswaged, or that children of their naturall disposition be shamfaste and continent, none auncient poete wolde be excluded from the leesson of suche one as desireth to come to the perfection of wysedome.’

iv. c. 1538 (?). NICHOLAS UDALL.

[From Prologue to _Roister Doister_ (? 1566–7).]

What Creature is in health, eyther yong or olde,
But som mirth with modestie wil be glad to use
As we in thys Enterlude shall now unfolde,
Wherin all scurilitie we utterly refuse,
Avoiding such mirth wherin is abuse:
Knowing nothing more comendable for a mans recreation
Than Mirth which is used in an honest fashion:

For Myrth prolongeth lyfe, and causeth health.
Mirth recreates our spirites and voydeth pensivenesse,
Mirth increaseth amitie, not hindring our wealth,
Mirth is to be used both of more and lesse,
Being mixed with vertue in decent comlynesse.
As we trust no good nature can gainsay the same:
Which mirth we intende to use, avoidyng all blame.

The wyse Poets long time heretofore,
Under merrie Comedies secretes did declare,
Wherein was contained very vertuous lore,
With mysteries and forewarnings very rare.
Suche to write neither _Plautus_ nor _Terence_ dyd spare,
Whiche among the learned at this day beares the bell:
These with such other therein dyd excell.

v. 1551. MARTIN BUCER.

[From _De honestis ludis_, a section of _De Regno
Christi_, presented to Edward VI by Bucer, who was then
Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, on 1 Jan. 1551,
printed in 1557, and again in _Scripta Anglicana_ (1577),
ii. 54.]

Poterit iuuentus etiam exerceri agendo comoedias et tragoedias: populisque his honesta, et ad augendam pietatem non inutilis exhiberi oblectatio: sed piis, et ad regnum Christi doctis atque sapientibus viris opus fuerit, qui comoedias eas atque tragoedias componant: in quibus nimirum eiusmodi imitatio repraesentetur, consiliorum, actionum, atque euentuum humanorum, siue communium et vulgarium, vt fit in comoediis: sive singularium et qui sint maioris admirationis, quod proprium est tragoediae, quae ad certam morum correctionem, et piam conserat vitae institutionem.

Vt si comoedia repraesentetur iurgium pastorum Abrahae et Lot, atque horum a se inuicem discessio.... In huiusmodi comoedia tractari possent, et vtili ad piam institutionem oblectatione repraesentari, hi loci.... Ad eundem modum suppeditet piae comoediae vberem sane et aedificandae pietati peridoneam materiam, historia quaesitae, obtentae et adductae Isaaco sponsae Ribkae: ex hac enim historia queat describi pia parentum cura, quaerendi liberis suis religiosa connubia: fides bona et officiositas proborum seruorum.... Non dissimile argumentum desumi queat et ex ea historiae de Iacobo parti qua describitur, vt metu fratris, relictis parentibus, ad Labam auunculum suum concesserit....

Tragoediis, Scripturae vbique perquam copiosam offerunt materiam, historiis prope omnibus S. Patrum, regum, Prophetarum et Apostolorum inde ab Adam vsque, primo humani generis parente. Omnino enim refertae sunt hae historiae diuinis et heroicis personis, affectionibus, moribus, actionibus, euentibus quoque inexpectatis, atque in contrarium quam expectarentur cadentibus, quae Aristoteles vocat περιπετείας. Quae omnia cum mirificam vim habeant fidem in Deum confirmandi, et amorem studiumque Dei accendendi admirationem item pietatis atque iusticiae, et horrorem impietatis, omnisque peruersitatis ingenerandi atque augendi: quanto magis deceat Christianos, ut ex his sua poemata sumant, quibus magna et illustria hominum consilia, conatus, ingenium, affectus atque casus repraesentent, quam ex impiis ethnicorum vel fabulis vel historiis! Adhibendae autem sunt in vtroque genere poematum, comico et tragico, vt cum hominum vitia et peccata describuntur, et actione quasi oculis conspicienda exhibentur, id fiat ea ratione, vt quamuis perditorum hominum referantur scelera, tamen terror quidam in his diuini iudicii, et horror appareat peccati: non exprimantur exultans in scelere oblectatio, atque confidens audacia. Praestat hinc detrahere aliquid decoro poetico, quam curae aedificandi pietate spectatores; quae poscit vt in omni peccati repraesentatione sentiantur, conscientiae propriae condemnatio, et a iudicio Dei horrenda trepidatio.

At dum piae et probae exhibentur actiones, in his debet exprimi quam clarissime sensus divinae misericordiae laetus, securaque et confidens, moderata tamen, et diffidens sibi exultansque in Deo fiducia promissionum Dei cum sancta et spirituali in recte faciendo voluptate. Hac enim ratione sanctorum et ingenia, et mores, et affectus, ad instaurandam in populo omnem pietatem ac virtutem, quam scitissima imitatione repraesentantur. Eum autem fructum vt Christi populus ex sanctis comoediis et tragoediis percipiant praeficiendi et huic rei erunt viri, vt horum poematum singulariter intelligentes, ita etiam explorati et constantis studii in regnum Christi: ne qua omnino agatur comoedia, aut tragoedia, quam hi non ante perspectam decreuerint agendam.

Hi quoque curabunt, ne quid leue aut histrionicum in agendo admittatur: sed omnia exhibeantur sancta quadam, et graui, iucunda tamen, sanctis duntaxat, actione: qua repraesententur non tam res ipsae, et actiones hominum, affectus et perturbationes, quam mores et ingenia: ac ita repraesententur, vt excitetur in spectatoribus studiosa imitatio: eorum autem quae secus sunt instituta et facta, confirmetur detestatio, et excitetur declinatio vigilantior.

His observatis cautionibus, poterit sane multa, nec minus ad virtutem alendam prouehendamque, vtilis ludendi materia iuuentuti praeberi, maxime cum studium et cura eiusmodi et comoediarum et tragoediarum excitata fuerit, cum lingua vernacula, tum etiam lingua Latina et Graeca. Extant nunc aliquot non poenitendae huius generis comoediae et tragoediae, in quibus, etiamsi docti mundi huius desiderent in comoediis illud acumen, eumque leporem, et sermonis venustatem, quem admirantur in Aristophanis, Terentii, Plautique fabulis: in tragoediis, grauitatem, versutiam, orationisque elegantiam, Sophoclis, Euripidis, Senecae: docti tamen ad regnum Dei, et qui viuendi Deo sapientiam discere student, non desiderant in his nostrorum hominum poematis doctrinam coelestem, affectus, mores, orationem, casusque dignos filiis Dei. Optandum tamen, vt quibus Deus plus dedit in his rebus praestare, vt id mallent ad eius gloriam explicare, quam aliorum pia studia intempestiuis reprehensionibus suis retardare: atque ducere satius, comoedias atque tragoedias exhibere, quibus si minus ars poetica, scientia tamen vitae aeternae praeclare exhibetur, quam quibus vt ingenii linguaeque cultus aliquid iuuatur, ita animus et mores impia atque foeda et scurrili mutatione conspurcantur.

vi. 1559. WILLIAM BAVANDE.

[From _A Woork of Ioannes Ferrarius Montanus touchynge the good
orderynge of a Common-weale_, translated from the _De Republica
bene instituenda Paraenesis_, published by Ferrarius, a Marburg
jurist, in 1556.]

[Extracts] f. 81. ‘The laste of all [the seven handicrafts in a commonweal] is the exercise of stage plaiyng, where the people use to repaire to beholde plaies, as well priuate as publique, whiche be set forthe partlie to delight, partlie to move us to embrace ensamples of vertue and goodnesse, and to eschue vice and filthie liuyng’ ... f. 100^v. ‘_Chapter viii, Concernyng Scaffolds and Pageauntes of divers games and plaies and how farre thei be to be allowed, and set forthe in a Citee_.... Plaies, set foorthe either upon stages, or in open Merket places, or els where, for menne to beholde. Whiche, as thei doe sometime profite, so likewise thei tourne to great harme, if thei be not used in such sorte, as is bothe ciuill and semely in a citee, whiche wee dooe abuse, when anythyng is set foorthe openly, that is uncleanlie, unchaste, shamefull, cruell, wicked, and not standyng with honestie.... Soche pastimes therefore muste bee set foorthe in a commonweale, as doe minister unto us good ensamples, wherin delight and profite be matched togither.... It is a commendable and lawfull thing to bee at plaies, but at soche tymes as when we be unoccupied with grave and seuere affaires, not onely for our pleasure and minde sake, but that hauyng little to doe, we maie learne that, whiche shall bee our furtheraunce in vertue.... There shall be no Tragedie, no Comedie, nor any other kinde of plaie, but it maie encrease the discipline of good maners, if by the helpe of reason and zeale of honestie, it bee well emploied. Which then is doen, when, if thou either hearest, or seest anything committed that is euill, cruell, vilanous, and unseamely for a good manne, thou learnest thereby to beware and understandest that it is not onely a shame to committe any soche thinge but also that it shall be reuenged with euerlasting death. Contrariwise, if thou doest espie any thing dooen or saied well, manfully, temperatly, soberly, iustly, godlilye, & vertuously, thou ... maiest labour to doe that thyself, whiche thou likest in another.... With whiche discrecion, who so beholdeth Tragedies, Comedies, ... plaies of histories, holie or prophane, or any pageaunt, on stage or on grounde, shall not mispende his time. But like as a Bee of diuers floures, that be of theire owne nature of smalle use, gathereth the swetenes of her honie: so thence gathereth he that which is commodious for the trade of his life, ioigneth it with his painfull trauaile, and declareth that soche histories and exercises bee the eloquence of the bodie.’

vii. 1563–8. ROGER ASCHAM.

[From _The Scholemaster_ (1570), as reprinted in W. A. Wright,
_English Works of Roger Ascham_ (1904), 171. The tract, which
was largely based on the teaching of Ascham’s friend John Sturm,
was begun as a New Year gift for Elizabeth in December 1563, and
left unfinished at the author’s death in 1568. The best modern
edition is by J. E. B. Mayor (1863).]

_The first booke teachyng the brynging vp of youth_.... P. 185. In the earliest stage of Latin, Ascham ‘would haue the Scholer brought vp withall, till he had red, & translated ouer y^e first booke of [Cicero’s] Epistles chosen out by _Sturmius_, with a good peece of a Comedie of _Terence_ also.... P. 208. There be som seruing men do but ill seruice to their yong masters. Yea, rede _Terence_ and _Plaut_. aduisedlie ouer, and ye shall finde in those two wise writers, almost in euery commedie, no vnthriftie yong man, that is not brought there vnto, by the sotle inticement of som lewd seruant. And euen now in our dayes _Getae_ and _Daui_, _Gnatos_ and manie bold bawdie _Phormios_ to, be preasing in, to pratle on euerie stage, to medle in euerie matter, when honest _Parmenos_ shall not be hard, but beare small swing with their masters.... _The second booke teachyng the ready way to the Latin tong_.... P. 238. Read dayly vnto him ... some Comedie of _Terence_ or _Plautus_: but in _Plautus_, skilfull choice must be vsed by the master, to traine his Scholler to a iudgement, in cutting out perfitelie ouer old and vnproper wordes.... On _Imitatio_ ... P. 266. The whole doctrine of Comedies and Tragedies, is a perfite _imitation_, or faire liuelie painted picture of the life of euerie degree of man.... One of the best examples, for right _Imitation_ we lacke, and that is _Menander_, whom our _Terence_ (as the matter required) in like argument, in the same Persons, with equall eloquence, foote by foote did follow. Som peeces remaine, like broken Iewelles, whereby men may rightlie esteme, and iustlie lament, the losse of the whole.... P. 276. In Tragedies, (the goodliest Argument of all, and for the vse, either of a learned preacher, or a Ciuill Ientleman, more profitable than _Homer_, _Pindar_, _Vergill_, and _Horace_: yea comparable in myne opinion, with the doctrine of _Aristotle_, _Plato_, and _Xenophon_,) the _Grecians_, _Sophocles_ and _Euripides_ far ouer match our _Seneca_, in _Latin_, namely in οἱκονομία _et Decoro_, although _Senecaes_ elocution and verse be verie commendable for his tyme.’ ... P. 284. Ascham describes some contemporary Latin tragedies.... P. 286. ‘Of this short tyme of any pureness of the Latin tong, for the first fortie yeare of it, and all the tyme before, we haue no peece of learning left, saue _Plautus_ and _Terence_, with a litle rude vnperfit pamflet of the elder _Cato_. And as for _Plautus_, except the scholemaster be able to make wise and ware choice, first in proprietie of wordes, then in framing of phrases and sentences, and chieflie in choice of honestie of matter, your scholer were better to play, then learne all that is in him. But surelie, if iudgement for the tong, and direction for the maners, be wisely ioyned with the diligent reading of _Plautus_, than trewlie _Plautus_, for that purenesse of the Latin tong in Rome, whan Rome did most florish in wel doing, and so thereby, in well speaking also, is soch a plentifull storehouse, for common eloquence, in meane matters, and all priuate mens affaires, as the Latin tong, for that respect, hath not the like agayne. Whan I remember the worthy tyme of Rome, wherein _Plautus_ did liue, I must nedes honor the talke of that tyme, which we see _Plautus_ doth vse. _Terence_ is also a storehouse of the same tong, for an other tyme, following soone after, & although he be not so full & plentiful as _Plautus_ is, for multitude of matters, & diuersitie of wordes, yet his wordes, be chosen so purelie, placed so orderly, and all his stuffe so neetlie packed vp, and wittely compassed in euerie place, as, by all wise mens iudgement, he is counted the cunninger workeman, and to haue his shop, for the rowme that is in it, more finely appointed, and trimlier ordered, than _Plautus_ is.... The matter in both, is altogether within the compasse of the meanest mens maners, and doth not stretch to any thing of any great weight at all, but standeth chiefly in vtteryng the thoughtes and conditions of hard fathers, foolish mothers, vnthrifty yong men, craftie seruantes, sotle bawdes, and wilie harlots, and so, is moch spent, in finding out fine fetches, and packing vp pelting matters, soch as in London commonlie cum to the hearing of the Masters of Bridewell. Here is base stuffe for that scholer, that should becum hereafter, either a good minister in Religion, or a Ciuill Ientleman in seruice of his Prince and contrie: except the preacher do know soch matters to confute them, whan ignorance surelie in all soch thinges were better for a Ciuill Ientleman, than knowledge. And thus, for matter, both Plautus and Terence, be like meane painters, that worke by halfes, and be cunning onelie, in making the worst part of the picture, as if one were skilfull in painting the bodie of a naked person, from the nauell downward, but nothing else.’

viii. 1565. WILLIAM ALLEY.

[From _Miscellanea_ of notes to a _Praelectio_ of 1561 in
Πτωχὸμυσεȋον: _The Poore Mans Librarie_ (1565). On Alley, v. ch.
xxiii, s.v.]

Alas, are not almost al places in these daies replenished with iuglers, scoffers, iesters, plaiers, which may say and do what they lust, be it neuer so fleshly and filthy? and yet suffred and heard with laughing and clapping of handes.

ix. 1565–71. RICHARD EDWARDES.

[The Prologue to _Damon and Pithias_. It appears from the
title-page that this had been ‘somewhat altered’ between the
production of the play in 1565 and its publication in 1571; cf.
ch. xxiii.]

On euerie syde, wheras I glaunce my rouyng eye,
Silence in all eares bent I playnty do espie:
But if your egre lookes doo longe suche toyes to see,
As heretofore in commycall wise, were wont abroade to bee:
Your lust is lost, and all the pleasures that you sought,
Is frustrate quite of toying Playes. A soden change is wrought.
For loe, our Authors Muse, that masked in delight,
Hath forst his Penne agaynst his kinde, no more suche sportes to write.
Muse he that lust, (right worshipfull) for chaunce hath made this change,
For that to some he seemed too muche, in yonge desires to range:
In whiche, right glad to please, seyng that he did offende,
Of all he humblie pardon craues: his Pen that shall amende:
And yet (worshipfull Audience,) thus much I dare aduouche.
In Commedies, the greatest Skyll is this, rightly to touche
All thynges to the quicke: and eke to frame eche person so,
That by his common talke, you may his nature rightly knowe:
A Royster ought not preache, that were to straunge to heare,
But as from vertue he doth swerue, so ought his woordes appeare:
The olde man is sober, the yonge man rashe, the Louer triumphyng in ioyes,
The Matron graue, the Harlot wilde and full of wanton toyes.
Whiche all in one course they [in] no wise doo agree:
So correspondent to their kinde their speeches ought to bee.
Which speeches well pronounste, with action liuely framed,
If this offende the lookers on, let _Horace_ then be blamed,
Which hath our Author taught at Schole, from whom he doth not swarue,
In all suche kinde of exercise decorum to obserue,
Thus much for his defence (he sayth) as Poetes earst haue donne,
Which heretofore in Commedies the selfe same rase did ronne:
But now for to be briefe, the matter to expresse,
Which here wee shall present: is this _Damon_ and _Pithias_,
A rare ensample of Friendship true, it is no Legend lie,
But a thinge once donne in deede as Hystories doo discrie,
Whiche doone of yore in longe time past, yet present shalbe here,
Euen as it were in dooynge now, so liuely it shall appeare:
Lo here in _Siracusae_ thauncient Towne, which once the Romaines wonne,
Here _Dionysius_ Pallace, within whose Courte this thing most strange was donne,
Which matter mixt with myrth and care, a iust name to applie,
As seemes most fit wee haue it termed, a Tragicall Commedie,
Wherein talkyng of Courtly toyes, wee doo protest this flat,
Wee talke of _Dionysius_ Courte, wee meane no Court but that,
And that wee doo so meane, who wysely calleth to minde.
The time, the place, the Authours here most plainely shall it finde,
Loe this I speake for our defence, lest of others wee should be shent:
But worthy Audience, wee you pray, take thinges as they be ment,
Whose vpright Judgement wee doo craue, with heedefull eare and eye,
To here the cause, and see theffect of this newe Tragicall Commedie.

x. 1566. LEWIS WAGER.

[From Prologue to _The Life and Repentance of Marie Magdalene_
(1566). cf. ch. xxiii.]

We and other persons haue exercised l. 10.
This comely and good facultie a long season,
Which of some haue bene spitefully despised;
Wherefore, I thinke, they can alleage no reason.
Where affect ruleth, there good iudgement is geason.
They neuer learned the verse of Horace doubtles,
Nec tua laudabis studia, aut aliena reprehendes....

I maruell why they should detract our facultie: l. 24.
We haue ridden and gone many sundry waies;
Yea, we haue vsed this feate at the vniuersitie;
Yet neither wise nor learned would it dispraise: ...

Doth not our facultie learnedly extoll vertue? l. 31.
Doth it not teache, God to be praised aboue al thing?
What facultie doth vice more earnestly subdue?
Doth it not teache true obedience to the kyng?
What godly sentences to the mynde doth it bryng!
I saie, there was neuer thyng inuented,
More worth for man’s solace to be frequented.

Hipocrites that wold not haue their fautes reueled
Imagine slaunder our facultie to let;
Faine wold they haue their wickednes still concealed;
Therfore maliciously against vs they be set;
O (say they) muche money they doe get.
Truely, I say, whether you geue halfpence or pence,
Your gayne shalbe double, before you depart hence....

We desire no man in this poynt to be offended, l. 80.
In that vertues with vice we shall here introduce;
For in men and women they haue depended:
And therfore figuratiuely to speake, it is the vse.
I trust that all wise men will accept our excuse.
Of the Preface for this season here I make an ende;
In godly myrth to spend the tyme we doe intende.

xi. 1569. ANON.

[T. Warton, _History of Poetry_, iii (1781) 288 (ed. Hazlitt,
iv. 217), ascribes to this year a ‘Puritanical pamphlet without
name’, _The Children of the Chapel stript and whipt_, which he
says was ‘among Bishop Tanner’s books at Oxford’. It is not,
however, now traceable in the Bodleian. Warton’s extracts are
quoted in ch. xii, s.v. Chapel.]

xii. 1569. HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.

[From _Henry Cornelius Agrippa, of the Vanitie and uncertaintie
of Artes and Sciences_, Englished by Ja[mes] San[ford] Gent.
(1569), a translation of _De incertitudine et vanitate
scientiarium et artium atque excellentia Verbi Dei declamatio_
(1530), written in 1526 (_Opera_, ii. 1).]

‘Cap. 4. Of Poetrie’ condemns it as lying. ‘Cap. 20. Of the Science of stage Plaiers.’ After defining the player’s art and citing the discussion between Cicero and Roscius recorded by Macrobius (cf. no. xliii and ch. xi) and the banishment of players by the City of Marseilles (cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 7), Agrippa concludes, ‘And therefore to exercise this Arte, is not onely a dishonest and wicked occupation, but also to behold it, and therein to delite is a shameful thinge, bicause that the delite of a wanton minde is an offence. And to conclude, there was in times paste no name more infamous then stage players, and moreouer, al they that had plaide an Enterlude in the Theater, were by the lawes depriued from all honour.’ Plays are briefly referred to in ‘Cap. 59. Of Holy daies’ and ‘Cap. 63. Of the whoorishe Arte’.

xiii. 1574. GEOFFREY FENTON.

[From _A Forme of Christian Pollicie gathered out of French_
(1574). No single source has been traced and the treatise is
probably a compilation.]

Book iii, ch. 7. ‘Players ... corrupt good moralities by wanton shewes and playes: they ought not to be suffred to prophane the Sabboth day in such sportes, and much lesse to lose time on the dayes of trauayle. All dissolute playes ought to be forbidden: All comicall and tragicall showes of schollers in morall doctrines, and declamations in causes made to reprooue and accuse vice and extoll vertue are very profitable.’ _The 7 Chapter_ expands the foregoing.... ‘Great then is the errour of the magistrate to geue sufferance to these players, whether they bee minstrels, or enterludours who on a scaffold, babling vaine newes to the sclander of the world, put there in scoffing the vertues of honest men.... There often times are blowen abroade the publike and secreete vices of men, sometimes shrowded under honourable personage, withe infinite other offences.... How often is the maiestie of God offended in those twoo or three howres that those playes endure, both by wicked wordes, and blasphemye, impudent jestures, doubtful sclaunders, unchaste songes, and also by corruption of the willes of the players and the assistauntes. Let no man obiect heare that by these publike plaies, many forbeare to doo euill, for feare to bee publikely reprehended ... for it may be aunswered first, that in such disguised plaiers geuen over to all sortes of dissolucion, is not found a wil to do good, seeing they care for nothing lesse than vertue: secondlye that is not the meane to correct sinne.... Heare I reprooue not the plaies of scollers ... Ch. 6. I wish that in place of daunses at mariage, the time were supplied with some comical or historical show of the auncient manages of Abraham and Sara, of Isaac and Rebecca, and of the two Tobies and theyr wiues, matters honest and tending much to edify the assistauntes.’

xiv. 1575. GEORGE GASCOIGNE.

[Prologue to _The Glasse of Governement_ (cf. ch. xxiii).]

What man hath minde to heare a worthie Jest,
Or seekes to feede his eye with vayne delight:
That man is much unmeete to be a guest,
At such a feaste as I prepare this night.
Who list laye out some pence in such a Marte,
Bellsavage fayre were fittest for his purse,
I lyst not so to misbestowe mine arte,
I have best wares, what neede I then shewe woorse?
An Enterlude may make you laugh your fill,
_Italian_ toyes are full of pleasaunt sporte:
Playne speache to use, if wanton be your wyll,
You may be gone, wyde open standes the porte.
But if you can contented be to heare,
In true discourse howe hygh the vertuous clyme,
Howe low they fall which lyve withouten feare
Of God or man, and much mispende theyr tyme:
What ryght rewardes a trustie servaunt earnes,
What subtile snares these Sycophantes can use,
Howe soone the wise such crooked guyles discernes,
Then stay a whyle: gyve eare unto my Muse.
A Comedie, I meane for to present,
No _Terence_ phrase: his tyme and myne are twaine:
The verse that pleasde a _Romaine_ rashe intent,
Myght well offend the godly Preachers vayne.
Deformed shewes were then esteemed muche,
Reformed speeche doth now become us best,
Mens wordes muste weye and tryed be by touche
Of Gods owne worde, wherein the truth doth rest.
Content you then (my Lordes) with good intent,
Grave Citizens, you people greate and small,
To see your selves in Glasse of Governement:
Beholde rashe youth, which daungerously doth fall
On craggy rockes of sorrowes nothing softe,
When sober wittes by Vertue clymes alofte.

xv. 1577. THOMAS WHITE.

[From _A Sermon preached at Pawles Crosse on Sunday the thirde
of November 1577 in the time of the Plague_. By T. W. This was
printed, according to the colophon, by F. Coldocke on 10 Feb.
1578. There are two copies in the B.M., but one has been bound
in error with the title-page of an earlier sermon of 9 Dec.
1576, by the same author. T. W. was probably Thomas White, vicar
of St. Dunstan-in-the-West, and later founder of Sion College
and of White’s Professorship of Moral Philosophy at Oxford. The
sermon is sometimes claimed for Thomas Wilcox; but he was in
ecclesiastical disgrace in 1577 and unlikely to have access to
Paul’s Cross.]

P. 46. ‘Looke but vppon the common playes in London, and see the multitude that flocketh to them and followeth them: beholde the sumptuous Theatre houses, a continuall monument of Londons prodigalitie and folly. But I vnderstande they are nowe forbidden bycause of the plague. I like the pollicye well if it holde still, for a disease is but bodged or patched vp that is not cured in the cause, and the cause of plagues is sinne, if you looke to it well: and the cause of sinne are playes: therefore the cause of plagues are playes.... Shall I reckon vp the monstrous birds that brede in this nest? without doubt I am ashamed, and I should surely offende your chast eares: but the olde world is matched, and Sodome ouercome, for more horrible enormities and swelling sins are set out by those stages, than euery man thinks for, or some would beleeue, if I shold paint them out in their colours: without doubt you can scantly name me a sinne, that by that sincke is not set a gogge: theft and whoredome; pride and prodigality; villanie and blasphemie; these three couples of helhoundes neuer cease barking there, and bite manye, so as they are vncurable euer after, so that many a man hath the leuder wife, and many a wife the shreuder husband by it: and it can not otherwise be, but that whiche robbeth flatlye the Lord of all his honor, and is directly against the whole first table of his law, should make no bones of breache of the second also, which is toward our neighbour only. Wherefore if thou be a father, thou losest thy child: if thou be a maister, thou losest thy seruaunt; and thou be what thou canst be, thou losest thy selfe that hauntest those scholes of vice, dennes of theeues, and Theatres of all leudnesse: and if it be not suppressed in time, it will make such a Tragedie, that London may well mourne whyle it is London, for it is no playing time.’

xvi. 1577. JOHN NORTHBROOKE.

[From _A Treatise wherein Dicing, Dauncing, Vaine playes, or
Enterluds, with other idle pastimes, &c., commonly used on the
Sabboth day, are reproued by the Authoritie of the word of God
and auntient writers_. N.D. H. Bynneman for George Byshop.
This is doubtless the ‘booke wherein Dycinge, dauncinge, vaine
playenge and Interludes, with other idle pastimes, &c., comonlie
used on the Saboth daie are reproved’, entered for Bishop in S.
R. on 2 Dec. 1577 (Arber, ii. 321). A second edition was printed
in 1579. Northbrooke was a Gloucester minister. The book was
edited by J. P. Collier (1843, _Sh. Soc._).]

[Summary and Extracts.] The treatise is ‘made dialogue-wise’ between Youth and Age. _Epistles_ to Sir John Yong and to The Christian and Faithful Reader, dated respectively from Bristol and Henbury. _A Treatise against Idlenes, Idle Pastimes, and Playes._ The greater part deals generally with ‘ydle playes and vaine pastimes’ and their relation to the Christian life. P. 82. Youth asks Age his opinion of ‘playes and players, which are commonly vsed and much frequented in most places in these dayes, especiallye here in this noble and honourable citie of London’. Age condemns ‘stage playes and enterludes’ as ‘not tollerable, nor sufferable in any common weale, especially where the Gospell is preached; for it is right prodigalitie, which is opposite to liberalitie’. Considers ‘the giftes, buildings, and maintenance of such places for players a spectacle and schoole for all wickednesse and vice to be learned in’, and particularly applies this to ‘those places also, whiche are made vppe and builded for such playes and enterludes, as the Theatre and Curtaine is, and other such lyke places.... Satan hath not a more speedie way, and fitter schoole to work and teach his desire, to bring men and women into his snare of concupiscence and filthie lustes of wicked whoredome, than those places, and playes, and theatres are; and therefore necessarie that those places, and players, shoulde be forbidden, and dissolued, and put downe by authoritie, as the brothell houses and stewes are’. Quotes the Fathers on the offences to chastity at theatres. P. 92. Condemns the playing of ‘histories out of the scriptures. By the long suffering and permitting of these vaine plays, it hath stricken such a blinde zeale into the heartes of the people, that they shame not to say, and affirme openly, that playes are as good as sermons, and that they learne as much or more at a playe, than they do at God’s worde preached.... Many can tarie at a vayne playe two or three houres, when as they will not abide scarce one houre at a sermon.... I speake (alas! with griefe and sorowe of heart) against those people that are so fleshlye ledde, to see what rewarde there is giuen to such crocodiles, whiche deuoure the pure chastitie bothe of single and maried persons, men and women, when as in their playes you shall learne all things that appertayne to craft, mischiefe, deceytes, and filthinesse, &c. If you will learne howe to bee false and deceyue your husbandes, or husbandes their wyues, howe to playe the harlottes, to obtayne one’s loue, howe to rauishe, howe to beguyle, howe to betraye, to flatter, lye, sweare, forsweare, how to allure to whoredome, howe to murther, howe to poyson, howe to disobey and rebell against princes, to consume treasures prodigally, to mooue to lustes, to ransacke and spoyle cities and townes, to bee ydle, to blaspheme, to sing filthie songs of loue, to speake filthily, to be prowde, howe to mocke, scoffe, and deryde any nation ... shall not you learne, then, at such enterludes howe to practise them?... Therefore, great reason it is that women (especiallye) shoulde absent themselues from such playes.’ Notes the _infamia_ of _histriones_, which he translates ‘enterlude players’, and refers to the statute of 1572. Expounds the heathen origin of plays. P. 101. Youth admits ‘that they ought to be ouerthrowne and put downe.... Yet I see little sayd, and lesse done vnto them; great resort there is daily vnto them, and thereout sucke they no small aduantage’. P. 102. ‘They vse to set vp their billes vpon postes certain dayes before, to admonishe the people to make their resort vnto their theatres, that they may thereby be the better furnished, and the people prepared to fill their purses with their treasures.’ P. 102. Youth concludes: ‘I maruaile the magistrates suffer them thus to continue, and to haue houses builded for such exercises.... I maruaile much, sithe the rulers are not onely negligent and slowe herein to doe, but the preachers are as dumme to speake and saye in a pulpitte against it’; and Age: ‘I doubt not but God will so moue the hearts of magistrates, and loose the tongue of the preachers in such godly sort (by the good deuout prayers of the faithfull) that both with the sworde and the worde such vnfruitfull and barren trees shall be cut downe’. P. 103. Youth then raises the question of scholastic plays. These Age admits. ‘I thinke it is lawefull for a schoolmaster to practise his schollers to playe comedies, obseruing these and the like cautions: first, that those comedies which they shall play be not mixt with anye ribaudrie and filthie termes and wordes (which corrupt good manners). Secondly, that it be for learning and vtterance sake, in Latine, and very seldome in Englishe. Thirdly, that they vse not to play commonly and often, but verye rare and seldome. Fourthlye, that they be not pranked and decked vp in gorgious and sumptious apparell in their play. Fiftly, that it be not made a common exercise, publickly, for profit and gaine of money, but for learning and exercise sake. And lastly, that their comedies be not mixte with vaine and wanton toyes of loue. These being obserued, I iudge it tollerable for schollers.’ _An Inuectiue against Dice-Playing_ and _A Treatise against Dauncing_.

xvii. 1578. JOHN STOCKWOOD.

[From _A Sermon Preached at Paules Crosse_ on 24 Aug. 1578. A
reprint is in Harrison, iv. 329. John Stockwood was Master of
Tonbridge Grammar School.]

P. 23. ‘Wyll not a fylthye playe, wyth the blast of a Trumpette, sooner call thyther a thousande, than an houres tolling of a Bell, bring to the Sermon a hundred? nay euen heere in the Citie, without it be at this place, and some other certaine ordinarie audience, where shall you finde a reasonable company? whereas, if you resorte to the Theatre, the Curtayne, and other places of Playes in the Citie, you shall on the Lords day haue these places, with many other that I can not recken, so full, as possible they can throng.’ P. 50. ‘We notwithstanding on the Lordes daye must haue Fayers kept, must haue Beare bayting, Bulbayting (as if it wer a thing of necessity for the Beares of Paris garden to be bayted on the Sunnedaye) must haue baudie Enterludes.’ P. 85. Calls on the Mayor, Sheriffs and Aldermen as ‘publike magistrates’ to keep watch against ‘flocking and thronging to baudie playes by thousandes’ on the Lord’s Day, and notes ‘resorting to playes in the time of sermons a thing too manifest’. P. 133. ‘There be not many places where y^e word is preached besides the Lords day (I woulde to God there were) yet euen that day the better parte of it is horriblie prophaned by diuellishe inuentions, as with Lords of Misserule, Morice dauncers, May-games, insomuch that in some places, they shame not in y^e time of diuine seruice, to come and daunce aboute the Church, and without to haue men naked dauncing in nettes, which is most filthie: for the heathen that neuer hadde further knowledge, than the lighte of nature, haue counted it shamefull for a Player to come on the stage without a slop, and therefore amongest Christians I hope suche beastly brutishnesse shal not be let escape vnpunished, for whiche ende I recite it, and can tell, if I be called, where it was committed within these fewe weekes. What should I speake of beastlye Playes, againste which out of this place euery man crieth out? haue we not houses of purpose built with great charges for the maintenance of them, and that without the liberties, as who woulde say, there, let them saye what they will say, we will play. I know not how I might with the godly learned especially more discommende the gorgeous Playing place erected in the fieldes, than to terme it, as they please to haue it called, a Theatre ... I will not here enter this disputation, whether it be vtterly vnlawfull to haue any playes, but will onelye ioine in this issue, whether in a Christian common wealth they be tolerable on the Lords day.... If playing in the Theatre or any other place in London, as there are by sixe that I know to many, be any of the Lordes wayes (which I suppose there is none so voide of knowledge in the world wil graunt) then not only it may, but ought to be vsed, but if it be any of the wayes of man, it is no work for y^e Lords Sabaoth, and therfore in no respecte tollerable on that daye.’ P. 137. ‘For reckening with the leaste, the gaine that is reaped of eighte ordinarie places in the Citie whiche I knowe, by playing but once a weeke (whereas many times they play twice and somtimes thrice) it amounteth to 2000 pounds by the yeare.’

xviii. 1578. JOHN FLORIO.

[From _First Fruites_ (1578), A_{1}, an Anglo-Italian phrase
book.]

Where shal we goe?
To a playe at the Bull, or els to some other place.
Doo Comedies like you wel?
Yea sir, on holy dayes.
They please me also wel, but the preachers wyll not allowe them.
Wherefore, knowe you it:
They say, they are not good.
And wherfore are they vsed?
Because euery man delites in them.
I beleeue there is much knauerie vsed at those Comedies: what thinke you?
So beleeue I also.

xix. 1578. GEORGE WHETSTONE.

[From _Epistle_ to William Fleetwood, dated 29 July 1578,
prefixed to _Promos and Cassandra_; cf. ch. xxiii.]

... I devided the whole history into two Commedies: for that, Decorum used, it would not be convayde in one. The effects of both, are good and bad: vertue intermyxt with vice, unlawful desyres (yf it were possible) queancht with chaste denyals: al needefull action (I thinke) for publike vewe. For by the rewarde of the good, the good are encowraged in wel doinge: and with the scowrge of the lewde, the lewde are feared from evil attempts: mainetayning this my oppinion with Platoes auctority. ‘Nawghtinesse commes of the corruption of nature, and not by readinge or hearinge the lives of the good or lewde (for such publication is necessarye), but goodnesse (sayth he) is beawtifyed by either action.’ And to these ends Menander Plautus and Terence, themselves many yeares since intombed, (by their Commedies) in honour live at this daye. The auncient Romanes heald these showes of suche prise, that they not onely allowde the publike exercise of them, but the grave Senators themselves countenaunced the Actors with their presence: who from these trifles wonne morallyte, as the Bee suckes the honny from weedes. But the advised devises of auncient Poets, discredited with the tryfels of yonge, unadvised, and rashe witted wryters, hath brought this commendable exercise in mislike. For at this daye, the Italian is so lascivious in his commedies, that honest hearers are greeved at his actions: the Frenchman and Spaniarde folowes the Italians humor: the Germaine is too holye: for he presentes on everye common Stage, what Preachers should pronounce in Pulpets. The Englishman in this quallitie, is most vaine, indiscreete, and out of order: he fyrst groundes his worke, on impossibilities: then in three howers ronnes he throwe the worlde: marryes, gets Children, makes Children men, men to conquer kingdomes, murder monsters, and bringeth Gods from Heaven, and fetcheth Divels from Hel. And (that which is worst) their ground is not so unperfect, as their working indiscreete: not waying, so the people laugh, though they laugh them (for theyr folleys) to scorne: Manye tymes (to make mirthe) they make a Clowne companion with a Kinge: in theyr grave Counsels, they allow the advise of fooles: yea they use one order of speach for all persones: a grose _Indecorum_, for a Crowe wyll yll counterfet the Nightingales sweete voice: even so, affected Speeche doth misbecome a Clowne. For to work a Commedie kindly, grave olde men should instruct: yonge men should showe the imperfections of youth: Strumpets should be lascivious: Boyes unhappy: and Clownes should be disorderly: entermingling all these actions, in suche sorte, as the grave matter may instruct, and the pleasant delight: for without this chaunge, the attention would be small, and the likinge, lesse. But leave I this rehearsall, of the use, and abuse of Commedies: least that I check that in others, which I cannot amend in my selfe. But this I am assured, what actions so ever passeth in this History, either merry, or morneful: grave or lascivious; the conclusion showes the confusion of Vice, and cherishing of Vertue....

xx. 1579. T. F.

[From _Newes from the North. Otherwise called a Conference
between Simon Certen and Pierce Plowman_. Faithfully
collected and gathered by T. F. Student (1579, 1585), F_{4},
quoted from 1585 ed. in Stubbes, 299. There seems to be no
justification for Collier’s identification of T. F. with Francis
Thynne.]

I call to witnesse the Theaters, Curtines, Heauing houses, Rifling boothes, Bowling alleyes, and such places, where the time is so shamefully mispent, namely the Sabaoth daies, vnto the great dishonor of God, and the corruption and vtter distruction of youth.

xxi. 1579. THOMAS TWYNE.

[From _Physic against Fortune_ (1579), i. 30. This is a
translation from Petrarch’s _De remediis utriusque Fortunae_;
but Twyne has adapted the wording to bring in the names of the
London theatres.]

_Joy._ I am delighted with sundrie Shewes.

_Reason._ Perhaps with the Curteine or Theater: which two places are well knowen to be enimies to good manners: for looke who goeth thyther evyl, returneth worse. For that iourney is unknowen to the good, whiche yf any undertake uppon ignoraunce, he cannot choose but be defyled.

xxii. 1579. STEPHEN GOSSON.

[From _The Schoole of Abuse, Containing a pleasaunt inuectiue
against Poets, Pipers, Plaiers, Iesters and such like
Caterpillers of a Commonwelth_ ... (1579; S. R. 22 July 1579).
A second edition appeared in 1587. There are modern reprints in
_Somers Tracts_, iii (1810), 552, and by J. P. Collier (1841,
_Sh. Soc_.) and E. Arber (1868, _English Reprints_). On 5 (or
16) Oct. 1579 Spenser wrote to Gabriel Harvey (Gregory Smith,
i. 89, from _Two Other very Commendable Letters_, 1580): ‘Newe
Bookes I heare of none, but only of one, that writing a certaine
Booke, called The Schoole of Abuse, and dedicating it to Maister
Sidney, was for hys labor scorned, if at leaste it be in the
goodnesse of that nature to scorne. Suche follie is it not to
regarde aforehande the inclination and qualitie of him to whome
wee dedicate oure Bookes.’]