Tuesday, performed before queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth, was in dumb-show, the actors not having had time to get their parts. It represented, says Dr. Percy, in his Reliques of Ancient Poetry, after Laneham, the outrage and insupportable insolency of the Danes, the grievous complaint of Huna, king Ethelred's chieftain in wars; his counselling and contriving the plot to dispatch them; concluding with conflicts (between Danish and English warriors), and their final suppression, expressed in actions and rhymes after their manner. One can hardly conceive a more regular model of a complete tragedy. The drama in England, undoubtedly arose much in the same way as it did in Greece. The strollers, or vagrants, with their theatres in the yards of inns, auswer to the company and exhibitions of Thespis; and the improvements were gradual, till at last, to use the words of Sir George Buck, who wrote in 1631, dramatic poesy is so lively expressed and represented upon the public stages and the theatres of this city (London), as Rome, in the highest pitch of her pomp and glory, never saw it better performed.

ANCIENT PLAYHOUSES AND BEAR-GARDENS, &c., IN LONDON
AND SOUTHWARK.

The most ancient playhouses, says an intelligent writer, i. e., those of London, were the Curtain in Shoreditch, and the Theatre in Holywell Lane. In Stowe's Chronicle, p. 349, edit. 1598, occurs a notice of both the Theatre and the Curtain:-" And near unto Holywell Priory are builded two public houses for the acting and show of comedies, tragedies, and histories for recreation: whereof one is called the Curtain, the other the Theatre, both standing on the south-west side towards the field."

In Birch's View of London, which is very rare, there is a representation of the Fortune Playhouse, with a flag before the door; it was situated between Whitecross Street and Golden Lane. The original structure which stood here, was appointed for the nursery of the children of king Henry VIII. The lease was purchased by Edward Alleyn, Esq., founder of Dulwich Hospital, and he formed it into a theatre, denominated The Fortune, and finished it in 1599. In 1621, the whole building, and the theatrical property, were destroyed by fire. After being rebuilt, it was offered for sale in 1661, and then was of sufficient space to afford twenty-three tenements and gardens, and a street, now called Playhouse Yard; which is at present occupied by dealers in old clothes.

The Red Bull Playhouse, stood on a spot of ground lately called Red Bull Yard, near the upper end of St. John's Street, Clerkenwell, and is traditionally said to have been the theatre at which Shakspeare first held gentlemen's horses. In the civil * A necessary appendage at playhouses in former days.

wars it became celebrated for the representation of drolls; and Francis Kirkman, in 1672, published a collection of these pieces, the frontispiece of which exhibits the inside of this theatre.

The Swan Theatre was the most westerly of the playhouses on Bankside, and must have stood at no great distance from the Surrey end of Blackfriars' Bridge. It was a large house, and flourished only a few years, being suppressed at the commencement of the civil wars. It is represented in the Antwerp View of London, now in the possession of John Dent, Esq.

A little to the West of St. Mary Overie, in a place called Globe Alley, stood, says Pennant, the Globe, immortalized by having been the theatre on which Shakspeare first trod the stage, but in no higher character than the Ghost, in his own play of Hamlet. It appears to have been of an octagonal form, and is said to have been covered with rushes. The door was very lately standing. James I. granted a patent to Laurence Fletcher, William Shakspeare, Richard Burbage (the first performer of Richard the Third), Augustine Phillipes, John Hemmings, Henrie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armin, and Richard Cowlie, and others of His Majesty's Servants, to act here, or in any other part of the kingdom.

Near the water, on Bankside, stood Paris Garden, one of the ancient playhouses. It seems to have been much frequented on Sundays. This profanation was at length fully punished by the dire accident which Heaven directed, and befell the spectators, when the scaffolding suddenly fell, and multitudes of people were suddenly killed or miserably maimed. The omen seems to have been accepted; for in the next century the manor of Paris Garden was erected into a parish, and a church founded under the name of Christ's.

The following is a list of the theatres erected between 1575 and 1600:

In the early part of Shakspeare's acquaintance with the theatre, the want of scenery seems to have been supplied by the simple expedient of writing the names of the different places where the scene was laid. The covering, or intended roof of the stage, was anciently termed the heavens. Many of the companies of the players were formerly so thin, that one person played two or three parts; and a battle, on which the fate of an empire was supposed to depend, was decided by half a dozen combatants. The person who spoke the prologue was ushered in by trumpets,

and usually wore a long black velvet cloak, which is still retained in the play of Hamlet, as exhibited before the king and court of Denmark. Most, if not all, of Shakspeare's plays, were performed either at the Globe, or at the theatre in Blackfriars, which was a private playhouse, and usually performed by candlelight. In the other theatres they commenced at one o'clock in the afternoon, and the exhibition was usually finished in two hours; and so late as 1667, they commenced at three o'clock.

Scenes first made their appearance upon the English stage in 1662, at the opening of the Duke of York's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was opened by Sir William Davenant with one of his own plays, The Siege of Rhodes.

DRAMATIC CENSORSHIP.

Henry Fielding having ridiculed the ministry in his two plays of Pasquin and the Historic Register, a piece called the Golden Rump, which never was acted, never appeared in print, nor was it ever known who was the author, was sent anonymously to Mr. Henry Giffard, the manager of Goodman's Fields theatre, for representation. In this piece the most unbounded abuse was vented, not only against parliament, the council, and ministry, but even against the person of the king himself. The honest manager, free from design himself, suspecting none in others, but imagining that a licence of this kind, if permitted to run to such enormous lengths, would be attended with pernicious consequences to his interest, quickly perceived the snare, and carried the piece to the minister, with a view of consulting him upon it. The latter commended highly his integrity in this step, requested only the MS., 'but at the same time, that the manager might be no loser by his zeal for the interests of his king and country, ordered a gratuity equal to what he might have expected from the profits of representation. The minister instantly made use of the manuscript play, to introduce and pass a bill in parliament for limiting the number of theatres, and submitting every dramatic piece to the inspection of the lord chamberlain, previous to its appearance on the stage.

SOLDIERS DOING DUTY AT THE THEATRES-ROYAL.

In the reign of George the Second, when Quin acted in Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre, it occurred one night, during the performance of the Beggar's Opera, it being then a prevailing custom to admit noblemen and gentlemen behind the scenes, that one of them, a warm-tempered person, flushed with potent libations of usquebaugh, in a very interesting scene of the opera, crossed the stage, amidst the performers. Quin was behind the scenes, and

expostulated with the nobleman on the impropriety of his conduct. The latter on this struck Quin in the face, who returned the blow. This being witnessed by the nobleman's companions, they drew their swords, and a general fight ensued. The police of the town not being under such strict regulations as it is at present, nor by any means so numerous and effective, the proprietors called in the interference of the district watchmen, such characters as Dogberry, Verges, &c., and the noblemen were given in charge to them. They were kept in custody all night, and examined the next morning before the magistrates, and held to bail, when they made restitution and were discharged. His Majesty, hearing of the outrage, sent privately for a few of the ringleaders, whom he lectured rather severely on their improper conduct; and, to prevent the occurrence of such an outrage, the king was pleased to order that the guards should in future do duty every play night, which custom has never been dispensed with since.

ACTORS MAKING A TRADE OF THEIR PROFESSION.

Actors, prior to the year 1578, were retainers to the court and the nobility, and none had the privilege to act but such, except the Company of Parish Clerks, in religious plays, &c. Stowe says, speaking of the former, "This was at once a recreation, and used therefore, now and then occasionally, but afterwards by abuse became a trade and calling, and so remains to this day."

ORIGINAL THEATRICAL STAGES IN ENGLAND.

Most of our early dramatic pieces were performed in the yards of inns, in which, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the comedians, who then first united themselves in companies, erected an occasional stage. The spectators viewed the performances from galleries or corridors, which at that time generally ran round the court-yards of inns; many of which may still yet be seen in the city of London and the Borough, and some slight remains of them exist in the Eagle Inn Yard, and the Falcon Inn Yard, Cambridge. In the latter, there are remains on one side of two tiers of railed galleries, of one tier at the opposite side, and one tier at the end; the stage, we may reasonably suppose, was on the fourth side. The Falcon Inn ceases to exist there, but the area still bears the name. There are slight vestiges of a gallery of this nature at the Black Bear Inn Yard, Cambridge, where, upon May 28, 1600, an interlude was performed, at which one Dominus Pepper was seen with an improper habit, having deformed long locks of an unseemly sight, and great breeches, indecent for a graduate or scholar of orderly carriage: therefore, the said Pepper was commanded to appear presently, and procure his hair to be cut or powled; and which being done, the said

Pepper, returning to the consistory, was there suspended, ab omni gradu suscepto et suscipiendo. In October 1812, an order was made by St. John's and Trinity College, that every young man, who appeared in hall or chapel in pantaloons or trousers, should be considered as absent.-Retrospective Review.

BEGGAR'S OPERA.

Attempts had been made, from time to time, to introduce musical dramas upon the Italian model on the English stage; but the scheme was not successfully brought to bear until the beginning of the last century. The novelty, patronised by the royal family and people of fashion, superseded the regular drama, and Shakspeare and Jonson, with other worthies, were forgotten, until the rage for music began to subside in a violent schism among the patrons and the performers, when the contending parties, tired of the war, and the perfidious lords and ladies withdrawing their alliance, the Beggar's Opera by John Gay burst forth in 1727, and the Italian opera was fairly, or as unfairly as many thought, hunted down.

Bonancini, a celebrated Italian composer, was ungraciously pitted against the great German, Handel. Cuzzoni and Faustina, two rival syrens, set the fashionables at war. Lady Pembroke headed one party, Lady Burlington the other. The wits enjoyed the sport, and sided with none. Hence Swift's epigram:

Strange that difference should be

"Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee."

It may be remarked here, that the first female who ever performed Polly Peachum in the Beggar's Opera, viz. Miss Fenton, afterwards became Duchess of Bolton.

GARRICK'S FIRST PLAY-BILL.

When Garrick quitted Ipswich, where he played a few nights in a provincial company, he repaired to London; but it appears he was unable to get an engagement at any of the great houses. He was then obliged to join the company in Goodman's Fields, who, to avoid being sent to prison as rogues and vagabonds for acting without a licence, presented plays to their audiences gratis, charging them only for the concerts. Here it was that the British Roscius, trembling with hope and fear, made his first bow as Richard the Third.

The following is the copy of the bill:-Goodman's Fields, October 19, 1741. At the Theatre in Goodman's Fields, this day, will be performed, a Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music, divided into two parts.-Tickets at Three, Two, and One Shilling. -Places for the Boxes to be taken at the Fleece Tavern, next