Influence
of Folk-lore.
Cambridge History of English Literature - 1908 - v05
This file was downloaded from HathiTrust Digital Library.
Find more books at https://www. hathitrust. org.
Title: The Cambridge history of English literature, ed. by A. W. Ward
and A. R. Waller.
Publisher: Cambridge, The University Press, 1908-1927.
Copyright:
Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
We have determined this work to be in the public domain in the United
States of America. It may not be in the public domain in other countries.
Copies are provided as a preservation service. Particularly outside of the
United States, persons receiving copies should make appropriate efforts to
determine the copyright status of the work in their country and use the
work accordingly. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or
the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as
illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions.
Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights
may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The
digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc.
(indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests
that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used
commercially. The images are provided for educational, scholarly,
non-commercial purposes.
Find this book online: https://hdl. handle. net/2027/umn. 31951000992219t
This file has been created from the computer-extracted text of scanned page
images. Computer-extracted text may have errors, such as misspellings,
unusual characters, odd spacing and line breaks.
Original from: University of Minnesota
Digitized by: Google
Generated at University of Chicago on 2022-12-31 14:35 GMT
## p. (#1) ##################################################
## p. (#2) ##################################################
THE LIBRARY
OF THE
OF
REGENTS
himu
MINNESOTA
ANIMAS
Reference
## p. (#3) ##################################################
## p. (#4) ##################################################
## p. (#5) ##################################################
## p. (#6) ##################################################
## p. i (#7) ################################################
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
VOLUME V
THE DRAMA TO 1642
PART ONE
## p. ii (#8) ###############################################
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
London: FETTER LANE, E. C. 4
Paris : THE GALIGNANI LIBRARY
Bombay, Calcutta and flatras: MACMILLAN AND CO. , LTD.
Toronto: J. M. DENT AND SONS, LTD.
Tokpo: THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
Copyrighted in the United States of America by
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
2, 4 AND 6 WEST 45TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY
All Rights reserved
## p. iii (#9) ##############################################
THE
CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
EDITED BY
A. W. WARD, Litt. D. , F. B. A. , Master of Peterhouse
AND
A. R. WALLER, M. A. , Peterhouse
VOLUME V
THE DRAMA TO 1642
PART ONE
POCVLA
AVTODA UNITED
BOOTS
CAMBRIDGE:
at the University Press
1918
## p. iv (#10) ##############################################
)
First edition, 1910
New impression, 1918
## p. v (#11) ###############################################
R820. )
C 14
1. 5
PREFACE
TO VOLUMES V AND VI
TWO publications which are of exceptional value to students
of English drama have appeared during the closing stages
of the production of volumes V and vi of the present work. It
has been barely possible to add to the text and bibliographies a
few references to part 1, volume iv, of the standard history of
modern drama by Professor Creizenach, while Professor Feuillerat's
illuminating work on John Lyly was not published until after the
greater part of both these volumes had gone through the press.
To Professor F. E. Schelling's Elizabethan Drama, the editors
are greatly indebted, and they also desire to place on record a
general acknowledgment of the use made in these volumes of
Dr W. W. Greg's Lists of Plays and Masques, and of his edition
of Henslowe’s diary.
The editors hope that readers of these volumes will find that
the chapters supplement each other in particular passages, more
especially in those which seek to summarise certain growths, such
as the chronicle history, the domestic drama and the pastoral
drama. Although an attempt has been made, wherever possible,
to avoid discrepancies with regard to the dates of certain plays or
to the shares of dramatists in plays written in conjunction, it is
inevitable, in a work of composite authorship, that some such
discrepancies should remain. The cross references which the
editors have added in their footnotes will, it is hoped, enable
students readily to test for themselves the nature of the evidence
upon which individual conclusions are based.
A. W. W.
A. R. W.
May, 1910.
JAN 4 56
1595505
## p. vi (#12) ##############################################
## p. vii (#13) #############################################
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I (INTRODUCTORY)
THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH DRAMA
By A. W. WARD, Litt. D. , F. B. A. , Master of Peterhouse
PAGE
Earliest traces of English Drama. Estrifs. The Normans and their
Minstrels. Faint influence of the Classical Drama. The English
Monastic Literary Drama. Popular survivals. Festival Plays.
Ridings and Mummings. Liturgical Drama. Opposition of the
Clergy to secular entertainments. Importance of the Corpus
Christi Festival. Cornish Miracle-plays. Variety in dialect and
metre in the English Mysteries and Miracle-plays. Origin of the
Moralities. English love of Allegory. Evolution of Tragedy
and Comedy
1
CHAPTER II
SECULAR INFLUENCES ON THE EARLY
ENGLISH DRAMA
MINSTRELS VILLAGE FESTIVALS FOLK-PLAYS
By HAROLD H. CHILD, sometime Scholar of Brasenose
College, Oxford
Strolling Performers: the Latin mimus and the Teutonic scop.
Influence of English Minstrels on Religious Plays. Beginnings
of the Interlude. The Minstrels' Guild. Influence of Folk-lore.
Cantilenae. Folk-dance and play. The Hook-Tuesday Play.
Sword-dance. Plough Monday performances. Development of
the Mummers' Play. Transformation of the May-game into the
Robin Hood Plays
24
## p. viii (#14) ############################################
viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
PAGE
THE EARLY RELIGIOUS DRAMA
MIRACLE-PLAYS AND MORALITIES
By W. CREIZENACH, Professor of German Language and
Literature in the University of Cracow
Concordia Regularis. School Dramas of Hilarius. Religious Plays
in London. The vernacular in Medieval Drama. Jacob and
Esau. Miracles of Mary. Evidence of the popularity of the
Religious Drama. The Harrowing of Hell. Mysteries and their
sources: traditional and original elements; mingling of comic
with tragic incidents. Costliness of production. Corpus Christi
Plays. York Mysteries. Towneley Mysteries. Chester Plays.
Ludus Coventriae. Saints' Plays. Object and value of the
production of Mysteries. Early Moralities. The Castle of Per-
severance. Mankynd. Mind, Will and Understanding. Every-
Tendency towards the introduction of comic elements.
Progress in aim and treatment. Distinctive character of the
Moralities. Effects of Humanism on Mysteries and Moralities.
Interlude of the Nature of the Four Elements. Treatment
of educational, political and ecclesiastical questions in the Morality.
Vicissitudes in the reigns of the Tudor sovereigns. The last of
the Moralities.
man.
36
CHAPTER IV
EARLY ENGLISH TRAGEDY
By John W. CUNLIFFE, D. Lit. (London), Professor of
English in the University of Wisconsin, U. S. A.
Study, imitation and reproduction of Senecan tragedy. Classical
influence in the Italian Drammi Mescidati. Giraldi Cinthio's
Orbecche. Early English Tragicomedies. Historic importance
of stage directions. Damon and Pithias. Horestes. Apius
and Virginia. Cambises. Kynge Johan. Gorboduc and its
political significance : its advance on Senecan Tragedy and early
Tragicomedy. Introduction of intermedii. Jocasta. Gismond of
Salerne and its sources: motives of its authors. Advance in the
treatment of Romance. The Gray's inn Entertainment. The
Misfortunes of Arthur: extent of its debt to Seneca Popular
translation of the Ten Tragedies of Seneca. Renewed interest
in English history and the beginnings of English Historical Drama.
The Chronicle Histories. The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth.
The Troublesome Raigne of King John. The True Chronicle
History of King Leir. The relations between Locrine and
Selimus. Diminishing attention paid to classical models and in-
creasing appeal to popular sentiment and national tradition. The
legacy of the Classics in Tragedy .
61
## p. ix (#15) ##############################################
Contents
ix
CHAPTER V
EARLY ENGLISH COMEDY
PAGE
By F. S. BOAS, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford, LL. D. (St Andrews),
late Professor of English Literature in Queen's College,
Belfast, and late Clark Lecturer in Trinity College
John Heywood. His relationship to Sir Thomas More. Period of his
dramatic activity. Probability of French influence. His inter-
ludes: Witty and Witless; Love; Wether; The Foure P. P.
His narrative power. Doubtful plays: The Pardoner and the
Frere and Johan Johan. The collision of romantic and didactic
tendencies in Tudor Drama. Calisto and Melebea. Lucrece.
Continental Humanist Drama. Performances of Latin plays in
the schools and at the Universities. Nicholas Udall.
Influence of Folk-lore.
Cantilenae. Folk-dance and play. The Hook-Tuesday Play.
Sword-dance. Plough Monday performances. Development of
the Mummers' Play. Transformation of the May-game into the
Robin Hood Plays
24
## p. viii (#14) ############################################
viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
PAGE
THE EARLY RELIGIOUS DRAMA
MIRACLE-PLAYS AND MORALITIES
By W. CREIZENACH, Professor of German Language and
Literature in the University of Cracow
Concordia Regularis. School Dramas of Hilarius. Religious Plays
in London. The vernacular in Medieval Drama. Jacob and
Esau. Miracles of Mary. Evidence of the popularity of the
Religious Drama. The Harrowing of Hell. Mysteries and their
sources: traditional and original elements; mingling of comic
with tragic incidents. Costliness of production. Corpus Christi
Plays. York Mysteries. Towneley Mysteries. Chester Plays.
Ludus Coventriae. Saints' Plays. Object and value of the
production of Mysteries. Early Moralities. The Castle of Per-
severance. Mankynd. Mind, Will and Understanding. Every-
Tendency towards the introduction of comic elements.
Progress in aim and treatment. Distinctive character of the
Moralities. Effects of Humanism on Mysteries and Moralities.
Interlude of the Nature of the Four Elements. Treatment
of educational, political and ecclesiastical questions in the Morality.
Vicissitudes in the reigns of the Tudor sovereigns. The last of
the Moralities.
man.
36
CHAPTER IV
EARLY ENGLISH TRAGEDY
By John W. CUNLIFFE, D. Lit. (London), Professor of
English in the University of Wisconsin, U. S. A.
Study, imitation and reproduction of Senecan tragedy. Classical
influence in the Italian Drammi Mescidati. Giraldi Cinthio's
Orbecche. Early English Tragicomedies. Historic importance
of stage directions. Damon and Pithias. Horestes. Apius
and Virginia. Cambises. Kynge Johan. Gorboduc and its
political significance : its advance on Senecan Tragedy and early
Tragicomedy. Introduction of intermedii. Jocasta. Gismond of
Salerne and its sources: motives of its authors. Advance in the
treatment of Romance. The Gray's inn Entertainment. The
Misfortunes of Arthur: extent of its debt to Seneca Popular
translation of the Ten Tragedies of Seneca. Renewed interest
in English history and the beginnings of English Historical Drama.
The Chronicle Histories. The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth.
The Troublesome Raigne of King John. The True Chronicle
History of King Leir. The relations between Locrine and
Selimus. Diminishing attention paid to classical models and in-
creasing appeal to popular sentiment and national tradition. The
legacy of the Classics in Tragedy .
61
## p. ix (#15) ##############################################
Contents
ix
CHAPTER V
EARLY ENGLISH COMEDY
PAGE
By F. S. BOAS, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford, LL. D. (St Andrews),
late Professor of English Literature in Queen's College,
Belfast, and late Clark Lecturer in Trinity College
John Heywood. His relationship to Sir Thomas More. Period of his
dramatic activity. Probability of French influence. His inter-
ludes: Witty and Witless; Love; Wether; The Foure P. P.
His narrative power. Doubtful plays: The Pardoner and the
Frere and Johan Johan. The collision of romantic and didactic
tendencies in Tudor Drama. Calisto and Melebea. Lucrece.
Continental Humanist Drama. Performances of Latin plays in
the schools and at the Universities. Nicholas Udall. Ralph Roister
Doister. Jacke Jugeler. English adaptations of Textor's Neo-
classic Plays. Prodigal son plays. Misogonus. Jacob and Esau.
The Glasse of Governement. Supposes. The Bugbears. In-
fluence of the Southern Stage. Strength of the native dramatic
instinct. Tom Tyler. Damon and Pithias. Promos and
Cassandra. Edwards's and Whetstone's theory of the function of
Comedy
89
.
CHAPTER VI
THE PLAYS OF THE UNIVERSITY WITS
:
By G. P. BAKER, Professor of English in Harvard
University, U. S. A.
The University standard of judgment. John Lyly. His position in
the group of University Wits. His material, method and style.
His models. Authorship of the songs in Lyly's plays. Introduction
to the English stage of High Comedy: its essential features.
Lyly's refining and intellectual influence on English Literature and
Drama. George Peele. Variety in theme and treatment. Begin-
nings of dramatic criticism. Peelo's poetry. Robert Greene. His
literary career. His Novels and Pamphlets. His Repentance.
Early dramatic work. Plays attributed to Greene. His sources
and handling of plot. Development of the Love story. Thomas
Lodge. Sequence of his work. His ill-success and retirement from
Drama. Thomas Nashe. Popular form of his work. Character-
istics of the group of University Wits
121
## p. x (#16) ###############################################
х
Contents
CHAPTER VII
MARLOWE AND KYD
CHRONICLE HISTORIES
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford, Hon. LL. D.
(Edin. ), Professor of English Literature in the University of
Belfast
PAGE
1
1
The forerunners of Shakespeare. Marlowe's life and early literary
work. Tamburlaine the Great. Dr Faustus. The Jew of Malta.
Edward II. The Massacre at Paris. Dido Queene of Carthage.
Marlowe's share in other Plays. Association with Shakespeare.
Marlowe's non-dramatio writings. Poetic quality of his work.
Characteristics of his style. His treatment of the Chronicle Play.
His forerunners. Edward II. Creation of Blank Verse as a
dramatic instrument. Thomas Kyd's early work. The Spanish
Tragedie. Kyd and the early Hamlet. Doubtful authorship of
The First Part of Jeronimo and of Solimon and Perseda.
Criticism of Kyd's work and comparison with Marlowe. Kyd's
place in English Drama .
142
.
.
9
CHAPTER VIII
SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND PLAYS
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A. , Merton College, Oxford, LL. D. ,
Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University
of Edinburgh
Character of our knowledge about Shakespeare. His Family and
Education. His Marriage and relations with his Wife. His
Company. Biographical aspects of the Sonnets. Evidence as to
Order of Plays. Value of the Meres list. Earliest group: The
Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost and Titus Andronicus.
Second group: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, All's Well that
Ends Well and The Taming of the Shrew. Remaining Meres
Plays: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The
Merchant of Venice. Early Chronicle Plays: Richard II, King
John, Richard III. Shakespeare's share in Henry VI, Henry IV.
Plays not mentioned by Meres: Pericles, The Merry Wives,
Measure for Measure, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It
and Twelfth Night. Remaining Historical Plays: Henry V and
Henry VIII. Classical Plays: Troilus and Cressida, Timon of
Athens, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra.
Tragicomedies: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear. Last
group: Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Shake-
speare's Censors. His special gifts: poetic phrasing, dramatio
construction and character-drawing. His justice and tolerance.
Universality of his style. His progress in versification. Shake-
spearean Blank Verse: management of metre, pause trisyllabio
substitution and the redundant syllable
165
Appendix: Tabular Conspectus
I. Biographical
219
II. Literary. A brief summary of the principal Dates and Sources
of the separate Plays. Outline of Shakespeare's Fame in
England .
220
1
!
Find more books at https://www. hathitrust. org.
Title: The Cambridge history of English literature, ed. by A. W. Ward
and A. R. Waller.
Publisher: Cambridge, The University Press, 1908-1927.
Copyright:
Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
We have determined this work to be in the public domain in the United
States of America. It may not be in the public domain in other countries.
Copies are provided as a preservation service. Particularly outside of the
United States, persons receiving copies should make appropriate efforts to
determine the copyright status of the work in their country and use the
work accordingly. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or
the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as
illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions.
Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights
may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The
digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc.
(indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests
that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used
commercially. The images are provided for educational, scholarly,
non-commercial purposes.
Find this book online: https://hdl. handle. net/2027/umn. 31951000992219t
This file has been created from the computer-extracted text of scanned page
images. Computer-extracted text may have errors, such as misspellings,
unusual characters, odd spacing and line breaks.
Original from: University of Minnesota
Digitized by: Google
Generated at University of Chicago on 2022-12-31 14:35 GMT
## p. (#1) ##################################################
## p. (#2) ##################################################
THE LIBRARY
OF THE
OF
REGENTS
himu
MINNESOTA
ANIMAS
Reference
## p. (#3) ##################################################
## p. (#4) ##################################################
## p. (#5) ##################################################
## p. (#6) ##################################################
## p. i (#7) ################################################
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
VOLUME V
THE DRAMA TO 1642
PART ONE
## p. ii (#8) ###############################################
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
London: FETTER LANE, E. C. 4
Paris : THE GALIGNANI LIBRARY
Bombay, Calcutta and flatras: MACMILLAN AND CO. , LTD.
Toronto: J. M. DENT AND SONS, LTD.
Tokpo: THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
Copyrighted in the United States of America by
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
2, 4 AND 6 WEST 45TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY
All Rights reserved
## p. iii (#9) ##############################################
THE
CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
EDITED BY
A. W. WARD, Litt. D. , F. B. A. , Master of Peterhouse
AND
A. R. WALLER, M. A. , Peterhouse
VOLUME V
THE DRAMA TO 1642
PART ONE
POCVLA
AVTODA UNITED
BOOTS
CAMBRIDGE:
at the University Press
1918
## p. iv (#10) ##############################################
)
First edition, 1910
New impression, 1918
## p. v (#11) ###############################################
R820. )
C 14
1. 5
PREFACE
TO VOLUMES V AND VI
TWO publications which are of exceptional value to students
of English drama have appeared during the closing stages
of the production of volumes V and vi of the present work. It
has been barely possible to add to the text and bibliographies a
few references to part 1, volume iv, of the standard history of
modern drama by Professor Creizenach, while Professor Feuillerat's
illuminating work on John Lyly was not published until after the
greater part of both these volumes had gone through the press.
To Professor F. E. Schelling's Elizabethan Drama, the editors
are greatly indebted, and they also desire to place on record a
general acknowledgment of the use made in these volumes of
Dr W. W. Greg's Lists of Plays and Masques, and of his edition
of Henslowe’s diary.
The editors hope that readers of these volumes will find that
the chapters supplement each other in particular passages, more
especially in those which seek to summarise certain growths, such
as the chronicle history, the domestic drama and the pastoral
drama. Although an attempt has been made, wherever possible,
to avoid discrepancies with regard to the dates of certain plays or
to the shares of dramatists in plays written in conjunction, it is
inevitable, in a work of composite authorship, that some such
discrepancies should remain. The cross references which the
editors have added in their footnotes will, it is hoped, enable
students readily to test for themselves the nature of the evidence
upon which individual conclusions are based.
A. W. W.
A. R. W.
May, 1910.
JAN 4 56
1595505
## p. vi (#12) ##############################################
## p. vii (#13) #############################################
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I (INTRODUCTORY)
THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH DRAMA
By A. W. WARD, Litt. D. , F. B. A. , Master of Peterhouse
PAGE
Earliest traces of English Drama. Estrifs. The Normans and their
Minstrels. Faint influence of the Classical Drama. The English
Monastic Literary Drama. Popular survivals. Festival Plays.
Ridings and Mummings. Liturgical Drama. Opposition of the
Clergy to secular entertainments. Importance of the Corpus
Christi Festival. Cornish Miracle-plays. Variety in dialect and
metre in the English Mysteries and Miracle-plays. Origin of the
Moralities. English love of Allegory. Evolution of Tragedy
and Comedy
1
CHAPTER II
SECULAR INFLUENCES ON THE EARLY
ENGLISH DRAMA
MINSTRELS VILLAGE FESTIVALS FOLK-PLAYS
By HAROLD H. CHILD, sometime Scholar of Brasenose
College, Oxford
Strolling Performers: the Latin mimus and the Teutonic scop.
Influence of English Minstrels on Religious Plays. Beginnings
of the Interlude. The Minstrels' Guild. Influence of Folk-lore.
Cantilenae. Folk-dance and play. The Hook-Tuesday Play.
Sword-dance. Plough Monday performances. Development of
the Mummers' Play. Transformation of the May-game into the
Robin Hood Plays
24
## p. viii (#14) ############################################
viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
PAGE
THE EARLY RELIGIOUS DRAMA
MIRACLE-PLAYS AND MORALITIES
By W. CREIZENACH, Professor of German Language and
Literature in the University of Cracow
Concordia Regularis. School Dramas of Hilarius. Religious Plays
in London. The vernacular in Medieval Drama. Jacob and
Esau. Miracles of Mary. Evidence of the popularity of the
Religious Drama. The Harrowing of Hell. Mysteries and their
sources: traditional and original elements; mingling of comic
with tragic incidents. Costliness of production. Corpus Christi
Plays. York Mysteries. Towneley Mysteries. Chester Plays.
Ludus Coventriae. Saints' Plays. Object and value of the
production of Mysteries. Early Moralities. The Castle of Per-
severance. Mankynd. Mind, Will and Understanding. Every-
Tendency towards the introduction of comic elements.
Progress in aim and treatment. Distinctive character of the
Moralities. Effects of Humanism on Mysteries and Moralities.
Interlude of the Nature of the Four Elements. Treatment
of educational, political and ecclesiastical questions in the Morality.
Vicissitudes in the reigns of the Tudor sovereigns. The last of
the Moralities.
man.
36
CHAPTER IV
EARLY ENGLISH TRAGEDY
By John W. CUNLIFFE, D. Lit. (London), Professor of
English in the University of Wisconsin, U. S. A.
Study, imitation and reproduction of Senecan tragedy. Classical
influence in the Italian Drammi Mescidati. Giraldi Cinthio's
Orbecche. Early English Tragicomedies. Historic importance
of stage directions. Damon and Pithias. Horestes. Apius
and Virginia. Cambises. Kynge Johan. Gorboduc and its
political significance : its advance on Senecan Tragedy and early
Tragicomedy. Introduction of intermedii. Jocasta. Gismond of
Salerne and its sources: motives of its authors. Advance in the
treatment of Romance. The Gray's inn Entertainment. The
Misfortunes of Arthur: extent of its debt to Seneca Popular
translation of the Ten Tragedies of Seneca. Renewed interest
in English history and the beginnings of English Historical Drama.
The Chronicle Histories. The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth.
The Troublesome Raigne of King John. The True Chronicle
History of King Leir. The relations between Locrine and
Selimus. Diminishing attention paid to classical models and in-
creasing appeal to popular sentiment and national tradition. The
legacy of the Classics in Tragedy .
61
## p. ix (#15) ##############################################
Contents
ix
CHAPTER V
EARLY ENGLISH COMEDY
PAGE
By F. S. BOAS, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford, LL. D. (St Andrews),
late Professor of English Literature in Queen's College,
Belfast, and late Clark Lecturer in Trinity College
John Heywood. His relationship to Sir Thomas More. Period of his
dramatic activity. Probability of French influence. His inter-
ludes: Witty and Witless; Love; Wether; The Foure P. P.
His narrative power. Doubtful plays: The Pardoner and the
Frere and Johan Johan. The collision of romantic and didactic
tendencies in Tudor Drama. Calisto and Melebea. Lucrece.
Continental Humanist Drama. Performances of Latin plays in
the schools and at the Universities. Nicholas Udall.
Influence of Folk-lore.
Cantilenae. Folk-dance and play. The Hook-Tuesday Play.
Sword-dance. Plough Monday performances. Development of
the Mummers' Play. Transformation of the May-game into the
Robin Hood Plays
24
## p. viii (#14) ############################################
viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
PAGE
THE EARLY RELIGIOUS DRAMA
MIRACLE-PLAYS AND MORALITIES
By W. CREIZENACH, Professor of German Language and
Literature in the University of Cracow
Concordia Regularis. School Dramas of Hilarius. Religious Plays
in London. The vernacular in Medieval Drama. Jacob and
Esau. Miracles of Mary. Evidence of the popularity of the
Religious Drama. The Harrowing of Hell. Mysteries and their
sources: traditional and original elements; mingling of comic
with tragic incidents. Costliness of production. Corpus Christi
Plays. York Mysteries. Towneley Mysteries. Chester Plays.
Ludus Coventriae. Saints' Plays. Object and value of the
production of Mysteries. Early Moralities. The Castle of Per-
severance. Mankynd. Mind, Will and Understanding. Every-
Tendency towards the introduction of comic elements.
Progress in aim and treatment. Distinctive character of the
Moralities. Effects of Humanism on Mysteries and Moralities.
Interlude of the Nature of the Four Elements. Treatment
of educational, political and ecclesiastical questions in the Morality.
Vicissitudes in the reigns of the Tudor sovereigns. The last of
the Moralities.
man.
36
CHAPTER IV
EARLY ENGLISH TRAGEDY
By John W. CUNLIFFE, D. Lit. (London), Professor of
English in the University of Wisconsin, U. S. A.
Study, imitation and reproduction of Senecan tragedy. Classical
influence in the Italian Drammi Mescidati. Giraldi Cinthio's
Orbecche. Early English Tragicomedies. Historic importance
of stage directions. Damon and Pithias. Horestes. Apius
and Virginia. Cambises. Kynge Johan. Gorboduc and its
political significance : its advance on Senecan Tragedy and early
Tragicomedy. Introduction of intermedii. Jocasta. Gismond of
Salerne and its sources: motives of its authors. Advance in the
treatment of Romance. The Gray's inn Entertainment. The
Misfortunes of Arthur: extent of its debt to Seneca Popular
translation of the Ten Tragedies of Seneca. Renewed interest
in English history and the beginnings of English Historical Drama.
The Chronicle Histories. The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth.
The Troublesome Raigne of King John. The True Chronicle
History of King Leir. The relations between Locrine and
Selimus. Diminishing attention paid to classical models and in-
creasing appeal to popular sentiment and national tradition. The
legacy of the Classics in Tragedy .
61
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Contents
ix
CHAPTER V
EARLY ENGLISH COMEDY
PAGE
By F. S. BOAS, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford, LL. D. (St Andrews),
late Professor of English Literature in Queen's College,
Belfast, and late Clark Lecturer in Trinity College
John Heywood. His relationship to Sir Thomas More. Period of his
dramatic activity. Probability of French influence. His inter-
ludes: Witty and Witless; Love; Wether; The Foure P. P.
His narrative power. Doubtful plays: The Pardoner and the
Frere and Johan Johan. The collision of romantic and didactic
tendencies in Tudor Drama. Calisto and Melebea. Lucrece.
Continental Humanist Drama. Performances of Latin plays in
the schools and at the Universities. Nicholas Udall. Ralph Roister
Doister. Jacke Jugeler. English adaptations of Textor's Neo-
classic Plays. Prodigal son plays. Misogonus. Jacob and Esau.
The Glasse of Governement. Supposes. The Bugbears. In-
fluence of the Southern Stage. Strength of the native dramatic
instinct. Tom Tyler. Damon and Pithias. Promos and
Cassandra. Edwards's and Whetstone's theory of the function of
Comedy
89
.
CHAPTER VI
THE PLAYS OF THE UNIVERSITY WITS
:
By G. P. BAKER, Professor of English in Harvard
University, U. S. A.
The University standard of judgment. John Lyly. His position in
the group of University Wits. His material, method and style.
His models. Authorship of the songs in Lyly's plays. Introduction
to the English stage of High Comedy: its essential features.
Lyly's refining and intellectual influence on English Literature and
Drama. George Peele. Variety in theme and treatment. Begin-
nings of dramatic criticism. Peelo's poetry. Robert Greene. His
literary career. His Novels and Pamphlets. His Repentance.
Early dramatic work. Plays attributed to Greene. His sources
and handling of plot. Development of the Love story. Thomas
Lodge. Sequence of his work. His ill-success and retirement from
Drama. Thomas Nashe. Popular form of his work. Character-
istics of the group of University Wits
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Contents
CHAPTER VII
MARLOWE AND KYD
CHRONICLE HISTORIES
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford, Hon. LL. D.
(Edin. ), Professor of English Literature in the University of
Belfast
PAGE
1
1
The forerunners of Shakespeare. Marlowe's life and early literary
work. Tamburlaine the Great. Dr Faustus. The Jew of Malta.
Edward II. The Massacre at Paris. Dido Queene of Carthage.
Marlowe's share in other Plays. Association with Shakespeare.
Marlowe's non-dramatio writings. Poetic quality of his work.
Characteristics of his style. His treatment of the Chronicle Play.
His forerunners. Edward II. Creation of Blank Verse as a
dramatic instrument. Thomas Kyd's early work. The Spanish
Tragedie. Kyd and the early Hamlet. Doubtful authorship of
The First Part of Jeronimo and of Solimon and Perseda.
Criticism of Kyd's work and comparison with Marlowe. Kyd's
place in English Drama .
142
.
.
9
CHAPTER VIII
SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND PLAYS
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A. , Merton College, Oxford, LL. D. ,
Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University
of Edinburgh
Character of our knowledge about Shakespeare. His Family and
Education. His Marriage and relations with his Wife. His
Company. Biographical aspects of the Sonnets. Evidence as to
Order of Plays. Value of the Meres list. Earliest group: The
Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost and Titus Andronicus.
Second group: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, All's Well that
Ends Well and The Taming of the Shrew. Remaining Meres
Plays: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The
Merchant of Venice. Early Chronicle Plays: Richard II, King
John, Richard III. Shakespeare's share in Henry VI, Henry IV.
Plays not mentioned by Meres: Pericles, The Merry Wives,
Measure for Measure, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It
and Twelfth Night. Remaining Historical Plays: Henry V and
Henry VIII. Classical Plays: Troilus and Cressida, Timon of
Athens, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra.
Tragicomedies: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear. Last
group: Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Shake-
speare's Censors. His special gifts: poetic phrasing, dramatio
construction and character-drawing. His justice and tolerance.
Universality of his style. His progress in versification. Shake-
spearean Blank Verse: management of metre, pause trisyllabio
substitution and the redundant syllable
165
Appendix: Tabular Conspectus
I. Biographical
219
II. Literary. A brief summary of the principal Dates and Sources
of the separate Plays. Outline of Shakespeare's Fame in
England .
220
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