Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

flicts, (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, answer 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 PLAY-HOUSES AND BEAR-GARDENS, &c.

IN LONDON AND SOUTHWARK.

"He hurries me from the Play-house and scenes there, to the Beargarden.-Stilling fleet.

The most ancient play-houses, says an intelligent writer, i. e. those of London, were the Curtain, in Shoreditch, and the Theatre. It is supposed, that our ancient theatres, in general, were only fur nished with curtains, which opened in the middle, and a single scene, composed of tapestry, sometimes ornamented with pictures. In Birch's View of London, which is very rare, there is a representation of the Fortune Play-house, with a flag before the door; it was situated between White Cross 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 Play-house Yard; which is at present occupied by dealers in old clothes.

The Red Bull Play-house, 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 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 play-houses on Bankside, and must have stood at no great distance from the Surrey end of Blackfriar's 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

* A necessary appendage at play houses in former days.

Richard Cowlie, and others of His Majesty's Servants, to act here, or in any other part of the kingdom.

The play-houses in, and about London, were by this time extremely numerous, there not being fewer than seventeen between *the years 1570 and 1629.

Near the water, on Bankside, stood Paris Garden, one of the ancient play-houses. It seems to have been much frequented on Sundays. This profanation was at length fully punished by the dire accident which heaven directed, and befel the spectators in 1582, 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.

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 play-house, and usually performed by candle-light. 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'sJnn-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 license 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 M. S., 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 num

ber of theatres, and submitting every dramatic piece to the inspec tion 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 rather lectured 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 Ion 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 trowsers, should be considered as absent.-Retrospective Review.

BEGGAR'S OPERA.

"Tis nearly one hundred years since its first performance was the subject of much bitterness and party feeling. 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, superceded the regular drama, and Shakspeare and Jonson, with other worthies, were forgotten, until the rage for music began to subside in a violent schisin 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 burst forth, 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 license, 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 door to the Theatre. N. B. Between the two parts of the Concert will be presented an historical Play, called the Life and Death of King Richard the Third; containing the distresses of King Henry the Sixth; the artful acquisition of the Crown by Richard; the Murder of young Edward the Fifth and his brother in the Tower; the landing of the Earl of Richmond, and the Death of King Richard in the memorable Battle of Bosworth-field, being the last that was fought between the houses of York and Lancaster; with other true historical passages. The part of King Richard by

a Gentleman* (who never appeared on any stage); King Henry, Mr. Giffard; Richmond, by Mr. Marshall; Prince Edward, Miss Hippesley; Duke of York, Miss Naylor, &c.; with an entertainment of dancing, &c. To which will be added, a Ballad Opera in one act, called the Virgin Unmasked. Both of which will be performed by persons gratis, for diversion. The Concert to begin at Six o'Clock exactly.

FIRST ENGLISH ACTRESS.

The first woman who appeared on the English stage was a Mrs Coleman, who represented Ianthe, in Davenant's Siege of Rhodes. This was in 1656. Up to that period, men enacted the women characters, dressed as such.

PUNCH.

"He gives me the motions."-Shakspeare.

It is very difficult to trace accurately the origin of any character of this description; the reader, therefore, must be satisfied with an unconnected notice of it.

In some of the old mysteries, wherein, no doubt, some of our readers are well read, the devil was the buffoon of the piece, and used to indulge himself most freely in the gross indecencies tolerated in the earlier ages. When those mysteries began to be refined into moralities, the Vice gradually superseded the former clown, if he may be so designated; and at the commencement of such change, frequently shared the comic part of the performance with him. The Vice was armed with a dagger of lath, with which he was to belabour the devil, who sometimes, however, at the conclusion of the piece, carried off the Vice with him. Here we have something like the club wielded by Punch, and the wand of Harlequin, at the present time, and a similar finish of the Devil and Punch may be seen daily in our streets.

Thus much may be said of the origin of the character, and as to which most writers agree. The term Punch is an abbreviation from the Italian policinello or punchinello, which signifies a merry fool.

COXCOMB.

"He is a conceited coxcomb."

The fool, in the early drama, was frequently dressed in a motley or party-coloured coat, and each leg clad in different coloured hose. A sort of hood covered his head, resembling a monk's cowl: this was afterwards changed for a cap, each being usually surmounted with the neck and head of a cock, or sometimes only the crest, or comb; hence was derived the term Coxcomb.

PANTOMIME.

Pantomime, or Pantomimic Mystery in its more extended sense, was known to the Greek and Roman stages, being introduced on the latter by Pylades and Bathyllus, in the time of Augustus Cæsar. From that time to the present, different modifications of this representation have taken place on the continent, and the lofty scenes of

• Garrick.

« PredošláPokračovať »