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both against the Church and State, against the Peers, Prelates, and Magiftrates; and particularly against the King and Queen, where he fays, that Princes dancing in their own Perfons, was the Caufe of their untimely Ends: That our English Ladies, fhorn and frizzled Madams, had left their Modefty: That Plays were the chief Delight of the Devil, and all that frequented them were damn’d. As he knew the King and Queen frequented them daily, this was thought to reflect on their Majefties. To all Mufick he has an utter Antipathy, but Church-mufick in particular, which he calls the Bleating of brute Beafts; and fays, the Chorifters bellow the Tenor as if they were Oxen, bark a Counter-point like a Kennel of Hounds, roar a Treble as if they were Bulls, and grunt out a Bafe like a Parcel of Hogs. For thefe and many other Paffages, it was order'd to be burnt by the Hands of the common Hangman: And his Sentence was, to be put from the Bar, excluded the Society of Lincoln's-Inn, and degraded by the Univerfity of Oxford, to ftand in the Pillory at Westminster and in Cheapfide, to lofe an Ear at each Place, and stand with a Paper on his Head, declaring his Offence to be the publishing an infamous Libel against both their Majefties, and the Government; to be fin'd 5000l. and fuffer perpetual Imprisonment. This Sentence was executed on him with great Rigour. But Puritanism, from a thousand concurrent Caufes every Day gathering Strength, in a little time

overturn'd the Conftitution; and, amongst their many Reformations this was one, the total Suppreffion of all Plays and Play-houfes.

Thus I have brought down this imperfect Effay on the Rife and Progrefs of the English Stage, to the

;

theod which I at first intended:

To purfue it farther, and take it up again at the Restoration, when a new* Patent was granted to Sir William Davenant, would be needlefs because from that time the Affairs of the Stage are tolerably well known. If what I have done fhall give any Satisfaction to the Curious, it is more than I have dared to promife myself, from my own Senfe of its great Imperfection; but I hope it will be confider'd, what flender Materials either the Ignorance of thofe Times, or the Injury of following, have afforded us. I am, as it were, the first Adventurer on thefe Discoveries, and it is not reasonable to expect more Perfection than is commonly found in the first Attempts of this Nature. All that I can fay is, that I have thrown together a Number of curious Circumftances on the Subject, that the Reader would feek for with great Trouble elsewhere. L14 And

44

It may not be amifs to take Notice of a Claufe in this Patent, which fays, That whereas the Women's Parts in Plays have "hitherto been acted by Men in the Habits of Women, at which "fome have taken Offence, we do permit and give Leave, for

the time to come, that all Women's Parts be acted by Wo-` "men." And from this time Women began to appear upon the Stage.

And if the Novelty of them fhould excite the Curiofity of any Perfon of greater Abilities, better Health, or more Leifure, to make a stricter Enquiry into this Matter, he would certainly oblige me, and perhaps the Publick. It is enough for me that I have led the Way, and been the first, however imperfect Difco

verer.

A

A

DIALOGUE

ON

Old PLAYS and Old PLAYERS.

H

Lovewit, Trueman.

Lovewit.

ONEST old Cavalier! well met, 'faith I'm glad to see thee.

Truem. Have a care what you call me; Old is a Word of Difgrace among the Ladies; to be honeft is to be poor and foolish, (as fome think ;) and Cavalier is a Word as much out of Fashion as any of

'em.

Lovew. The more's the Pity: but what faid the Fortune-teller in Ben Johnson's Mask of Gypfies, to the then Lord Privy Seal?

Honeft and Old!

In thofe the good Part of a Fortune is told.

Truem. Ben Johnfon! how dare you name Ben Johnson in thefe Times, when we have fuch a Croud of Poets of a quite different Genius; the leaft of which thinks himself as well able to correct Ben Johnson, as he could a Country School-Miftrefs that taught to spell?

Lovew. We have, indeed, Poets of a different Genius; fo are the Plays: but in my Opinion, they are all of 'em (fome few excepted) as much inferior to thofe of former Times, as the Actors now in being (generally fpeaking) are, compared to Hart, Mohun, Burt, Lacy, Clun, and Shatterel; for I can reach no farther backward.

1. Truem, I can ; and dare affure you, if my Fancy and Memory are not partial, (for Men of my Age are apt to be over-indulgent to the Thoughts of their youthful Days) I fay, the Actors that I have feen before the Wars, Lowin, Taylor, Pollard, and fome others, were almost as far beyond Hart and his Company, as those were beyond thefe now in Being.

Lovew. I am willing to believe it, but cannot readily; because I have been told, that thofe whom I mention'd, were bred up under the others of your Acquaintance, and followed