The Actors Vindication, and first touching their ANTIQUITY.

MOVED by the sundry exclamations of many seditious Sectists in this age, who, in the fatness and rankness of a peacable Commonwealth, grow up like unsavoury tuffs of grasse, w ^ch, though outwardly green and fresh to the eye, yet are they both unpleasant and unprofitable, being too sower for food, and too rank for fodder: These men like the an­tient Germans, affecting no fashion but their own, would draw other nations to be slovens like themselves, and undertaking to purifie and reform the sacred bodies of the Church and Common-weale (In the true use of both which they are altogether Ignorant) would but like art­lesse Phisitians, for experiment sake, rather minister pil [...] to poison the whole body, than cordials to preserve any or the least part. Amongst many other things tolerated in this peaceable and flourishing State, it hath pleased the high and mighty Princes of this Land to limit the use of certain publick Theaters, which since many of these o­ver-curious heads have lavishy and violently slandered, I hold it not amisse to lay open some few Antiquities to ap­prove the true use of them, with arguments, not of the least moment, w ^ch according to the weakness of my spirit & infancy of my judgment, I will (by Gods grace) commit [Page 2] to the eyes of all favorable and judiciall Readers, as well to satisfie the requests of some of our well qualified fa­vourers, as to stop the envious acclamations of those who chalenge to themselves a priviledge Invective, & against all free estates a railing liberty: Loath am I (I protest) be­ing the youngest and weakest of the Nest wherein I was hatcht, to soar this pitch before others of the same brood more fleg, & of better wing than my self: but though they whom more especially this taske concerns, both for their ability in writing & sufficiencie in judgement (as their works generally witness to the world:) are content to over-slip so necessary a subject, and have left it as to me, the most unworthy: I thought it better to stammer out my mind, that not to speak at all; to scribble down a mark in the stead of writing a name, & to stumble on the way, ra­ther than to stand still and not to proceed on so necessary a Journey. Nox erat, & somnus lassos submisit ocellos.

It was about that time of the night when darkness had already overspread the world, and a husht & generall si­lence possest the face of the earth, & mens bodyes tyred with the businesse of the day, betaking themselves to their best repose, their never-sleeping souls laboured in uncouth dreames and visions, when suddenly appeared to me the tragick Muse Melpomene.

Her haire rudely disheveled, her chaplet withered, her visage with tears stained, her brow furrowed, her eyes de­jected, nay her whole complexion quite faded and alte­red: and perusing her habit, I might behold the colour of her fresh robe all Crimson, breathed, and with the inve­nomed juice of some prophane spilt ink in every place stained: nay more, her busken of all the wonted Jewels & ornaments utterly despoyled, about which in manner of a garter I might behold these letters written in a plaine & large Character.

This I no sooner had perus'd, but suddenly I might perceive the inraged Muse, cast up her scornfull head: her eye-bals sparkle fire, and a suddain flash of disdaine, in­termixt with rage, purple her cheek, When pacing with a majestick gate & rowsing up her fresh spirits with a lively and quaint action, she began in these or the like words.

With that in rage she left the place, & I my dream, for at the instant I awaked, when having perused this vision o­ver and over again in my remembrance, I suddenly be­thought me, How many antient Poets, Tragick and Co­mick, dying many ages ago live still amongst us in their works, as amongst the Greeks, Euripides: Menander, So­phocles, Eupolis, Eschilus, Aristophanes, Appollodorus, Anaxan­drides, Nichomachus, Alexis, Tereus and others, so among the Latins: Attilius, Actius, Melithus, Plautus, Terence, and others whom for brevity sake I omit.

These or any of these had they lived in the afternoon of the world, as they died even in the morning, I assure my self would have left more memorable trophies of that learned Muse, whom in their golden numbers they so rich­ly adorned. And amongst our moderne poets, who have bin industrious in many an elaborate & ingenious poem, even they whose pens have had the greatest traffick with the Stage, have been in the excuse of these Muses most for­getful. But leaving these, lest I make too large a head to a small body, and so mishape my subject, I will begin with the antiquity of Acting Comedies, Tragedies, and Histo­ries. And first in the golden world.

In the first of the Olimpiads, amongst many other active exercises in which Hercules ever trimph'd as victor, there was in his nonage presented unto him by his Tutor, in the fashion of a History, acted by the choise of the nobility of Greece, the worthy & and memorable acts of his father Jupiter. Which being personated with lively & wel spiri­ted action, wrought such impression in his noble thoughts that in meer emulation of his fathers valor (not at the be­hest of his Stepdame Juno) he perform'd his twelve labors: Him valiant Theseus followed, and Achilles, Theseus. Which bred in them such haughty & magnanimous attempts, that every succeeding age hath recorded their worths, unto fresh admiration. Aristotle that Prince of Philosophers, whose books carry such credit, even in these our Univer­sities, that to say Ipse dixit is a sufficient Axioma, he having the tuition of young Alexander, caused the destruction of Troy to be acted before his pupill, in which the valor of Achilles was so naturally exprest, that it imprest the heart of Alexander, insomuch that all his succeeding actions were meerly shaped after that pattern, and it may be i­magined had Achilles never lived, Alexander had never conquered the whole world. The like assertion may be made of that ever renowned Roman Julius Caesar. Who [Page 6] after the like representation of Alexander in the Temple of Hercules standing in Gades was never in any peace of thoughts, till by his memorable exployts, he had purcha­sed to himself the name of Alexander: as Alexander till he thought himself of desert to be called Achilles: Achilles The­seus, Theseus till he had sufficiently imitated the acts of Hercules, and Hercules till he held himself worthy to be called the son of Jupiter. Why should not the lives of these worthies, presented in these our dayes, effect the like won­ders in the Princes of our times, which can no way be so exquisitly demonstrated, nor so lively pourtrayed as by action: Oratory is a kind of a speaking picture, therefore may some say, is it not sufficient to discourse to the ears of Princes the fame of these conquerors: Painting likewise is a dumb oratory, therefore may we not as well by some curious Pigmalion, draw their conquests to work the like love in Princes towards these Worthies by shewing them their pictures drawn to the life, as it wrought on the poor painter to be inamored of his own shadow? I answer this,

A Description is only a shadow received by the ear, but not perceived by the eye, so lively pourtrature is meerly a forme seen by the eye but can neither shew action, passi­on, motion, or any other gesture, to move the spirits of the beholder to admiration: but to see a souldier shap'd like a souldier, walk, speak, act like a souldier: to see a Hector all besmer'd in bloud, trampling upon the bulks of Kings. A Troilus returning from the field in the fight of his father [...]riam, as if man and horse even from the steeds rough fet­locks to the plume in the champions helmet had been [Page 7] together plunged into a purple Ocean: To see a Pompey ride in triumph, then a Cesar conquer that Pompey: labou­ring Hanniball alive, hewing his passage through the Alpes. To see as I have seen, Hercules in his own shape hunting the Boare, knocking down the Bull, taming the Hart, fighting with Hydra, murdering Gerion, slaughte­ring Diomed, wounding the Stimphalides, killing the Cen­taurs, quashing the Lion, squeesing the Dragon, dragging Cerberus in Chains, & lastly, on his high Pyramides wri­ting Nil ultra, Oh these were sights to make an Alexander.

To turn to our domestick histories, what English blood seeing the person of any bold Englishman presented and doth not hug his fame, and hunney at his valor, persuing him in his enterprise with his best wishes, & as being wrapt in contemplation, offers to him in his heart all prosper­ous performance, as if the Personater were the man Per­sonated, so bewitching a thing is lively and well spirited action, that it hath power to new mould the hearts of the spectators and fashion them to the shape of any noble & notable attempt. What coward to see his countryman va­liant would not be ashamed of his own cowardise? What English Prince should he behold the true pourtraiture of that amorous King Edward the third, foraging France, ta­king so great a King captive in his own country, quarter­ing the English Lyons with the French Flower-delyce, and would not be suddenly Inflam'd with so royall a spectacle, being made apt & fit for the like atchievement. So of Henry the fifth: but not to be tedious in any thing. Ovid in one of his poems holds this opinion, that Romulus was the first that brought plaies into Italy, which he thus sets down

Romulus having erected the walls of Rome, and leading under him a warlike Nation, being in continuall warre with the Sabines, after the choyce selecting of a place, fit for so famous a City, and not knowing how to people the same, his train wholly consisting of Souldiers, who with­out the company of women (they not having any in their Army) could not multiply; but so were likely that their immortal fames should dye issuless with their mortal bo­dies Thus therefore Romulus devised; After a p [...]rle and at [...]nement made with the neighbour Nations, he built a Theater, plain, according to the time; yet large, fi [...] for the entertainment of so great an Assembly, and these were they whose famous issue peopled the City of Rome, which in after-ages grew to such height, that not Troy founded by Dardanus, Carthage layed by Dido, Tyrus built by Age­nor, Memphis made by Ogdous, Thebes seated by Cadmus, nor Babylon reared by Semiramis, were any way equall to this situation grounded by Romulus: To which all the discovered Kingdomes of the earth after became tributa­ries. And in the noon-tide of their glory, and height of all their honour, they edified Theaters, and Amphi-thea­ters: For in their flourishing Commonweal, their publick Comedians and Tragedians most flourished, insomuch that the Tragick and Comick Poets, were all generally admi­red of the people, and particularly every man of his pri­vate Mecenas. Imperante Au­gusto, natus est Christus, Imperante Ti­berio crucifix­us.

In the Reigne of Augustus Christ was borne, and as well in his dayes as before his birth, these solemnities were held in the greatest estimation. In Julius Caesar's time, predeces­ [...]ur to Augustus, the famous hony-tongu'd Orator Cicero [Page 10] flourished; who, amongst many other his eloquent Orati­ons, writ certain yet extant, for the Comedian Roscius (pro Roscio Comoedo) of whom we shall speak more large here­after. These continued in their honour till the reigne of Tiberius Caesar, and under Tiberius Christ was crucified. To this end do I use this assertion, because in the full & per­fect time our Saviour sojourned on the earth, even in those happy and peacefull dayes the spacious Theaters were in the greatest opinion amongst the Romans; yet, neither Christ himself, nor any of his sanctified Apostles, in any of their Sermons, Acts, or Documents, so much as named them, or upon any abusive occasion, touched them. There­fore hence (me thinkes) a very probable and important ar­gument may be grounded, that since they, in their divine wisedomes, knew all the sinnes abounding in the world before that time, tax & reproved all the abuses reigning in that time, and foresaw all the actions and inconvenien­ces (to the Church prejudiciall) in the time to come; Since they (I say) in all their holy doctrines, books, and prin­ciples of divinity, were content to passe them over, as things tolerated, and indifferent, why should any nice & over scrupulous head [...], since they cannot ground their curiousnesse either upon the old or new Testament, take upon them to correct, controule, & carpe at that, against which they cannot finde any text in the sacred Scriptures?

In the time of Nero Caesar, the Apostle Paul was perse­cuted and suffered, Nero was then Emperour, Paul writ his Epistle to the Romans, and at the same time did the Theaters most flourish amongst the Romans; yet where can we quote any place in his Epistles, which so bids the Church of God, then resident in Rome, to absent them selves from any such assemblies.

To speak my opinion with all indifferency, God hath not enjoyned us to wear all our apparrel solely to defend the cold. Some garments we weare for warmth, others for ornament, So did the children of Israel hang ear-rings in [Page 11] their ears, nor was it by the law forbidden them. That purity is not look't for at our hands, being morall and humane, that is required of the Angels, being celestiall and divine. God made us of earth, men; knows our natures, dispositions and imperfections, and therefore hath limi­ted us a time to rejoyce, as he hath enjoyned us a time to mourne for our transgressions; and I hold them more scrupulous than well advised, that go about to take from us the use of all moderate recreations. Why hath God ordained for man, variety of meats, dainties and delicates, if not to taste thereon? why doth the world yield choice of honest pastimes, if not decently to use them? Was not the Hare made to be hunted; the Stagg to be chased; and so of all other beasts of game in their severall kinds; since God hath provided us of these pastimes, why may we not use them to his glory? Now if you ask me why were not the Theaters as gorgeously built in all other Cities of Italy as Rome? And why are not Play-houses maintained as well in other Cities of England, as London? my answer is: It is not meet every mean Esquire should carry the part belonging to one of the Nobility, or for a Noble man to usurpe the estate of a Prince: Rome was a Metropolis, a place whither all the nations known under the Sunne, resorted, so is London, and being to receive all Estates, all Princes, all Nations, therefore to afford them all choyce of pa­stimes, sports, and recreations: yet were their Theaters in all the greatest Cities of the world, as we will more largely particularize hereafter.

I never yet could read any History of any Common­weale which did not thrive and prosper whilst these pub­like solemnities were held in adoratiō. Oh but (say some) Marcus Aurelius banisht all such triviall exercises beyond the confines of Italy. Indeed this Emperour was a Philoso­pher of the sect of Diogenes, a Cinick, & whether the hand of Diogenes would become a scepter, or a root better, I leave to your judgments. This Aurelius was a great and [Page 12] sharp reprover, who because the Matrons and Ladies of Rome, in scorn of his person made a Play of him; in his time interdicted the use of their Theaters. So, because his wife Faustine plaid false with him, he generally exclaimed against all women: Because himself could not touch an Instrument, he banisht all the Musitians in Rome, and being a meer coward, put all the Gladiators & sword-players into exile. And lest his own suspected life should be again acted by the Comedians, as it before had been by the no­ble Matrons, he profest himselfe adversary to all of that quality so severe a reformation of the weal publik he us'd, restraining the Citizens of their free liberties, which till his days was not seen in Rome; but what profited this the weal publick? do but peruse the ancient Roman Chroni­cles, & you shall undoubtedly find, that from the time of this precise Emperour, that stately City, whose lof [...]y buil­dings crown'd seven high hills at once, & overpeer'd them all, streightway began to hang the head, by degrees the forraign Kingdomes revolted, & the homage done them by strange Nations, was in a little space quite abrogated: For they governed all the world, some under Consuls, some under Pro-consuls, Presidents, & Praetors, they divi­ded their Dominions and Countries into Principalities, some into Provinces, some into Toparchies, some into Te­trarchies, some into Tribes, others into Ethnarchies: But now their homage ceast, Marcus Aurelius ended their mirth, which presaged that shortly after should begin their sor­row, he banisht their liberty, and immediately followed their bondage. For Rome, which till then kept all the Na­tions of the world in subjective awe, was in a little space awed even by the basest Nations of the world. To leave Italy, & look back into Greece, the Sages & Princes of Gre­cia, who for the refinedness of their language were in such reputation through the world that all other tongues were esteemed barbarous; These that were the first understan­ders, trained up their youthfull Nobility to be Actors, [Page 13] debarring the base Mechanicks so worthy imployment: for none but the young Heroes were admitted that pra­ctise, so to embolden them in the delivery of any forrain Embassy. These wise men of Greece! (so called by the Oracle) could by their industry, finde out no neerer or director course to plant humanity and manners in the hearts of the multitude, than to instruct them by moraliz'd mystries what vices to avoid, what vertues to embrace; what enor­mities to abandon, what ordinances to observe: whose lives (being for some special endowments in former time honoured) they should admire & follow: whose vicious actions (personated in some licentious liver) they should despise & shun, which born out as well by the wisdome of the Poet, as supported by the worth of the actors, wrought such impressiō in the hearts of the plebe, that in short space they excelled in civility and government, insomuch that from them all the neighbour Nations drew their patterns of Humanity, as well in the establishing of their lawes, as the reformation of their manners. These Magi and Gimno­sophistae, that liv'd (as I may say) in the childhood and in­sancy of the world, before it knew how to speak perfectly though even in those dayes, that Action was the neerest way to plant understanding in the hearts of the ignorant. Yea (but say some) you ought not to confound the habits of either sex as to let your boyes weare the attires of vir­gins, &c. To which I answer. The Scriptures are not al­wayes to be expounded meerly, according to the letter: (for in such estate stands our main Sacramentall Contro­versie) but they ought exactly to be conferred with the purpose they handle. To do as the Sodomites did, use pre­posterous in lusts in preposterous habits, is in that text flat­ly and severely forbidden: nor can I imagine any man, that hath in him any taste or relish of Christianity to be guilty of so abhorred a sinne. Besides, it is not probable that Playes were meant in that text, because we read not of any Playes knowne in that time that Deutronomie [Page 14] was writ among the Children of Israel, nor do I hold it lawfull to beguile the eyes of the world in confounding the shapes of either sex, as to keep any youth in the habit of a virgin, or any virgin in the shape of a lad, to shroud them from the eyes of their fathers, tutors, or protectors, or to any other sinister intent whatsoever. But to see our youths attired in the habbit of women, who knows not what their intents be? who cannot distin­guish them by their names, assuredly knowing, they are but to represent such a Lady at such a time appointed?

Do not the Universities, the fountaines & well springs of all good Arts, Learning and Documents, admit the like in their Colledges? and they (I assure my self) are not ig­norant of their true use. In the time of my residence in Cambridge, I have seen Tragedies, Comedies, Histories, Pa­storals and Shewes, publickly acted, in which Graduates of good place and reputation, have been specially parted, this is held necessary for the emboldening of their junior schollers, to arm them with audacity, against they come to be imployed in any publick exercise, as in the reading of the Dialectick, Rhetorick, Ethicke, Mathematicke, the Physick, or Metaphysick Lectures: It teacheth audacity to the bashfull Grammarian, being newly admitted into the private Colledge, and after matriculated and entred as a member of the University, and makes him a bold Sophi­ster to argue pro & contra, to compose his Sillogismes, Ca­thegorick, or Hipothetick (simple or compound) to rea­son & frame a sufficient argument to prove his questions or to defend any axioma, to distinguish of any Dilemma, & be able to moderate in any Argumentation whatsoever.

To come to Rhetorick, it not onely emboldens a schol­ler to speak, but instructs him to speak well, and with judgment, to observe his comma's, colons, & full points, his parentheses, his breathing spaces, and distinctions, to keep a decorum in his countenance, neither to frowne when he should smile, nor to make unseemly and disgui­sed [Page 15] faces in the delivery of his words, not to stair with his eys, draw awry his mouth, confound his voice in the hol­low of his throat, or tear his words hastily betwixt his teeth, neither to buffet his desk like a mad-man, nor stand in his place like a liveless Image, demurely plodding, and without any smooth and formal motion. It instructs him to fit his phrases to his action, and his action to his phrase, and his pronunciation to them both.

Tully in his book ad Caium Herennium, requires five things in an Orator, Invention, Disposition, Elocution, Memo­ry, and Pronuntiation, yet all are imperfect without the sixt, which is Action: For be his invention never so fluent and exquisite, his disposition and order never so compo­sed and formal, his eloquence and elaborate phrases never so material and pithy, his memory never so firm and re­tentive, his pronunciation never so musical and plausive, yet without a comely and e'egant gesture, a grat [...]o [...]s and a bewitching kinde of action, a naturall and a familiar motion of the head, the hand, the body, and a moderate and fit countenance sutable to all the rest, I hold all the rest as nothing. A delivery and sweet action is the gloss and beauty of any discourse, tha [...] belongs to a Schollar. And this is the action behoveful in any that profess this quali­ty, not to use any impudent or forced motion in any part of the body, no rough, or other violent gesture, nor on the contrary to stand like a stiffe starcht man, but to qua­lify every thing according to the nature of the person per­sonated: For in overacting tricks, and toyling too much in the antick habit of humours, men of the ripest desert, greatest opinions, and best reputations, may break into the most violent absurdities. I take not upon me to teach, but to advise: For it becomes my Juniority rather to be pupild my self, than to instruct others.

To proceed, and to lo [...]k into those men that profess themselves adversaries to this quality, they are none of the gravest, and most ancient Doctors of the Academy, but [Page 16] onely a sort of find-faults, such as interest their prodigal tongues in all mens affairs without respect. The [...]e I have heard as liberally in their superficial censures, tax the ex­ercises performed in their Colledges, as these acted on our publick Stages, not looking into the true and direct use of either, but ambitiously preferring their own pre­sumptuous humours, before the profound and authen [...]i­cal judgements of all the learned Doctors of the Univer­sity. Thus you see, that touching the antiquity of Actors and Acting, they have not been new, lately begot by any upstart invention, but I have derived them from the first Olimpiads, and I shall continue the use of them even till this present age. And so much touching their antiquity.

OF THE ACTORS, and their ancient DIGNITY.
THE SECOND BOOK.

J ƲLIƲS CAESAR, the famous Conquer­our, discoursing with Marcus Cicero, the famous Orator, amongst many other matters debated, It pleased the Emperour to ask his opinion of the Histrions, the players of Rome, pretending some cavill against them, as men whose imployment in the Common­weal was unnecessary: to whom Cicero answered thus: Content thee Caesar, there be many heads busied and be­witched with these pastimes now in Rome, which other­wise would be inquisitive after thee and thy greatnesse: Which answer, how sufficiently the Emperour approved may be conjectured by the many gifts bestowed, and pri­viledges and Charters after granted to men of that qua­lity. Such was likewise the opinion of a great statesman of this land, about the time that certain books were cal­led in question. Doubtlesse there be many men of that temper, who were they not carried away, and weaned from their own corrupt and bad disposition, and by acci­dental I means remov'd and alter'd from their dangerous and sullen intendments, would be found apt and prone to many notorious and trayterous practises. Kings and Monarches are by God placed and inthroned supra nos a­bove us, & we are to regard them as the Sun from whom we receive the light to live under, whose beauty & bright­ness we may only admire, not meddle with: Ne ludamus [Page 18] cum Diis, they that shout at the starrs over their heads, their arrows fall directly down and wound themselves, But this allusion may be better referred to the use of acti­on promised in our third Treatise, than to their dignity which next and immediately (by Gods grace) our purpose is to handle.

The word Tragedy, is derived from the Greek word [...], Caper a goat, because a goat being a beast most in­jurious to the vines, was sacrificed to Bacchus: Hereupon Diodorus writes, that Tragedies had their first names from the oblations due to Bacchus; or else of [...], a kinde of painting, which the Tragedians of the o [...] time used to staine their faces with. By the censure of Horace, Thespis was the first Tragick writer.

This Thespis was an Athenian Poet, born in Thespina, a free town in Eoetia by Helicon, of him the nine Muses were called Thespiades. But by the censure of Quintilian, Aeschi­les before him, but afte [...] them Sophocles and Euripides clo­thed Polid. Virgil. their Tragedies in better ornament. Livius And [...]oni­ous was the first that writ any Roman Tragedy in which kinde of poesie Accius, Pacuvius, Seueca, and Ovidius excel­led.

Likewise in his Epistle to Augustus, writ from the Pon­tick Island, whither he was banisht.

The word Comedy is derived from the Greek word [...], a street, and [...] Cantus a song, a street-song, as signi­fying there was ever mirth in those streets where Come­dies most flourisht.

Haec paces habuere bonae venti (que) secundi.

In this kinde Aristophanes, Eupolis, Cratinus were fa­mous, after them Menander and Philemon: succeeding them Cicilius, Nevius Plautus and Terentius.

The ancient Histriographers write, that among the Alex. Metapol. Greeks there were divers places of exercise, appointed for Poets, some at the grave of Theseus, others at Helicon, where they in Comedies and Tragedies contented for severall prices, where Sophocles was adjudged, victor over Aeschilus. There were others in the City of Elis, where Menander was foiled by Philemen. In the same kinde Hesiod is said to have triumph'd over Homer. So Corinna for her excellen­cies in these inventions, (called Musca lirica (excelled Pin­darus the Theban Poet, for which she was five times crow­ned with garlands.

The first publick Theater was by Dionysius built in A­thens, it was fashioned in the manner of a semi-cir [...]le, or Theaters. half moone, whose galleries & degrees were reared from the ground, their staires high, in the midst of which did arise the stage, besides such a convenient distance from the earth, that the audience assemble might easily behold [Page 20] the whole project without impediment. From this the Romans had their first paterns, which at the first not being roof't, but lying open to all weathers, Quintus Catulus was the first that caused the outside to be covered with linnen cloth, and the inside to be hung round with Curtens of silke. But when Marcus Scaurus was Aedilis, he repaired it, and supported it round with pillars of Marble.

Caius Curio, at the solemn obsequies of his father, ere­cted a famous Theater of Timber, in so strange a forme, that on two severall stages, two sundry playes might be acted at once, and yet the one be no hinderance or impe­dement to the other; and when he so pleased the whole frame was artificially composed to meet in the mid'st which made an Amphitheater.

Pompey the great, after his victories against Mithridates, King of Pontus, saw in the City Mitelene, a Theater of an­other form, and after his triumphs and return to Rome, he raised one after the same patern of freestone, of that vastnesse and receit, that within his spaciousnesse it was a­ble at once to receive fourescore thousand people, every one to fit, see and hear.

In emulation of this sumptuous and gorgeous building, Julius Caesar, successor to Pompeis greatness exceeded him in his famous Architecture, he rais'd an Amphitheater, Cam­po Martio, in the field of Mars, which as far excelled Pom­peies, as Pompeyes did exceed Caius Curioes, Curioes, that of Marcus Scaurus, Scaurus that of Quintus Catulus, or Catulus that which was first made in Athens by Dionysius: for the Basses, Columnes, Pillars, and Piramides were all of hew­ed Marble, the coverings of the stage, which we call the heavens (where upon any occasion their Gods descended) were Geometrically supported by a Giant-like Atlas, whom the Poets for his Astrology, feign to bear heaven on his shoulders, in which an artificiall Sunn and Moon of extraordinary aspect & brightness had their diurnall, and nocturnall, motions; so had the starrs their true and [Page 21] coelestiael course; so had the spheares, which in their con­tinual motion made a most sweet & ravishing harmony. Here were the Elements and planets in their degrees, the sky of the Moon, the sky of Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; the stars, both fixed & wandering: & above all these, the first mover, or primum mobile, there were the 12 signes; the lines Equinoctiall and Zodiacal, the Meridian circle, or Zenith, the Orizon circle, or Emisphere, the Zones torrid & frozen, the poles artick & antartick, with all o­ther tropicks, orbs, lines, circles, the Solstitium and all other motions of the stars, signes, & planets [...] brief, in that little compass were comprehended the perfect model of the fir­mament, the whole frame of the heavens, with all grounds of Astronomicall conjecture From the roof grew a lover or turret, of an exceeding altitude, from which an ensign of silk waved continually, Pendebant vela Theatro. But left I wast too much of that compendiousness, I have promi­sed in my discourse, in idle descriptions, I leave you to judge the proportion of the body by the making of this one limbe, every pillar, seat, foot-post, stair, galery, & what­soever else belongs to the furnishing of such a place, being in cost, substance, form, & artificiall workmanship, most sutable. The floore, stage, roof, outside, & inside, as costly as the Pantheon or Capitols. In the principall galleries were special remote, selected & chosen seats for the Empe­rour, patres conscripti, Dictators Consuls, Preto [...]s, Tribunes Triumviri, Decemvi [...]i, Ediles, Curules, & other Noble Officers among the Senators: all other rooms were free for the plebe, or multitude. To this purpose I introduce these famous Edifices; as wondering at their cost & state, thus intimating that if the quality of Acting, were (as some propose) altogether unworthy, why for the special practice, and memorable imployment of the same, were founded so many rare and admirable monuments: & by, whom were they erected? but by the greatest Princes of their times, & the most famous and worthiest of them all, [Page 22] builded by him that was the greatest Prince of the world, Julius Caesar, at what time in his hand he grip'd the uni­versal Empire of the earth. So of Augustus Caesar.

And could any [...]feriour quality be more worthily e­steemed or noblier graced, than to have Princes of such magnificence and state to bestow on them places of such port and countenance, had they been never well regarded they had been never so sufficiently provided for, nor would such worthy Princes have strived who should (by their greatest expence and provision) have done them the amplest dignity, had they not with incredible favour re­garded the quality. I will not traverse this too farr, least I incurr some suspition of self-love, I rather leave it to the favourable consideration of the wise though to be perversnesse of the ignorant who ha [...] they any tast either of Poefie, Philosophy, or Historicall Antiquity, would rather stand mated at their own impudent ignorance, than against such noble, and notable examples stand in publick defiance.

I read of a Theater built in the midst of the River Tyber standing on pillars and arches, the foundation wrought under water like London-bridge, the Nobles and Ladies in their Barges and Gondelayes, landed at the very stairs of the galleries. After these they composed others, but differing in forme from the Theater, or Amphi-theater, and every such was called Circus, the frame Glob-like, and meerly round.

And the year from the first building of Rome, five hun­dred threescore and seven, what time Spurius Posthumus [Page 23] Albinus, and Quintus Martius Philippus, were Consuls, Ne­ro made one, and the noble Flaminius another, but the grea­test was founded by Tarquinius Priscus, and was called Cir­cus maximus: In this the Gladiators practised, the wide­ness and spaciousness was such, that in it they fought at Barriers, & many times ran at tilt. Dion records eighteen Elephants slain at once in one Theater. More particularly to survey the rarer Monuments of Rome, neer to the Pan­theon (the Temple of the Roman gods) at the descent from the hill Capitolinus, lies the great Forum, by which is scitu­ate the great Amphi-theater of Titus f [...]st erected by Vespa­tian, but after (almost ruined by fire) by the Roman Titus rarely reedified. It is called Coll [...]s [...]us, also a Cavea, which signifies a scaffold, al [...]o Arena, a place of combate, by Silvi­anus & Prudentius, which name Tertullian, Pliny, Ovid, Fir­micus Ammianus, [...] 29. & Apuleius likewise give it. It had the title of Circus, Caula and Stadium, by Suetonius, Capitolinus and Arcadius. Cassianus affirmes these Theaters consecrated to Diana Taurica; Tertullian, to Mars & Diana; Martiall, to Jupiter Latiaris, and to Stigian Pluto, whose opinion Minutius and Prudentius approve. The first structures were by the Tri­bune Curio, which Dio, lib. 37. affirms. Vitruvius, lib. 5. saith, Pliny. lib. 36. Multa Theatra Romae structa quotannis. Of Julius Caesar's Amphi-theater, Campo Martio, Dio Cassius records, which Dio Cassus lib. 43. Augustus after patronized, as Victor remembers of them, whose cha [...]ge Statilius Taurus assisted, of whom Dio speak­eth thus, [...], &c. anno urbis, DCCXXV. Dio. lib 51. Suetonius c. 21 Pub. Victor for gets not Circus Flaminii, and Suetonius re­members one builded by Caligula at Septa, whose building Claudius at first interdicted. Nero erected a magnificent Tacitus lib. 13 Anna [...]ium. Theater in the field of Mars, Suetonius lib. Ner. 12.

Publius Victor, speaks further of a Castrense Theatrum, a Theater belonging to the Camp in the Country of the Aesquiles, built by Tiberius Caesar, & of Pompey's Theater Pli­ny Pliny, lib. 36. cap. 15. witnesses. The great Theater of Statilius being in grea­test use, was burnt in the time of Nero, which Xiphilinus [Page 24] thus speaks of, [...]. This was built in the midst of the old City, and after the combustion repaired by Vespatian, Consulatu suo 8 whose coyn of one side, bears the express figure of his Theater, yet was it onely begun by him, but perfected by his son Titus. Eutropius & Cassiodorus, attribute this place soly to Titus, but Aurelius Victor gives him onely the ho­nour of the perfecting a place so exquisitely begun: This after was repaired by Marcus Anthonius Pius, by whose cost saith Capitolinus, [...]e Temple of Hadrianus was repaired, and the great Theater reedified, which H [...]liogabalus by the testimony of Lampr [...]dius, patronized, and after the Senate of Rome, took to their protection, under the Gordians.

Touching Theaters without Rome, Lypsius records, Theatra circa Romani, extructa passim, even in Jerusalem, He­rodes magnificus & illustris Rex non uno loco Ju [...]ae Amphi­theatra aedificavit, extruxit in ipsa urbe sacra, [...] (as Josephus saith) [...]. Herod a magnificent and illustrious King, not in one place of Juda, erected Amphitheaters, but even in the holy City he built one of greatest receit. Also in Greece, Asia, Affrick Spain, France: nor is there any Province in which their ancient stru­ctures do not yet remain, or their perishing ruines are not still remembred. In Italy, ad Lyrim campaniae Fluvium juxta Minturnas, remains part of an ample Amphi-theater.

At Puteolis a City not far from the Sea-side in Campa­nia, eight miles from Napl [...]s, one.

At Capua, a magnificent one of solid Marble.

At Alba in Italy, one.

At Oericulum in Ʋmbria, one.

At Verona, one most beautifull.

At Florence, one whose compass yet remains:

At Athens in Greece, one of Marble.

At Pola in Istria, by the Hadriatick Sea, one described by Sebastian Serlius.

At Hyspalis in Spain, one built without the walls of the City.

In Turamace a [...] Vesuna one of squared stone, the length 30 perches, or poles, the bredth 20.

At Arelate one.

At Burdegall one.

At Nemaus one, remembred by Euseb. in Ecclesiastica Hi­storia.

At Lygeris one.

Another among the Helvetians.

The Veronense Theatrum Marmoreum, erected before the time of Augustus, as Torel [...]us Serrayna in his description of Verona records: but Cirnicus Anconitanu [...] reports it built in the n [...]ne and thirteth year of Octavia [...] Carolus Sigonius re­ferres it to the reigne of Maximinian, who saith, Maxi­minian built theaters in Mediolanum Aquilea, and Brixium. Sicon. lib Hist. O [...]cident. The like Cornelius Tacitus 2. Hist. remembers in Placentia, but the description of the Verona Theater Levinus Kersma­kerus sets down. This the great King Francis an. 1538. gave to certain Actions, who thirty dayes space together represented in the same the Acts of the Apostles, nor was it lawfull by the Edict of the King for any man to remove any stone within thirty poles of his scituation, lest they should endanger the foundation of the Theater.

The like have been in Venice, Millan, Padua. In Paris their are divers now in use by the French Kings Comedians, as the Bu [...]gonian, and others. Others in Massilia, in Trevers, in Magontia, in Agripina, and infinite Cities of Greece, Thebes, Carthage, Delphos, Creet, Paphos Epyrus, also in the City Tydena, so at Civil [...]n Spain, and at Madrill, with others.

At the entertainment of the Cardinall Alphonsus, and the infant of Spain, into the Low-countries, they were pre­sented Archduke Al­phonsus. at Antwerp, with sundry pageants and playes: the King of Denmark, father to him that now reigneth, enter­tained into his service, a company of English Comedians, commended unto him by the honourable th [...] Earle of Lei­tester: the Duke of Brounswick, & the Lands grave of Hessen re­tain in their Courts certain of ours, of the same quality. [Page 26] But among the Romans they were in highest reputation: for in comparison of their playes, they never regarded any of their solemnities, there ludi funebres, there Floralia, Cerealia, Fugalia, Bacchinalia, or Lupercalia.

And amongst us, one of our best English Chroniclers re­cords, S [...]ow. that when Edward the fourth would shew himself in publick state to the view of the people, he repaired to his palace at St. Johns, where he accustomed to see the City Actors. And since then, that house by the Princes free gift; hath belonged to the office of the Revels, where our Court plaies have been in late dayes yearly rehearsed, perfected, and corrected before they come to the publick view of the Prince and the Nobility▪ Ovid speaking of the Tragick Muse, thus writes,

Well knew the Poet what estimation she was in with Augustus, whē he describes her holding in her left hand a scepter. Now to recite some famous Actors that liv'd in the preceding ages: the first Comediās were Cincius & Faliscus, Cincius: Faliscus. Minutius: Prothonius. L. Attili [...]s. Latinus. Prenestinus: Lucius. Ambivius Turpio. the first Tragedians were Minutius, & Prothonius Elius Do­natus in his preface to Terence his Andrea saith, that in that Comedy Lucius Attilius, Latinus Prenestinus, and Lucius Ambivius Turpio were Actors: this Comedy was dedicated to Cibil, & such were called ludi Megalenses, acted in the year that M. Fuluius was Edilis, & Quintus Minutius Valerius & M. Glabrio were Curules, which were Coūsellers & chief officers in Rome, so called, because they customably sat [Page 27] in Chairs of Ivory. The songs that were sung in this Co­medy were set by Flaccus, the son of Clodius. Terence his Eu­nuchus Flaccus. or second Comedy was acted in the year L. Posthu­mus, and L. Cornelius were Ediles. Curules Marcus Valerius, Protinus. and Caius Fannius Consuls. The year from the building L. Servius. of Rome 291. in his Adelphi, one Protinus acted, and was highly applauded; in his Heeyra, Julius Servius. Cicero com­mends one Rupilius a rare Tragedian: I read of another Offic. 1. called Arossus, another called Theocrines, who purchased Rupilius: Arossus: Theocrines. him a great applause in the playes called Terentini. There were other playes in Rome, called Actia and Pythia, made in the honour of Apollo, for killing the Dragon Python. In those one Aesopus bare the praise, a man generally e­steemed, A Esopus. who left behind him much substance, which Clo­dius his son after possessed.

Labericus was an excellent Poet, and a rare Actor, who Labericus. writ a book of the gesture and action to be used by the Tragedians and Comedians, in performance of every part in his native humour. Plautus himself was so inamoured of the Actors in his dayes, that he published many excel­lent and exquisite Comedies, yet extant. Aristotle com­mends Theoderetes. one Theoderetes to be the best Tragedian in his time. This in the presence of Alexander personated Achilles, which so delighted the Emperour, that he bestowed on him a pension of quinque mille Drachmae, five thousand Drachmaes, and every thousand Drachmaes are twenty nine pounds three shillings four pence sterling.

Roscius, whom the eloquent Orator, & excellent States­man of Rome Marcus Cicero, for his elegant pronuntiati­on & formal gesture called his jewell, had from the com­mon Treasury of the Roman Exchequer, a daily pension allowed him of so many Sestertii as in our coin amount to 16 ¹. and a mark, or there abouts, which yearly did a­rise to any noble mans revenues. So great was the fame of this Roscius, and so good his estimation, that learned [Page 28] Cato made a question whither Cicero could write better than Roscius could speak and act, or Roscius speak and act better than Cicero write. Many times when they had any important orations to be with an audible and loud voice delivered to the people, they imployed the tongue and me­mory of this excellent Actor, to whom for his worth, the Senate granted such large exhibition.

To omit all the Doctors Za [...]yes, Pantaloones, Har­lakeens, in which the French, but especially the Italians, have been excellent, and according to the occasion offered to do some right to our English Actors, as Knell, Bentley, Mills, Wil [...]n, Cross, Lanam, and others: th [...]se, since I never saw them, as being before my time, I cannot (as an eye­witne [...]s of their desert) give them that applause, which no doubt, they worthily merit, yet by the report of many judicial auditors, their performance of many parts have been so absolute, that it were a kind of sin to drown their worths in Lethe, & not commit their (almost forgotten) names to eternity. Here I must needs remember Tarlton, in his time gracious with the Queen, his Soveraigne, and in the peoples general applause, whom succeded William Kemp, as well in the favour o [...] her Majesty, as in the opi­nion and good thoughts of the general audience. Gabriel, Singer, Pope, Phillips, Sly, all the right I can do them, is but this, that though they be dead, their deserts yet live in the remembrance of many. Among so many dead let me no [...] [Page 29] forget the most worthy famous Mr. Edward Allen, who in his life time erected a Colledge at Dulledge for poor people, and for education of youth: When this Colledge was finisht, this famous man was so equally mingled with humility and charity, that he became his own Pensioner; humbly submitting himself to that proportion of diet and cloathes, which he had bestowed on others; and af­terwards were interred in the same Colledge. To omit these, as also such as for divers imperfections, may be thought insufficient for the quality. Actors should be men pick'd out personable, according to the parts they present, they should be rather schollers, that though they cannot speak well, know how to speak, or else to have that volu­bility that they can speak well, though they understand not what, and so both imperfections may by instructions be helped and amended: But where a good tongue and a good conceit both fail, there can never be good Actor. I also could wish that such as are condemned for their li­centiousness, might by a general consent be quite exclu­ded our society: For as we are men that stand in the broad eye of the world, so should our manners, gestures & behaviours savour of such government & modesty, to de­serve the good thoughts & reports of all men, & to abide the sharpest censures even of those that are the greatest opposites to the quality. Many amongst us, I know to be of substance, of government, of sober l [...]ves, & temperate carriages, house-keepers, & contributary to all duties en­joyned them, equally with them that are ranked with the most boun [...]i [...]ull; and if amongst so many of sort, there be any few degenerate from the rest in that good demea­nour, which is both requisite & expected at their hands, let me inticate you not to censure hardly of all for the misdeeds of some, but rather to excuse us, as Ovid doth the generality of women.

Others there are of whom should you ask my opinion, I must refer you to this, Consule Theatrum. Here I might take fit opportunity to reckon up all our English writers, and compare them with the Greek, French, Italian, & Latin Poets, not only in their Pastoral, Historical, Elegiacal, & Hero­ical Poems, but in their Tragical & Comical subjects, but it was my chance to happen on the like, learnedly done by an approved good schollar, in a book called Wits Common­wealth, to which treatise I wholly refer you, returning to our present subject. Julius Caesar himself for his pleasure became an Actor, being in shape state, voyce, judgement & all other occurrents, exterior & interior excellent. Among many other parts acted by him in person, it is recorded of him, that with general applause in his own Theater he play'd Hercules Fureni, & amongst many other arguments of his compleatness, excellence, & extraordinary care in his action, tis thus reported of him: being in the depth of a passion, one of his servants as his part then fell out, presen­ting Lychas, who before had from Deianeira brought him the poysoned shirt, dipt in the blood of the Centaure Nes­sus: he in the middest of his torture & fury, finding this Lychas hid in a remote corner (appointed him to creep of purpose) although he was, as our Tragedians use, but seemingly to kill him by some false imagined wound, yet was Caesar so extremely carryed away with the violence of his practised fury, & by the perfect shape of the madness of Hercules, to which he had fashioned al his active spirits, that he slew him dead at his foot, & after swong him ter (que) quater (que) (as the Poet says) about his head. It was the man­ner of the Emperours in those dayes, in their publick Tragedies to choose out the fittest among such, as for capital offences were condemned to dy, & imploy them in [Page 31] such parts as were to be kil'd in the Tragedy, who of them­selves would make suit rather so to dy with resolution, & by the hands of such princely Actors, than otherwise to suf­fer a shameful & most detestable end. And these were Tra­gedies naturally performed. And such Caius Caligula, Clau­dius Nero, Vitellius, Domitianus, Comodus, & other Emperours of Rome, upon their festivals & holy dayes of greatest con­secration, used to act. Therefore M. Kid in the Spanish Tra­gedy, upon occasion presenting it self, thus writes.

These exercises, as traditions, have bin since (though in better manner) continued through all ages, amongst all the noblest Nations of the earth. But I have promised to be altogether compendious, presuming that whatsoe­ver is discourst, may for the practice of playes, their An­tiquity, and Dignity be altogether sufficient. I omit the Shewes and ceremonies even in these times generally u­sed amongst the Catholicks, in which by the Churchmen, and most religious, divers pageants, as of the Nativitie, Passion, and Ascention, with other Historicall places of the Bible, are at divers times & seasons of the year usually celebrated; sed baec praeter me. In the year of the world 4207 of Christ 246. Origin writ certain godly Epistles to Philip, then Emperour, of Rome, who was the first Christian Em­perour, and in his life I read, that in the fourth year of his reign, which was the 1000. year after the building of Rome, he solemnized that year, as a Jubile with sumptu­ous pageants and plays. Homer, the most excellent of all Poets, composed his Illiads in the shape of a Tragedy, his Odisseas like a Comedy. Ʋirgil in the first of his Aeneiads in his description of Didoes Carthage.

Which proves, that in those dayes immediately after the name of Troy, when Carthage had her first foundation, they built Theaters with stately columnes of stone, as in his des [...]i [...]tion may appear. I have sufficiently di [...]c [...]urst of the first Theaters, and in whose times they were erected, even till the reign of Julius Caesar, the first Emperour, and how they continued in their glory from him till the reign of Marcus Aurelius the 23. Emperour, and from him even to the [...]e times. Now to prove they were in as high e­stimation at Lacedemon, and Athens to the most famous Cities of Greece. Cicero in his book Cato major, s [...]u de se­nectute. Cum Athenis ludis quid [...]m grandis n [...]tu in Theatrum venisset, &c. An ancient Cittizen comming into one of the Anthe [...]ian Theaters to see the pastimes there solemni­zed (which shewes that the most antient and grave fre­quented them) by reason of the throng, no man gave him place or reverence: but the same Citizen being imploy'd in an Embassy to Lacedemon, and coming like a private man into the Theater, the generall multitude aro [...]e at once, and with great ceremonious reverence gave his age place. This Cieero alledges to prove the reverence due to age, and this I may fitly introduce to the approbation of my present subject. Moreover, this great Statesman of Rome, at whose exile twenty thousand of the chiefest Ro­man Citizens wore mourning apparel, oftentimes com­mends Plautus, calling him Plautus noster, and Atticorum an [...]iq [...] Comedi [...], wh [...] he proceed [...] further to extoll Aes [...]pus, for personating Ajax, and the famous Actor Rupilius, in Epigonus, Medaea, Menalip, Clytemnestra and Antiopa, pro­ceeding in the same place with this worthy and grave sen­tence Ergo Histrio hoc videbit in scena, quod non videbit sapien [...] in vita▪ shall a Tragedian see that in his Scene which a wise man cannot see in the course of his life? So in another of his works, amongst many [...]nstructions to his son Marcus, he a [...]plau [...]s Turpio Ambinius for his action, Statius Nevius and Plautus for their writing. Ovid in Augustum.

Augustus Caesar, because he would have some memory of his love to those places of pastime, reared in Rome two stately Obelisci, or Pyramides, one in Julius Caesars Temple in the field of Mars, another in the great Theater, called Circus maximus, built by Flaminius: these were in height an hundred cubits apiece, in bredth four cubits, they were first raised by King Pheron in the Temple of the Sun, and a [...]ter removed to Rome by Augustus; the occasion of their first composure was this: Pheron for some great crime, committed by him in his youth against the god [...], was by them stroke blind, and so continued the space of ten years: But after by a revelation in the City Bucis, it was told, that if he washt his eyes in the water of a woman that was chast, and never adulteratly toucht with any save her husband, he should again recover his sight▪ The King first tried his wife, then many other of the most grave and best reputed matrons, but continued still in despair, till at length he met with one veruous Lady, by whose chastity his sight was restored; whom (ha­ving first commanded his Queen and the rest to be consumed by fire) he after married. Pheron in memory of this, builded his two Pyra­mides, after removed to Rome by AUGUSTUS.

OF THE ACTORS, and the true use of their QUALITY.
THE THIRD BOOK.

TRagedies and Comedies, saith Dona [...]us, had their beginning à rebus divinis, from di­vine sacrifices, they differ thus: In Come­dies, turbulenta prima, tranquilla ultima, In Tragedies tranquilla prima, turbulenta vlti­ma, Comedies begin in trouble, and end in peace; Tragedies begin in calmes, and end in tempest. Of Comedies there be three kinds, moving Comedies, called Motoriae, standing Comedies, called Statariae, or mixt betwixt both, called Mistae: they are distributed into four parts, the Prologue, that is, the pr [...]f [...]ce, the Protacis, that is, the proposition, which includes the first Act, and presents the Actors; the Epitasis, which is the bu­siness & body of the Comedy; the last the Catastrophe, & con­clusion: the definition of the Comedy, according to the Latines: a discourse consisting of divers institutions, com­prehending civill & domestick things, in which is taught what in our lives and manners is to be followed, what to be avoided, the Greeks define it thus: [...]. Cicero saith, a Comedy is the imitation of life, the glass of custom and the Image of truth; in Athens they had their first O­riginal. The ancient Comedians used to attire their act­ors thus: the old men in white, as the most antient of all; the young men in party coloured garments, [...]o note their piversity of thoughts, their slaves and servants in thin and [Page 34] bare vesture, either to note their poverty, or that they might run the more lighter about their affaires: their Par­rasities wore robes that were turned in, and intrigately wrapped about them, the fortunate in white, the dscon­tented in decayed vesture, or garments, grown out of fa­shion; the rich in purple, the poor in crimson, souldiers wore purple jackets, hand-maids the habits of strange vir­gins, bawds, pide coats, & Curtezans, garments of the co­lour of mud to denote covetousness: the stages were hung with rich Arras, which was first brought from King Attalus into Rome: his state-hangings were so costly that from him all Tapestries, and rich Arras were called At­talia. This being a thing ancient as I have proved it, next of d [...]gn [...]ty, as many arguments have confirmed it, and of late years, by the best, without exception, fa­vorably tolerated, why should I yeeld my censure, groun­ded on such firm and establisht sufficiency, to any Tower, founded on sand, any castle built in the aire, or any tri­viall upstart, and meer imaginary opinion.

Oderunt Hilarem tristes tristemque jo [...]ost.

I hope there is no man of so unsensible a spirit, that can inveigh against the true and direct use of this quality: Oh but say they, the Romans in their time, and some in these days have abused it, and therefore we volly out our excla­mations against the use. Oh shallow! Because such a man had his house burnt, we shall quite condemn the use of fire, because one man quaft poyson, we must forbear to drink, because some have been shipwrak't, no man shall hereafter traffick by sea. Then I may as well argue thus: he cut his finger, therefore I must wear no knife, yond man fell from his horse, therefore must I travel a foot, that man surfeited, therefore dare not I eat. What can appear more absurd than such gross and senseless ascertion? I could turn this unpointed weapon against his breast that aimes it at mine, and reason thus: Roscius had a large Pension al­lowed him by the Senate of Rome, why should not an Actor [Page 36] of the like desert, have the like allowance now? or thie, the most famous City & Nation in the world held plays in great admiration [...] Ergo, but it is a rule in Logick, ex parti­cularibu [...] nihil fit. These are not the Bases we must build upon, nor the colums that must support our architecture.

Let us use fire to warm us, not to scorch us, to make ready our necessaries, not to burn our houses: Let us drink to quench our thirst, not to surfet; and eat to sa­tisfie nature, not to gormondize.

Shall we condemne a generality for any one particular misconstruction? give me then leave to argue thus: A­mongst Kings have there not been some tyrants? yet the office of a King is the image of the Majesty of God. A­mongst true subjects have there not crept in some false traitorrs? even among the twelve there was one Judas, but shall we for his fault censure worse of the eleven? God forbid: Art thou Prince or Peasant? Art thou of the No­bilitie or Commonalty? Art thou Merchant or Souldier? Of the City or Country? Art thou Preacher or Auditor? Art thou Tutor or Pupill? There have been of thy functi­on bad and good, prophane and holy. I induce these in­stances to confirm this common argument, that the use of any general thing is not for any one particular abuse to be condemned: For if that assertion stood firm, we should run into many notable inconveniencies.

To prooceed to the manner: First, playing is an orna­ment to the City, which strangers of all Nations, repair­ing hither, report of their Countries, beholding them here with some admiration: for what variety of entertainment can there be in any City of Christendom more than in Lon­don? But some will say, this dish might be very well spared out of the banquet: to him I answer, Diogenes, that used to feed on roots, cannot relish a March-pane. Secondly, our English tongue, which hath been the most harsh, une­ven, and broken language of the world, part Dutch, part Irish, Saxon, Scotch Welch, and indeed a gallimaffry of ma­ny, but perfect in none, is now by this secondary means of playing, continually refined, every writer striving in himself to add a new flourish unto it; so that in process, from the most rude and unpolisht tongue, it is grown to a most perfect & composed language, and many excellent works, and elaborate Poems writ in the same, that many Nations grow inamoured of our tongue, before despised, Neither Saphick, louick, Iambick, Phaleutick, Adonick, [...]lic [...]i [...]k, Hex [...]mi [...]er, Tetramit [...]er, Pentamiter, Asclepe­diack, Choriambick, nor any other measured verse used amongst the Greeks, Latines, Italians, French, Dutch, or Spa­nish writers, but may be exprest in English, be it in blanck verse or meeter, in Distichon, or Hexastichon, or in what form or feet, or what number you can desire. Thus you see to what excellency our refined English is brought, that in these days we are ashamed of that Euphony & eloquence which within these 60. years, the best tongues in the land were proud to pronounce. Thirdly, playes have made the ignorant more apprehensive, taught the unlearned knowledge of many famous histories, instructed such as cānot read in the dicsovery of all our English Chronicles, & what man have you now of that weak capacity, that can­not discourse of any notable thing recorded even from William the Conquerour, nay from the landing of Bruit, un­till this day, being possest of their true use, For or because [Page 38] Playes are writ with this aim, and carried with this me­thod, to teach the Subjects obedience to their King, to shew the people the untimely ends of such as have moved tumults, commotions, and insurrections, to present them with the flourishing estate of such as live in obedience, exhorting them to allegeance, dehorting them from all trayterous and fellonious stratagems.

Omne genus scripti gravitate Tragedia vincit. Ʋse of Trage­dies.

If we present a Tragedy, we include the fatal and abor­tive ends of such as commit notorious murders, which is aggravated & acted with all the Art that may be, to terri­fy men from the like abhorred practices. If we present a forreign History, the subject is so intended, that in the Ʋse of Histori­call playes. lives of Romans, Grecians, or others, either the vertues of our Country-men are extolled, or their vi [...]es reproved; as thus, by the example of Caesar to stir Souldiers to valour and magnanimity: by the fall of Pompey, that no man trust in his own strength: we present Alexander, killing his friend in his rage, to reprove rashness: Myda [...], choked with his gold, to tax covetousness: Nero, against [...]y [...]anny: Sarda­napalus, against luxury: Nynus, against ambition; with infi­nite others, by sundry instances, either animating men to noble attempts, or attaching the consciences of the specta­tors, finding themselves toucht in presenting the vices of others. If a moral, it is to perswade men to humanity and a good life, to instruct them in civility & good manners, shewing them the fruits of honesty, and the end of vil­lany. Ʋse of Morals.

If a Comedy, it's pleasantly contrived with merry acci­dents Ʋse of Come­dies. and intermixt with apt & witty jests, to present be­fore the Prince at certain times of solemnity, or else meri­ly fitted to the Stage. And what is then the subject of this harmless mirth? either in the shape of a Clown, to shew [Page 39] others their slovenly and unhansom behaviour, that they may reform that simplicity in themselves, which others make their sport, lest they happen to become the like sub­ject of general scorn to an auditory; else it intreats of love, deriding foolish inamorates, who spend their ages, their spirits, nay, themselves, in the servile and rediculous imployments of their Mistresses: and these are mingled with sportful accidents, to recreate such as of themselves are wholly devoted to Melancholly, which corrupts the blood: or to refresh such wearied spirits as are tired with labour, or study, to moderate the cares & heaviness of the mind, that they may return to their trades and faculties with more zeal and earnestness, after some small soft and pleasant retirement. Sometimes they discourse of Pan­taloons, Usurers that have unthrifty sons, which both the fathers and sons may behold to their instructions: some­times of Curtesans, to divulge their subtelties and snares; in which young men may be intangled, shewing them the means to avoyd them. If we present a Pastoral, we shew Ʋse of Pasto­rals. the harmless love of Shepheards diversly moralized, di­stinguishing between the craft of the City, and the inno­cency of the sheep-coat. Briefly, there is neither Tragedy, History, Comedy, Moral, or Pastoral, from which an in­finite use cannot be gathered. I speak not in the defence of any lascivious shewes, scurrelous jeasts, or scandalous invectives: If there be any such, I banish them quite from my patronage; yet Horace, Sermon 1. Satyr 4. thus writes;

Eupolis, Cratinus, Aristaphanes, & other Comick Poets in the time of Horace, with large scope, & unbridled liberty [Page 40] boldly and plainly scourged all such abuses as in their a­ges were generally practised, to the staining and blemish­ing of a fair & beautiful Commonweal. Likewise, a lear­ned Gentleman in his Apology for Poetry speaks thus: Tra­gedies well handled be a most worthy kind of Poesy. Comedies make men see and shame at their faults, and proceeding fur­ther amongst other University-playes, he remembers the Tragedy of Richard the third, acted in St. John's in Cam­bridge, so essentially, that had the tyrant Phaleris beheld his bloody proceedings, it had mollified his heart, and made him relent at fight of his inhumane massacres. Fur­ther, he commends of Comedies, the Cambridge Ped [...]n [...]ius, and the Oxford Bellum Grammaticale; and le [...]ving them pas­ses on to our publick Playes, speaking liberally in their praise, and what commendable use may be gathered of them. If you peruse Margarita Poetica, you may see what excellent uses & sentences he hath gathered ou [...] of Terence his Andrea, Eunuchus, & the rest. Likewise out of Plautus his Amphitrio, Asinaria, and moreover, Ex Comediis [...]hi­lodoxis, Caroli Acretini: De fal [...]a Hipocrita, & tristi Mercu­rii, Ronsii versellensis: Ex Comedia Philanira Ʋg [...]lini par­mensis, all reverend schollers, & Comick Poets, read else the four Tragedies, Philunica, Petrus, Aman, Katherina, Claudii Roileti Beluensis: But I should tire my self to reck­on the names of all French, Roman, German, Spanish, Itali­an and English Poets, being in number infinite, and their labours extant to approve their worthiness.

Is thy mind Noble? and wouldst thou be further stird up to magnanimity? Behold, upon the Stage thou mayst see Hercules, Achilles, Alexander, Caesar, Alcibiades, Lysander, Sertorius, Hannibal, Antigonus, Phillip of Macedon, Mithrida­tes of Pontus, Pir [...]hus of Epire, Agesilaus, among the Lace­demonians, Epaminondas; among the Thebans, Scevola a­lone entring the armed tents of Porsenna: Horatius Cho­cles alone withstanding the whole army of the Hetrurians: Leonides of Sparta choosing a Lyon to lead a band of Deer, [Page 41] rather than one Deer to conduct an army of Lyons, with infinite, others in their own persons, qualities & shapes, a­nimating thee with courage, deterring thee from cowar­dise. Hast thou of thy Country well deserved? & art thou of thy labour evill requited? to associate thee thou mayst see the valiant Roman Marcellus, pursue Hannibal at Nola; conquering Syracusa, vanquishing the Gauls, all Padua, & presently, for his reward, banisht his Country into Greece. There thou mayst see Scipio Affricanus, now triumphing for the conquest of all Affrica, and immediately exll'd the confines of Romania. Art thou inclin'd to lust? behold the falls of the Tarquins, in the rape of Lucrece: the guerdon of luxury in the death of Sardanapalus: Appius destroyed in the ravishing of Virginia, and the destruction of Troy in the lust of Helena. Art thou proud? our Scene presents thee with the fall of Phaeton, Narcissus pining in the love of his shadow, ambitious Hamon now calling himself a God, and by and by thrust headlong among the Devils. We present men with the ugliness of their vices, to make them the more to abhor them, as the Persians use, who a­bove all sins, loathing drunkenness, accustomed in their solemne feasts, to make their servants and captives ex­tremely overcome with wine, and then call their children to view their nasty & loathsome behaviour, making them hate that sin in themselves, which shewed so gross and abominable in others. The like use may be gathered of the Drunkards so naturally imitated in our Playes, to the applause of the Actor, content of the Auditory, and reproving of the Vice. Art thou covetous? go no further than Plautus his Comedy called Euclio.

To end, in a word. Art thou addicted to prodigality? envy? cruelty? perjury? flattery? or rage? our Scenes afford [Page 42] thee store of men to shape your lives by, who be frugall, loving, gentle, trusty, without soothing, and in all things temperate. Wouldst thou be honourable, just, friendly, moderate, devout, merciful, and loving concord? thou mayest see many of their fates and ruines, who have been dishonourable, unjust, fals, gluttenous, sacrilegious, blou­dy-minded, and brochers of dissention. Women likewise that are chaste, are by us extolled, & encouraged in their vertues, being instanced by Diana, Belpheby, Matilda, Lu­crece, and the Countess of Salisbury. The unchaste are by us shewed their errors, in the persons of Phrinc, Lais, Thais, Flora: and amongst us Rosamond and Mistress Shore. What can sooner print modesty in the souls of the wanton, than by discovering unto them the monstrousnes of their sin? It followes that we prove these exercises to have been the discoverers of many notorious murders, long concealed from the eyes of the world. To omit all far-fetcht instan­ces, we will prove it by a domestick & home born truth, which within these few years happened. At Lin in Nor­folk, A strange ac­cident happen­ning at a play. the then Earle of Sussex Players acting the old Histo­ry of Fryer Francis, & presenting a woman, who insatiate­ly doting on a young gentleman, had (the more securely to enjoy his affection) mischievously and secretly murde­red her husband, whose ghost haunted her, and at diverse times in her most solitary and private contemplations, in most horrid and fearful shapes appeared and stood before her. As this was acted, a towns-woman (till then of good estimation and report) finding her conscience (at this pre­sentment) extreamly troubled, suddenly skreeked & cry'd out, Oh my husband, my husband! I see the ghost of my husband fiercely theatning and me [...]racing me. At which shril and unexpected out-cry, the people about her, mov'd to a strang amazement, inquired the reason of her clamor, when presently unurged, she told them, that seven years ago, she, to be possest of such a Gentleman (meaning him) had poisoned her husband, whose fearfull image persona­ [...]ed [Page 43] it self in the shape of that ghost: whereupon the mur­dress was apprehended, before the Justices further exami­ned, and by her voluntary confession after condemned: That this is true, as well by the report of the Actors as the records of the Town, there are many ey-witnesses of this accident of late years living, who did confirm it.

As strange an accident happened to a company of the same quality 60. years ago, or thereabout, who play­ing A strange ac­cident happen­ning at a play. late in the night at a place called Peri [...] in Cornwal, certain Spainards were landed the same night unsuspected and undiscovered, with intent to take in the Town, spoil and burn it, when suddenly, even upon their entrance, the players (ignorant as the towns men of any such attempt) presenting a battle on the stage with their drum and trumpets, strook up a loud alarum: which the enemy hearing, and fearing they were discovered, amazedly reti­red, made some few idle shot in a bravado, and so in a hurly-burly fled disorderly to their boats. At the report of this tumult, the towns men were immediately armed, and pursued them to the sea, praysing God for their hap­py deliverance from so great a danger, who by his provi­dence made these strangers the instrument and secondary means of their escape from such imminent mischief, and the tyranny of so remorselesse an enemy.

Another of the like wonder happened at Amsterdam in Holland, a Company of our English Comedians (well A strange acci­cident happen­ning at a play. known) travelling those Countries, as they were before the Burgers and other the chief inhabitants, acting the last part of the 4 sons of Amon, towards the last act of the histo­ry, where penitent Renaldo, like a common labourer, lived in disguise, vowing as his last pennance, to labor & carry burdens to the structure of a goodly Church there to be erected: whose diligence the labourers envying, since by reason of his stature and strength, he did usually perfect more work in a day, than a dozen of the best, (he work­ing for his conscience, they for their lucres.) Whereupon [Page 44] by reason his industry had so much disparaged their li­ving, conspired among themselves to kill him, waiting some opportunity to finde him asleep, which they might easily do, since the sorest labours are the soundest sleepers, & industry is the best preparative to rest. Having spi'd their opportunity, they drave a nail into his temples, of which wound immediatly he died. As the Actors handled this, the audience might on a suddain understand an out-cry, and loud shreek in a remote galery, & pressing about the place, they might perceive a woman of great gravity, strangely amazed, who with a distracted and troubled brain ost sigh'd out these words: Oh my husband, my hus­band! The play, without further interruption, proceeded; the woman was to her own house conducted, without a­ny apparant suspition, every one conjecturing as their fancies led them. In this ago [...]y she some of these few dayes languished, and on a time, as certain of her well disposed neighbours came to comfort her, one amongst the rest be­ing Church-warden, to him the S [...]xt [...]n posts, to tell him of a strange thing happening him in the ripping up of a grave: see here (quoth he) what I have found, and shews them a fare skull, with a great nail pierc'd quite through the braine-pan, but we cannot conjecture to whom it should belong, nor how long [...]t hath lain in the earth, the grave being confused, and the flesh consumed. At the re­port of this accident, the woman, out of the trouble of her afflicted conscience, discovered a former murther, For 12. years ago, by driving that naile into that skull, being the head of her husband, she hath trecherously slain him. This being publick y confest, she was arraigned con­demned, adjudged, and burned. But I draw my subject to greater length than I purposed: these therefore out of other infinities, I have collected both for their familiar­ness and latenesse of memory.

Thus our antiquity we have brought from the Grecians in the time of Hercules▪ from the Macedonians in the age [Page 45] of Alexander: from the Romans, long before Julius Caesar, and since him, through the reigns of 23. Emperours suc­ceeding, even to Marcus Aurelius: after him, they wore supported by the Mantuans, Venetians, Valencians, Neopo­litans, the Florentines, and others: since, by the German Princes, the Palsgrave the Landsgrave, the Dukes of Saxony, of Brownswick, &c. The Cardinal of Bruxels, hath at this time in pay a company of our English Comedians. The Cardinall Al­sensus. French King allows certain companies in Paris, Orleans; besides other Cities: so doth the King of Spain; in Civill, Madrill, and other Provinces. But in no Country they are of that eminencie that ours are: so our most royall and ever renowned Soveraigns licenced, us in London, so did his predecessor, the [...]rice vertuous Virgin Queen Elizabeth, and before her, her sistes Queen Mary, Edward the sixth, and their Father, Hen [...] the eighth: And before these, in the tenth yea [...] of the reign of Edward the fourth, Anno 1490 John S [...]ow an ancient grave Chronicles, [...]e [...]ords (amongst other [...] to the like effect) that a Play was acted at a place called Skinners-well, fastly Clerken-well, which continued eight dayes, and was of matter from Adam and Eve (the first creation of the world) the spectators were no worse than the Royal [...]y of England. And among other commendable exercises in this place, the Company of the Skinners of London held certain yearly solemn Playes In place where­of, now in these latter days, the w [...]astling, and such o­ther pastimes have been kept, and is still held about Bar­tholomew-tide. Also in the year 1390. the 14. year of the reign of Richard the second, the 18 of July, were the like Enterludes recorded of at the same place, which continu­ed 3 days together, the King, and Queen, and Nobility being there present. Moreover, of late years in divers pla­ces of England, here were Towns that held the priviledge of their Fairs, and other Charters, by yearly Stage-plays; as at Manningtree in Suffolk, Kendall in the North, and o­thers. [Page 46] To let these passe, as things familiarly known to all men. Now to speak of some abuse lately crept into the quality, as an inveighing against the State, the Court, the Law, the City and their governments, with the particu­larizing of private mens humors, Noble-men and others. I know it distastes many; neither do I any way approve it, nor dare I by any means excuse it. The liberty which some arrogate to themselves, committing their bitterness and liberall invectives against all estates, to the mouths of Children, supposing their juniority to be a priviledge for any rayling, be it never so violent: I could advise all such, to curbe and limit this presumed liberty within the bands of discretion and government. But wise and judi­cial Censurers, before whom such complaints shall at any time hereafter come, will not (I hope) impute these abu­ses to any transgression in us, who have ever been carefull and provident to shun the like. I surcease to prosecute this any further, lest my good meaning be (by some) mis­construed: and fearing likewise, left with tediousness, I tire the patience of the favourable Reader, here (though abruptly) I conclude my third and last Treatise.