SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
355
beginning of the leign of Elizabeth. Moralities continnea to be botn printed and acted in the reign of James I. and they are enumerated under the name of Moralt in the licence granted to the company of which Shakspeare was a member in 1603. SeTeial of our early tragedies and comedies, down to an era subsequent to this, were without any division into scenes or acts ; even so late as 1 623, in the comedy of the WUy Beguiled, tbei* are neither one or the other.*
1574, itfav 30. />te(<, Charles IX. of France,t not having mlly attained the age of twenty-four. N(Kwithstanding the ferocity of his disposition, he is said to have possessed good abilities, and to have been favourably inclined towards the fine aits and literature. To the cultivation of such a taste he had been diligently incited by his pre- ceptor Amyot, the admired translator of Plu- tarch ; whom he constituted bishop of Auxerre, and his grand almoner. Poetry is said to have been the study which he peculiarly favoured. He gave some indications of a personal pro- ficiency in that art; and distinguisned D'Aurat, Ronsard, and Jean Antoiue de Baif, by special remunerations. It was, however, a jocular re- mark of this monarch, that if poets were placed in circumstances of complete independence, they would cease to labour ; like spirited horses, Uiere-
- In the Greek drama there were no acts ; althoug:h In
socne modern editions, such as Burton's Pentatogia, we fiml Greek piara thus divided. For an exact copy of the form of a Greek drama, the English reader is referred to the SampMm Agonittew of Milton. In that piay there is no division into acts ; nor is there any sach division in Ba- clianan's two Latin tragedies, entiUed Jephthea and Bap- tutett which are also professedly composed upon the Greek modeL On the Roman stage there was no ohorus, and the play was divided into acts, as onr own. By modern dramatists, however, the practice of dividing a play into acta has generally been taken advantage of to extend the time of the story greatly lieyond the space to which it was neceaaary to confine it on the Greek stage. Dr. Joivnson has observed, in modern pl&ys, " The time required by the fable elapses, for the most part, lietween the acts , for of so much of the action as is represented, the real and poetical duration is the same." — Preface to Shnktpeare. In Shakspeare's play of the WhUer't Tate, Perdita, who waa a new.tKtm infant at the end of the third act, is grown up a young woman at the beginning of the fourth. In this Instance, indeed, the dramatist introduces Time to explain and apologize fbr the license he had taken SUde
O'er sixteen years, and leave the growth untried
Of tlULt wide gap.
Time is here said to appear " as Choras )" and in the lie- ginning of Henry V. Choras is also brought forward to request the audience to allow their thoughts in the course of the representation to pass from one place to another —
Jumping o'er times. Taming the accomplislmiept of many years Into an hour-glass.
Neither of these personages, however, perform exactly the office of the ancient chorus. Shakspeare rarely In- terrupts the action for any considerable space, except du- ring the interval lietween two acts } but here he does not hesitate to pass over any length of time lie may find con- venient.
t In ISSO, the crownofPrancedevolved on Charles IX., who being then a mere boy, the executive power was siiaied between the queen mother, Catherine de Medicis, and the two brothers of the house of Guise. The great cause of natioDal division, in his reign, lay in the state of religious feelings. The protestants were too independent to be reduced to servile acquiescence, and the catholics were tooconsclous of a superior strength to tolerate the idea of admitting them to a state of equality.
fore, they ought to be well fed, but not to be pamperea. French writers consider some of their wisest laws to have been enacted in this reign ; the merit of which is mainly attributed to the celebrated chancellor de I'Hospital; to whose invention also, is ascribed a roTid device then adopted; with which Frederick Morel, and other considerable printers of a subsequent period, occasionally decorated their impressions : " Two columns, with these words, Pietate et JusTiTiA." What a device, it has been said, for the author of the massacre uf St. Bartholomew.*
1675, Jan. 22. Queen Elizabeth granted a patent to Thomas Talli^ and William Birde^ for the printing of music, for twenty-one years, of which the following is a copy :
" Elizabeth by the grace of God, queue of Englande, Fraunce, and Ireland, defender of the fiiiui, &c. to all printers, bokesellers, and other officers, ministers, and subjects, greting. Know ye, that we for the especiall effection, and g^ood will, that we haue and bare to the science of musick, and for the aduancement thereof, by our letters patents, dated the xxii of January, in the xvii yere of our raigne, have granted full privi- ledge and licence vnto our wellbeloued servants, Thomas Tallis, and William Birde, gent, of our chappell, and to the ouerlyuer of them, and to the assignes of them, and of the suruiuer of them, fur xxi yeares next ensuing, to imprint any, and so many, as they will, of set songe, or songes in partes, either in English, Latine, French, Italian, or ether tongues, that may serve for musicke, either in churche or chamber, or otherwise to be either plaid, or soonge. And that they may rule, ana cause to be niled, by impression, any paper to seme for printing or pricking of any songe or songes, and ma^ sell and vtter any printed bookes, or papers of^ any songe, or songes, or any bookes, or quieres of such ruled paper imprinted. Also we straightly by the same forbid all printers, booksellers, sub-
- The 14th of Angost, 1573, was signalized by the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew, in Paris, an event no less remarkable for its almost unparalleled atrocity, than for that extraordinary secresy with which it had long been premeditated, and deliberately matured. The signal was given by the midnight tocsin ; and the slaughter com- menced with the veteran admiral Coligny, who was stabbed by La Besme, a servant of the duke of Guise. Sir Philip Sidney, and sir Walter Raleigh, who were then in Paris, are supposed to have escaped under the protection of Walsingham, the English ambassador in that city. The total number of the victlms,at the miii<ini<in,ls computed at 70,000. Pope Gregory thanked God for this public break- fast of twelve days. The English court went Into mourning.
The fanatical part of the Catholics formed themselves into a body, under the name of "The I.eagne," which proved dming many years the scourge of their country. The members of this association were extremely numerous. Including princes, noblemen, generals, prelates. In short, all who were actuated by the blind superstition of the age. The main support of the League was the bigotted Philip II. of Spain i and its executive head, Henry, duke of Guise.
De Thou has detailed the history of this horrid massacre j and the same scene Is painted in glowing, though in faith- ful colours, by Voltaire, in the Henriade.
4 Died at Greenwich, Novemtier S3, ISBS.
t Was a pupil ofTallis's, organist of Lincoln cathedral, and in ISSt, succeeded Parsons in the royal chapel. The grace iVoa Noiii DomM was composed by Bird, and first sung on November 5, IdO?, on the second anniversary of the gunpowder plot. He died July 4, 1683.— See 1607, pott-
Diaitized bv
