the relation of the acts to each other was not essentially different. The break in the representation may still correspond to practically no interval at all in the time-distribution of the play; and there are examples in which the action continues to be carried on by the personages in dumb-show, while the music is still sounding.[1] In any case this particular distinction, while it might well modify the methods of the dramatist, need only effect the economy of the tire-house in so far as it would give more time for the preparation of
- [Footnote: II), 'music'; What You Will, II. ii. 235 'So ends our chat;—sound music
for the act'; for Blackfriars, Gentleman Usher, III. i. 1, 'after the song'; Sophonisba (after I), 'the cornets and organs playing loud full music for the act', (II) 'Organ mixt with recorders, for this act', (III) 'Organs, viols and voices play for this act', (IV) 'A base lute and a treble violl play for the act', with which should be read the note at the end of Q_{1}, 'let me intreat my reader not to taxe me for the fashion of the entrances and musique of this tragedy, for know it is printed only as it was presented by youths and after the fashion of the private stage'; K. B. P. (after I), 'Boy danceth. Musicke. Finis Actus primi', (II) 'Musicke. Finis Actus secundi', (III) 'Finis Actus tertii. Musicke. Actus quartus, scoena prima. Boy daunceth', (IV) Ralph's May Day speech; cf. infra and vol. ii, p. 557. I do not find any similar recognition of the scene as a structural element in the play to be introduced by music; in 1 Antonio and Mellida, III. ii. 120, the s.d. 'and so the Scene begins' only introduces a new scene in the sense of a regrouping of speakers (cf. p. 200).]vanish off the Stage, and Pride and her attendants remaine', (after III) 'They all awake, and begin the following Acte', (after V) 'Allarmes in severall places, that brake him off thus: after a retreat sounded, the Musicke playes and Poverty enters'; 2 Antonio and Mellida, III. i. 1, 'A dumb show. The cornets sounding for the Act', (after IV) 'The cornets sound for the act. The dumb show'; What You Will, III. i. 1, 'Enter Francisco . . . They clothe Francisco whilst Bidet creeps in and observes them. Much of this done whilst the Act is playing'; Phoenix (after II), 'Towards the close of the musick the justices three men prepare for a robberie'; for Blackfriars, Malcontent, II. i. 1, 'Enter Mendoza with a sconce, to observe Ferneze's entrance, who, whilst the act is playing, enters unbraced, two Pages before him with lights; is met by Maquerelle and conveyed in; the Pages are sent away'; Fawn, V. i. 1, 'Whilst the Act is a playing, Hercules and Tiberio enters; Tiberio climbs the tree, and is received above by Dulcimel, Philocalia, and a Priest; Hercules stays beneath'. The phrase 'whilst the act is playing' is a natural development from 'for the act', i. e. 'in preparation for the act', used also for the elaborate music which at private houses replaced the three preliminary trumpet 'soundings' of the public houses; cf. What You Will, ind. 1 (s.d.), 'Before the music sounds for the Act', and 1 Antonio and Mellida, ind. 1, 'The music will sound straight for entrance'. But it leads to a vagueness of thought in which the interval itself is regarded as the 'act'; cf. the M. N. D. s.d. of F_{1}, quoted p. 124, n. 3, with Middleton, The Changeling (1653), III. i. 1, 'In the act-time De Flores hides a naked rapier behind a door', and Cotgrave, Dict. (1611), 'Acte . . . also, an Act, or Pause in a Comedie, or Tragedie'.]
- ↑ For Paul's, Histriomastix, III. i. 1, 'Enter Pride, Vaine-Glory, Hypocrisie, and Contempt: Pride casts a mist, wherein Mavortius and his company [who ended II
