an altered setting at the beginning of an act. When The Malcontent was taken over at the Globe, the text had to be lengthened that the music might be abridged, but there is no indication of any further alteration, due to a difficulty in adapting the original situations to the peculiarities of the Globe stage. The types of incident, again, which are familiar in public plays, reappear in the private ones; in different proportions, no doubt, since the literary interest of the dramatists and their audiences tends rather in the directions, on the one hand of definite pastoral, and on the other of courtly crime and urban humour, than in that of chronicle history. And there is a marked general analogy in the stage-directions. Here also those who leave the stage go 'in', and music and voices can be heard 'within'. There are the same formulae for the use of several doors, of which one is definitely a 'middle' door.[1] Spirits and so forth can 'ascend' from under the stage by the convenient traps.[2] Possibly they can also 'descend' from the heavens.[3] The normal backing*
- ↑ For Paul's, Histriomastix, i. 163, 'Enter Fourcher, Voucher, Velure, Lyon-Rash . . . two and two at severall doores'; v. 103, 'Enter . . . on one side . . . on the other'; v. 192, 'Enter . . . at one end of the stage: at the other end enter . . .'; vi. 41, 'Enter Mavortius and Philarchus at severall doores'; vi. 241, 'Enter . . . at the one doore. At the other . . .'; 1 Antonio and Mellida, iv. 220 (marsh scene), 'Enter . . . at one door; . . . at another door'; 2 Antonio and Mellida, v. 1, 'Enter at one door . . . at the other door'; Maid's Metamorphosis, II. ii. 1 (wood scene), 'Enter at one door . . . at the other doore, . . . in the midst'; III. ii. 1 (wood scene), 'Enter . . . at three severall doores'; Faery Pastoral, III. vi, 'Mercury entering by the midde doore wafted them back by the doore they came in'; IV. viii, 'They enterd at severall doores, Learchus at the midde doore'; Puritan, I. iv. 1 (prison scene), 'Enter . . . at one dore, and . . . at the other', &c.; for Blackfriars, Sir G. Goosecap, IV. ii. 140, 'Enter Jack and Will on the other side'; Malcontent, V. ii. 1, 'Enter from opposite sides'; E. Ho!, I. i. 1, 'Enter . . . at severall dores . . . At the middle dore, enter . . .'; Sophonisba, prol., 'Enter at one door . . . at the other door'; May Day, II. i. 1, 'Enter . . . several ways'; Your Five Gallants, I. ii. 27, 'Enter . . . at the farther door', &c.
- ↑ For Paul's, 2 Antonio and Mellida, IV. ii. 87, 'They strike the stage with their daggers, and the grave openeth'; V. i. 1, 'Balurdo from under the Stage'; Aphrodysial (quoted Reynolds, i. 26), 'A Trap door in the middle of the stage'; Bussy d'Ambois, II. ii. 177, 'The Vault opens' . . . 'ascendit Frier and D'Ambois' . . . 'Descendit Fryar' (cf. III. i; IV. ii; V. i, iii, iv); for Blackfriars, Poetaster (F_{1}) prol. 1, 'Envie. Arising in the midst of the stage'; Case is Altered, III. ii, 'Digs a hole in the ground'; Sophonisba, III. i. 201, 'She descends after Sophonisba' . . . (207) 'Descends through the vault'; V. i. 41, 'Out of the altar the ghost of Asdrubal ariseth'.
- ↑ Widow's Tears (Blackfriars), III. ii. 82, 'Hymen descends, and six Sylvans enter beneath, with torches'; this is in a mask, and Cupid may have descended from a pageant. When a 'state' or throne is used (e.g. Satiromastix, 2309, 'Soft musicke, Chaire is set under a Canopie'), there
