^ :> Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/diprosestheatricOOdipruoft ^DIP ROSE'S theatrical anecdotes' CONTAINING ANECDOTES OF THE SCENES-OLD iIIE STAGE AND THE PLAYERS-BEHIND PLACES OF AMUSEMENT-THEATRICAL JOTTINGS- == MUSIC-AUTHORS-EPITAPHS, &c., &c. London : DIPROSE & BATEMAN, Sheffield Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. : LONDON DIPROSE, BATEMAN AND CO., PRINTEUS, SHEFFIELD STREET, LINCOLN'S INN, THE STAGE I AND THE PLAYERS BY JOHN DIPROSE. ^ THE ORIGIN OF THE STAGE. -:o:- HE first religious spectacle was, probably, the miracle play of St Catherine^ mentioned by Matthew Paris as having been written by Geoffrey, a Norman, afterwards Abbot of St. Albans, and played at Dunstable Abbey in mo. In the Description of the Most Noble City of London^ by Fitz Stephen, a monk, about 1174, in treating of the ordinary diversions of the inhabitants of the metropolis, says, that, instead of the common interludes belonging to theatres, they have plays of a more holy subject. The ancient religious dramas were distinguished by the names Origin of the Stage. of mysteries, properly so called, wherein were exhibited some of the events of Scripture story, and miracles which were of the nature of tragedy, representing the acts of Martyrdom of a Saint of the Church. One of the oldest religious dramas was written by Gregory, entitled Christ's Passion, the prologue to which states that the Virgin Mary was then for the first time brought upon the stage. In 1264, the Fraternite del Goufal'one Avas established, part of whose occupation was to represent the sufferings of Christ in Passion Week. The introduction of this species of amusement into England has been attributed to the pilgrims who went to the Holy Land ; and the very general custom of performing such pieces at festivals, to the sacred plays at those ancient national marts, by which the commerce of Europe was principally supported. To these, the merchants v/ho frequented them used every art to draw the people, employing jugglers, buffoons, and minstrels to attract and entertain them. By degrees, however, the clergy, observing the disposition to idleness and festivity which Avas thus introduced, substituted their dramatic legends and histories from the Scriptures, for the ordinary profane amusements, causing them to be acted by Monks in the principal churches and cathedrals at certain seasons, with all the attraction and state of choral chanting, playing upon organs, and ecclesiastical dresses and ornaments. The duration of the exhibition appears to have been regulated partly by the length of time appointed for the fair or festival ; for though some pieces consisted of a single subject only, as The Conversion of St. Paul, or The Casting out of the Evil Spii'its from Mary Magdalene, others comprised a long series of Scriptural histories, which were presented for sev^eral days successfully. * To ancient Thespis, the Athenian Sage, We owe the first Foundation of the Stage ; Tho' rudely planted, soon the laurell'd Tree Spread its bright leaves o'er Greece and Italy And nurtur'd there by Learning's genial Ray Gave to the Drama a perpetual Day." — The Playhouse, Origin of the Orchestra. The Orchestra of the ancient Greeks had its name from that part of the theatre where the dances were performed. At present, the word is more particularly applied to the station where a band of music is placed in a theatre or great concert room. Original Scenery. The original scene for acting of plays was as simple as the representations themselves; it consisted only of a plain plat of ground proper for the occasion, which was in some degree shaded by the neighbouring trees, whose branches were made to meet together, and their vacancies supplied with boards, sticks, and the like, to complete the shelter ; and these were sometimes covered with skins, sometimes only with the branches of other trees newly cut down and full of leaves. It does not appear that the ancient poets were at all acquainted with the modern way of changing the scenes in respect of the different parts of the play, but all was performed in the same place. A Playhouse Is a school of humanity where all eyes are fixed on the same game, or solemn scenes ; where all smiles or tears are spread from face to face, and where a thousand hearts beat in unison. Ben Jonson. Born 1574 Died 1638. Aubrey says, that he first acted and wrote, but both ill, at the " Green Curtain," a kind of nursery or obscure playhouse, somewhere in the suburbs, towards Shoreditch or Clerkenwell ; and that he afterwards undertook again to write plays, and hit it admirably well, particularly Every Alan in his Unmour^ which was his first good one. This playhouse, according to Mr. Malone, was also called " The Theatre," a term of distinction which makes him conjecture that it was the first regular playhouse built near the metropolis. It stood in the Curtain Road, Shoreditch, and acquired its name of the Curtain, from the custom of hanging out as a sign a striped (query — The Playhouse. green) curtain while performing. Jonson is said, by the above writer (Aubrey), to have " killed Mr. Marlow, the poet, on Bunhill, coming from the Green Curtain play- house." He adds the following curious information as to Jonson's person and habit:— *' He was, or rather had been, of a clear and fair skin, with one eie lower than t'other, like Clun, the player, his habit very plain. I have heard Mr. Lacy, the player, say that he was wont to weare a coate like a coachman's coate, with slitts under the arme pitts. He would many times exceed in drinke ; Canarie was his beloved liquor ; then he would tumble home to bed, and, when he had thoroughly per- spired, then to studie. I have seen his studyeing chaire, which was of straw, such as old women used, and as Aulus Gellius is drawn in. Long since, in King James's time, I have heard my uncle Danvers say (who knew him), that he lived without Temple Barre, at a comb- maker's shop. In his latter time he lived at Westminster, in the house under which you passe as you go out of the churchyard into the old palace, where he dyed. He lies buried in the north aisle in the path of square stone (the rest is lozenge), opposite to the scutcheon of Robertus de Ros, with this inscription only on him (in a pavement square, blew marble, about 14 inches), 'O Rare Ben Jonson,' which was done at the chardge of Jack Young, afterwards knighted, who, walking there when the grave was covering, gave the fellow eighteen-pence to cutt it. The following was a grace made by him, extempore, before King James : * Our king and queen, the Lord God blesse, The Paltzgrave, and the Lady Besse, And God blesse every living thing That lives, and breathes, and loves the ICing, God bless the Council of Estate, And Buckingham, the fortunate ; God blesse them all, and keep them safe, And God blesse me, and God blesse Ralph.' The king was mighty inquisitive to know who this Ralph was. Ben told him 'twas the drawer of the Swanne Tavern, by Charing Crosse, who drew him good Canarie. For this drollery his Majesty gave him an hundred pounds." The Playhouse. GLOBE THEATRE. At the commencement of Elizabeth's Reign. HIS structure must have been erected previous to the Itear 1563, as it is represented in a plan of London, pub- lished during that year, but excluded in another plan "published from actual survey in 1600," though it is known that many of Shakespeare's plays were performed in it at subsequent periods. Stow records the destruction of this theatre, during the year 161 3, in a particular manner. He says, ** Upon St. Peter's day last, the playhouse or theatre, called the Globe, upon the banck side, neere London, by negligent discharging of a peale of ordinance, close to the south side thereof, the thatch took fier and the wind sodainly desperst the flame round about, and in a very short space the whole building was quite consumed, and no man hurt. The house being filled with people to behold the play, viz., of Henry VIII, And the next spring it was new builded in a far fairer manner than before." Ben Jonson calls the Globe Theatre the " Glory of the Bank," and the " Fort of the whole Parish." It was most famous in London at that time performance in summer by daylight pulled down, ; ; 1648. GLOBE THEATRE. In the Reign of James I. The Globe Theatre was originally erected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was at first a rude inartificial building, thatched with reeds. It is supposed to have acquired its name of the Globe from its nearly circular form, or rather from its sign, which was Atlas, bearing a Globe on its shoulders. In the year 1603, King James I. granted a patent to Shakespeare and others (his associates), to play plays "as well within theire then usuall house, called the Globe, in the Countie of Surry, as elsewhere," under whom it continued to flourish until the year 161 3, when it was accidentally burnt, and the following year a more stately theatre built on its site. — lo Tlie Playhouse, Taylor, the water poet, notices this event in the subse quent epigram : As gold is better that's in fire tried, is So the Bankside Globe that late was burn'd ; For where before it had a thatched hide.