Vol. 5. The Drama to 1642, Part One. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

Reference > Cambridge History > The Drama to 1642, Part One

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes

Volume V: English
THE DRAMA TO 1642
Part One

Edited by A. W. Ward & A. R. Waller

Bibliographic Record

CONTENTS • INDEX TO CHAPTERS • INDEX TO BIBLIOGRAPHIES • INDEX TO AUTHORS

CONTENTS
Preface
Table of Principal Dates

Chapter I.	INTRODUCTORY The Origins of English Drama
	By A. W. WARD, Litt.D., F.B.A., Master of Peterhouse Earliest traces of English drama Estrifs The Normans and their Minstrels Faint influence of the Classical Drama The English Monastic Literary Drama Popular survivals Festival Plays Ridings and Mummings Liturgical Drama Opposition of the Clergy to secular entertainments Importance of the Corpus Christi Festival Cornish Miracle-plays Variety in dialect and metre in the English Mysteries and Miracle-plays Origin of the Moralities English love of Allegory Evolution of Tragedy and Comedy BIBLIOGRAPHY

II.	Secular Influences on the Early English Drama MINSTRELS. VILLAGE FESTIVALS. FOLK-PLAYS
	By HAROLD H. CHILD, sometime Scholar of Brasenose College, Oxford Strolling Performers: the Latin mimus and the Teutonic scop Influence of English Minstrels on Religious Plays Beginnings of the Interlude The Minstrels’ Guild Influence of Folk-lore Cantilenae Folk-dance and play The Hock-Tuesday Play Sword-dance Plough Monday performances Development of the Mummers’ Play Transformation of the May-game into the Robin Hood Plays BIBLIOGRAPHY

III.	The Early Religious Drama MIRACLE-PLAYS AND MORALITIES
	By W. CREIZENACH, Professor of German Language and Literature in the University of Cracow Concordia Regularis School Dramas of Hilarius Religious Plays in London The vernacular in Medieval Drama Jacob and Esau Miracles of Mary Evidence of the popularity of the Religious Drama The Harrowing of Hell Mysteries and their sources: traditional and original elements; mingling of comic with tragic incidents Costliness of production Corpus Christi Plays York Mysteries Towneley Mysteries Chester Plays Ludus Coventriae Saints’ Plays Object and value of the production of Mysteries Early Moralities The Castle of Perseverance Mankynd Mind, Will and Understanding Everyman Tendency towards the introduction of comic elements Progress in aim and treatment Distinctive character of the Moralities Effects of Humanism on Mysteries and Moralities Interlude of the Nature of the Four Elements Treatment of educational, political, and ecclesiastical questions in the Morality Vicissitudes in the reigns of the Tudor sovereigns The last of the Moralities BIBLIOGRAPHY

IV.	Early English Tragedy
	By JOHN W. CUNLIFFE, D.Lit. (London), Professor of English in the University of Wisconsin, U. S. A. Study, imitation and reproduction of Senecan tragedy Classical influence in the Italian Drammi Mescidati Giraldi Cinthio’s Orbecche Early English Tragicomedies Historic importance of stage directions Horestes Kynge Johan Gorboduc and its political significance: its advance on Senecan Tragedy and early Tragicomedy Introduction of intermedii Jocasta Gismond of Salerne and its sources: motives of its authors Advance in the treatment of Romance The Gray’s inn Entertainment; The Misfortunes of Arthur: extent of its debt to Seneca Popular translation of the Ten Tragedies of Seneca Renewed interest in English history and the beginnings of English Historical Drama The Chronicle Histories: The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth The Troublesome Raigne of King John The True Chronicle History of King Leir The relations between Locrine and Selimus Diminishing attention paid to classical models and increasing appeal to popular sentiment and national tradition; the legacy of the Classics in Tragedy BIBLIOGRAPHY

V.	Early English Comedy
	By F. S. BOAS, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford, LL.D. (St. Andrews), late Professor of English Literature in Queen’s College, Belfast, and late Clark Lecturer in Trinity College John Heywood His relationship to Sir Thomas More Period of his dramatic activity Probability of French influence His interludes: Witty and Witless; Love; Wether; The Foure P. P. His narrative power Doubtful plays: The Pardoner and the Frere and Johan Johan The collision of romantic and didactic tendencies in Tudor Drama Calisto and Melebea Lucrece Continental Humanist Drama Performances of Latin plays in the schools and at the Universities Nicholas Udall Ralph Roister Doister Jacke Jugeler English adaptations of Textor’s Neo-classic Plays Prodigal son plays Misogonus Jacob and Esau The Glasse of Governement Supposes The Bugbears Influence of the Southern Stage Strength of the native dramatic instinct Tom Tyler Damon and Pithias Promos and Cassandra Edwards’s and Whetstone’s theory of the function of Comedy BIBLIOGRAPHY

VI.	The Plays of the University Wits
	By G. P. BAKER, Professor of English in Harvard University, U. S. A. The University standard of judgment John Lyly His position in the group of University Wits His material, method and style His models Authorship of the songs in Lyly’s plays Introduction to the English stage of High Comedy: its essential features Lyly’s refining and intellectual influence on English Literature and Drama George Peele Variety in theme and treatment Beginnings of dramatic criticism Peele’s poetry Robert Greene His literary career; his Novels and Pamphlets His Repentance Early dramatic work Plays attributed to Greene His sources and handling of plot Development of the Love story Thomas Lodge: sequence of his work His ill-success and retirement from Drama Thomas Nashe: popular form of his work Characteristics of the group of University Wits BIBLIOGRAPHY

VII.	Marlowe and Kyd CHRONICLE HISTORIES
	By G. GREGORY SMITH, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford, Professor of English Literature in the University of Belfast The forerunners of Shakespeare Marlowe’s life and early literary work Tamburlaine the Great Dr. Faustus The Jew of Malta Edward II, the Massacre at Paris and Dido Queene of Carthage Marlowe’s share in other Plays Association with Shakespeare Marlowe’s non-dramatic writings Poetic quality of his work Characteristics of his style His treatment of the Chronicle Play His forerunners Edward II Creation of Blank Verse as a dramatic instrument Thomas Kyd’s early work The Spanish Tragedie Kyd and the early Hamlet Doubtful authorship of The First Part of Jeronimo and of Solimon and Perseda Criticism of Kyd’s work and comparison with Marlowe; Kyd’s place in English Drama BIBLIOGRAPHY

VIII.	Shakespeare: Life and Plays
	By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M.A., Merton College, Oxford, LL.D., Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University of Edinburgh Character of our knowledge about Shakespeare His Family and Education His Marriage and relations with his Wife His Company Biographical aspects of the Sonnets Evidence as to Order of Plays Value of the Meres list Earliest group: The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Titus Andronicus Second group: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, All’s Well that Ends Well and The Taming of the Shrew Remaining Meres Plays: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice Early Chronicle Plays: Richard II, King John, Richard III Shakespeare’s share in Henry VI, Henry IV Plays not mentioned by Meres: Pericles, The Merry Wives, Measure for Measure, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It and Twelfth Night Remaining Historical Plays: Henry V and Henry VIII Classical Plays: Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra Tragicomedies: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear Last group: Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest Shakespeare’s Censors His special gifts: poetic phrasing, dramatic construction and character-drawing His justice and tolerance Universality of his style His progress in versification Shakespearean Blank Verse: management of metre, pause, trisyllabic substitution and the redundant syllable BIBLIOGRAPHY

IX.	Shakespeare: Poems
	By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M.A., LL.D. Dates of Composition and First Editions Dedication of the Sonnets Venus and Adonis Lucrece The Sonnets: the problem of their interpretation Futility of attempts to find biographical details in them Dramatic elements Peculiarities of versification Lesser Poems: A Lover’s Complaint, The Passionate Pilgrim, The Phoenix and the Turtle Shakespeare’s metrical mastery in the Lyric BIBLIOGRAPHY

X.	Plays of Uncertain Authorship Attributed to Shakespeare
	By F. W. MOORMAN, B.A. (London), Ph.D. (Strassburg), Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of Leeds Classification of extant Plays Locrine: points of resemblance to The Spanish Tragedie Arden of Feversham: deliberate bluntness of the story and unattractiveness of the hero A Yorkshire Tragedy Edward III Cromwell Sir Thomas More: its scholarly character and political tone The Birth of Merlin: its probable authors Faire Em The Merry Devill of Edmonton Mucedorus The London Prodigall The Puritane The Two Noble Kinsmen: wealth of its sources and qualities BIBLIOGRAPHY

XI.	The Text of Shakespeare
	By the Rev. ERNEST WALDER, M.A., Gonville and Caius College, Headmaster of Ockbrook School, Derby Reasons for reluctance of authors and companies to publish Origin of the Quartos Duplicate, Variant and Doublet Quartos Discrepancies in Texts: curtailment or omission for stage purposes or for want of actors; political expediency Carelessness of Players and Printers Lack of evidence making Shakespeare responsible for Corrections or Additions Value of the first Folio The later Folios Subsequent history of the Text of Shakespeare Rowe’s edition Conjectures and restorations of Pope His controversy with Theobald, and its effects on Theobald’s edition Hanmer’s edition Warburton’s ignorance of the old Text and of Shakespeare’s language Johnson’s edition Scientific criticism of Capell Johnson and Steevens’s Text Malone’s edition Nineteenth century Editors: Singer; Hudson; Collier; Halliwell-Phillipps; Delius; Staunton; Grant White; Dyce The Cambridge Shakespeare BIBLIOGRAPHY

XII.	Shakespeare on the Continent 1660–1700
	By J. G. ROBERTSON, M.A., B.Sc. (Glasgow), Ph.D. (Leipzig), Professor of German Language and Literature in the University of London Channels by which Shakespeare reached the Continent His influence on German and Dutch Seventeenth Century Drama Awakening of interest in the man Literary importance of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes Voltaire’s attitude towards Shakespeare His adaptations from Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth Abbé Prévost and contemporary French admirers of Shakespeare Influence of Voltaire’s opinions in Italy Early Seventeenth Century indications of appreciation of Shakespeare in Germany Strength of Classicism The Translations of La Place, and their effect on Voltaire and French Criticism Sébastien Mercier Le Tourneur Voltaire’s last Attacks Popularity of the Adaptations of Ducis German interest in Shakespeare aroused by Lessing Wieland’s Prose Translation The new attitude of the Sturm und Drang; Gerstenberg’s and Herder’s Criticism Shakespeare included in the répertoire of the German stage; Schröder The Romantic School: A. W. Schlegel and his Fellow Workers Shakespeare’s influence on German Eighteenth Century Literature: on the French Romantic School German Shakespearean Scholarship in the Nineteenth Century Influence of Hegelianism Shakespeare and the Modern German Theatre The Meiningen Reforms Introduction of Shakespeare into other lands, chiefly through French or German Translations Value of recent American Criticism BIBLIOGRAPHY

XIII.	Lesser Elizabethan Dramatists
	By the Rev. RONALD BAYNE, M.A., University College, Oxford General characteristics of Lesser Elizabethan Dramatists Their names according to Henslowe’s Diary and Meres’s list Antony Munday’s career (1553–1633) and industry as a writer Translations of Fedele and Fortunio: The Weakest goeth to the Wall His extant Plays founded on Ballads and Folk-lore Henry Chettle’s early life: his Tragedies: The Tragedy of Hoffman Haughton’s Comedies: Girm the Collier of Croyden and English-Men For my Money Porter’s Two angry women of Abington Hathwaye; Robert Wilson; Wentworth Smith Michael Drayton’s dramatic work John Day’s early work Samuel Rowley’s When you see me, You know me English imitation of French Senecan Drama Fulke Greville’s Mustapha and Alaham BIBLIOGRAPHY

XIV.	Some Political and Social Aspects of the Later Elizabethan and Earlier Stewart Period
	By A. W. WARD, Litt.D., F.B.A. Main features of the English Renascence at its height Contrast between the beginning and the end of the age Literary significance of the later years of Elizabeth’s reign Strength of the Tudor Monarchy and Popular Sentiment Dramatists and the Divine Right of Kings Question of the Queen’s Marriage Her attitude towards the Religious Problem Struggle for the English Throne Elizabeth’s Ministers before and after the crisis Vigour and activity of the New Generation Elizabeth’s Court Education of the Courtier Contrast between Court and Country Gradual change in social conditions; amalgamation of New and Old Nobility Rise of Prices and advance of Trade and Industry Increased luxury in Diet and Dress Horticulture Drinking Tobacco The Army and Navy in Elizabeth’s time Position of the Clergy and causes of their disrepute Changes in the Universities, jobbery in Schools and Universities and in the Church Puritanism and the Dramatists Growth of London and its causes Increase of Litigation and its effects on the Legal Profession The Medical Profession Authors and their troubles Attention paid to the Fine Arts Social conditions of the Trading and Yeoman Classes Depression of the Labouring Class Servingmen Treatment of the Poor, Vagabonds and Criminals General unrest and high spirit The Women of the age BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONTENTS · INDEX TO CHAPTERS · INDEX TO BIBLIOGRAPHIES · INDEX TO AUTHORS

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