two sources, mediæval and classical: and, as in poetry, we are to investigate its approaches to perfection under the quickening influence of the Reformation period. It is to be observed, that comedy is generally rather more ancient than tragedy; and we shall discover no mention of the latter during the first part of the sixteenth century, and are therefore solely occupied in tracing the progress of the former. But the two species may be said to co-exist at first: some other designation than "comedy" should be applied to what we find before their separation; since the oldest comedy is not a mere heartless farce, but possesses deep earnestness, often exhibits situations of tragic suspense, and deals not in wit, but in humour, and the pathos upon which humour ever borders. The old mysteries, or miracle plays, the Christian descendants of the antique drama, which, in connexion with the processions of the Church, had represented simply and rudely scriptural and legendary stories, about the reign of Henry VI., were turned into allegories, and called "Moralities." The Moralities continued long to be the only dramatic form existent, and were in high favour with the Clergy. But the Reformation period urged them into a nearer approach to regular comedy, by the substitution of individual satire and caricature for their allegorical and abstract personification. The advance was made in the reign of Edward VI., one of the earliest acts of whose Council was to prohibit the Roman Catholic Clergy from preaching. Silenced in the pulpit, they had recourse to the stage, whence they poured a flood of invective against the leaders of the Reformation. To repay in kind was no hard task for the latter; and many Moralities were written on both sides, which display an odd mixture of heavy buffoonery and real comic force. It is evident that from the caricature of individuals the gradation was natural to the representation of real life and manners, which is the business of comedy and tragedy. Besides their theological lampooning, a remarkable feature of the Moralities of this age was the introduction of certain fixed characters, as in the early Italian comedy and our own pantomime. The most usual of these were the devil, and a witty, mischievous creation, called the "Vice." "This," says Mr. Hallam, "scems originally to have been an allegorical representation of what the name denotes; but the Vice gradually acquired a human individuality, in which he came very near to our well-known Punch. The devil was generally introduced in company with the Vice, and had to endure many blows from him." The longest of the Moralities preserved, belonging to the time in question, and which were rightly termed "interludes," as oscillating between religious satire and comedy proper, is the "Enterlude called Lusty Juventus;' lively describing the 6 Moralities, or Interludes. 327 Frailtie of Youth, by Nature prone to Vyce, by Grace and Good-Councell traynable to Vertue." This piece is on the side of the Reformation, and throughout it, Collier says, "there is much abuse of the superstitions of Popery, and the devil is made to lament its downfall, as the loss of the chief instrument by which he obtained possession of the souls of men." There is little peculiar in the dialogue, so far as we have seen, except its heaviness; and "Good-Councell quotes the Scriptures, chapter and verse, in a manner truly edifying, but not very dramatic." Another of these interludes, quaintly entitled "Jack Juggler," is one of the oldest pieces in our language which professes to follow a classic original; the author stating in his preface, that he was indebted to "Plautus' first Comedy." It is far less involved in religious controversy than most of the Moralities, and might almost merit the name of comedy. The plot turns upon the blunders and confusion of a simple fellow, who has been persuaded out of his own identity, believing "that he is not himself, but another man." Besides the liveliness of some parts of the dialogue, there is a decided attempt at character in the piece. These examples are sufficient to show how the Moralities were brought to the threshold of comedy. It was first crossed by Nicholas Udal, who, somewhere about the middle of the century, wrote the first English comedy, under the title of Ralph Royster Doyster." This piece is by no means the barbarous farce which its name might lead us to expect; it is far superior to "Gammer Gurtin's Needle," to which it is also prior in time. Its character is admirably drawn by Collier: "The plot of Ralph Royster Doyster' is amusing and well conducted, with an agreeable mixture of serious and comic dialogue, and a variety of character, to which no other piece of a similar date can make any pretension. When we recollect that it was, perhaps, written in the reign of Henry VIII., we ought to look upon it as a masterly production. Had it followed Gammer Gurtin's Needle' by as many years as it preceded it, it would have been entitled to our admiration by its separate merits, independent of any comparison with other pieces. The character of Matthew Merrygreeke here and there savours a little of the Vice of the Moralities; but its humour never depends upon the accidents of dress and accoutrements." The mention of Udal, one of the first scholars of his day, as our earliest playwright, is sufficient to prove that the English drama owed its independent existence to the Latin comedians. Great attention, indeed, seems to have been lavished at this time upon the representation of Plautus and Terence, both in the Universities and the public schools. At Cambridge there was an officer called "Præfectus Ludorum;" and Udal himself, the poet Grimoald, and many others, were authors of Latin comedies. "Gammer Gurtin's Needle" (1575) is a meagre farce, by John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells; but the author, "writing neither for fame nor money, but to make light-hearted boys laugh, and to laugh with them," must not be severely judged. The first English tragedy was equally the result of ancient literature. Sackville's "Gorboduc" was first represented in 1562. It is written in the classical style of the Italian tragedy of the same age; the action passes in narrative; and a chorus, but in the blank-measure of the dialogue, divides the acts. "The story of Gorboduc,"" says Hallam, "which is borrowed from our fabulous British legends, is as full of slaughter as was then required for dramatic purposes; but the characters are clearly drawn, and consistently sustained; the political maxims grave and profound; the language not glowing or passionate, but vigorous; and, upon the whole, it is evidently the work of a powerful mind, though in a less poetical mood than was displayed in the Induction to the Mirrour of Magistrates.' The succeeding tragedies, even before Shakspeare, departed widely from the classicalism of "Gorboduc," by the admission of more action to the stage, and the addition of comic humour to the gravest story. Scenic representation received great encouragement from the sumptuous taste of the Tudors throughout this period. The florid pages of Sharon Turner are filled with royal revels, processions, masques, and pageants; and Sir Walter Scott's "Kenilworth" has rendered these scenes of magnificence familiar to every one. The revels in vogue were probably a mixture of the old Moralities with jousts and other warlike shows, and those ancient mysteries consecrated to jollity,-the Misrules. As further evidence of the influence of the Court upon the drama, we may mention that at this time the stage first became a distinct profession, when it began to be customary for the great nobility to maintain companies of actors.* Here we must pause. We have seen the human intellect, in that great" shaking of the nations" which took place during the sixteenth century, enkindled at the torch of divine truth, "The office of Master of the Revels, in whose province it lay to regulate, among other amusements of the Court, the dramatic shows of various kinds, was established in 1546. The Inns of Court vied with the royal palace in these representations, and Elizabeth sometimes honoured the former with her presence. On her visit to the Universities, a play was a constant part of the entertainment. Fifty-two names, though nothing more, of dramas acted at Court, under the superintendence of the Master of the Revels, between 1568 and 1580, are preserved. In 1574 a patent was granted to the Earl of Leicester's servants to act plays in any part of England, and in 1576 they erected the first public theatre in Blackfriars. It will be understood that the Earl of Leicester's servants were a company under his protection, as we apply the words, 'her Majesty's servants,' at this day, to the performers at Drury Lane."-Hallam,, vol. ii., p. 168. arousing itself, and asserting its immortal puissance, so as, with exulting fierceness, to break through the incrustations of error and decay which had formed upon the Church. We have seen much good perish along with the evil, and many pernicious tendencies receive a dangerous development. Along with the light and liberty of the Gospel were sown the seeds of modern infidelity, to grow up like tares among the wheat. Philosophy was severed from Christianity, and the dreary polemical war commenced, which, for ages, was to exhaust the vigour of the Church, and afford occasion to her enemies. We have also seen the mighty tide that swept away good and evil, spread over the fields of literature and art: so that the imaginative faculties, denied their proper medium, were compelled to take refuge in the idealities of More, Lilly, and Elyot, those founders of the romance school of Rabelais and Cervantes. All this is disruption in social institutions, and anarchy in art. But we have not seen the blending and organization of this tossing chaos, which was soon to follow. Imagination was soon to return to its former channel. Spenser was to draw from the deeply tinged mournfulness of Sackville and his fellows that noble gravity, and from the fancy of the Middle Ages that rich and solemn grotesque, which make him the great exponent of the highest spirit of romance. And Shakspeare was to be the "wreathen chain of pure gold" connecting the beauty and glory of the medieval and modern world. Upon the clear surface of religious light, law, and liberty, art was to write her fairest characters. ART. II.-The Life of the Rev. Robert Newton, D.D. By 1855. Ir it be any sufficient evidence of true greatness for an individual, by the exercise of his own unaided powers, to win and maintain, through a long series of years, an elevated and distinguished position, which, on his leaving this world, there is no other person competent to occupy, then Robert Newton was, beyond all question, a great man. Born in a remote and secluded part of Yorkshire, and brought up to the plough, he had no means of education beyond those afforded by a village school; nor did there appear to be any external circumstances by which he was affected, likely to give any particular direction to his mind, or to effect much improvement in his position, beyond those which arose out of the religious advantages which were supplied in his paternal home. Robert Newton was born in the year 1780, the sixth child of his parents, who resided on a farm near Whitby. His father, having heard a Methodist Preacher, the Rev. James Rogers, was so impressed under the sermon, that he soon afterwards invited the Wesleyan Ministers to his house, offering them hospitable accommodation, and his largest room for a preaching place. Under these influences, the elder branches of the family became decidedly pious; and just when the subject of this biography attained his tenth year, his eldest brother, Booth Newton, became a Methodist Preacher. At this time, (1790,) John Wesley had succeeded in diffusing the evangelical agency of Methodism throughout a great part of the British Islands, and in extending it even to the West Indies and America. Great Britain and Ireland were divided into one hundred and eight Circuits, each being supplied with one, two, or more Ministers; whilst eleven Mission Stations had been established in the West Indies, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland; the aggregate number of members, in all these places, being above one hundred and twenty thousand. Among the remarkable circumstances which we find in connexion with this extraordinary revival of scriptural religion, there is nothing more truly wonderful than the mental calibre of the men employed by the Founder of Methodism as his coadjutors in the proclamation of divine truth. Neither the history nor the literature of our land has rendered common justice to this race of Methodist Preachers. Taken, almost without exception, from the ordinary avocations of life, without scholastic education or theological training, these men, by the persevering declaration of Gospel truth, produced such an effect on the religious condition of the people to whom they ministered, as has not often been paralleled in the history of the Church. The causes of this extensive success are worthy of serious inquiry and thankful recognition. The Ministers of Wesley were, in the true and proper sense of the terms, "converted men." With them, religion was not merely a science, it was a mighty principle of life and action. They had discerned in the light of the divine word, and by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, their state of guilt, condemnation, and danger through sin; and had individually realized, by faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of their iniquities, and a measure of sanctifying grace. The far greater portion, indeed, of the Methodists of that day lived in the habitual experience of this great salvation. It was from the most devoted, earnest, zealous, and useful of these, that Mr. Wesley obtained his Ministers. And these men were not only truly pious, and eminently zealous. They were, regarded as a body, men remarkable for intellectual ability, strong sense, and great power of expression. Some of them, indeed, notwithstanding their incessant labours in what may appear to us very ungenial |