A Sketch of the Drama in England During the Last Three Centuries

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Imprynted at the Chiswick Press, 1890 - Drama - 79 pages

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Page 13 - On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object : Can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France ? or may we cram Within this wooden 0, the very casques, That did affright the air at Agincourt...
Page 34 - Desdemona, injur'd by the Moor : Then he that censures her in such a case, Hath a soul blacker than Othello's face. But, ladies, what think you? for if you tax Her freedom with dishonour to your sex, She means to act no more, and this shall be No other play but her own tragedy. She will submit to none but your commands, And take commission only from your hands.
Page 18 - By and by we hear news of shipwreck in the same place, and then we are to blame if we accept it not for a rock. Upon the back of that comes out a hideous monster, with fire and smoke, and then the miserable beholders are bound to take it for a cave. While in the meantime two armies fly in, represented with four swords and bucklers, and then what hard heart will not receive it for a pitched field?
Page 33 - Tis possible a virtuous woman may Abhor all sorts of looseness, and yet play ; Play on the stage — where all eyes are upon her : Shall we count that a crime France counts an honour ? In other kingdoms husbands safely trust 'em ; The difference lies only in the custom. And let it be our custom, I advise ; I'm sure this custom's better than th' excise, And may procure us custom : hearts of flirt Will melt in passion, when a woman's in't.
Page 18 - Now ye shall have three ladies walk to gather flowers, and then we must believe the stage to be a garden. By and by we...
Page 23 - Les acteurs ont voulu continuer leurs rôles : Mais l'homme pour s'asseoir a fait nouveau fracas; Et traversant encor le théâtre à grands pas, Bien que dans les côtés il pût être à son aise, Au milieu du devant il a planté sa chaise, Et de son large dos morguant* les spectateurs, Aux trois quarts du parterre a caché les acteurs.
Page 34 - And We do likewise permit and give leave that all the women's parts to be acted in either of the said two Companies for the time to come may be performed by women, so long as these recreations, which, by reason of the abuses aforesaid, were scandalous and offensive, may by such reformation be esteemed not only harmless delights, but useful and instructive representations of human life, to such of Our good subjects as shall resort to see the same.
Page 33 - Our women are defective, and so sized, You'd think they were some of the guard disguised ; For to speak truth, men act, that are between Forty and fifty, wenches of fifteen ; With bone so large, and nerve so incompliant, When you call Desdemona, enter giant.
Page 24 - Tu n'as point vu ceci, marquis? Ah! Dieu me damne! Je le trouve assez drôle , et je n'y suis pas âne ; Je sais par quelles lois un ouvrage est parfait , Et Corneille me vient lire tout ce qu'il fait.
Page 20 - Council, they were again tolerated, under the following re" strictions : That no plays be acted on Sundays at all, nor on " any holidays till after evening prayer : that HO playing be in the " dark, nor continue any such time but as any of the auditors may " return to their dwellings in London before sunset, or at least

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