About this time the first regular playhouse in England was opened in London, under the appropriate name of the Theatre; it stood in Blackfriars. Previous to the erection of regular theatres—which in 1633 had increased, according to the "Histrio-Mastix" of William Prynne, to no less than sixteen-the players performed on temporary stages, erected in such rooms or apartments as they could obtain for the purpose, or in large inn-yards, where the spectators surveyed them from the windows and galleries. Sunday afternoon was the principal time for dramatic performances,-devotion before dinner, and diversion after; and all female parts were performed by young men.

And now the Queen of England is excommunicated by the pope; and there is a great rebellion in the north, under the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, to libe rate the queen of Scots, and restore popery once more as the religion of the state. Eight hundred of the insurgents are executed on the rebellion being suppressed.—An act was passed this year for confiscating the estates of the great chieftain, Shane O'Neil, (who had rebelled against Elizabeth, and been treacherously murdered by some Scottish rovers, in whose camp he had sought refuge,) the preamble to which statute is a curiosity.-Edmund Bonner, of Smithfield notoriety died on the fifth of September, in the Marshalsea prison. His body was interred at night, to save it from the fury of the mob, in St, George's church. yard, Southwark. The son of a Worcestershire peasant, Bonner, by dint of tact and perseverance, had risen to the see of London, where he earned for himself everlasting notoriety, for sending to the stake all who had the temerity to doubt the dogmas of his religion. He was a man of a cruel and furious disposition, and was chosen by Henry VIII., to whom he was then chaplain, to go to Rome, to obtain the pope's confirmation of the divorce of Catharine of Arragon; on which occasion, it is said, Bonner was so anxious to serve his royal patron, having a bishopric in view, that he exasperated Clement VII. so much that the successor of St. Peter threatened to throw him into a cauldron of boiling lead!

England, whose commerce is yet in its infancy, now opens a trade to Persia, through Russia, and establishes the Hamburgh trade.

Death now robs the Portuguese of their classic poet, Antonio Ferreira, an elegant elegiac and epistolary writer, the admirer and imitator of Horace, and author of "Inez de Castro," the second regular tragedy that appeared after the revival of letters in Europe; the

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Sophonisba" of Trissino, an Italian poet, being the first. Men of letters in Portugal still regard Ferreira's tragedy as one of the choicest gems of their literature; a piece full of pathos, and distinguished by great purity of style.Frederick von Schlegel-a critic whose acquaintance with Portuguese literature, however, as he himself admits, was very limited-pronounces "Inez de Castro" "cold and unworthy the melancholy grandeur of the theme;" that although "not altogether deficient in poetical ideas, still beauty of diction or romantic feeling would here be sought for in vain." I believe that Portugal, though rich in chronicles, is poor in poetry; always excepting the undying lays of the unfortunate Camoens. Conrad

Vorstius, an eminent divine, the son of a dyer, was this year born at Cologne. Persecution was his untoward fate; the "British Solomon," James I., acting towards him with all the hateful intolerance of an inquisitor of the "Holy Office." -Caravaggio, the celebrated painter, was also born this year: there are specimens of his works in the National Gallery, the Dulwich Gallery, and at Hampton Court.

A.D.

1570.

SHAKSPERE'S SEVENTH YEAR.

On the twenty-third of January, the regent of Scotland, Murray, is shot in the belly, as he rides along the streets of Linlithgow. His character is thus beautifully given by Buchanan :—

"His death was lamented by all good men, especially the common people, who loved him when alive, and lamented his loss, as that of the public father of his country: for, besides his many other noble achievements, they called to mind that, not a year before, he had so quieted all the troublesome parts of the kingdom, that a man was as safe on the road, or at an inn, as in his own house Even they who were disaffected to him when living, unaffectedly praised him when dead. They admired his valour in war, which was ever accompanied with the desire of peace; and his celerity in business was always so successful, that Divine Providence always seemed to shine on all his actions; and his clemency was as great in punishing, as his equity was conspicuous in legal decisions. When he had any spare time from war, he would sit all day in the college of judges; into which his presence struck such a reverence, that the poor were not oppressed by false accusations, nor tired out by long attendances, neither were their causes put off to gratify the rich His house, like a holy temple, was free, not only from impiety, but even from wanton words; after dinner and supper, he always caused a chapter to be read out of the Bible; and, though he had constantly a learned man to interpret it,

yet if, as was frequently the case, there were eminent scholars present, whom he always respected, he would ask their opinions of it; not out of ostentation, but with a desire of knowledge, and to conform himself to its rules. He was in a manner too liberal; bestowing his bounty to many, and that often; his alacrity in giving, enhancing the value of the gift; besides which, that he might spare the modesty of those whom he assisted, he commonly relieved them very privately, with his own hand. In a word, he was honest and plain-hearted with his friends and domestics; and when any of them did amiss, he reproved them more sharply than he would strangers. Thus his manners, deportment, and innocency of life, made him dear and venerable, not only to his countrymen, but even to foreigners, especially the English, to whom, in all the vicissitudes of Providence, throughout his life, his virtues were more known than to any other nation."

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It will seem strange to the reader now, to find a Scottish writer like Buchanan speaking of the English as foreigners; but in that day their sympathies were widely different, as all history will testify; and though on the ascension of James VI. of Scotland to the English throne the two monarchies became one, it was not until the 1st of May, 1707, that England and Scotland became a united kingdom, governed by one parliament, under the title of Great Britain. "After Murray's death," says Sir Richard Baker, 'the country being without a regent was cause of many disorders. Thomas Carr and Walter Scott, two principal men amongst the Scottish borderers, and devoted to the Queen of Scots, made inroads into England, wasting all places with fire and sword, till by forces sent out of England, under the command of the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Hunsdon, they were defeated in whose pursuit three hundred villages were fired, and above fifty holds [castles] were overturned. Mary Queen of Scots is now a prisoner at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire. Queen Elizabeth goes in state to see the new bourse built by Sir Thomas Gresham, and names it the Royal Exchange. A few days afterwards, she creates Sir William Cecil a peer, by the title of Lord Burleigh.

Pope Pius V. now publishes his bull, absolving the subjects of Elizabeth of their obedience to her, and cursing them if they obey her. But the days of papal power are gone in England; all the pope's curses of "bell, book, and candle," cannot 66 'fright the isle from its propriety." Elizabeth and the majority of her subjects despise these papal anathemas, which are but prostituted words, and might reply in that brave manner which Shakspere has made King John (act iii., scene 1st,) do to Pandulph :—

E

"Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name

So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous,

To charge me to an answer, as the pope.

Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England

Add this much more, that no Italian priest

Shall tithe or toll in our dominions.

So tell the pope; all reverence set apart
To him and his usurp'd authority!"

A poor fool, named John Felton, is hung, drawn, and quartered, on the eighth of August, before the bishop of London's palace-gate, for setting up the pope's bull thereon.

John Stow, now in his forty-sixth year, is again in trouble. "In 1570," says his latest editor, William J. Thoms, "he was again accused before the Ecclesiastical commission by one who, when in his service, had despoiled him of his goods, and, what must have added to the bitterness of his grief, was his own brother. Stow escaped the danger which upon this occasion threatened to deprive him of his liberty, perhaps life; but the impression it made upon his mind was too great for him to avoid frequent allusion to it." Grafton, the rival of Stow, now publishes the third edition of his Chronicles. Edmund Grindal, who had assisted John Fox in compiling his "Acts and Monuments of the Church," better known as the "Book of Martyrs," (the second edition of which is printed this year, the first being in 1563), is now translated from the bishopric of London to the archbishopric of York. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, whose "Don Quixote" afterwards made the name of Cervantes a "household word" in every country of Europe, now serves as a soldier, against the Turks and African corsairs, under the papal commander, Marco Antonio Colonna. "Under this celebrated captain,' says Smollett, "Cervantes embarked in the Christian fleet. commanded by Don John of Austria, who obtained over the Turks the glorious victory of Lepanto, where our author lost his left hand by the shot of an arquebus."

The play of "Common's Conditions" is supposed to belong to this year. We have also "the tragical comedy of Damon and Pithias, newly imprinted, as the same was plaid before the queen's majesty, by the children of her grace's chapel: made by mayster Edwards, then being master of the children." And Thomas Preston's "lamentable tragedy of Cambyses" belongs to the present year. It is to this last piece, that Shakspere has made Falstaff allude, in the first part of King Henry IV., (act ii., scene 4th,) when he says to Prince Henry, (for they are at that forever famous tavern, the Boar's Head, in Eastcheap) :

"Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee, now shalt thou

be moved. Give me a cup of sack, to make mine eyes look red, that it may be thought I have wept: for I must speak in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses' vein."

To this year we owe the births of two poets, Sir John Davies and Sir Robert Ayton, and the celebrated antiquary, Sir Robert Cotton.

Davies, who was an English barrister, held several important legal situations in Ireland, such as speaker of the house of commons, solicitor-general, attorney-general, and judge of assize. He was the first justice in Ireland who ventured on circuits out of the English pale, and though he had himself recommended "the maistering the Irish by the sword, and breaking them by war, in order to make them capable of obedience and good seed," and tells us that the people of Ireland were brayed as it were in a mortar," he nevertheless bears this impartial testimony to the love of justice inherent in the Irish character, and I would recommend it to the attention of all who wish to fan the now fast-dying embers of national animosity :—

"There is no nation under the sun that love equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, when, upon a just cause, they do desire it, although it be against themselves,"

The poetry of Sir John Davies is praised by two competent judges, Southey and Campbell, and some specimens are given by Robert Chambers, in his excellent "Cyclopedia of English Literature."

Sir Robert Ayton was a native of Kinaldie, in Fifeshire, and was one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to James the First, and private secretary to his queen. He was the friend of Ben Jonson. "The few pieces of his composition," says Robert Chambers, "are in pure English, and evince a smoothness and delicacy of fancy that have rarely been surpassed."

Of Sir Robert Cotton, it will be sufficient to say, that he was the friend of the celebrated Camden; that he was the author of several antiquarian, historical, and political productions; that many valuable documents were rescued by him from destruction-documents that Bacon, Herbert, Raleigh, and Seldon, found worthy of their careful perusal

and which are now preserved in our British Museum, with additional manuscripts collected by his son and grandson. It is to be regretted that one hundred and eleven of those valuable manuscripts were unfortunately burnt before they were placed in the museum. It was Cotton who suggested to James I. the plan of selling the hereditary title of baronet, to replenish his empty ex