Haml. And what did you enact?

Pol. I did enact Julius Caesar: I was killed in the Capitol; Brutus killed me."

The Play of Julius Casar was performed at Christ Church, Oxford,* in 1582: and several years before, a Latin play, on the same subject, was acted in the College of Beauvais, at Paris. The Oxford one was written by Dr. Gedes, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. He is said, by Ward, to have spent his younger years in poetical fancies, and composing plays, mostly tragedies.-There is a play, without a date, bearing the same title, privately acted by the students of Trinity College, Oxford.-Thomas May wrote one, which still exists in manuscript.

At this time, 1544, Bishop Gardiner was Chancellor, and Dr. Parker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, Vice-Chancellor, when a matter fell out, (to use the words of Strype,†) which gave the said Chancellor great disgust, and made a great dust for some time in the University, and likewise created the Vice-Chancellor no small trouble to execute the orders sent him down from his Chancellor. The cause was this. An interlude was played at Christ's College publicly, (but, as was suggested, against the mind of the Master and President,) wherein the Popish manner of lent-fasting, and the ceremonies, were exposed. Somebody soon carried the tale unto the Chan

Many Latin Plays were acted in the University of Oxford; the most celebrated are Vertumnus, and Bellum Grammaticale. But we know of no less than twenty-one others to have been represented,Absalom, Alba, Archipropheta, Dido, Kermophus, Marcus Geminus, Meleager, Nero, Pharamus, Progne, Regicidium, Rivales, Spurius, Theomachia, Thibaldus, and Ulysses Redux. To these may be added Homo, tragedia, written by Thomas Atkinson, fellow of St. John's; and dedicated to Laud: it exists in MS. in the Harleian Collection, No. 6925. Wood says he was a Cambridge man, but see Athen. Oxon. edit. Bliss, Fasti, p. i. pp. 239, 386, 450, 456; and Atalanta, comedia, written by Phillip Parsons, 1612, and dedicated to Laud: it exists in the Harleian Collection, No. 6924. To these may be added Amoribus Perinthi et Tyanthes, a Comedy written by William Burton, 1596; see Wood's Athen. Oxon. viii. p. 155.—Nectar et Ambrosia, a tragedy, by Edmund Campian, see Wood's Athen. Oxon. v. i. p. 475; and one in English, Technogamia, or the Marriage of the Arts, by Barten Holiday. The most celebrated actors in the sister University were the men of Christ Church, St. John's, and Trinity: we are not aware that any were represented in other Colleges, unless we take into the account the Christmas festivities at Merton, mentioned in Anthony Wood's Life.

+ See Life of Archbishop Parker, v. i., p. 35, 36, ed. Oxford, 1821.

cellor; and he made a heavy ado about it. He would have come down himself, as he said, if his occasions had permitted him, to examine into the matter But he required Parker, his Vice-Chancellor, to assemble the Masters and Heads of Colleges, with the Doctors of the University, and declaring this matter, he should require them to assist in the trial of the truth, concerning the said tragedy, that that order which was established in the church might not by any be presumed to be contradicted, nor that to be reproved, which by the King's Majesty was allowed. He added, that Oxford lived quietly with fewer privileges; and that there were, that would that Cambridge had as few as they.'

The acting of this Latin play, Pammachius, would naturally be offensive to the Popish Prelate; being a most dangerous libel upon the Papistical ceremonies, then unabolished, and of which he was a most bigotted advocate. The Catholic worship afforded a much better hold for ridicule, than the religion of the Reformers. The Papists seldom answered these attacks made upon them; and when they did, it was generally by calling to their aid the miracles worked by their saints, or by the legends that related how the incredulity of those who did not believe "that God was in form of bread," had been overcome by the personal appearance of Christ.-There exist many tales of this kind in verse, unpublished, some of them by no means destitute of merit, either in plot, or in composition; and in the reign of Henry the Eighth, an interlude was written, called Every Man, in defence of the church of Rome."

The tragedy of Jephtha, taken from the eleventh chapter of the book of Judges, dedicated to Henry VIII. and written both in Latin and Greek, by a very learned divine in 1546, John Christopherson, one of the first fellows of Trinity, afterwards Master, Dean of Norwich, and Bishop of Chichester, was among the shows exhibited at Christmas; it was the last of a religious nature.-Buchanan has a tragedy on the same subject: there is an Italian one, by Benedict Capuano, on the same subject and a third is mentioned by William Prynne, in his Histriomastrix, by Du Plessis Mornay.-The subject was probably introduced on the English stage, which may account for three lines in Hamlet, Act ii. Scene 2

1

"Haml. O Jephtha, judge of Israel,—what a treasure had'st thou ! Pol. What treasure had he, my lord?

Haml. Why! one fair daughter, and no more;

The which he loved passing well."

Upon Saturday, the fifth of August, 1564, Queen Elizabeth

visited Cambridge:* after having been welcomed by a notable speech from the Public Orator, presented with four pair of Cambridge double gloves, edged and trimmed with two laces of fine gold; and six boxes of fine comfits and other conceits; she went to King's College Chapel, and "thanked God, that had sent her to this University, where she, altogether against her expectation, was so received, that, she thought, she could not be better." On the Sunday morning, she attended worship there again, and heard a Latin sermon. In the evening, the chapel was fitted out at her own cost, for the Aulularia of Plautus; a stage was erected the whole breadth of the chapel; upon the south wall was hung a cloth of state, with the appurtenances and half path, for her majesty. In the Roodloft, another stage for ladies and gentlewomen to stand on. There was, before her majesty's coming, made in the King's College Hall, a great stage. But, because it was judged by divers to be too little, and too close for her highness, and her company, and also far from her lodging, it was taken down. The building was lighted, by each of the guards holding in his hand a torch staff; "no other lights were occupied; and would not suffer any to stand upon the stage, save a very few upon the north side. And the guard stood upon the ground, by the stage side, holding their lights." During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, plays were exhibited in the public theatres on Sundays, as well as on other days of the week. Hence, Strype, in his additions to Stowe's Survey of London, says, these plays being commonly acted on Sundays, and other festivals, the churches were forsaken, and the play-houses thronged. The license granted by the queen, in 1574, to the celebrated actor, James Burbage, (whose concise epitaph of Exit Burbage, is well known to all,) allows them out of the hours of prayer. We have, therefore, not so much reason to be surprised at this circumstance; particularly when we know, that she not only witnessed a Play of Plautus in King's College Chapel, on a Sunday, but did not scruple to be present at that of Marcus Geminus, on the same day of a subsequent year, in Christ Church Hall, Oxford.

On the next day, Monday, she heard the tragedy of Dido, coming about nine o'clock, as on the night before. Mr. Warton has described it as a performance in English; but it ap

* Peek's Desiderata Curiosa, fol., 1. vii., p. 34, &c.

+ Roger Kelke, D.D. Archdeacon of Stowe, 1563, Master of Magdalene College, is said to have acted in this play, and to have transferred beauties to it unknown before. He died 1575, and was buried in St. Mary's Church, in Cambridge, with an epitaph long since defaced, but preserved in Willis's Cathedrals, v. ii. p. 130.

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pears from an account of her Majesty's visit, composed in Latin, by Nicholas Robinson, afterwards Bishop of Bangor,* that it was written in Latin: "Virgilianis versibus maxima ex parte compositum," by Edward Haliwell,† a Fellow of the College; and different from the Dido performed at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1583 no doubt, Oxford could have furnished poets enough, without being indebted to a rival University. It is called by the learned Welsh prelate, Novum opus sed venustum et elegans, et doctorum calculis comprobatum, nisi forte sua longitudine, delicatos et morosos nonnihil offendat.-It was acted by King's Col lege men only. There is one on the same subject, written by Nicodemus Frischlinus. On Tuesday, at the accustomed hour, she heard the play of Ezechias in English verse, written by Nicholas Udall, and "handled by King's College men only." The same prelate says, "Mirum vero quantum facetiarum, quantum leporis in re tam seriâ ac sanctâ, et veritatis tamen certâ serie nunquam interrupta," and worthy for a queen to behold.

Great preparations were made to represent the Ajax Flagellifer in Latin; but whether the queen was "weary with ryding in the forenoone, and disputations after dinner; or whether anie private occasion letted the doinge thereof, was not commonly knowen." So she departed early the next morning, and did not hear it, "to the great sorrow, not only of the players, but of the whole University."

This visit occasioned the well-known controversy concerning the antiquity of the two Universities: the Cambridge public orator, in his harangue, unfortunately decreed the supe riority to his own; and Dr. Caius wrote a book in defence of the

* Extant in Baker's MS. Collections, see x. p. 181, and printed in Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, v. iii.

↑ John Ritwise, it would seem, had nothing to do with the composition of this play. Mr. Hatcher, who collected an account of all the provosts, fellows, &c. of King's College, Cambridge, now in MS. in the Bodleian, expressly says it was written by Edward Haliwell. Hatcher's account was deemed of such value and accuracy, that Thomas Hearne was at the trouble of transcribing the whole of his work.

* He also wrote De Papatu, probably acted by his scholars at Eton; for that they used to act plays in the Christmas holidays, appears in the following Status Scholia Etonensis, 1560.-" Circiter Festum D. Andrea Ludi Magister eligire solet pro suo arbitrio scenicas fabulas optimas et quam accommodatissimas, quas pueri Feriis Notalitiis subsequentibus non sine ludorum elegantiâ, populo spectante, publice aliquando peragant, &c. Interdum etiam exhibet Anglico sermone contextas fabulas siquæ habeant acumen leporem."

et

assertion. Bryan Twynne appeared against him, with a book quite as large, and quite as angrily written. After each had resolutely maintained facts, which no human records could possibly prove, the opinions of all remained unchanged, and the world, without entering into their chimerical speculations, are now content to know which produces the most eminent men, not which was first founded; or if they enter into a comparison at all, it is the one made by Professor Porson," that they are two children, both of them old enough to become better than they are." In return for all the expense Queen Elizabeth had caused the University, she made them publicly a Latin speech in St. Mary's, wherein she promised to build and endow a College, which promise she never performed. The only benefit she conferred upon it, was bestowing a pension of twenty pounds per year, with the title of "her scholar," upon Mr. Thomas Preston, then Fellow of King's College, afterwards Master of Trinity Hall, who pleased her by his disputing with Mr. Cartwright, and by his excellent acting in the tragedy of Dido.

In the year 1566, a second play was acted in Christ's College; the original title of which runs thus: A ryght_pythy, pleasant, and merrie comedie: intytuled Gammer Gurton's Needle;+ played on the stage not long agoe, in Christes Coledge, in Cambridge; made by Mr. S., Master of Arts, &c., 4to. black letter, 1575.

The bursar's book of Christ's College contains the following entry:"1566. For the carpenter's setting upp the scaffold at the plaie, xxd." In the investigation that was made concerning the Latin play of Pammachius, it appeared, that the expense of acting it was twenty pounds; and from a passage in Dr. Rainold's Th' Overthrow of Stage Playes, composed, with considerable learning, against the representation of certain Latin plays,-Ullysses Redux, Rivales, and Meleager,—written by Gager, a student of Christ Church, Oxford, we learn, that amongst other enormities objected to in them, was the sum

* Cartwright had dealt most with the Muses, Preston with the Graces, adorning his learning with comely carriage, graceful gesture, and pleasing pronunciation. Cartwright disputed like a poet, Preston like a gentle scholar, being a handsome man ; and the queen (upon parity of deserts) always preferred properness of person, in conferring her favours. His epitaph is in Trinity Hall Chapel, nearly defaced, in these words,

"Conderis hoc tumulo Thoma Prestone, Scholarem

Quem dixit Princeps Elizabetha suum.

The canopy carried over her head is now in the Register Office. + For a full account of this comedy, we refer to our 3d No., Art. IV., one of the series of articles on the History of the Early English Drama.