CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

The origin of, and the literary form assumed by, the English prologue

and epilogue-Their function in the earliest English plays—

Their relation to the Induction, the Chorus, and the Dumb Show-

The prologue-speaker-His properties—The first woman-prologue

-The prodialogue and the epidialogue-Sensational prologues

and epilogues-Joe Haines-Nell Gwynne-Prologue-writers—

The price of a prologue

CHAPTER II.

The various matters with which the prologue and epilogue dealt—

Description of the play-Commendation of the author-Abuse

of rival authors-Prologues written by veterans for the first plays

of young poets-Prologues by or on behalf of actor-authors-

“Lacy's fiddle ”—Ben Jonson's prologues attacking Shakespeare,

Dekker, etc.—Dekker's counterblasts-Dryden's prologues in justi-

fication of theories of dramatic composition-His abandonment

of the rhymed couplet-"Love and Honour" plays-Spanish

plots of domestic intrigue-References in prologues and epilogues

to excessive scenic embellishments; to the opera; to Jeremy

Collier; to Sir Richard Blackmore-Dryden's recantation

CHAPTER III.

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Epilogues depart from their primitive intention-The Rehearsal on

the prologues and epilogues of “Poet Bayes ”—Prologues acquire

an independent status-Prologues printed separately-Prologues

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reviling the actors-Ben Jonson and the actors of his plays-

Ravenscroft-Dryden's and Massinger's indulgence to the players,

as expressed in their prologues—Heywood's prologue on Marlowe

and "sweet Ned Alleyn "-The revival of The Few of Malta—

Audiences as subjects of prologues-Massinger's deference to them

-Ben Jonson's contempt and vilificatory prologues-George Peele

-Dryden's view: "A civil prologue is approved by no man "—His

open abuse of his audience's ignorance and want of taste-

Various classes of playgoers ridiculed and denounced in prologues

of Ben Jonson, Jasper Mayne, and Dryden-The "Hectors of the

pit "-The tavern-wits "The

"civet-wit"-" Tom Dove's

brotherhood "-Abuse of the censors and critics; of the coldly

applauding gallants-Appeals to the "judging few "-Profes-

sional damnation of plays-Denunciation of "prattlers" in the

audience—Critics compared by Dryden in various prologues to

thieves turned hangmen; to butchers excluded from a jury;

to scriveners; to wolves; to bankrupt gamesters; to vultures; to

fleas; to locusts; and to whips-Middleton and Heywood on

critics-"Court bespeaks "-Prologues at court: "to the King

and Queen "-Heywood, Jasper Mayne, and Massinger's prologues

and epilogues at Whitehall"-The "town" and "the city

contrasted in prologues; also London and the Universities—

Dryden and Oxford audiences: "Oxford to him a dearer name

shall be, than his own mother-university "—The "Athenian

judges"

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CHAPTER IV.

Information as to stage-usages contained in prologues and epilogues—

The various parts of the theatre, and their respective tenants—

Allusions to the tariff of the playhouse-The "sinful sixpenny

mechanics"-The "twopenny gallery "-The "scaffolders "-The

stools on the stage-The "yard "-The "understanding gentle-

men of the ground ”—The “private room”—The half-crown pit

of the Restoration-Allusions to the curtain-The "Naples silk" of

the "Red Bull"; Banding tile and pear" against it "to allure

the actors "The curtain before the stage-balcony-The "three

blasts of the trumpet " summoning the “quaking Prologue "—The

incidental music-The duration of a play-The "two hours'

traffic of our stage "-Allusions in prologues and epilogues to the

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scenery, the properties, the dresses, and superior embellishment of

masques-Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones-The "thunder machine"

-Shakespeare's "squibs" and "rolled bullet" in Ben Jonson's

prologues-References to theatrical customs; to wagers on actors;

to

"table-books"; to the author's "second day" and "third

day"; to the time of the commencement of the play; to the

title of the play; "hanging up the title"; to the first women-

actors; apologies for the innovation-The " nurseries of young

Maximins" referred to in prologues-Allusions to the morals

of the contemporary stage and of contemporary society-Loyal

prologues—Party prologues—Political prologues

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CHAPTER V.

Prologues and epilogues attacking Puritans-Those attacking Papists

and Jesuits-Those attacking the clerical profession generally

(Dryden)—“ Occasional" prologues: on the retirement of Better-

ton from the stage; on the production of Dryden's last play;

on the union of the King's and the Duke's companies, in

1686; on the first programme of the new Theatre Royal, in 1674

--Mention and caricature in dramas of the current styles of pro-

logue and epilogue; as, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, The

City Match, The Malcontent, etc.-Dryden's prologues and

epilogues ridiculed in The Rehearsal-The "thunder and light-

ning" prodialogue of the Poet Bayes-Dryden, the prince of pro-

logists; in him the art culminates, and since his time has been

steadily declining-His death and the close of the seventeenth

century-Lines originally written for a prologue afterwards de-

veloped into a play (Albion and Albanius)—Modern French use of

the term "prologue" as a preliminary act of the drama-Plays

without prologues-George Peele's extraordinary prologue without

a play

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A STUDY OF THE

PROLOGUE AND EPILOGUE

IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

FROM SHAKESPEARE TO DRYDEN.

CHAPTER I.

The origin of, and the literary form assumed by, the English prologue and epilogue-Their function in the earliest English plays-Their relation to the Induction, the Chorus, and the Dumb Show-The prologue-speaker-His properties-The first woman-prologue-The prodialogue and the epidialogue -Sensational prologues and epilogues-Joe Haines-Nell Gwynne-Prologue-writers--The price of a prologue.

OF all the manifold shapes which the literature of our country has at different times assumed, none has furnished a greater quantity of illustrative matter for the use of the historian in so small a compass as the Prologue, with its twin brother, the Epilogue. Political and social information, records of our theatres, personal and biographical details in the lives of our dramatists and actors, the state of criticism at different periods, the

B