PART I

PLAY. EXTEMPORE. ARGUMENT.

Shall we have a play extempore? Content; and the argument shall be thy running away. II, IV, 310.

In Europe, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a play extempore was a usual form of entertainment, and was deservedly extremely popular. In this country this nimble art never took root, and was purely known as an exotic of an Italian growth. From mere buffoonery the “commedia dell’ arte” or “all improvviso,” as it was indifferently named, developed into true comedy, and many of the situations were in later times used by Molière, the grand Comique, in the literary, as well as in its histrionic sense. The Commedia dell’ arte was a species of comedy in which the actors themselves provided the dialogue. The plot or different situations were rehearsed beforehand, but the words were entirely spontaneous. Naturally, under such circumstances, the plays were acted with more fire of action, truthfulness of gesture and deportment than if they had been written by another and learnt by heart. Evidently such a method had its drawbacks, the characters became types, the audience knowing beforehand by constant repetition the nature of the performance. There were several well known types, the most popular being Harlequin, Pantaloon, the swaggering Captain, and others. Ben Jonson’s Captain Bobadil must have been modelled on this personage. The comic personages were Sgnarelle, Scaramouche, and the valets and soubrettes of Molière’s comedies.

KING CAMBYSES’ VEIN.

For I must speak in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses’ vein. And here is my speech:

Weep not, sweet Queen, for trickling tears are vain, For God’s sake, lords, convey my trustful Queen; For tears do stop the floodgates of her eyes. II, IV, 445.

This is in reference to a well-known play, entitled “A Lamentable Tragedie, mixed full of Pleasant Mirth, containing the Life of Cambises, King of Persia,” by Thomas Preston, Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. The printed play is without date, being written and acted at Court about 1570, and perhaps published the same year. The story is taken from an episode in the life of Cambyses, King of Persia, as related by Herodotus. The play was often parodied and held up to ridicule by Elizabethan dramatists, chiefly on account of the maudlin style of the King when in liquor. The putting to death of the Queen was also made fun of. “Weep not, sweet Queen,” may be an allusion to a scene in this play, where we read as a stage direction, “At this tale let the Queen weep.”

QUEEN.

These words to hear make stilling tears Issue from crystal eyes.

KING.

What dost thou mean, my spouse, to weep For loss of any prize.

Shakespeare must have seen or read the play when published. Another allusion will be found in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” where there seems to lurk a parody of the title page of Preston’s book, “A Lamentable Tragedy mixed full of Pleasant Mirth.”

In Shakespeare’s play there is mention of a tedious brief scene of young Pyramus and his love, Thisbe; very tragical mirth. Merry and tragical, tedious and brief, Cambyses’ vein has become proverbial for rant, chiefly in connexion with the stage.

PLAY.

I’ll play Percy and that damned brawn shall play Dame Mortimer and his wife. II, 4, 122.

Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand forth for me and I’ll play my father. II, 4, 477.

Play out the play. II, IV, 482.

PLAYER.

He doth it as like one of these harlotry players as ever I see. II, 4, 437.

VICE. INIQUITY. VANITY.

That reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years. II, 4, 452.

In the old Morality plays, Iniquity was one of the vices, and generally played by a clown. In Marston’s “Histriomastix,” a stage direction adds, “Enter a roaring Devil with the Vice on its back. Iniquity in one hand and Juventus in the other.” “I’ll marry you to Lady Vanity,” another of the seven deadly sins, occurs in Marlowe’s “Jew of Malta.”

CRESSETS.

At my nativity The front of heavy was full of fiery shapes of burning cressets. III, 1, 15.

A vessel of iron or the like made to hold grease or oil, or in an iron basket to hold pitched rope, wood or coal, to be burnt for light. Cotgrave, in his French and English Dictionary, 1611, describes them under the word “falot,” a cresset light, such as they use in playhouses.

HENRY IV