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CHAPTER II.

ELIZABETHAN PERIOD (1558-1625).

After a brilliant opening under Chaucer, English literature continued for more than a hundred and fifty years in poverty and feebleness, and it remained unvivified by genius even during the first half of the reign of Elizabeth. The peaceable and firmly settled state of the country under Elizabeth was largely instrumental in the rise of literary greatness. Under the tyranny of Henry VIII., and in the short reigns of Edward and Mary, nothing was settled or secure; doubt, suspicion and distrust prevented spontaneous action. The sagacity of Elizabeth and her able counselors detected the paramount political want of the country, and in consequence, a rather inglorious peace with France was concluded. The durable internal peace thus established was attended with happy results, and the general prosperity led her subjects to invest the sovereign under whom all this was done, with virtues and shining qualities not her own. During this reign, Ireland was devastated with fire and sword, and the minority in England who adhered to the Catholic faith became the victims of an organized system of persecution and plunder. Wealth poured into the kingdom, and with it came leisure which demanded entertainment. There was an awakening of the people to general social improvement; comforts were invented and used.

"The gloomy walls and serried battlements of the feudal fortress now gave place to the pomp and grace of the Elizabethan hall, A mixed and florid architecture,

the transition from Gothic to Classical, marked the dawn of the Renaissance. Tall molded and twisted chimneys, grouped in stacks; gilded turrets; fanciful weather-vanes; great oriel windows; and the stately terraces and broad flights of steps which led to a formal garden - marked the exterior of an Elizabethan mansion. In the interior were spacious apartments approached by grand staircases; immense mullioned windows; huge carved oak or marble chimney-pieces, reaching up to gilded and ornamented ceilings; and wainscoted walls covered with pictorial tapestries so loosely hung as to furnish a favorite hidingplace. Chimneys and large glass windows were the especial modern improvements.' The houses, which three centuries before were lighted only by loop holes, now reveled in a broad glare of sunlight; and the newly-found 'chimney corner' brought increased domestic pleasure. A flower-garden was essential, and a surrounding moat was still common. Town-houses, constructed of an oak frame filled in with brick or with lath-and-plaster, had each successive story projecting over the next lower; so that in the narrow streets the inmates on the upper floor could almost shake hands with their neighbors across the way."

Furniture, even in noble mansions, was still rude and defective; and though the lofty halls and banquetingrooms were hung with costly arras, the rooms in daily use were often bare enough. It was an age of ornamental ironwork, and the 16th-century hearth and household utensils were models of elegant design. The chief furniture of a mansion consisted of grotesquely carved dressers or cupboards; round, folding tables; a few chests and presses; sometimes a household clock, which was as yet a rarity; a day-bed or sofa, considered an excess of

luxury; carpets for couches and floors; stiff, high-backed chairs; and some "forms" or benches, with movable cushions. The bed was still the choicest piece of furniture. It was canopied and festooned like a throne; the mattress was of the softest down; the sheets were Holland linen; and over the blankets was laid a coverlet embroidered in silk and gold with the arms of its owner. A portable bed was carried about in a leathern case whenever the lord traveled, for he was no longer content, like his ancestors, with the floor or a hard bench.

The poorer classes of Elizabeth's time had also improved in condition. Many still lived in hovels made of clay-plastered wattles, having a hole in the roof for chimney, and a clay floor strewed with rushes, under which lay unmolested an ancient collection of fragments. These were the people whose uncleanly habits fed the terrible plagues that periodically raged in England. But houses of brick and stone as well as of oak were now abundant among the yeomanry. The wooden ladle and. trenches had given way to the pewter spoon and platter; and the feather bed and pillow were fast displacing the sack of straw and log bolster. Lea coal (mineral coal) began to be used in the better houses, as the destruction of forests had reduced the supply of firewood. The sulphurous odor of the coal prejudiced many against its use, and it was forbidden to be burned in London during the sitting of Parliament, lest the health of the country members should suffer.

At table all wore their hats, as they did also at church or at the theater. The noon dinner was the formal meal of the day, and was characterized by stately decorum. Forks were still unknown, but they were brought from Italy early in the 17th century. Bread and meats were

presented on the point of a knife, the food being conveyed to the mouth by the left hand. With common people, ale, spiced and prepared in various forms, was the popular drink; and the ale-houses of the day, which were frequented too often by women, were centers of vice and dissipation. Tea and coffee were yet unknown, and were not introduced till the next century.

Domestic manners were stern and formal. Sons, even in mature life, stood silent and uncovered in their father's presence, and daughters knelt on a cushion until their mother had retired. The yard-long fan-handles served for whipping-rods, and discipline was enforced so promptly and severely that grown-up men and women often trembled at the sight of their parents.

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Street Life. No end of rogues and beggars passed and repassed from morning till night, and many a brawl, robbery, and even murder, a 16th-century Londoner could witness from his street-door. At night the narrow citylanes swarmed with thieves, who skillfully dodged the rays of the flaring cresset borne by the marching watch. Fortunately early hours were fashionable, and nine o'clock saw the bulk of society-folk within their own homes. Along the wretched country roads most travel was on horseback, the ladies riding on a pillion behind a servant. There was no regular stage communication. On the great road to Scotland were some royal post stations, but ordinary letters were sent by chance merchants or by a special courier.

The people for the sake of amusement, took up the old popular drama which had come down from the very beginning of the Middle Ages, and which after a process of transformation and elaboration was developed into a

nearly perfect condition as we find it in Shakespeare. The theatrical literature of England is independent in its origin, and characteristic in its form; and as it reflects faithfully the moral, social and intellectual features of the people, we shall briefly trace its rise and progress.

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The Drama. The origin of the drama may be traced to the odes chanted at the festivals of Bacchus, and the choruses sung in honor of Bacchus at the harvest-gatherings among the Greeks. At the festivals, the principal sacrifice at the altar being a goat, the odes were called tragodia (goat-songs), hence our word tragedy; at the harvest-gatherings, the celebrations were in the villages, and the choruses were called komodia (village-songs), hence our word comedy. Later on, at the dawn of modern civilization, most countries of Christian Europe possessed a rude kind of theatrical entertainment, not like the plays of Greece and Rome, but representing the principal events recorded in Holy Scripture. These dramas were called "Mysteries," or "Miracle Plays," and seem to have been acted under the immediate management of the clergy, who deemed them favorable to the diffusion of religious feeling. At Oberammergau in Germany the custom of presenting the Passion Play still prevails.

In the fifteenth century the Mysteries were superseded by allegorical plays called Moralities, in which sentiments and abstract ideas are represented by persons. Thus, instead of Jonathan and Satan of the Mystery, we meet Friendship and Vice. With the revival of learning, the plays of Terence and Plautus became generally known, and the career of the Moralities was shortened.

Not long after the appearance of "Gorboduc" both tragedies and comedies had become common; and be

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