least, with our moralities, and in Catholic times it is not a very violent supposition, to conclude that even the priests themselves made use of the images of the saints and Martyrs, perhaps for this very purpose, it is well ascertained, not only that they did not scruple to employ the churches, but that those sacred edifices were considered the fittest places for our earliest dramatic representations. "Motions' is the most general term by which they are mentioned by our ancient authors, and especially by our dramatists, thus Shakspeare in the Winter's Tale, (Act IV, Scene 2) makes Autolycus say, "Then he compassed a motion of the Prodigal Son, and married a tinker's wife within a mile of were my land and living lies." It would be easy to multiply quotations to the same point from nearly all his contemporaries, but one is as good as a thousand. The nature and method of their representation at that period, and doubtless long before, See the new edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. i, p. xliii, et seq. may be seen at the close of Ben Johnson's Bartholomew Fair. He there makes Lanthern Leatherhead convert the story of Hero and Leander, (then very popular from Marlow's and Chapman's translation, or rather paraphrase of it) into a "motion" or puppet-play, and he combines with it the well-known friendship of Damon and Pythias. The exhibitor, standing above and working the figures," interprets" for them, and delivers the laughable and burlesque dialogue, he supposes to pass between the characters. In the same poets, Tale of a Tub, (Act V) In-and-in Medlay presents a "motion" for the amusement of the company, connecting it with the plot of the comedy itself. Here he explains the scenes as he proceeds, something in the manner of the ancient Dumb-shows before the different acts of Ferrex and Porrex, the Misfortunes of Arthur, and other old tragedies, but the puppets are not represented as speaking among themselves. Ben Johnson may always be relied on, matters relating to the customs and amusements of our ancestors, as he was a very minute observer of them, and from his evidence, we may infer, that there were, at least, two varieties in the puppet-plays of his time, one with the dialogue, as in Bartholomew Fair, and the other without it, as in the Tale of a Tub. "It is evident, from many passages in our old writers, that might be adduced if necessary, that "motions," were very popular with the lower orders, they frequently rivalled and imitated the performers, on the regular stages. Hence, perhaps, a portion of the abuse with which they were commonly assailed by some of our dramatic poets, who were, of course, anxious to bring them as much as possible into contempt. It is established, on the authority of Dekker, and other pamphleteerists, and play-writers of about the same period, that the subjects of the "villainous motions, were often borrowed from the most successful dramatic entertainments. Shakspeare's Julius Cæsar, was performed by "mammets," (another term in use for the wooden representatives of heroes,) as well as the Duke of Guiso, a name that was perhaps given to Marlow's Massacre of Paris, or it may refer to a tragedy by Webster, under that title. If inference were not sufficient, testimony might be adduced, to shew that the puppets were clothed as nearly as possible, like the actors at the regular theatres, in those plays, which were thought fit subjects for the motions.' The minute fidelity of Ben Johnson, to the manners of his day, in depreciating the "humors" of his characters, has led him in several places to introduce the name of a principal proprietor of puppet-shows, who was known by the title of Captain Pod. He mentions him in his Every Man out of his Humour, as well as in his Epigrams, from which last it appears, that the word "motion, ," which properly means the representation by puppets, was also sometimes applied to the figures employed in the performance. T "The formidable rivalship of puppetplays to the regular drama, at a later date is established by the fact, that the proprietors of the theatres in Drury Lane, and near Lincoln's Inn Fields, formerly petitioned Charles II., that a puppet-show stationed on the present site of Cecil-street Henslowe probably refers to this play, as "the tragedy of the Guyes," in his papers. See Mal. Sh. by Boswell, iii. 299. See the Dedication to Webster's White Devil, as quoted in note in the new edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. vi. 207. Thus also, "Speed," in the Two Gentle. men of Verona, exclaims "O excellent motion! O exceeding puppet! now will he interpret to her." (Act ii, Scene 1.) in the Strand, might not be allowed to exhibit, or might be removed to a greater distance, as its attractiveness materially interfered with the prosperity of their concerns. It is not unlikely, that burlesque and ridicule were sometimes aimed at the productions of the stage, by the exhibitors of "motions." "There is little doubt that the most ancient puppet-shows, like the Mysteries, dealt in stories taken from the Old and New Testaments, or from the lives and legends of Saints. Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth, as we have seen historical and other fables, began to be treated by them; but still scriptural subjects were commonly exhibited, and Shakspeare, in the quotation we have made from his Winter's Tale, mentions that of the " Prodigal Son." Perhaps none was more popular than " Ninevah with Jonas and the whale." It is noticed by Ben Johnson twice in the same play, (Every Man out of his Humour,) and not less than twenty other authors speak of it. From a passage in Cowley's Cutter of Coleman Street, (Act V., and Scene ii.) we recollect, that even the Puritans, with all their zealous hatred of the "" profane stages," did not object to be present at its "holy performance. 99 The motion of "Babylon," is also frequently noticed; but " London," and "Rome," likewise figured in the metropolis at the same time. "Fleet Street and Holborn Bridge, both great thoroughfares, were the usual places where puppet-plays were exhibited in the reign of Elizabeth; and the authority of Butler has been quoted by Mr. Gifford, (Ben Johnson ii. 66, note) to shew that Fleet Street continued to be infested by "motions" and "monsters" at least down to the restoration.++Scriptural motions were not wholly laid aside within the last fifty or sixty years; and Goldsmith in his comedy, She Stoops to Conquer, refers to the display of Solomon's Temple in a puppet-show. The current joke (at what date it originated seems uncertain) of Punch popping his head from behind the curtain, and addressing the Patriarch in his ark, while the floods were pouring down with hazy weather, master Noah," proves that, at one period, the adventures of the hero of comparatively modern exhibitions of the kind were combined with stories selected from the bible. The late Mr. Joseph Strutt, in his ++ Somerville, in his "Happy Disappointment," speaks of masquerades and puppet. shows in the same line, and as if equally popular. 66 Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," thus speaks of the puppetshows in his time. "In my memory these shows consisted of a wretched display of wooden figures, barbarously formed and decorated, without the least degree of taste or propriety; the wires that communicated the motion to them appeared at the top of their heads, and the manner in which they were made to move evinced the ignorance and inattention of the managers. The dialogues were mere jumbles of absurdities and nonsense, intermixed with low immoral discourses, passing between Punch and the Fiddler, for the orchestra rarely admitted of more than one minstrel; and these flashes of merriment were made offensive by the actions of the puppet"+ "From whatever cause the change may have arisen, certain it is that, at present, in the ordinary exhibitions of "Punch and Judy," the breaches of decorum complained of by Mr. Strutt, are rare and slight. He afterwards proceeds as follows:-" In the present day, the puppet-show man travels about the streets, when the weather will permit, and carries the motions with the theatre itself upon his back. The exhibition takes place in the open air, and the precarious income of the miserable itinerant depends entirely on the voluntary contributions of the spectators, which as far as one may judge from the squalid appearance he usually makes, is very trifling." "We have never seen less than two men concerned in these ambulatory exhibitions: one to carry the theatre and use Punch's tin whistle, and the other to bear the box of puppets, and blow the trumpet. During the performance the money is collected from the bystanders;-and, far from agreeing with Strutt, that the contributions are very trifling," we have seen, for we have taken pains to ascertain it, two or three and four shillings obtained at each repetition; so that supposing only ten performances take place in a summer's day, the reward to the two men, on an average might be about fifteen shillings each. On one occasion we remember to have seen three different spectators, each give sixpence, besides the halfpence elsewhere contributed; which the collector went back to the theatre and whispered the performer, who made Punch thus address the crowd," Ladies and gentlemen, I never yet played for sevenpence halfpenny, and I never will; so good morning." He then "struck his tent" and departed." † Page 152, edit. 1810: on HINTS BY THE COBLER OF CRIPPLEGATE. As many of the following hints apply to abuses at present extant, we have been tempted to give this singular article insertion, it was originally made public in the year 1761, in the pages of the ninth volume of the London Chronicle : "He could wish to see Butchers' boy, who gallop through the streets of London, punished for so doing, or at least their horses seized for the use of the poor of the parish in which they so offend; for though a poor man's life may not be worth preserving, his limbs may be of use to him while he crawls upon earth. "Brewers starting their butts in the day-time, he considers as an intolerable nuisance. "Ruinous Houses ought to be pulled down, because they may as well tumble upon the head of an Alderman as upon that of a Cobler. "A regulation in Smithfield Market he thinks ought to take place, because a mad Ox may as well gore the lady of a Knight Banneret, as a poor oyster wench. "Worn out Hackney Coaches should in a particular manner be looked into, because none but those in easy circumstances can be affected by their breakingdown in the streets. This regulation in no shape regards my family, because I never suffer my Moll to enter one till I have first properly surveyed it. "That Cheesemongers should not set out their butter and cheese so near the edge of their shop-windows, nor put their firkins in the pathways by which many a good coat and silk gown may be spoiled; as by advertising in the papers his shop will be sufficiently known, without carrying home the shop-bill upon their cloaths. "Ladders, pieces of timber, &c. should by no means be suffered to be carried upon men's shoulders within the posts of this city, because, by a sudden stop, they may as well poke out the eye of a rich man as that of a poor one. "Chairmen, as they are a kind of human nags, ought to amble withoutside the posts as well as other brutes. "It is needless for ladies of a certain cast to patrole the streets at noonday with a bundle in one hand, as they carry an evident sign of their profession in their eye. "Long swords are a nuisance in the City at Change-time, as the wearer may very well receive a bill without that dangerous weapon, and as it is not often he comes into it to pay one. The whimsical manner in which the above customs are reprehended, was fairly matched by the following notice from the Publick-Advertiser, issued in downright serious earnest : "To the Inhabitants of the Parish of St. Faith. "I have observed of late years, that the London meeting houses of all Sectaries have crowded audiences, and that the Prayers of our established Church are read, and the Sermons of her Ministers preached, to empty seats, unless at places where some new-fangled doctrines are propagated to captivate weak minds. It becomes me as an honest man, and agreeable to the oath I have taken, earnestly to admonish you to attend the service of the Church on Sundays, unless prevented by occasions that are lawful. "It requires I should give you this notice publicly, that no person may have reason to think me over officious, if he finds his name among the presentments my oath obliges me to exhibit before the Ecclesiastical Court at the expiration of my office. DAVID RICE, Churchwarden.” JERUSALEM DELIVERED. SUBJECT OF THE ILLUSTRATION EXHIBITS Armida parting Eustatius, Godfrey's brother, who is in the act of encountering Rambaldo, a chief of the army engaged in Godfrey's wars, and a rival aspirant for her favour. They are supposed to have stolen under the covert of night to her camp, for the of purpose accompanying her to redress those wrongs that they believe her to have suffered. They there meet and engage. But soon as Night with silent wings arose, Through darkness blind, by blind affection led. He roves uncertain all the dewy night, Fir'd at the view, th'impatient lover flies; Him, by his arms, Rambaldo knows, and criesWhat seek'st thou here, or whither dost thou bend? I come (he said) Armida to defend ; approve, And make such honour thine! He answered- From Fortune thou, from Love my right I claim; Ah! cease, (to that she cry'd) nor more complain IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS. QUEEN ELIZABETH AND CECIL. ELIZABETH. I ADVISE thee again, churlish Cecil, how that our Edmond Spenser, whom thou calledst most uncourteously a whining whelp, hath good and solid reason for his complaint. God's blood! shall the lady that tieth my garter and shuffleth the smock over my head, or the lord that steddieth my chair's back while I eat, or the other that looketh to my buckhounds lest they be mangy, be holden by me in higher esteem and estate, than he who hath placed me among the bravest of past times, and will as safely and surely set me down among the loveliest in the future. CECIL. Your Highness must remember he carouseth fully for such deserts....a hundred pounds a year of unclipt monies, and a butt of canary wine. such men, ELIZABETH. The monies are not enow to sustain a pair of grooms and a pair of palfreys, and more wine hath been drunken in my presence at a feast. The monies are given to that they may not incline nor be obligated to any vile or lowly occupation; and the canary, that they may entertain such promising Wits as court their company and converse; and that in such manner there may be alway in our land a succession of these heirs of Fame. He hath written, not indeed with his wonted fancifulness, nor in learned and majestical language, but in homely and rustic wise, some verses which have moved me; and haply the more so, in as much as they demonstrate to me that his genius hath been dampened by his adversities. Read them. Psha! give me the paper; I forewarned thee how it ended....pitifully, pitifully. CECIL. I cannot think otherwise than that the undertaker of the aforecited poesy hath choused your highness; for I have seen painted, I know not where, the identically same Dian, with full as many nymphs as he calls them, and more dogs. So small a matter as a page of poesy shall never stir my choler, nor twitch my pursestring. ELIZABETH. I have read in Plinius and Mela of a runlet near Dodona, which kindled by approximation an unlighted torch and extinguished a lighted one. Now, Cecil, I desire no such jetty to be celebrated as the decoration of my court in simpler |