The Mediaeval Stage #230682

Some years ago I was thinking of a little book, which now may or may not ever get itself finished, about Shakespeare and the conditions, literary and dramatic, under which Shake Speare wrote. My proper task would have begun with the middle of the sixteenth century. But it seemed natural to put first some short account of the origins of play-acting in England and of its development during the Middle Ages. Unfortunately it soon became apparent that the basis for such a narrative was wanting. The history of the mediaeval theatre had never, from an English point of View, been written. The initial chapter of Collier's Amzals of Me Stage is even less adequate than is usual with this slovenly and dishonest antiquary. It is with some satisfaction that, in Spite of the barrier set up by an incorrect reference, I have resolved one dramatic representation elaborately described by Collier into a soteltz'e or sweetmeat. More scholarly writers, such as Dr. A. W. Ward, while dealing excellently with the mediaeval drama as literature, have shown themselves but little curious about the social and economic facts upon which the mediaeval drama rested. Yet from a study of such facts, I am sure, any literary history, which does not confine itself solely to the analysis of genius, must make a start.