Free eBooks - Drama - Ancient, Classical & Medieval
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ACT I.
[Enter William the Conqueror; Marques Lubeck, with a picture;Mountney; Manville; Valingford; and Duke Dirot.]
MARQUES.What means fair Britain's mighty ConquerorSo suddenly to cast away his staff,And all in passion to forsake the tylt?D. DIROT.My Lord, this triumph we solemnise hereIs of mere love to your increasing joys,Only expecting cheerful looks for all;What sudden pangs than moves your majestyTo ... more...
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INTRODUCTION
Note. In citations from Shakespeare's plays and nondramatic poems the numbering has reference to the Globe edition, except in the case of this play, where the reference is to this edition.
I. SOURCES
No event in the history of the world has made a more profound impression upon the popular imagination than the assassination of Julius Cæsar. Apart from its overwhelming interest as a ... more...
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PREFACE
If I have turned aside from Euripides for a moment and attempted a translation of the great stage masterpiece of Sophocles, my excuse must be the fascination of this play, which has thrown its spell on me as on many other translators. Yet I may plead also that as a rule every diligent student of these great works can add something to the discoveries of his predecessors, and I think I have been able to ... more...
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George Chapman was probably born in the year after Elizabeth's accession. Anthony Wood gives 1557 as the date, but the inscription on his portrait, prefixed to the edition of The Whole Works of Homer in 1616, points to 1559. He was a native of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, as we learn from an allusion in his poem Euthymiæ Raptus or The Teares of Peace, and from W. Browne's reference to him in Britannia's ... more...
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Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus is the first of the three great Greek tragedians, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. Aeschylus' work has a strong moral and religious emphasis. Besides the literary merit of his work, Aeschylus' greatest contribution to the theater was the addition of a second actor to his scenes. Previously, the action took place between a single actor and the Greek chorus. Aeschylus is known to have written over 70 plays, seven of which are ...
INTRODUCTION.
Æschylus, the first of the great Grecian writers of tragedy, was born at Eleusis, in 525 B.C. He was the son of Euphorion, who was probably a wealthy owner of rich vineyards. The poet's early employment was to watch the grapes and protect them from the ravages of men and other animals, and it is said that this occupation led to the development of his dramatic genius. It is more easy to ... more...
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WILLIAM DUNLAP:
FATHER OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE
(1766-1839)
The life of William Dunlap is full of colour and variety. Upon his shoulders very largely rests the responsibility for whatever knowledge we have of the atmosphere of the early theatre in America, and of the personalities of the players. For, as a boy, his father being a Loyalist, there is no doubt that young William used to frequent the play-house ... more...
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ACT THE FIRST.
SCENE I. THE TOWER.
Enter the Duke of Gloster, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, and Catesby.
Glos. Thus far success attends upon our councils,
And each event has answer'd to my wish;
The queen and all her upstart race are quell'd;
Dorset is banish'd, and her brother Rivers,
Ere this, lies shorter by the head at Pomfret.
The nobles have, with joint concurrence, nam'd me ... more...
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Jonson, Ben
Jonson, Ben
Poet and dramatist, was probably born in Westminster. His father, who died before Ben was four, seems to have come from Carlisle, and the family to have originally belonged to Annandale. He was sent to Westminster School, for which he seems to have been indebted to the kindness of W. Camden, who was one of the masters. His mother, meanwhile, had married a bricklayer, and he was for a time put to that trade, but disliking it, he ran away and joined the army, fighting against the Spaniards in the Low Countries. Returning to England about 1592 he took to the stage, both as an actor and as a playwright. In the former capacity he was unsuccessful. In 1598, having killed a ...
INTRODUCTION
THE greatest of English dramatists except Shakespeare, the first literary dictator and poet-laureate, a writer of verse, prose, satire, and criticism who most potently of all the men of his time affected the subsequent course of English letters: such was Ben Jonson, and as such his strong personality assumes an interest to us almost unparalleled, at least in his age.
Ben Jonson came of the stock ... more...
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CAST
CAPTAIN NATHAN HALECAPTAIN WILLIAM HULLGENERAL WASHINGTONBOS'NLIEUTENANT PONDSIMON CARTERLIEUTENANT DREW [BRITISH]MRS. CHICHESTERCAPTAIN MONTRESSORPROVOST MARSHAL CUNNINGHAM
ANNOUNCER
We present here the story of the famous Revolutionary hero and martyr, Nathan Hale. For the first scene of our sketch, let us go to General Washington's headquarters in New York City. It is early September of the year ... more...
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE
JEAN BAPTISTE RACINE, the younger contemporary of Corneille, and his rival for supremacy in French classical tragedy, was born at Ferte-Milon, December 21, 1639. He was educated at the College of Beauvais, at the great Jansenist school at Port Royal, and at the College d'Harcourt. He attracted notice by an ode written for the marriage of Louis XIV in 1660, and made his first really great ... more...
