. William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . struct both a plot anda play, and his training gave him easy mastery ofsound expression; but he composed his comediesin terms of English life. Roister Doister wasa type of man instantly recognized by an Englishaudience of every social grade; a coward who wasalso a boaster, whose wooing, like that of Falstaff,affords ample opportunity for the same rollickingfun. The significance of the piece lay in its fresh-ness, its freedom, and its ease — qualities whichwere prophetic of the birth of a true drama. Gammer Gurtons Needle, a broad, coarse, butef
. William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . struct both a plot anda play, and his training gave him easy mastery ofsound expression; but he composed his comediesin terms of English life. Roister Doister wasa type of man instantly recognized by an Englishaudience of every social grade; a coward who wasalso a boaster, whose wooing, like that of Falstaff,affords ample opportunity for the same rollickingfun. The significance of the piece lay in its fresh-ness, its freedom, and its ease — qualities whichwere prophetic of the birth of a true drama. Gammer Gurtons Needle, a broad, coarse, buteffective picture of rustic manners, generally be- 20 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE lieved to have been written by John Still, a Lin-colnshire man by birth, a Cambridge man byeducation, and a Bishop by vocation, marks thefirst appearance of the fully developed farce inEnglish, and is notable for vigorous characteriza-tion in a mass of vulgar buffoonery. That sucha piece should come from the hand of the sterndivine, with Puritan aspect, who lies at rest in. THE TALBOT INN-—CHAUCERS the early players often raised their rude stage. Wells Cathedral, and that it was performed beforea college audience in Cambridge, shows that thesocial and intellectual conditions which permittedso close a juxtaposition of the sacred and the vul-gar in the Mystery and Miracle plays still saving grace of this early dramatic writing wasits vitality; in this, and in its native flavour and itsresistance to foreign influence, lay its promise. THE FORERUNiNERS OF SHAKESPEARE 21 The earlier development of comedy as comparedwith tragedy is not difficult to account for. Trag-edy exacts something from an audience; a certaindegree of seriousness or of culture must be pos-sessed by those who are to enjoy or profit by , on the other hand, appeals to the un-trained no less than the trained man ; it collectsits audience at the village blacksmiths or the coun-try shop as readily as in the
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