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new theatre*), called the Globe, which burnt down in 1613. Stratford remained his real home, where he left his wife and children, whom he visited at least once a year. In 1596 Hamnet, his only son, died at the age of 12 years; his daughter Susanna married, in June 1607, Dr. John Hall, a physician settled in Stratford; Judith, the younger daughter survived the father till February 1661—2. After gaining a considerable property as an actor, Shakspeare returned to Stratford for ever in 1612, and died there on the 23 d of April 1616.

During the period of Shakspeare’s acting and writing his immortal works, contem- porary poets were altogether profuse in dramatic productions, but most of them did not reach the value and perfection of his elaborate plays. This period began after Elizabeth, the«virgin queen, succeeded to the throne of England, the works of Seneca and Euripides had been translated, and the first regular dramas set forth by Englishmen; this period lasted under the reign of James I(1603— 1625) and Charles I, before whose execution the intolerant and strict views of the puritans with regard to religion caused all dramatic performances to be prohibited as cdevil's servicey.

But here we take the liberty of drawing the attention of young students to the form of the Old English Theatre, which is adumbrated by Augustine Skottowe nearly in the following manner.— The playhouses were never all open at the same time, some of them being summer, other winter theatres. The roofs of summer-theatres extended only over the stage, passages and galleries, the area of the pit being open to the weather: the winter houses were completely covered, and their performances took place by candle-light. The shape of the English theatres derived from those buildings which experience had proved to be well adapted for the exigencies of the drama. Like the court-yard of an inn, three sides were occupied by balconies; these properly divided, were appropiated to the reception of different classes of the people: the fourth side formed the stage, and the centre area the pit, which unlike the same place in modern theatres was without benches. The common people who resorted thither, were standing up during the performance, and hence are called groundlings by Shakspeare, and by Ben Jonson the understanding gentlemen of the ground. Between this class of spectators and those that occupied the upper balconies or scaffolds, there was no distinction in rank, both being of the lowest and most disreputable description. The lower balconies or rooms, which answered to our boxes, were frequented by people of rank. The clords' rooms» are often mentioned by the old dramatists, and appear to have been next to the stage.

An upper balcony, above what is now called the stage-box, constituted the orchestra.

The stage was separated from the auditory by palings, and previous to the commen- cement of the performance, was concealed by a curtain of wool and silk. Like the floors of private houses in the Elizabethan age, the stage was usually covered with rushes, but on extraordinary occasions it was laid out with matting. At the back of the stage there was a balcony or upper stage, on which the actors entered who were required to appear in elevated positions, such as Juliet in the balcony, and Romeo and Juliet aloft(R. J. III, 5). When not used for the purpose of the scene, the balcony-stage was concealed by a curtain. Where a

*) Compare Augustine Skottowe:&The Life of Sbakspearey Leipsic, Fleischer page 16 th:&They long enjoyed a sort of copartnership in the playhouse in Blackfriars with the cchildreny, and subsequently became the purchasers of that house.— 6Globe being the summer, Blackfriars the winter theatre of the company to which he attached himself.)

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