even been
called the founder of the secular English drama.[12]

The court of Henry VIII. became especially fond of the Interlude,
which was a short play, often given in connection with a banquet or
other entertainment. Any dramatic incident, such as the refusal of
Noah's wife to enter the ark, or Mak's thievery in _The Play of the
Shepherds_, might serve as an Interlude. Cornish and John Heywood
(1497?--1580?), a court dramatist of much versatility, incorporated in
the Interlude many of the elements of the five-act drama. _The Four
P's_, the most famous Interlude, shows a contest between a Pardoner,
Palmer, Pedlar, and Poticary, to determine who could tell the greatest
lie. Wallace thinks that the best Interludes, such as _The Four P's_
and _The Pardoner and the Frere_, were written by Cornish, although
they are usually ascribed to Heywood.

Cornish had unusual ability as a deviser of masques and plays. One of
his interludes for children has allegorical characters that remotely
suggest some that appear in the modern _Bluebird_, by Maeterlinck.
Cornish had Wind appear "in blue with drops of silver"; Rain, "in
black with silver honeysuckles"; Winter, "in russet with flakes of
silver snow"; Summer, "in green with gold stars"; and Spring, "in
green with gold primroses." In 1522 Cornish wrote and presented before
Henry VIII. and his guest, the Roman emperor, a political play,
especially planned to indicate the attitude of the English monarch
toward Spain and France. Under court influences, the drama enlarged
its scope and was no longer chiefly the vehicle for religious
instruction.

Early Comedies.--Two early comedies, divided, after the classical
fashion, into acts and scenes, show close approximation to the modern
form of English plays.

_Ralph Royster Doyster_ was written not far from the middle of the
sixteenth century by Nicholas Udall (1505-1556), sometime master of
Eton College and, later, court poet under Queen Mary. This play,
founded on a comedy of Plautus, shows the classical influence which
was so powerful in England at this time. Ralph, the hero, is a
conceited simpleton. He falls in love with a widow who has already
promised her hand to a man infinitely Ralph's superior. Ralph,
however, unable to understand why she should not want him, persists in
his wooing. She makes him the butt of her jokes, and he finds himself
in ridiculous positions. The comedy amuses us in this way until her
lover returns and marr