at intervals from 1580 to 1593, all but one were in
prose, and all except the Plautian _Mother Bombie_ adhere loosely to a
common formula. Classical myth or story, with pastoral elements, and
occasionally an allegory of contemporary politics, furnish the basis of
plots with similar love complications. Gods, goddesses, nymphs, fairies,
and many others add to the spectacle and mingle in the love intrigue,
and all rise to a graceful dialogue, which quickens to brisk repartee
when the pages or servants appear. The witty page supersedes the rude
buffoon of earlier plays, and everything is graceful and ingenious,
slight in serious interest, but relieved by movement and song.

[Page Heading: Lyly and Greene]

This is the form of comedy which Shakespeare adopted for _Love's
Labour's Lost_ and perfected in _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_. But Lyly's
contribution should not be defined merely by this type of drama,
original as it is in its departure from medieval or classical
precedents. He showed how comedy might be a courtly and literary
entertainment and also the playground of fancy and wit.

The second development of romantic comedy came through the dramatization
of stories of love, adventure, and marvels. To such stories Robert
Greene gave a heightened charm through the idealization of his heroines.
His _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_ (1590) is a magic play with an
historical setting; but the interest gathers and centers on the love
story of Margaret, the Keeper's daughter. In _James IV_ (_c._ 1591) the
pseudo-historical setting frames the stories of the noble Ida and the
wronged but faithful Dorothea. In the incidents of the plot, with its
woman disguised as a page, the faithless lover, and the final
reconciliation, and also in the sweetness, modesty, and loyalty of the
heroine, the play reminds us of Shakespeare's comedies and is indeed
very close to _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_, in which he was clearly
adopting Greene's formula.

Tragedy naturally lagged somewhat behind comedy as a form of popular
entertainment. So far as we can judge from the extant plays, there was
until the appearance of Kyd and Marlowe no real union between Senecan
imitations like _Gorboduc_ (1562), _Jocasta_ (1566), and _The
Misfortunes of Arthur_ (1588), on the one hand, and popular medleys of
morality, tragedy, and farce like _Cambises_ (1565), _Horestes_ (_pr._
1567), and _Appius and Virginia_ (1563), on the other. Marlowe's
_Tamburlaine_ (1587) w