ligion, the tendency to
treat middle-class life as the hunting-ground for the diversions of the
upper classes, which degraded so much of the dramatic literature of the
age, intensified the Puritan opposition to all and any stage plays. A
patient endeavour to reform instead of suppressing the drama was not to
be looked for from such adversaries, should they ever possess the means
of carrying out their views; and whenever Puritanism should victoriously
assert itself in the state, the stage was doomed. Among the attacks
directed against it in its careless heyday of prosperity Prynne's
_Histrio-Mastix_ (1632), while it involved its author in shamefully
cruel persecution, did not remain wholly without effect upon the tone of
the dramatic literature of the subsequent period; but the quarrel
between Puritanism and the theatre was too old and too deep to end in
any but one way, so soon as the latter was deprived of its protectors.
The Civil War began in August 1642; and early in the following month was
published the ordinance of the Lords and Commons, which, after a brief
and solemn preamble, commanded "that while these sad causes and
set-times of humiliation do continue, public stage plays shall cease and
be forborne." Many actors and playwrights followed the fortunes of the
royal cause in the field; some may have gone into a more or less
voluntary exile; upon those who lingered on in the familiar haunts the
hand of power lay heavy; and, though there seems reason to believe that
dramatic entertainments of one kind or another continued to be
occasionally presented, stringent ordinances gave summary powers to
magistrates against any players found engaged in such proceedings
(1647), and bade them treat all stage-players as rogues, and pull down
all stage galleries, seats and boxes (1648). A few dramatic works were
published in this period;[209] while at fairs about the country were
acted farces called "drolls," consisting of the most vulgar scenes to be
found in popular plays. Thus, the life of the drama was not absolutely
extinguished; and its darkest day proved briefer than perhaps either its
friends or its foes could have supposed.

Revival of the drama.

Already "in Oliver's time" private performances took place from time to
time at noblemen's houses and (though not undisturbed) in the old haunt
of the drama, the Red Bull. In 1656 the ingenuity of Sir William
Davenant whose name (though not really so significant in the d