ay-writing was the best means of literary
remuneration, if we except the profit derived from the practice which,
to some extent, survives, though its disgraceful motive has ceased, of
dedicating books to rich men for the sake of the fee they would give. It
is said that books have actually been printed in consideration of the
profits of the dedication. Especially in the composition of plays was it
judged expedient to minister to the depraved public taste by indecent
expressions, or allusions broad and sly. The playwright was at the mercy
of an audience who were critical on that point, and in a position, if he
should not come up to the required standard, to damn him and his work in
an instant. [Sidenote: Milton's "Paradise Lost."] From these remarks
must be excepted the writings of Milton, which are nowhere stained by
such a blemish. And yet posterity will perhaps with truth assert that
"Paradise Lost" has wrought more intellectual evil than even its base
contemporaries, since it has familiarized educated minds with images
which, though in one sense sublime, in another are most unworthy, and
has taught the public a dreadful materialization of the great and
invisible God. A Manichean composition in reality, it was mistaken for a
Christian poem.

[Sidenote: The English theatre.] The progress of English literature not
only offers striking proofs of the manner in which it was affected by
theatrical representations, but also furnishes an interesting
illustration of that necessary course through which intellectual
development must pass. It is difficult for us, who live in a reading
community, to comprehend the influence once exercised by the pulpit and
the stage in the instruction of a non-reading people.

As late as the sixteenth century they were the only means of mental
access to the public, and we should find, if we were to enter on a
detailed examination of either one or the other, that they furnish a
vivid reflexion of the popular intellectual condition. Leaving to others
such interesting researches into the comparative anatomy of the English
pulpit, I may, for a moment, direct attention to theatrical exhibitions.

[Sidenote: Its successive phases.] There are three obvious phases
through which the drama has passed, corresponding to as many phases in
the process of intellectual development. These are respectively the
miracle play, corresponding to the stage of childhood; the moral,
corresponding to that of youth; the rea