of trumpets,
cornets, &c., for the "soundings" which announced the commencement of
the prologue, and for the "alarums" and "flourishes" which occurred in
the course of the representation. Malone was of opinion that the band
consisted of some eight or ten musicians stationed in "an upper
balcony over what is now called the stage-box." Collier, however,
shows that the musicians were often divided into two bands, and quotes
a stage direction in Marston's "Antonio's Revenge," 1602: "While the
measure is dancing, Andrugio's ghost is placed betwixt the music
houses." In a play of later date, Middleton's "Chaste Maid in
Cheapside," 1630, appears the direction: "While the company seem to
weep and mourn, there is a sad song in the music-room." Boxes were
then often called rooms, and one was evidently set apart for the use
of the musicians. In certain of Shakespeare's plays the musicians are
clearly required to quit their room for awhile, and appear upon the
stage among the _dramatis personae._

The practice of playing music between the acts is of long standing,
the frequent inappropriateness of these interludes having been
repeatedly commented on, however. A writer in the last century
expressly complains that at the end of every act, the audience,
"carried away by a jig of Vivaldi's, or a concerto of Giardini's, lose
every warm impression relative to the piece, and begin again cool and
unconcerned as at the commencement of the representation." He
advocates the introduction of music adapted to the subject: "The music
after an act should commence in the tone of the preceding passion, and
be gradually varied till it accords with the tone of the passion that
is to succeed in the next act," so that "cheerful, tender, melancholy,
or animated impressions" may be inspired, as the occasion may need. At
the conclusion of the second act of "Gammer Gurton's Needle," 1566,
Diccon, addressing himself to the musicians, says simply: "In the
meantime, fellows, pipe up your fiddles." But in a later play, the
"Two Italian Gentlemen," by Anthony Munday, printed about 1584, the
different kinds of music to be played after each act are stated,
whether a "pleasant galliard," a "solemn dump," or a "pleasant
allemaigne." So Marston in his "Sophonisba," 1606, indicates
particularly the instruments he would have played during the pauses
between the acts. After act one, "the cornets and organs playing loud
full of music;" after act two, "organs mixed with