Of the misfortunes of dramatists and romance-writers I have little to
record, but it would not be safe to conclude that this subject always
furnished a secure field for literary activity. However, the successes of
the writers of fiction and plays in our own times might console the Muse
for any indignities which her followers have suffered in the past.
In our own country the early inventors of dramatic performances--
Mysteries, Moralities, and Interludes--lived securely, their names being
unknown. When penal laws were in force against Roman Catholics, plays
inculcating their doctrines and worship were often secretly performed in
the houses of Catholic gentry. The anonymous author was indeed safe, but
Sir John Yorke and his lady were fined one thousand pounds apiece and
imprisoned in the Tower on account of a play performed in their house at
Christmas, 1614, containing "many foul passages to the vilifying of our
religion and exacting of popery."
Abraham Cowley was driven into retirement by his unfortunate play _Cutter
of Coleman Street_, which was an improved edition of his unfinished comedy
entitled _The Guardian_, acted at Cambridge before the Court at the
beginning of the Civil War. After the Restoration he produced the revised
version under the name of _Cutter of Coleman Street_, the principal
character being a merry person who bore that cognomen. Some of the
aspirants to royal favour persuaded the King that the play was a satire
directed against him and his Court, and the poor poet, condemned by the
enemies of the Muses, calumniated and deprived of all hopes of preferment,
retired in disgust to a country retreat among the hills of Surrey.
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