Mr. Copeland's Lecture.

Last night Mr. Copeland spoke of "Shakespeare briefly compared with other Elizabethan Dramatists." The "other dramatists" whom he selected were Webster, Ford, Jonson, Massinger, Hayward, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Marlowe, it being understood that these were chosen because they were the best of their age and not because they were the only ones worthy of mention. The lecture, or rather the informal talk, was filled with the anecdote and reminiscence of plays and actors, which is so interesting from Mr. Copeland; and his reading at the close was unusually effective, if that may be said.

Mr. Copeland complained that outside of Jonson's ballad, "Drink to me only with thine Eyes," almost no works of the minor dramatists of the Elizabethan age are read nowadays. The plays of Jonson, Webster, Hayward and the rest, are many of them excellent reading, and a slight acquaintance with them will almost always bring with it the desire for greater familiarity. Not only are they thus interesting in themselves, but they form the best background for Shakespeare's works, and it is a shame that we are content to take him without it.

Of Webster's plays, the best is "The Duchess of Malfi," dealing with crimes and horrors, as do all his others. He is constantly introducing all manner of unhappiness brought about by terrible means, and the crimes which his characters do not commit might be regarded as not worth committing; but the play, for all its hideousness, is redeemed by the imagination and poetry it contains, Webster does not excel in his plots and characters, but his dramatic situations are very effective, and once seen are not soon to be forgotten.

Of a far different dramatic complexion is Ford. If Webster terrifies, Ford causes tears; yet parts of his plays are delightful. Jonson is more difficult to understand. His works show a fine intelligence, much cleverness, and a good deal of art, his dialogues being especially bright and interesting. Comedy owes him a great debt in that he was the first to make conspicuous the idea of suggesting whole characters by means of a few characteristic traits. It is customary to regard him as the beginning of the decline of the drama, but it is perhaps fairer to say that with him artificial comedy began.

There are many reasons which make Hayward easier to begin with than the other Elizabethan dramatists. He is strangely modern, and takes almost after the realist of today, telling tales of home life in a homespun way. There is no poetry in his plays, and in this respect he is like Massinger. The latter is very skillful in his dramatic effects. His play, "A new Way to Pay old Debts," is the nearest approach to Shakespeare we have, with the single exception of "She Stoops to Conquer." But wonderful as Massinger and the others may be in their separate ways, Shakespeare far surpasses them as a poet, a painter of character, and an imaginative writer.