incoln_ made him feel the very presence of the martyred President his
father actually saw.

These different classes of comments give evidence of three distinct steps
in the evolution of the English drama. During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries it was essentially a Drama of Rhetoric; throughout the eighteenth
century it was mainly a Drama of Conversation; and during the nineteenth
century it has grown to be a Drama of Illusion. During the first period it
aimed at poetic power, during the second at brilliancy of dialogue, and
during the third at naturalness of representment. Throughout the last three
centuries, the gradual perfecting of the physical conditions of the theatre
has made possible the Drama of Illusion; the conventions of the actor's art
have undergone a similar progression; and at the same time the change in
the taste of the theatre-going public has made a well-sustained illusion a
condition precedent to success upon the modern stage.

II

Mr. Ben Greet, in his sceneless performances of Shakespeare during recent
seasons, has reminded us of some of the main physical features of the
Elizabethan theatre; and the others are so generally known that we need
review them only briefly. A typical Elizabethan play-house, like the Globe
or the Blackfriars, stood roofless in the air. The stage was a projecting
platform surrounded on three sides by the groundlings who had paid
threepence for the privilege of standing in the pit; and around this pit,
or yard, were built boxes for the city madams and the gentlemen of means.
Often the side edges of the stage itself were lined with young gallants
perched on three-legged stools, who twitted the actors when they pleased or
disturbed the play by boisterous interruptions. At the back of the platform
was hung an arras through which the players entered, and which could be
drawn aside to discover a set piece of stage furnishing, like a bed or a
banqueting board. Above the arras was built an upper room, which might
serve as Juliet's balcony or as the speaking-place of a commandant supposed
to stand upon a city's walls. No scenery was employed, except some
elaborate properties that might be drawn on and off before the eyes of the
spectators, like the trellised arbor in _The Spanish Tragedy_ on which the
young Horatio was hanged. Since there was no curtain, the actors could
never be "discovered" on the stage and were forced to make an exit at the
end of every scene. Plays wer