in
which it was to achieve so much, a new sphere of activity suggested
itself. And in this, after a few more or less tentative efforts, English
dramatists very speedily came to feel at home. In their direct
dramatization of passages or portions of English history (in which the
doings and sufferings of King Arthur could only by courtesy or poetic
licence be included) classical models would be of scant service, while
Italian examples of the treatment of national historical subjects,
having to deal with material so wholly different, could not be followed
with advantage. The native species of the _chronicle history_, which
designedly assumed this name in order to make clear its origin and
purpose, essayed nothing more or less than a dramatic version of an
existing chronicle. Obviously, while the transition from half
historical, half epical narrative often implied carrying over into the
new form some of the features of the old, it was only when the subject
matter had been remoulded and recast that a true dramatic action could
result. But the _histories_ to be found among the plays of Shakespeare
and one or two other Elizabethans are true dramas, and it would be
inconvenient to include these in the transitional species of those known
as _chronicle histories_. Among these ruder compositions, which
intermixed the blank verse introduced on the Stage by _Gorboduc_ with
prose, and freely combined or placed side by side tragic and comic
ingredients, we have but few distinct examples. One of these is _The
Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth_, known to have been acted before
1588; in which both the verse and the prose are frequently of a very
rude sort, while it is neither divided into acts or scenes nor, in
general, constructed with any measure of dramatic skill. But its vigour
and freshness are considerable, and in many passages we recognize
familiar situations and favourite figures in later masterpieces of the
English historical drama. The second is _The Troublesome Raigne of King
John_, in two parts (printed in 1591), an epical narrative transferred
to the stage, neither a didactic effort like Bale's, nor a living drama
like Shakespeare's, but a far from contemptible treatment of its
historical theme. _The True Chronicle History of King Leir_ (acted in
1593) in form resembles the above, though it is not properly on a
national subject (its story is taken from Geoffrey of Monmouth); but,
with all its defects, it seems only to await