te the chain of development. From Cambridge, the nurse of
Stevenson, we must now turn to Oxford; and, as we do so, we seem to be
drawing very close to the end of our journey. Thus far we have had
nothing like the romantic comedy--the comedy of sentiment, of love, the
comedy which is at once serious and witty, and which contains the
elements of tragedy. This appears, or is at least foreshadowed for the
first time, about four years after Stevenson's "first-rate screaming
farce," as Symonds has dubbed it, in the _Damon and Pithias_ of Richard
Edwardes, a writer with whom, as we have seen, Lyly was thoroughly
familiar. Indeed, the play in question anticipates our author in many
ways, for example in the introduction of pages, in the use of English
proverbs and Latin quotations, and in the insertion of songs[108]. With
reference to the last point, we may remark that Edwardes like Lyly was
interested in music, and like him also held a post in a choir school,
being one of the "gentlemen of the Chapel Royal." In the _Damon and
Pithias_ the old _morality_ is once and for all discarded. The play is
entirely free from all allegorical elements, and is only faintly tinged
with didacticism. But we cannot express the aim of Edwardes better than
in his own words:

"In comedies the greatest skyll is this, lightly to touch
All thynges to the quick; and eke to frame each person so
That by his common talke, you may his nature rightly know."

To touch lightly and yet with penetration, to reveal character by
dialogue, this is indeed to write modern drama, modern comedy.

[108] Bond, II. p. 238.

It would seem that between Edwardes and Lyly there was no room for
another link, so closely does the one follow the other; and yet one more
play must be mentioned to complete the series. This time we are no
longer brought into touch with the classics or with the scholastic
influences, for the play in question is a translation from the Italian,
being in fact Ariosto's _Suppositi_, englished by George Gascoigne[109].
Though a translation it was more than a transcript; it was englished in
the true sense of that word, in sentiment as well as in phrase. Its
chief importance lies in the fact that it is written in prose, and is
therefore the first prose comedy in our language. But Mr Gayley would go
further than this, for he describes it as "the first English comedy in
every way worthy of the name." It was written entirely for amusement,