Trace the developments in seventeenth-century England, that began with Puritan opposition to drama and led to the ban on playhouses.

Trace the developments in seventeenth-century England, that began with Puritan opposition to drama and led to the ban on playhouses.

There never was such a general passion for dramatic entertainments as during the Elizabethan period; the art was thoroughly studied and understood, as how could it be otherwise under the reign of such dramatists as Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Shakespeare? The actors lived in their fine old substantial city houses, or in grand country manors, such as Edward Alleyn inhabited at Dulwich, esteemed and sought after by the best people, and if commonly prudent, died rich and honored. Their worst enemy was the plague; while it raged, and that was pretty frequently, all theaters were closed, and they had to migrate into the country, which was not profitable.

But as Puritanism advanced, the prosperity of the theatrical profession began to decline. In 1622 there were but four principal companies--the King's, which acted at the Blackfriars and the Globe; the Prince's, at the Curtain; the Palgrave's, at the Fortune; the Queen of Bohemia's, at the Cockpit. 1629 was the first year in which a female performer was seen in the English theater. The innovation was introduced by a French company, but the women were hissed and pippin-pelted off the stage. This was at the new theater just opened in Salisbury Court. Three weeks afterwards they made a second attempt, but the audience would not tolerate them. King Charles and his Queen had a great love for dramatic entertainments; the latter frequently took part in the Court Masques, which brought down upon her the brutal language of that canting fellow Prynne. Yet in 1635 Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, under whose jurisdiction all theatrical affairs were then placed, mentions only the King's company under Lowin and Taylor at Blackfriars, the Queens under Beeston at the Cockpit, the Prince's under Moore and Kane at the Fortune; in the next year he adds a fourth, doubtless Salisbury Court, to the list, which house was probably closed on the previous date.

On the 6th of September, 1642, the theaters were closed by ordinance, it being considered not seemly to indulge in any kind of diversions or amusements in such troublous times.................

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