ing and all-wise Providence: but the Creator expects men to help one another along in the path of life; and, in the present case, the remedy can only be applied by the same hands which ignorantly and innocently deal the mischief. To this end the real position of the blind, and the nature of their resources, must be better understood by those who can see: and truly happy shall I be, if the remarks which I have here put together, should in your hands be made in any degree instrumental in helping other blind persons over those difficulties, which, by the help of God, I have been enabled to surmount."

Our principal reason for advancing this theory, independent of the interest attached to the histories we have recorded, is mainly to shew how criminal it would be to neglect the culture of those, whose intellectual faculties are often of the highest order, and who by mental training are capable of attaining the most honorable positions in society. Dublin has made a move in the right direction, and our Catholic Blind Institutions, though but yet in their infancy, will ere long be National establishments, embracing within their folds all who have been hitherto forgotten, or if not forgotten at least uncared for.

ART. IV.-ABOUT THE TUNEFUL NINE.

Lays of the Minnesingers, or German Troubadours, of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries: Illustrated by Specimens of the Cotemporary Lyric Poetry of Provence and other parts of Europe. London: Longman and Co., 1825.

What about the "The Tuneful Nine?" says the reader; "Is it about Songs, or Music, or the Opera, or the Concert ?" Well, reader, it is about many things; but more especially about Music as it is connected with the Drama.

The origin of the Greek drama is, by universal consent, referred to the ceremonies of the worship of Bacchus. The dithyrambs, which celebrated the triumph of the god, were transformed, by gradual changes, into the drama, which represented a great portion of the national mythology and legendary lore. In a similar way, the Miracle-plays of modern Europe, which were purely religious festivals, became gradually transformed into the drama. But, as the dithyramb did not, throughout Greece, become a tragedy, so the Miracle-play, in every European country, did not produce a national drama. England, Spain, and France can alone be said to have succeeded in this: the reason we shall presently bring forward.

The first stage of our inquiry will embrace the detailed proofs of the foregoing statements, respecting the uniformity everywhere visible in the causes, which produced the drama. To begin with the Greek :-An altar is erected, and on it a goat sacrificed to the god Dionysius; around the altar is a band of drunken revellers, disguised as satyrs, dressed in goat-skins and deer skins, their bodies stained with soot, vermillion, and green, their faces covered with masks or huge leaves; they dance and sing, roar out obscene jests. and impassioned songs, throw themselves into fantastic attitudes, and celebrate the virtues, exploits, and sorrows of Bacchus. It is not clear how the drama could proceed from such a "rabble rout." We see nothing here but the mummeries, in which most nations have delighted the Lithuanians, the Swedes-nay, even the inhabitants of the

Himmalayas-have had such, yet no drama. We might as well expect to see a tragedy issuing from the mummeries of sweeps on May day, which were also, we are told, once symbolical and religious. Nevertheless, from this Bacchic rout the drama rose. Arion came, and transformed this irregular band into a regular chorus. The flute was changed for the cithara; the rapid pyrrhic dances for slow and solemn movements; the wildness of jest for the tragic and impassioned strain, which expressed the sorrows and victories of the god. The comic element was not suppressed, but separated from the tragic: it continued to flourish, and gave birth to Comedy.

The dithyramb was formed; the chorus was serious; but a drama was still far from being constituted. Thespis came, and laid the foundation stone. Standing on an elevated platform, he varied the monotony of the songs with recitations in character. He is said to have invented the first actor; and this one actor sufficed for all the parts, since, by means of a linen mask, he was enabled to represent different characters, who appeared on the platform one after the other, and occasionally answered the chorus. This step, small as it appears, was in truth immense, for it was in the right direction. To the singing of the chorus was now added recitation, and this, with the aid of occasional dialogue, enabled them to represent a story. The first elements of tragedy, viz., the assumption of character, and the throwing the legend into an action instead of a narration, were thus secured. Phrynicus succeeded Thespis, and made another improvement in the introduction of female characters. He did not venture on adding to the single actor of Thespis, but he used it differently. It is not to be overlooked that, by the time Phrynicus wrote, the religious character of the drama had undergone considerable change. Instead of a purely Dionysiac legend, he introduced subjects of national interest. The Phænisse and the Capture of Miletus had nothing whatever to do with Bacchus. It is evident, therefore, that, although we have no positive information as to the nature of the plays of Phrynicus, they must have been very different from those of Thespis. The drama had taken another considerable stride: instead of being a mere religious festival, it had admitted subjects of human and national interest. The honest populace occa

sionally took offence; for, as Plutarch informs us, missing and regretting the satyric chorus in the legends and tales of national suffering, which Phrynicus and Eschylus represented, they cried out, "What is this to Bacchus ?"

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The English drama pursued a similar course, called Mysteries," or, more accurately, according to Mr. Collier, 'Miracle-plays;" the early plays being throughout Europe exclusively religious. That their object was religious instruction, in the shape of an entertainment, is expressly stated by various authorities. The Miracle-play was nothing but a portion of religious doctrine represented in action; an amusement with a religious object. The Scriptures were then untranslated, and these plays must have formed one efficient source of religious instruction, far surpassing church service.

Mr. Collier, who is well entitled to speak on this subject, says, that "in their earliest state these pieces were of the simplest construction, merely following the incidents of Scripture, or of the Pseudo-Evangelium, the dialogue being maintained by the characters introduced. By degrees, however, more invention was displayed, particularly with reference to the persons concerned in the conduct of the story."

On looking into these Miracle-plays, we are struck with the extraordinary mixture of simplicity, buffoonery, extravagance, piety, and what, to modern ears, sounds like blasphemy. Priests and sacred persons kick and cuff each other, with all the freedom of a modern farce. Scurrilous jests, obscene jests, and dull, prosing sermons, fill up the greater portion of the dialogue. The excess of rustic buffoonery is frequently mixed up with the most appalling subjects; as in the quarrel between Cain and Abel, which commences by an invitation from the former to salute the least honorable part of his person, and that in the least honorable manner. We may say, however, with the author of the Historia Histrionica, the taste of that age "was not so nice and delicate in these matters; the plain and incurious judgment of our ancestors being prepared with favour, and taking everything by the easiest handle." Touches of pathos, and "strains of higher mood," occasionally redeem the dreary nonsense of these pieces. Of the former we may notice Abraham's turning aside to weep, pretending

he had lost something, exclaiming, "What water shoots into both mine eyes? I should have been more glad than of all worldly gain, if I had found him once unkind; but I never found him in fault." It would be a perilous thing for a modern clergyman to lead an ass up to the altar during divine service. The fact, familiar enough to all, that our Saviour entered Jerusalem on the back of an ass, would not suffice to keep down the risible emotions even of the most devout. But what would be the effect, if the ass was not only placed there, but the minister was to begin braying? Would not every mind revolt at such a scene? Yet our ancestors saw nothing in it but a symbolical act, at which they bowed and crossed themselves. And what do we think now of the act of initiation into the order of Knights Templars, viz., the spitting on the cross? Is it not an infamy, a sacrilege, at which every one shudders? It was once a sacred symbol.

The obscene jests and fantastic attitudes of the "Bacchic rout" were symbolical; of course, in later times, they lost this sense, and had to be stopped. So in Italy we find, about the middle of the fifteenth century, the Archbishop of Florence, so scandalised by the vulgar buffooneries, jests, and gestures, as well as by the absurd masks worn by the actors, that he interdicted all further performance in churches, and commanded the priests to abstain altogether from performing.

The Miracle-plays were succeeded by "Moralities;" decided step, though a small one, towards the formation of a drama. The difference between the Moral-play or Morality and its predecessor, consists solely in the characters being abstract and allegorical, instead of concrete and historical. The Morality resembled the Autos Sacramentales of Spain; Truth, Pity, Perverse Ignorance, Justice, Peace, and other moral qualities, usurped the place of scriptural personages. Mr. Collier has well shown how abstract impersonations, by degrees, found their way into Miracleplays. As these innovations became numerous, the scriptural characters fell into the back-ground. Having got rid of the purely religious subjects, and substituted others, moral and allegorical, the next step was easy; it was only necessary to attempt individual instead of allegorical character, and to represent scenes of real life and manners