THE LATIN PLAY AT HARVARD. By J. B. iGreenoug/i. {!!lustratrd/rcin rhologrnphs by Pack Brothrrs.) while they scorn the other heathen writ- ings, yet read the poems of Terence all too frequently." The consequences of this pernicious practice she proceeds (in her preface) to describe, and notes the advantages of her purified imitations, which were on biblical and martyrologi- cal subjects. It is not asserted that any of her pieces nor of those which they were to supersede were really played in her convent or elsewhere ; but the fact that these plays of Terence are singled out especially, when plays are of all literature the least adapted to reading, taken with the subsequent history of such 'v FOR the performance of a Latin play by the students of Harvard College there have certainly been \ plenty of precedents, inasmuch as the custom of such representations in schools, both for instruction and entertainment, is trace- able far into the Middle .-^ges. About 980, Roswitha, a Benedictine nun of Gandersheim, a most learned lady, wTote six comedies in imitation of Terence, because, as she says, " There are many good Christians who prefer the empty show of heathen works to the advantages of the Holy Scriptures on account of the superiority of a more cultivated language. There are besides others also, diligent Bible readers, who, *This illustration and those on pages 498 and 502 are re- produced from the libretto of the play, by permission of the Latin Department of Harvard University. HSCLCGtS 'O, 3. KCbRRTS). or4«"><>0'' 40 J THE LATIN J'LAY AT HARIARD. Ill I \ iVMitKS TIUMH liTijylflia^'ill) plays, seems tu point to some |)erforin- ance of them in some shai)e or other. A miracle play of St. Catherine was acted at Dimslahle, by the boys of the Abbey School about the year iiio. .As this was written by one (leolTrey, a learned Norman, it couUl hardly have been in any other lanpiage than Uitin, the cu.stoniar)' lanj^iiage of the clergy. In the year i.?5o a " I.iidiis Filionni) Israelis" was performetl at forpus C"hristi (College. I'he form of the entry of this fact in the records suggests the probability that a play in some form was already an established custom. At this same date it was a practice of long stand- ing at the lTni\ersity of Paris to ai t tragedies and <-ouiedies. In i.vS6 an item appears in liti '^/icient.nc<.tihbj^)ider<.d /«*//'«'*"; '-six m.isks and six beards for liie comedy." At this |Hiint the connection is lo^t in the direct line for nearly two « tn turies, but the practice was prob.i!ii\ ke|)t up. The line is continued indirectly, how- ever, in Italy, where m 1498 the scini heathen I'omponiiis l.;ietus introdunij performances in l,itin of the comciu^ of riautus an I Terence. Hut iIkm were soon tran-.lated ami imitated, .ind hence were superseded liy vcrnac ul.ir forms of plays. It would appear, tin ri fore, that the custom of giving 1 .ii;n plays never tiwk root in that coiiii'rv. Still it is not unlikely th.it the < ': : n had pre\ailed before in the niiiic iii..l:; as elsewhere, ami that the action ..f I'omponiiis wa.s only an attempt 1 > in troduce real classics instead of mdiUrii I.ntin pl.iys. THE LATLX PLAY AT JJARIARD. 493 In 1544 the custom of producing Latin plays reappears at Cambridge. In that year a Latin interlude, entitled " Pammachius," was played at Christ's College, in which the papistical rites and ceremonies were ridiculed. In 1546 a tragedy of "Jephtha," written both in Greelc and Latin, was introduced into the Christmas shows at Cambridge. In which of its two forms it was played is unknown, but more likely in Latin. That this play was also put into English appears from the allusions to it in "Hamlet," but the academic perform- ance was most likely in Latin. A docu- ment, " Status scholae Etoniensis;" bear- ing date 1560, assumes the practice at Eton of exhibiting plays at Christmas as one well established : " Circiter Festum D. Andreae Ludi Magister elegere solet pro suo arbitrio Scenicas fabulas optimas et quam accommodatissimas quas pueri Feriis Natalitiis subsequentibus non sine ludorum elegantia populo spectante pub- lice aliquando peragant. . . . Interdum etiam exhibet Anglico sermone contextas fabulas siquae habeant acumen et lepo- rem." That is ; About the Feast of St. An- drew, the master is wont to select at his discretion the best and most fitting stage plays, for the boys to act at the Christ- mas holidays with all the elegance of the (regular) plays, sometimes in jjublic in presence of the people. . . . Sometimes also he gives plays written in the Eng- lish tongue, if there are any that have acumen and grace. On Sunday, Aug. 6, 1564, Queen Elizabeth, visiting Cambridge, was enter- tained with a presentation of the "Aulu- laria " of Plautus, in King's College Chapel. The next day she witnessed the tragedy of " Dido," probably also in INTRCPIDIS ■ OLIM ' QM • STaBANT • AGMEN • AGRESTE GRXMINEO- CAMPO • PONTICVLOVE * RVDI ILLIS ■ NOS • PATRID\S ■ LONGO • POST • TEMPORE • PROLES HAEC • MERITA • ANTIQVQ • MVNEHA ' MORE ' OA.MVS ORCX ■ SPeCTATOtHByS • s Sshrie o Domini gn*xt tttagiUrl Do^rttu uth €t %uper repled Conkfi r«tttr»b/ln »tamn$ £nit»l IN V ACTVS DIMSA.H A FREDCRICO DC FOHE5T ALLEN AOET OREX nARVARDlAN\^ MVTaE - PERSONAE n MRI L\DIS EDVNDIS SVNT CVRATORCS L^ DORVn coNCCVTv*! Rcorr KKim KH tAl-MMllK t'l- WW IKtM.KAM. THE LATIN PLAY AT HARVARD. 495 Latin. "Great preparations were made to represent the ' Ajax Flagellifer' in Latin, but wiiether the queen was 'weary with ryding in the forenoone and dis- putations after dinner, or whether anie private occasion letted the doinge there- of was not commonly knowen.' So she departed early the next morning, and did not hear it, ' to the great sorrow, not only of the players, but of the whole L'niversity.' " At Winchester, in 1565, an item of expense was entered for the plays at Christmas, and in 1574 the plays there out of forty- two, only one known clas- sical play, the " Aulularia," a number of Hnglish ones, and the greater jiart plays written for the occasion in Latin on either ancient or modern subjects. The University play was familiar to Shake- speare, and he alludes to it in " Ham- let," Act IIL, So. 2 : — Ham. My lord, you played once i' the univer- sity, you say? Pol. That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good actor. I/iuit. And what did you enact? I'o/. I did enact Julius Ca:sar; I was killed i' the Cajiitol; Brutus killed me. DAVOS (F. K. BALL). lasted three days and three nights, as it is said in the account books, " in Itidis comoediarum et tragoediarum." In 1579 the tragedy of " Richard the Third " in Latin \ erse was acted at St. John's College. In 1605 the comedy of "Vertumnus" was acted at Oxford be- fore King James. The custom continued at the universities till 1647, when a se- vere law against players put a stop to it. The long list of plays acted at Cam- bridge between 1350 and 1647 contains. In Germany the custom was fully es- tablished in Luther's time. This was distinctly so at ^Vittenberg. So at Magdeburg it was the standing order that yearly at least one Latin comedy should be acted before the masters ; and the constitution of the school at Gustrow, dated in 1552, prescribes that every half- year a Latin comedy of Plautus or Terence shall be acted by the boys, but without costume, that they may thereby learn Latin well ; and that older scholars 496 THE LATIN FLAY AT HARVARD. I'llARPRlA (J. R. ANTirilO (J. B. OLHUK). shall recite also a dialogue of I.iician in (ireek. The custom, however, tloes not seem to have obtained the perma- nence in ("lermany that it diii in I'^ngland. It is at Westminster that the custom has been best preserved. The reading of 'I'erence was introduced there by Alexander Nowell, for the better learning of the pure Roman style, in 1543. The comedy of "Roister Doister," written about 1550, is stated by its author to be written in imitation of the classical models of Plautus and Terence. So that it would seem that the study of the Latin ])lavs was well established by the beginning of Kli/.abellVs reign. Tliat some I.itin jilays were acted is clear from a statute of l'",lizabeth, which jirovides under i)enally of ten shillings for a I-itin play every year. These might of course be modern l,itin, but from the importance attached to I'lautus and 'icrence as above set forth it is likely that st)me of these cla.ssical plays were performed as well. .•\n old account of the year 1564 has an item : " For certeyne jilayes by the gramer skole of Westmynstcr and chil- derne of I'owles (St. I'aul's grammar school)." Whether the plays at the school were discontinued about 1647, on account of the severe laws against players, is uncertain. Probably they were ; but they might also have been continued in private without infringing the law. .\t any rale they rea]>|)ear again in 1704, in which year the " .Amphitruo " was per- formed at Westminster ; and they ap- pear essentially in the form in which they are now represented, exceiH that the jirologues and epilogues were at first in Knglish. The scenes were localities in Kngland. Hut in 1758 an .Athenian scene was first adopted, which lasted till 1S09, when it was replaced by a new one, a copy of the old. In 1.S57 an entirely new scene was painted, which is still ]>reser\ed in use. It was not till 1839 that (Ireek costumes were used, whereas before the actors had appeared in the dress of the i)eriod, as was the custom of those times. .Almost all the plays have been classic. Only one modern I.atin one has found a place, the "Ignoramus," written about 1711 by one Kugglcs. iiie '• .\uiphitruo," " .Aulularia," and "Trinummus" of I'lautus have occasion- ally been jilayed, but generally the plays THE LATIX PLAY AT HARVARD. 49; have been limited to the " Adelphi," " Phormio," " Andria," and " Kunuchus" of Terence. The present cj'cle inckides only " Adelphi," " Phormio," " Andria," and "Trinummus." As we should expect from the traditional character of the representation, there is no attemjit at archEeologicai accuracy, either in the setting or the delivery and action. They are purposely treated in the old prescien- tific manner, recited as prose with the English pronunciation, and without ac- companiment. The chief interest is often in the ])rologues and epilogues, which are up-to-date local, gags, often e.\treniely clever and funny. Thus they have become modern or traditional adap- tations, and are, perhaps, all the more amusing on that account. They are almost a national event, like a boat race or cricket match. This custom of plays in schools was not brought to this country by our an- cestors, and has never been introduced until very lately, so that our classic plays are essentially a new departure, and do not connect at all with the old traditions. The first attempt, so far as I know, to produce a classic play in this country, was the Greek play at Cambridge, in i88i, though it is quite likely that Latin plays, classic or other, have been per- formed privately in Catholic colleges. The " Oedipus " at Cambridge has been followed by others in various parts of the country, notably by the admirable per- formance of the " Antigone " by the girls of Vassar a year ago. The first Latin play in this country was given by the students of Jilichigan University, at .\nn .-^rbor, and later at Chicago, the " Menaechmi " of Plautus. In this no rigid antiquarian accuracy was sought for, and modern music by a modern or- chestra, as well as an extra serenade, were introduced. Nor was metrical de- livery in the manner of the ancients at- tempted. The performance of the " Cap- tivi " last year, in New York and Chicago, by students of St. Francis Xavier College, PHORMIO (e. k. rand). 4;iH THE LATJi\ PLAY AT HARV tRH a|ii>arcnlly aiim-il at i\ai Iik>> oI uprt sentation, if wc luay jinli;f by the |)reface to the hbretto, and the costumes for the most i)art, as they appear in a photo- irraph, are Greek ; but as the music was set for mixed modern i n s t r u - ments, and the tra- ditional Catholic ])ronunciation of Latin was pre- served, it would seem that nothing like the delivery of the ancients could be ex])ected. It ought to be men- tioned, however, that the music, ac- lording to the pref- ace, was composed in ancient scales, so far as this could be done with modern harmony. 1 regret that I was not in Chicago in time to witness the repre- sentation. .■\s to our own attempt at Cam- bridge, it was in- tended to be as exact a reproduc- tion of the ancient ilelivery as was ])raciicable, and no pains were spared to that end. Some antiquities, how- ever, we deliber- ately rejected, such as masks and an- cient scales (except in one interlude). The great ilifliculty which we fotmd was in the musical ac- I ompaniment. We had discussed the ipiestiun of a I-itiii play for some twenty years with- o>it getting any lurthcr aiua.l, and should ne\er have at- tempted one had not I'rof. F. I>. .Mien succeeded in establishing at least a iupi/iis itgfiii/i, if not a permanent solution of the THE LATIN FLAY AT HARl'ARD. 499 <8 CRATINUS. (L. H. DOW.) (J. difficulty. To give a Latin comedy with- out the proper music seemed a reversed anachronism. But what music, and in what relation to the text? In a tragedy the question of music is comparatively easy of solution. The chorus does the singing separately, and can as well sing in modern forms as ancient. Mendelssohn's charming music to the ". Antigone " and Mr. Paine's noble choruses in the "Oedi- pus" are worthy of the superb lines to which they are set, and present to our ears practically no jarring inconsistencies. But in the New Comedy, as we ha\e it adapted by Plautus and Terence, fully one half was delivered musically, not by a chorus but by individual actors, and ac- companied by the music of the pipe. It is plain to see that this, was not a matter to be easily disposed of. The other half of the play, the divcr- biiim, as distinguished from the catiti- cum or musical parts, could easily be managed. But still even the diverlnum was metrically delivered ; and metrically to the ancients meant something quite dif- ferent from what we call by that name. Metre in the ancient sense has perished. It can onlv be resuscitated bv patient practice. Even with a practice of six months we failed to revive it per- fectly in the ears of boys who had been accustomed from babyhood to our un- rhythmic English speech. But in spite of many slips the public had a fair repre- sentation of what metrical recitation must have been in the mouth of a Roman. .■\s to the musical parts, we were after all forced to compromise. In the present state of our knowledge it is not certain which parts of the canti- cum were accompanied note for note, and which had melodramatic music (ff(i/jitAara,\oi')/), though we know that both forms of accompaniment were used. They'/^^v effect of six-eight time, the time to which iambic and trochaic rhythms correspond, seemed at variance with the sentiment of much of the play. Conse- quently that time was adopted in only a very small portion of the accompaniment, and the rest was left to a kind of melo- dramatic music in four-four time. This, however, became in the performance twehe-eight. For each beat of the four- four time was so adjusted in most parts that it occupied the time of a whole Kit of 'he verse, the foot containing \ ^ >». •r \ % 8* THE LATIN PLAY AT HAK\ ARD. three times or morae. A small part was made even less exact than this, and the music only came in with little strains at intervals, so that the time could not be easily noticed. Still even in these detached strains the beat was made to coincide with the ictus of the verse and ^U^ PHAEPRIA. keep the semblance of conformity. With all these forms of accompaniment it was necessary to preserve the rhythm of the verse in recitation with considerable ex- actness, though, in view of the difficulty of keeping time in poetry without a tune to suggest and enforce the rhvthm, some latitude was unavoidably allowed. I do not know of any previous attempt to re- produce the effect of exact time along with the expressive utterance of lively conversation as it must have been prac- tised by the Romans. To produce the effect of the ancient pipe and at the same time to avoid monotony. Prof. Allen wrote the music for oboe, two clarionets and bassoon, rarely allowing more than two instruments to play together, and often only one alone, except in the interludes, where fuller harmonv was introduced. The effect was found to be not unpleasing, and cer- tainly could not be far from the sound of the ancient pipes. The piper or pipers on the stage with dummy pipes fitted to the mouthpiece {ciJ(tiJlifi urn) followed the music in imitation, and their per- formance was not by any means the least y / DORIO (w. F. HARRIS). artistic part of the play. In fact, very many persons were actually deceived by it. Thus the effect of the ancient music of the piper was fairly well represented. In the action, too, the attempt was made to represent, so far as it could be discovered, the ancient manner of action. Wherever an attitude or movement or gesture could be discovered by any of us in any allusion in literature or repre- sentation in art, we endeavored to re- produce it. Much of course had to be left to the realistic feeling of the actors, most of whom were entirely unskilled in the art, and so better fitted to carry out an antiquarian study. It is a great pleas- ure to us that so many persons were pleased with the performance in spite of its antiquarian character. The reader will notice in the pictures some attitudes and a number of gestures 5^y> THE LATiy /'/.AY AT I/ARIARD. which differ from our ordinary ones. These were drawn chiefly from Quintihan and the miniatures of the Vatican man- uscript, and apparently belongeii to the conventions of the ancient stajje. Again the movements on the stage were more varied and violent than we should ex|)ect now in a play of the same general class. 'I'his also was conventional. There is no doubt that the action of even a more (juict i)lay (" l-'aliula Sta- taria"), like the " I'hormio," was much mure pmnounced in gesticiil.ition, panto- mime and movement than we usuallv sec. except in a horseplay farce. The Mediterra- nean nations are re- markable for a freedom of gesture almost amounting to panto- mime, which is un- known to the Northern jieoples, and this ten- dency seems to have come down to them from very early times ; so that the pantomime of the slaves, the anger of the father, the terror of the delin(|uent hus- band, and the despair of the yoimg lovers may be regarded, at any rate were intended, as a natural and even con- ventional exhibition of this tendency. In the costumes, also, we enileavored to follow such descriptions and representations as have been preserved to us. These are few, but enough to give the gen- eral features. The long, loose robe of the pipers, the short tunic and small /'allium, or wra|), of the slaves, the tunic and chlamys, or cloak, of the young men, the long-sleeved tunic reaching to the heels (lalitris and iiianiiittti ) , with the ample p,illiiim with fringe, the hat (/>t- lasiis) allowed to hang down the back when not in actual use, the cuned staff of the rich old men, the i)arty-colored pjllium of Dorio, and the whole array of Nausistrata were taken directly from de- scriptions and works of art. 'I'he make- up was stinlied in the same manner, so mu( h so that .\[r. Rothe visited the .N'au- cratis ])ictures, when they were at the Art Museum, to observe the complexion anil cast of features of these long-de- jiarled Creeks. There were many i>er and was ground up with the rest. Nor were the iirofession.il as^i^lants, the coslumers, the i>ainters and hairdressers behind in the same unsparing L.xpcnditure of time and thought. The scene painter was given a book of classical works of art and selected from two or three thousand pictures the one best ailapted to the i)ur- pose of them all. It was a trans- lation into color, admirably done as we thought, of the famous re- lief of the IJritish Museum, rep- resenting the bearded I )ionysus with his it>itif;e received by a vic- torious tragic poet. So success- ful a representation of a model in a difterent medium means no ha])hazard by-the-job work, llarnest artistic effort was re- (juired, anil that workman's con- .icience had to come into ])lay which is the salt of the world, whether it lurks under red flan- nel or imjjerial ])ur|>le. So with the costumes, the prettiest bit of color in the whole, the yellow pipers — our daffodils, as a ladv f - THE LATLX PLAY AT HARVARD. 605 PROF. F. D. AM.EN. called them — were the costumer's own suggestion. The color scale was pur- posely kept low, and needed just that touch of high light to make the whole artistic. It is a comfort to feel that Harvard College with its connections, when it really wants to do any- thing, hasn't any more indiffer- ence than the craziest of cranks. Even the professional photog- rapher forgot that he was a professional, and was as ama- teurishly enthusiastic as if he had never done anythmg but press the button of a kodak. He thought the subjects were good, and was bound to take them, no matter which or how many sold. And I fancy that spirit shows in the result. That the reader can judge, as many of the illustrations of this article are reproductions of these photographs. The "Phormio," considered artistically, is a fine piece of dra- matic construction, the best that remains to us of the new comedy. If that great body of literature had been preserved to us, doubt- less we should have better ones. But of Terence's plays we have only six ; and Plautus is far in- ferior to him in dramatic con- struction and character drawing. The double plot is to my mind not a blemish, but a distinct ad- vance on any of the other plays. The two motives which are interwoven are, as was the taste of that time (and if we consider the modern novel we may see that all men still love a lover), the trials of the two young men, Antipho DIE • XIX • APRILIS CO RMIO lEM • VIII T'lauea^fc-foj,] ITTATVR QVISQVIS • HAXC • TESSERAM • EXHIBVERIT AliMlbsloN IICKII. 506 THE LATLX I'l.AY AT HARVARD. 0^ 'i M. W. MATIIKR. I. R. nl.lVKR. and I'hacdria, in sciuring the objects of their alTei lions rc>|>c(tively. And cer- tainlv trom tlio first these motives are artfully intertwined. Hardly any two could lie more so. This imion gives the l)laywright an exquisite oiiportimity for contrasting the situations of the two boys in their own words. Ivach thinks the other is the lucky one. I'haedria is in love without jiossession, but is not inex- tricably cntangleho is fully com- mitted by a fraudulent marriage, and is in momentary danger of meeting the anger of his father and being dei)rived of his love. The scene in which they compare notes is a marvel of dramatic writing, not surpassed in delicacy and a( umcn by any modern Trench dramatist. The two motives con- tinue to run parallel until the discovery of Phanium's parentage, where one seems to be lost ; but it is pre- cisely the iiiiwuement of .Antipho's tangle that enables the ever-active I'hormio to wTing the money from the old men to purchase I'haedria's love. Even when both the knots are untied, where a modern play would dribble away with otiose platitudes, the interest is kejit up by changing to the too much married Chremes, and so the play ends with Nau- sistrata's righteous indig- nation and obviously in- dicated reconciliation. One can hardly see how the interest of a play could by any changes of situation and shift- ing of interest be better kei)t up to the very end. We have unfortunately become so blunted by modern forms of the drama to the finer touches anil delicate nuances of real art, that noth- ing but very strong sensations interest us, and it is only by looking for these fine strokes that we can find them. Then, again, take the two rogues of the play, the characters that in ancient times occupied the place of the modern villain. The shrewdness of ( "leta, set olT as he is by the dull 1 )avus as a foil, when he defends .Antiijho against his angry father, and later works up the ])lot to get the money for Thaedria, is not siiri)assed by the trickery of any character in ancient or modern comedy. It is not so broad farce as we have in many i)lays, but it has the same delicacy of touch, and in the highest deg^ree that is found in all Terence's w<^rk. In I'hor- mio we have the same rascality but on a higher plane, with an ingenuity and a cool impudence that are as character- istic of the ]>arasite as t'lCta's qualities E. K. RANI>. C. R. NOVKS. THE LATIN PLAY AT HARVARD. 507 are of the tricky slave. The scenes in which I'hormio plans to defend the boy Antipho and vanquishes Demipho with his three prosy frieiids are perfect devel- opments of the plot and at the same time exquisite character sketches. The ancients liked distinct characters as well as we ; but where we let the character dominate the play and absorb all the dramatic effect, they were skilful enough to weave all in together, so that the plot itself is a natural expression of the characters ; nothing is sacrificed to the prominence of the star, while our drama is a thing of shreds and patches. It is no wonder that the whole modern drama was founded on imitations, often very feeble ones at that, of the plays of Plautus and Terence. A return to their methods might develop a school even of American pla)'wrights. It is idle to hope for such a return, for the box office would protest against it. That has to be governed by the most ignorant and dull- est persons who can buy a ticket, and horseplay and gag song are the best drawing cards that we have. Even the finest French plays have to be mutilated and vulgarized to fit our common audi- ences. " Friend Fritz '' had to have a lot of irrelevant gag songs, and then was obliged to give place to a variety show strung on a slender thread of plot. It is a comfort to know that Terence's plays had to contend with the same difficulties. One of them failed twice before it suc- ceeded in keeping the stage, and I have no doubt that the vulgar excrescences and gags of Plautus helped more than anything else to make him popular. Exception has sometimes been taken to the first act of the " Phormio" as consist- ing wholly of narration ; but to me it has always seemed, as it did to the ancients, the perfection of economy in art. The whole interest of the play turns on the events following the arrival home of the father. To represent on the stage any of the previous action would dissipate the interest with a number of details, which would destroy not merely the unity of time and place, a matter of little con- sequence, but the unity of the plot as well. Hut the audience must know what that action has been. So the short first act consists wholly of a masterly narra- tive, interrupted occasionally by dull re- marks of Davus, which puts the audience in possession of the necessary knowledge ; and the play proceeds in the second act without delay with the representation of the state of mind of the two boys. Then comes the alarm of the old man's com- ing, and the superb scene in which An- tipho IS braced up to meet his father, only to run away in terror the moment he sees him coming. In this way the action moves on naturally but rapidly in its development. Something may be said of the morality of the play, especially as our brilliant Benedictine Roswitha was moved to write new plays to take the place of what she considered the impure ones of Ter- ence. It is true that the scenes of the new comedy are for the most part laid in what we should consider a very corrupt society. In fact Plautus boasts in the epilogue to the " Captivi " — if indeed it is his, as is generally supposed — that that play is a very virtuous one, with noth- ing to offend the most fastidious. He thereby implies a consciousness that the others were less so. So they were un doubtedly considered more or less by the Romans, and perhaps by the Greeks too. But roguery and knavery are often vi- vacious and witty, while virtue is often dull ; and in all times the contemplation of villains and disreputable persons, though distressing in real life, has had, if far enough away and long enough ago to be out of our immediate sphere, an inex- plicable charm for the most sober-minded persons. Roswitha's diligent Bible readers who delighted in Terence were no doubt influenced as much by this as by the ele- gance of his style. F"or that matter, the plays of Terence and Plautus too are, with the exception of now and then an improper joke or two, harmless enough. The doings of the characters were at the time the scene is laid hardly even dis- reputable. The relations of men and women, master and slave, father and son, were so different from our notions of them to-day, that we feel that these characters are not patterns nor even warnings for us in these relations, any more than those of Abraham, Isaac and A I'AHE OK rilK MU&IC TIDE-RIDE. 509 Jacob. Their emotions and sentiments are burs, but their circumstances and lives are as far outside us as those of the cave man or the inhabitants of Mars. And as a matter of fact the "Phormio" is an exceptionally clean play. We had to cut only one line, and that perhaps only from oversqueamishness. There is more suggestion of evil in any F^nglish play that can be mentioned, as realisti- cally produced in modern times, than in all Terence, and, if we except one frag- mentary play, in Plautus too. The " Phormio" turns, to be sure, on what are to us somewhat irregular relations of the sexes ; but the women never appear on the stage, we never have any sug- gestive talk about them such as no English play is free from, nor are there any exciting love scenes such as occur in any English play. The real action of the play is entirely outside of all the impropriety in a manner which would be impossible on the modern stage. The background may be squalid, and so is that of a report of the Society for the Suppression of Vice ; but so far as any impropriety is concerned, the play is as reputable as a meeting of that society, perhaps even less prurient. The other plays of Terence and many of those of Plautus are somewhat less fitted for performance, not on account of any immorality, but on account of inci- dents interwoven with the plot which our taste finds disagreeable. Yet there are also many to which no objection can be made ; and we hope to see the Latin play established as a regular institution, to be performed at not too long intervals, alter- nating in some manner with a Greek play. I feel sure nobody will be injured mor- ally, and many will be benefited intellec- tually thereby. TIDE-RIDE. By Elizabeth Hill. THE shrill, proud sound of neighing comes up the surging brine, — The Riders of the Sea have won yon far horizon line ; They crest the poising billow, they touch the meteor's glare, — A vast weird host uprearing through the black midnight air. O'er leagues of lifting water, in wide, unbroken ranks. With muffled beat of pounding hoofs, and wash of plunging flanks, With wild, unearthly cheering, outswelling, dying strains, The demon army of the flood on the broad coast-reach gains. And onward, ever onward, the serried legions win, — An endless mighty rise and fall, a growing, deepening din. The volumed chaHenge booms along to fill the caverned shore ; And up the reefs of waiting land rolls the far-echoing roar. And nearer, ever nearer, until their looming van Shows every gleaming ghostly steed, and naked phantom man. The hurling wave drives through them, and through them sweeps the gale. And through them shine the seaward stars, — vague and far-off and pale. .And on the last, high billow the ocean-riders brace. Exultant, tense is every limb, and fixed is every face. Then with one wild upleaping, and one great ringing shock, The demons of the midnight flood charge the unflinching rock. ^C^A;/ WHAT NEW ENGLAND OWES TO THI- STATES. UNITED By Lewis G. Janes. Nc ilil.KSSE OltLICE. ^HK patriotic New-Kng- landerwill perhaps pro- test against the natural implication of my title. He will declare that its phraseology should be reversed. The debt of the Republic to New England has bceh the theme of many an able writer. It^niay well inspire the ]iens of many m^e. In fact, my own topic implies this r^ersion of title as well as the form which 1 have adoi^ted. The solution of this appareiiKantinonv. will, I think, clearly ajipear. That which I first wish to celeljSite is the New Kngland Town Meeting, virtues of this scion of the ancestral/*'/ ///('('/ lia\c been emphasized by many writers, — by Fiske, by Hryce, by IJc rocquevillc, by all who have carefully studied the life history of the .American people and the development of our democratic institutions. It is true that Mr. Charles Francis .\dams, in his inter- esting ac count of the evolution of the town of (Juincy and it.s development into a city, intimates that the Town .Meeting has had its day and tKat it must give place to more modcni and convenient methods of local g(/Cernmenl. I cannot tliink that in this particular he has sjjoken advisedly, with Awe regard for the facts t)f history and (lie existing situation. New I'.nghind has clung to the Town Meeting a."* the very jialladium of her liberties. The citizens of the town of Boston did not abdicate their rights of direct legislation in local affa^i^ imlil 1 82 2, when the ])opulation was /nounting above forty thousand and thc'^'registered voters numbered between sev/Cn and eight thousand. Recent examples show that the people of New Kngland are still jealous of their ancient privileges. Brockton did not become a city until its population approximated fifteen thousand. (Juincy itself cluDg to the folk-moot, by Mr. Adams's own confession, until the gathering of the voters in a single legisla- tive body became a practical impossi- bility. Walthnm, {"hico|)ee and I'itts- field bear testimony to the same popular feeling; I'awtucket, in Rhode Island, ilid not claim municipal honors until its population ajiproximated twenty thousand. Woonsocket divided its suffrage between the towns of Smithfield and Cumberland ^until it became a substantial village. Ishe high average of urban population in NeX l-^ngland as comjiarcd with the West and ^yiith, especially with those states in which the county constitutes the unit of local go\>crnmcnt, maintained without the compulsion'of legil limitation, also testifies to the^ove for the Town Meet- ing in the sectioB where it originated. Nor is this teslmiony more emphatic than that of its steacly career of conquest in those states where"" .^it has come into direct competition witrr the representa- tive county system of government. In Illinois, where the county had the start in the r.iie under the Constitution of 1818, and where the option of adopting ;he Town Meeting was left to the coun- :us liv the ( i)n>tiUilu)n of 1S48, less '*• ^^ •JLv.^, - •" f'>i.>