the play exclaims,--

By all the ancient gods of Rome and Greece,
I love my daughter!--better than my niece!
If any one should ask the reason why,
I'd tell them--Nature makes the stronger tie!

One of the rude French plays, about 1600, is entitled "_La Rebellion,
ou meseontentment des Grenouilles contre Jupiter_," in five acts. The
subject of this tragi-comic piece is nothing more than the fable of the
frogs who asked Jupiter for a king. In the pantomimical scenes of a wild
fancy, the actors were seen croaking in their fens, or climbing up the
steep ascent of Olympus; they were dressed so as to appear gigantic
frogs; and in pleading their cause before Jupiter and his court, the
dull humour was to croak sublimely, whenever they did not agree with
their judge.

Clavigero, in his curious history of Mexico, has given Acosta's account
of the Mexican theatre, which appears to resemble the first scenes among
the Greeks, and these French frogs, but with more fancy and taste.
Acosta writes, "The small theatre was curiously whitened, adorned with
boughs, and arches made of flowers and feathers, from which were
suspended many birds, rabbits, and other pleasing objects. The actors
exhibited burlesque characters, feigning themselves deaf, sick with
colds, lame, blind, crippled, and addressing an idol for the return of
health. The deaf people answered at cross-purposes; those who had colds
by coughing, and the lame by halting; all recited their complaints and
misfortunes, which produced infinite mirth among the audience. Others
appeared under the names of different little animals; some disguised as
beetles, some like toads, some like lizards, and upon encountering each,