Melibaea_ (1530), an imitation of a Spanish comedy of the same name,
though it contained a definitely evolved plot, sent barely a ripple over
the surface of succeeding authorship. It represents the steadfastness of
the maiden Melibaea against the entreaties of her lover Calisto and the
much more crafty, indeed almost successful, wiles of the procuress,
Celestine. True, the play is dull enough. But if dramatists had been
awake to their defects, the value of the new importation from a foreign
literature would have been noticed. The years passed, however, without
producing imitators, until some time in the years between 1544 and 1551
a Latin scholar, reading the plays of Plautus, decided to write a comedy
like them. Latin Comedies, both in the original tongue and in
translation, had appeared in England in previous years, but only as
strayed foreigners. Nicholas Udall, the head master of Eton School,
proposed a very different thing, namely, an English comedy which should
rival in technique the comedies of the Latins. The result was _Ralph
Roister Doister_. He called it an Interlude. Posterity has given it the
title of 'the first regular English comedy'.

Divided into five acts, with subordinate scenes, this play develops its
story with deliberate calculated steps. Acts I and II are occupied by
Ralph's vain attempts to soften the heart of Dame Christian Custance by
gifts and messages. In Act III come complications, double-dealings.
Matthew Merrygreek plays Ralph false, tortures his love, misreads--by
the simple trick of mispunctuation--his letter to the Dame, and thus,
under a mask of friendship, sets him further than ever from success.
Still deeper complexities appear with Act IV, for now arrives, with
greetings from Gawin Goodluck, long betrothed to Dame Custance, a
certain sea-captain, who, misled by Ralph's confident assurance,
misunderstands the relations between the Dame and him, suspects
disloyalty, and changes from friendliness to cold aloofness. This, by