in the classics, Latin plays were taken up eagerly and presented in
modified form by every important school or university in England. In this
way our first regular comedy, _Ralph Royster Doyster_ (written by
Nicholas Udall, Master of Eton, and acted by his schoolboys _cir_.
1552), was adapted from an old Latin comedy, the _Miles Gloriosus_ of
Plautus.

[Sidenote: BOY ACTORS]

The awakened interest in music had also its influences on the English
drama. The choir boys of a church were frequently called upon to furnish
music at a play, and from this it was but a step to furnish both the play
and the music. So great was the demand to hear these boys that certain
choir masters (those of St. Paul's and the Chapel Royal) obtained the right
to take any poor boy with a good voice and train him, ostensibly for the
service of the Church, but in reality to make a profitable actor out of
him. This dangerous practice was stimulated by the fact that the feminine
parts in all plays had to be taken by boys, the stage being then deemed an
unfit place for a woman. And it certainly was. If a boy "took to his
lines," his services were sold from one company to another, much as the
popular ball player is now sold, but with this difference, that the poor
boy had no voice or profit in the transaction. Some of these lads were
cruelly treated; all were in danger of moral degradation. The abuse was
finally suppressed by Parliament, but not until the choir-boy players were
rivals of the regular companies, in which Shakespeare and Ben Jonson played
their parts.

CLASSICAL AND ENGLISH DRAMA. At the time of Shakespeare's birth two types
of plays were represented in England. The classic drama, modeled upon Greek
or Roman plays, was constructed according to the dramatic "unities," which