The rabble scenes were probably given, as our author himself says of
that in Cleomenes, "to gratify the more barbarous part of the
audience." Indeed, to judge from the practice of the drama at this
time, the representation of a riot upon the stage seems to have had
the same charms for the popular part of the English audience, which
its reality always possesses in the streets.
Notwithstanding the excellence of this tragedy, it appears to have
been endured, rather than applauded, at its first representation;
although, being judiciously curtailed, it soon became a great
favourite with the public[3]; and, omitting the comic scenes, may be
again brought forward with advantage, when the public shall be tired
of children and of show. The tragedy of "Don Sebastian" was acted and
printed in 1690.
Footnotes:
1. "The Battle of Alcazar, with Captain Stukely's death, acted by the
Lord High Admiral's servants, 1594," 4to. Baker thinks Dryden might
have taken the hint of "Don Sebastian" from this old play.
Shakespeare drew from it some of the bouncing rants of Pistol, as,
"Feed, and be fat; my fair Callipolis," &c.
2. In a Zambra dance, introduced in the "Conquest of Granada," our
author had previously introduced the Moors bowing to the image of
Jupiter; a gross solecism, hardly more pardonable, as Langbaine
remarks, than the introduction of a pistol in the hand of
Demetrius, a successor of Alexander the Great, which Dryden has
justly censured.
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