Excerpt from The Second Shepherds Play: Everyman and Other Early PlaysWithin these eighty-four years arose and flourished in the city of London, then of a population not exceed ing souls, over a score of active and enter prising theatrical companies, averaging some four or five performing contemporaneously, and occupying at dif ferent times some twenty theatres and inn yards fitted up for theatrical purposes. Among these actors were Edward Alleyn, who made his repute in the title roles of Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, and Doctor Faus tus; Richard Burbage, the original Richard III, and perhaps the first to play Hamlet, Lear, and Othello; John Lowin, the creator of the roles of Jonson's Se janus and Volpone, and of Sir Epicure Mammon; and, of a lesser degree as an actor, though not as a. Manager, William Shakespeare. Within these eighty four years wrote and starved, or occasionally acquired Competence, a swarm of writers, producing some hun dreds of plays, less than half of which are in all proba bility now extant. Amongst these authors were a score of brilliant playwrights, not one of whom but has added his treasures to that richest of our English inheritances, the literature of our tongue; and at least six of whom have written dramas, which, judged as dramas, are be yond the achievements of the greatest of their succes sors. Within these eighty-four years, in short, arose, developed, and declined the most universal and imagi native, the most spontaneous and heterogeneous litera ture in dramatic form which has yet come from the hand of man.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.