"_Oberon._ My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou remember'st Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song, And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, To hear the sea-maid's music.
Then, too, there were the "Children of the Revels," a company who performed at Blackfriars Theatre. In "Hamlet" (ii. 2), Shakespeare alludes to these "children-players."[639] Rosencrantz says, in the conversation preceding the entry of the players, in reply to Hamlet's inquiry whether the actors have suffered through the result of the late inhibition, evidently referring to the plague, "Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace; but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapped for 't; these are now the fashion; and so berattle the common stages--so they call them--that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and dare scarce come thither."
[639] "The England of Shakespeare," E. Goadby, 1881, p. 153.
_Twelfth-Day._ There can be no doubt that the title of Shakespeare's play, "Twelfth Night," took its origin in the festivities associated with this festival. The season has, from time immemorial, been one of merriment, "the more decided from being the proper close of the festivities of Christmas, when games of chance were traditionally rife, and the sport of sudden and casual elevation gave the tone of the time. Of like tone is the play, and to this,"[640] says Mr. Lloyd, "it apparently owes its title." The play, it appears, was probably originally acted at the barristers' feast at the Middle Temple, on February 2, 1601-2, as Manningham tells us in his "Diary" (Camden Society, 1868, ed. J. Bruce, p. 18). It is worthy of note that the festive doings of the Inns of Court, in days gone by, at Christmas-tide were conducted on the most extravagant scale.[641] In addition to the merry disports of the Lord of Misrule, there were various revels. The Christmas masque at Gray's Inn, in 1594, was on a magnificent scale.
[640] "Critical Essays on the Plays of Shakespeare," 1875, p. 145; see Singer's "Shakespeare," vol. iii. pp. 347, 348.