gives  -it  a  certain  interest.  To  the  student  of  dramatic
evolution  this  play  furnishes  an  excellent  example  of
the  machinery  employed  by  our  oldest  writers,  in  order
to  make  their  scenes  intelligible  in  the  absence  of  proper
theatrical  apparatus.  A  Presenter  appeared  before
each  act  and  recited  the  argument,  eking  out  his
explanatory  remarks  with  a  dumb  show  or  symbolical
representation,  so  that  the  subject  was  analysed  and
exhibited  in  brief,  and  the  minds  of  the  spectators  were
prepared  to  follow  the  action  with  undisturbed  atten-
tion. Fame,  in  the  '  Battle  of  Alcazar,'  enters  the  stage
at  the  end  of  the  fourth  act.  Thunder  and  lightning,
comets  and  fireworks,  herald  her  advent.  The  Pre-
senter, hereupon,  declares  that  danger  menaces  the
kingdoms  of  Barbary,  Morocco,  and  Portugal.      Fame


S66  SHAKSPERE'S  PREDECESSORS.
advances,  and  suspends  three  crowns  upon  the  branches
of  a  tree.  In  the  hurly-burly  of  the  tempest  these
are  shaken  down  ;  and  as  each  falls,  the  Presenter
pronounces  the  name  of  the  ruined  throne.  It  will
be  remembered  that  a  Doctor  or  Expositor  played
a  prominent  part  in  the  Miracles ;  the  Presenter  is  a
survival  of  that  antique  functionary.-^

Peek's  '  Old  Wives'  Tale  '  deserves  to  be  remem-
bered because  of  its  resemblance  to  '  Comus.'  If
Milton  borrowed  the  conception  of  his  Masque  from
this  rustic  comedy,  he  undoubtedly  performed  the  pro-
verbial miracle  of  making  a  silk  purse  out  of  a  sow's
ear.  The  mere  outline  of  both  pieces  is  the  same.
