FOOTNOTES:
[23] I consulted Dr. Dickerman, the most eminent Egyptologist in this country, upon this subject, and his observation was this: The state of mind and the condition of society of the ancient Egyptians were not such as would incline them to theatrical representations. They had athletic sports, games, such as draughts or checkers, and games of chance, but not such a disposition as brought people together to witness anything. None of the buildings whose ruins have been studied indicate that any were constructed with reference to the assembling of people, except the processions, with priests, in the temples, and that the Labyrinth, moreover, in the twelfth dynasty, contemporary with Abraham, had meetings of the delegates from the different nomes, or provinces, to discuss the political affairs of the kingdom.
[24] Smith’s Dictionary, Vol. iii, p. 997.
[25] Gibbon says the Roman people considered the circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic. The impatient crowd rushed at the dawn of day to secure their places; and there were many who passed sleepless and anxious nights in the adjacent porticos. From the morning to the evening, careless of the sun or of the rain, the spectators, who sometimes amounted to the number of four hundred thousand, remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses and charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear, for the success of the colors which they espoused and the happiness of Rome appeared to hang on the event of a race. “Gibbon’s Decline and Fall,” Vol. iv. pp. 87, 88. London edition of 1848.
[26] Collier, 256, 1st. ed.
[27] Prof. A. W. Ward.
[28] Jeremy Collier’s “View of the English Stage,” 1st ed., p. 258.
[29] Bossuet’s Works, Vol. xxxii. Calcraft’s “Defence of the Stage,” p. 12.
[30] Gifford’s “Jonson,” Vol. iii., pp. 162, 163.
[31] Calcraft, p. 61.
[32] Smith’s “Dictionary,” Vol. i, p. 42; Calcraft, 67.