If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them, as they used to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man.
I, 2, 258.
These terms “clap” and “hiss” seem to have been the usual methods of showing signs of approval and disapproval in the theatre in Shakespeare’s time, as it is still with us. Dryden confirms this statement by mentioning that to clap and hiss are the privileges of a freeborn subject in a playhouse. Pepys, in his Diary, 1669, says: “Indeed, it was very finely sung as to make the whole house clap her.” Both these methods were adopted by the spectators in all playhouses in Europe. In the Spanish theatres, when the players said anything that pleased the audience, everybody cried out “Victor! Victor!” This was a custom peculiar to their country. They also had another custom which, fortunately, did not travel beyond the confines of Spain, when they wished to show signs of disapproval either with the play or the actors, they did so by blowing a whistle, much after the fashion of our football enthusiasts when a goal has been scored.
ACTORS.
Let not our looks put on our purposes,
But bear it as our Roman actors do
With untired spirits and formal constancy.
II, 1, 226.
PLAYS.
He reads much,