the year wa 1636, and the occasion was a visit of King Charles the First. Mr. Wood made the statement public, he said, "in order that posterity may know that what is now seen in the play-houses of London is originally due to the inventions of Oxford scholars." There are authorities, however, who believe that posterity, in this case, has been misinformed by the old Annalist.
It will surprise the members of the modern college dramatic companies, by the way, to hear that while Wood was exceedingly proud of the efforts of the amateurs of his College, he was forced to confess that theatricals, after the Restoration, were carried a little too far by the students, who had "arrived to strong degree and streyn of impudence." And it will, perhaps, surprise the faculties to learn that after the performances in Christ Church the Dean was in the habit of giving the performers a supper?
A contemporary historian tells us that in this same 1636 King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria saw, also at Christ Church, a play called "The Floating Island," by William Strode, the Public Orator, which play Lord Carnovan declared to be the very worst he had ever seen, except one at Cambridge! However, his lordship confessed that the shifting scenery was good; and that it was afterwards imitated at the London
