Thus it was with little resistance that there passed through both Houses of Parliament, in 1647, the ordinance by virtue of which the theatres were to be dismantled and suppressed; all actors of plays to be publicly whipped; and all spectators and playgoers, for every offence, condemned to forfeit five shillings.

This was the _coup de grace;_ for the stage had already undergone many and severe assaults.

The player's tenure of his art had become more and more precarious, until acting seemed to be as a service of danger.

The ordinance of 1647 closed the theatres for nearly fourteen years; but for some sixteen years before the stage had been in a more or less depressed condition.

Scarcely any new dramatists of distinction had appeared after 1630.