But a fiercer far than Reynolds was to arise.

In 1633 Prynne produced his "Histriomastix; or, The Player's Scourge," a monstrous work of more than a thousand closely-printed quarto pages, devoted to the most searching indictment of the stage and its votaries.

The author has been described as a man of great learning, but little judgment; of sour and austere principles, but wholly deficient in candour.

His book was judged libellous, for he had unwittingly aspersed the Queen in his attack upon the masques performed at Court.

He was cited in the Star Chamber, and sentenced to stand in the pillory, to lose both ears, to pay a heavy fine, and to undergo imprisonment for life.