The difficulties and problems confronting one who would
trace the evolution of that phase of the English drama known
as tragicomedy are as persistent as they are perplexing. Per-
haps the main crux hinges on the very lack of distinctiveness
that is and always has been attached to that word of dramatic
nomenclature. Just what tragicomedy is, and what plays
should be considered in a history of that species are questions
that will occur at once to any student of the English drama.
To the lay mind, the word is perhaps only thought of sec-
ondarily in relation to dramatic composition; for plays de-
scribed as tragicomedies have long since ceased to be a part
of the living drama. ¹ Present-day popular usage doubtless
employs the term oftener in some figurative capacity than in
respect to stage plays. Yet tragicomedy as the name of a once
consequential and recognized dramatic species is a fact known
to every one familiar with the history of modern drama; and
while the initial difficulties attending an approach to the sub-
ject in hand may not be totally effaced by an introductory
discussion, they may be limited and in some degree minimized.

A bare statement of the part played by so-called tragicomedy
in the history of dramatic literature in general and in that of
England in particular is convincing proof of its importance as a
literary genre and of its claim to independent study. The bald
facts are: that sporadic productions denominated tragicomedies

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