The authority of Seneca, once established in the English literary world, maintained itself there long after English drama had emancipated itself from the task of imitating this pallid model, and, occasionally, Seneca's own prototype, Euripides.[162] Nor can it be doubted that some translation of the Latin tragic poet had at one time or another passed through Shakespeare's own hands. But what is of present importance is that to the direct influence of Seneca is to be ascribed the composition of the first English tragedy which we possess. Of _Gorboduc_ (afterwards re-named _Ferrex and Porrex_), first acted on the 18th of January 1562 by the members of the Inner Temple before Queen Elizabeth, the first three acts are stated to have been written by T. Norton; the rest of the play (if not more) was the work of T. Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst and earl of Dorset, whom Jasper Heywood praised for his sonnets, but who is better known for his leading share in The _Mirror for Magistrates_. Though the subject of _Gorboduc_ is a British legend, and though the action is neither copied nor adapted from any treated by Seneca, yet the resemblance between this tragedy and the _Thebais_ is too strong to be fortuitous. In all formal matters--chorus, messengers, &c.--_Gorboduc_ adheres to the usage of classical tragedy; but the authors show no respect for the unities of time or place. Strong in construction, the tragedy is--like its model, Seneca--weak in characterization. The dialogue, it should be noticed, is in blank verse; and the device of the _dumb-show_, in which the contents of each act are in succession set forth in pantomime only, is employed at once to instruct and to stimulate the spectator.