In 1635 a playhouse was opened in Dublin by John Ogilby,--dancing-master, theatrical manager, playwright, scholar, translator, poet,--now best known, perhaps, for the ridicule he inspired in Dryden's _MacFlecknoe_ and Pope's _Dunciad_. At the beginning of his versatile career he was a successful London dancing-master, popular with "the nobility and gentry." When Thomas Earl of Strafford was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he took Ogilby with him to Dublin, to teach his wife and children the art of dancing, and also to help with the secretarial duties. Under Strafford's patronage, Ogilby was appointed to the post of Master of the Revels for Ireland; and in this capacity he built a small playhouse in Dublin and began to cultivate dramatic representations after the manner of London. Anthony a Wood in _Athenae Oxonienses_, says: He built a little theatre to act plays in, in St. Warburg's street in Dublin, and was then and there valued by all ingenious men for his great industry in promoting morality and ingenuity.[693] [Footnote 693: Bliss's edition, III, 741.] Aubrey writes: He had a warrant from the Lord Lieutenant to be Master of the Ceremonies for that kingdom; and built a pretty[694] little theatre in St. Warburgh Street in Dublin. [Footnote 694: "Pretty little theatre" is the reading of _MS. Aubr. 7_, folio 20; _MS. Aubr. 8_ omits the adjective "pretty." For Aubrey's full account of Ogilby see Andrew Clark's _Brief Lives_ (1898), 2 vols.] The history of this "little theatre" is not known in detail. For its actors Ogilby himself wrote at least one play, entitled _The Merchant of Dublin_,[695] and Henry Burnell a tragi-comedy entitled _Landgartha_, printed in 1641 "as it was presented in the new theatre in Dublin with good applause." But its chief playwright was James Shirley, who came to Dublin in 1636 under the patronage of the Earl of Kildare. For the Irish stage he wrote _The Royal Master_, published in 1638 as "acted in the new theatre in Dublin"; _Rosania, or Love's Victory_, now known as _The Doubtful Heir_, under which title it was later printed; _St. Patrick for Ireland_;[696] and in all probability _The Constant Maid_.[697] The actors, however, had little need to buy original plays, for they were free, no doubt, to take any of the numerous London successes. From Shirley's _Poems_ we learn that they were presenting Jonson's _Alchemist_, Middleton's _No Wit_, two of Fletcher's plays, unnamed, and two anonymous plays entitled _The Toy_ and _The General_; and we may fairly assume that they honored several of Shirley's early plays in the same way. [Footnote 695: Aubrey mentions this as having been "written in Dublin, and never printed."] [Footnote 696: Published in 1640 as "the first part," and both the Prologue and the Epilogue speak of a second part; but no second part was printed, and in all probability it never was written.]