Note HF — 1820 (continued 2)
Reading edition
Thespis was the reputed inventor of tragedy, and he is said to have carried his rude stage and apparatus from village to village on waggons. Horace, Ars Poetica, 275.
Ignotum tragicae genus invenisse Camenae Dicitur et plaustris vexisse poëmata Thespis Quae canerent agerentque peruncti faecibus ora. Thespis began the drama: rumour says In travelling carts he carried round his plays, When actors, smeared with lees, before the throng, Performed their parts with gesture and with song! (Conington.)
These celebrations became identified with the nine Dionysiac festivals. See Virgil, Georgics ii. 380.
There is a reference to the dignity of tragedy throughout the sonnet, and yet to the fact that it is a passing show.—Ed.