9 The performance of Greek plays (as of the Agamemnon at Oxford in
1880) is not altogether a new thing in England. The author of Ion,
Mr. Serjeant Talfourd, in his Notice prefixed to that drama in
1836, mentions, amongst other reasons for having intended to
dedicate it to Dr. Valpy, 'the exquisite representations of Greek
Tragedy, which he superintended,' and which 'made his images
vital.' At a still earlier time, 'the great Dr. Parr' had
encouraged his pupils at Stanmore to recite the dialogue of Greek
tragedies before an audience and in costume. It would be
ungrateful to omit all reference here to some performances of the
Trachiniae in English in Edinburgh and St. Andrews in 1877, which,
though not of a public nature, are still remembered with delight
by those who were present at them, and were really the first of a
series.
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