Thesʹpis, Thesʹpian.

Dramatic. Thespis was the father of Greek tragedy.

“The race of learned men,

… . Oft they snatch the pen,

As if inspired, and in a Thespian rage;

Then write.”

Thomson: Castle of Indolence, c. 1. 52.

“Thespis, the first professor of our art,

At country wakes sang ballads from a cart.”

Dryden: Prologue to Sophonisba.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.