OF THE 
 UNIVS:e3ITY 
 

LOST SOULS. 
 
 {Fyo»ii a Fvcsco of " Tlif Pay qf\Ju<1gment " in the Chapel of Holy Cross, 
 ; « < ', , ^ti^at/ord-on-A-'on. 
 
t^e (miracfe (J)fa^ 
 
 in Bn^San^f . . . 
 
 ($n (Recount of f^c <gorfg 
 d^efigtoue ©ramo, 
 
 (f g ^ibneg TJJ. Cferfte. 
 
 "At Pentecost, 
 When all our pageants of delight were play'd." 
 
 — Tzuo Gentlevien oj Verona, Act iv.. Scene 4. 
 
 3,> ' > 
 
 LONDON : 
 WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., 5, FARRINGDON AVENUE. 
 
M5C5 
 
 (preface. 
 
 I HAVE attempted in these pages to trace concisely, and 
 I hope intelligibly, the gradual growth of the religious 
 drama in this country, where, from a date somewhat sub- 
 sequent to the Conquest to the time of the Reformation, it 
 occupied a place in public estimation and favour little, if at 
 all, inferior to that now held by the secular stage. 
 
 While not altogether neglecting the literary and dramatic 
 features of the Miracle Plays, it has rather been my 
 endeavour to give an account of the manner in which the 
 people at large entered into the spirit of the performances, 
 and to tell how they presented and embellished their plays. 
 
 If I succeed in conveying to those who read these pages 
 some idea of what these Miracle Plays really were in matter 
 and in representation, and in thereby indicating the extent 
 to which they influenced the life of the people, in which they 
 were so great an element, I shall be content. 
 
 SIDNEY W. CLARKE. 
 
 Lamb Building, 
 Temple. 
 
 221512 
 
Etet of QReferencee. 
 
 Wright's '* Early Mysteries." 
 
 Collier's " History of English Dramatic Poetry." 
 
 Ward's "History of English Dramatic Literature" ( Macmillan). 
 
 Symond's " Shakespeare's Predecessors in the English Drama" (Smith, 
 
 Elder &^ Co.). 
 Pollard's " EngHsh Miracle Plays" (Clarendon Press). 
 Sharp's " Dissertation on the Coventry Mysteries." 
 Miss Toulmin Smith's "York Plays" (Clarendon Press). 
 "Coventry Mysteries" (Shakespeare Society). 
 "Chester Plays" (Shakespeare Society). 
 " Towneley Mysteries" ( Surtees Society). 
 
 And other works mentioned in the text. 
 
Confent6. 
 
 CHAPTEK PAGE 
 
 List of References vii 
 
 I. The Origin of Drama i 
 
 II. The Beginnings of English Drama - - - io 
 
 III. The York Plays i6 
 
 IV. The Wakefield Plays 27 
 
 V. The Chester Plays 34 
 
 VI. The Coventry Plays 43 
 
 VII. Other English Miracle Plays - - - - 49 
 
 VIII. The Production of a Miracle Play - - - 55 
 IX. The Scenery, Properties, and Dresses - - 70 
 
 APPENDIX :- 
 
 I. The Order of the York Plays - - - - 79 
 
 II. Extract from City Register of York, 1426 - 86 
 
 III. The Order of the Wakefield Plays - - 87 
 
 IV. The Order of the Chester Plays - - - 88 
 V. The Order of the C.rey Friars' Plays at Coven try 90 
 
 VI. A Miraclf': Play in a Puim-et Show - - - 91 
 Index 93 
 
Zbc niMracle pla^ in Encjlanb. 
 
 >-•-< 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 2^e Origin of ©rama. 
 
 THERE is no better established fact in the whole 
 history of intellectual progress than that the dramas 
 of the world, both ancient and modern, have originated in 
 the rehgious. observances of the people among whom they 
 existed. The ancient Greek drama, the earliest of which 
 we have any knowledge, furnishes an excellent example of 
 this great truth ; for it was not only evolved out of the wild 
 and furious dance to Bacchus, but all through its periods of 
 development and of greatest excellence it never entirely lost 
 its connection with the religious ceremonial of the nation. 
 Dionysus, God of Life and Death, God of the Fertile Earth, 
 God of Wine, was the father alike of Greek tragedy and 
 comedy. Drama formed a part of his worship, and the 
 theatre was the temple in which he was enthroned in the 
 person of his two daughters, twin representatives of his 
 Janus-like character, and of the double aspect of life. The 
 production of a play was a religious function, and in the 
 large stone shrine of Dionysus at Athens the entire 
 population were wont to assemble, to celebrate in honour of 
 the god, from dawn to dark, on the occasion of the perform- 
 ance of the new pieces. Every citizen was entitled, as of 
 right, to attend, and even when a charge began to be made 
 
 1 
 
THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 for admission, if the sum charged was beyond the means of 
 any citizen he had only to apply to the magistrates, who 
 were bound to supply him from the public funds with the 
 necessary oboli. In the middle of the orchestra, which 
 occupied the floor of the house, stood the altar, on which a 
 sacrifice was offered before the performance commenced, 
 and round which the chorus was grouped. In the best seat 
 sat the priest of Dionysus, presiding over the festival of his 
 god, and the god himself was supposed to be present. In 
 the evening, before the dramatic displays began, the statue 
 of the god was taken out of its shrine, carried in a procession 
 by torchlight to the theatre, and placed in the orchestra in 
 full view of the stage, and there it remained until the close 
 of the festival. The festivals were not held at the will of 
 man, but were established in obedience to the commands of 
 the oracle, and the plays, or at least some of them, were 
 supposed to have been written at the inspiration of the 
 divinity. During the festivals the whole city gave itself up 
 to pleasure and to worship. Peace and harmony were 
 presumed to prevail ; distraints for debt was forbidden by 
 law during their continuance; prisoners were temporarily 
 released from gaol to enable them to join in the worship ; 
 anyone committing an assault received a specially severe 
 punishment, as being guilty of an outrage against religion. 
 To preserve the sacredness of the performance no person 
 suffering from civil disability was allowed to take part in a 
 chorus. Any form of insult committed in the theatre was 
 punished with death as sacrilege ; while the persons of the 
 poets, actors, singers, and dancers were regarded as sacred 
 for the time being. In short, the performance of the old 
 Greek drama was essentially part of a religious celebration, 
 
THE ORIGIN OF DRAMA. 3 
 
 and was intended not merely as an amusement for the 
 people but as an act of homage and reverence to the god. * 
 The Indian drama, like the Greek, owed its origin to a 
 union of song and dance at the festivals of the gods, and 
 was in its prime only performed on solemn occasions of a 
 public nature, and at seasons sacred to some divinity. The 
 germ of Chinese drama was the sacred or symbolical dance, 
 and in Japan theatrical performances were evolved out of a 
 dance called the " Samboso," which was performed as a 
 charm against volcanic eruptions. 
 
 The Roman drama was not of native or independent 
 origin, but was an offshoot of Greek drama, and was, if 
 tradition supported by Livy and Valerius Maximus may be 
 trusted, introduced into Rome in order to appease the 
 wrath of the gods at a time of pestilence. In like manner, 
 when we come to investigate the origin of modern drama, 
 we shall find that origin to be in religious worship, and that, as 
 in ancient Greece so in mediaeval Europe, religion gave birth 
 to drama. But first let us see why drama had to be born 
 again. 
 
 Under the later Roman Empire drama, reflecting the 
 manners and morals of the people, reached such a state of 
 vicious degr^ation that it became an abomination. The 
 theatre was overshadowed by the attractions of the amphi 
 theatre and the circus, and in its endeavour to compete with 
 these rivals it fell to ^ross buffoonery and open obsceiiity 
 The Christian Church, finding reformation hopeless, 
 placed drama under its severest condemnation, and whenj 
 Christianity became the acknowledged religion of thel 
 Empire the doom of the theatre was sealed. 
 
 * See Haigh's "Attic Theatre," chapter i, section I. 
 
4 THE MIRACLE PI.AY. 
 
 The doctrine of suppression extended from the drama to 
 all kinds of profane learning, with the result that all art and 
 culture became extinct, except perhaps in the monasteries, 
 and the lay world wallowed for centuries in a slough of 
 ignorance and prejudice. 
 
 From the fourth to the tenth centuries profane art in all 
 its branches was practically non-existant. A few Latin 
 plays formed on the classic model, but dealing with religious 
 subjects, were produced in the monasteries, but merely as 
 literary exercises. The suppression by the Church of its 
 pet abomination the theatre was effectual and complete. 
 
 Although the Church for its own purpose had suppressed 
 drama, it is a curious commentary on the futility of human 
 endeavour that the Church for its own purpose was obliged 
 to resurrect what it had suppressed. Little as it may now 
 bear traces of its origin, the theatre of Europe, and more 
 particularly the theatre of England, is the offspring of 
 religious worship. Its cradle was upOn the steps of the 
 altar, and in the years of its struggling infancy it was 
 nurtured by ecclesiasticism and fostered by clerical care. 
 
 The form that this early drama took was that which we 
 know as the Mystery or the Miracle Play. The very nan^e 
 shows the ecclesiastical origin, as the word mystery is but 
 the French 7nystere, derived from minist^re, because the 
 clergy, the tniiiisterium, or ministri Ecdesiae^ were the first 
 actors. 
 
 Though the names "Mystery" and " Miracle Play " are 
 generally used indiscriminately to denote a religious play, 
 each has a distinct technical meaning. Strictly, Miracle 
 Plays are those dealing with incidents in the lives of saints 
 and martyrs ; while Mysteries are concerned with the 
 
THE ORIGIN OF DRAMA. 5 
 
 Scriptural narrative only, prominence being given to the 
 story of man's fall and redemption. In England the term 
 Miracle Play was given to any kind of sacred play. 
 
 The cradle of English drama rested on the altar. The old 
 ritual of the church bristled with the germs of drama, and 
 those germs were developed and expanded mainly on account 
 of Latin, an unknown tongue to the masses of the people, 
 being the language used in the churches. The Bible was a 
 sealed book to the laity, and even if it had been free and 
 open few could read. The clergy thus found it necessary tol 
 devise some means of explaining and bringing home thei 
 meaning of the ritual, and of teaching the truths of doctrine 
 and Holy Writ to an unlettered and ignorant people. In 
 addition to preaching the truths they had to proclaim they 
 acted them, and in its early state the miracle play is nothing 
 more than an acted sermon. Let us take an example of the 
 "crudest form~of The miracle play. It would be more properly 
 described as a series of living pictures than as a play, and 
 was probably performed almost entirely in dumb show. 
 Imagine a church dedicated to St. Nicholas. On that Saint's 
 day the clergy of the church would desire to demonstrate 
 to the congregation the virtues of their patron saint. This 
 is how they did it : — The image of the saint was removed 
 from its shrine, and a priest, dressed to represent the image, 
 took its place. The service of the day commences, and at 
 a suitable moment a pause is made for the representation of 
 the miracle ; then another priest, dressed as a rich heathen, 
 comes in at the church door and advances to the shrine, 
 where he deposits his treasure, and calls on the saint to 
 guard it for him while he goes away on a journey. As soon 
 as the heathen has gone robbers enter the church, then 
 
b THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Stealthily creep up to the shrine, and silently carry off the 
 treasure. Soon the heathen returns ; on finding his 
 property has been stolen he flies into a rage, and upbraids 
 and beats the image of the saint which had failed to protect 
 his treasure. But upon this the image moves, descends 
 from its niche, goes out and reasons with the robbers, and 
 forces them to make restitution. Terrified by the miracle 
 the thieves return trembling up the church, and bring 
 back all they had taken. The saint's image returns to its niche. 
 The heathen is transported with joy ; he sings and adores 
 the image. At this point another priest, personating the 
 saint himself, appears on the scene, and bids the heathen 
 worship God alone — the heathen thereupon proclaims his 
 conversion to the true faith, and the church service is again 
 proceeded with. 
 
 This in substance is one of the earliest English Miracle 
 Plays of which we have any knowledge. By degrees this 
 crude form was elaborated, music and singing were pressed 
 into service, until at length we get more advanced towards 
 true drama in such episodes as the Offices of Easter and the 
 Shepherds. The former was performed in churches at 
 Easter time to illustrate to the people the story of the 
 Resurrection. At the appointed place in the Easter service, 
 three priests, representing the three Maries, slowly advanced 
 up the church to where a grave had been prepared. An 
 angel sitting by the side of the grave asks them whom they 
 seek, and the women reply that they seek for Jesus of 
 Nazareth the crucified. The dialogue and action then 
 follow the gospel story, till finally a priest personating 
 the Saviour appears and announces His Resurrection. 
 This is the signal for the choir to join in with a joyous 
 
THE ORIGIN OF DRAMA. 7 
 
 Alleluia, and the play ends with the singing of the Te 
 Deum. 
 
 The Office of the Shepherds was solemnized or performed 
 on Christmas eve. A cradle was placed on the altar, and 
 beside it an image of the Virgin Mary. A number of the 
 clergy represented the shepherds, carrying crooks and 
 having with them real sheep and dogs. Some of the 
 shepherds feign to sleep, some to watch their flocks, when 
 suddenly all are aroused as a sweet-voiced choir boy, dressed 
 as an angel, mounts the pulpit, and from there, after a blast 
 from the trumpeters, announces the birth of Jesus. There- 
 upon a number of singing boys posted in the galleries in the 
 clere-story, and representing the multitude of the heavenly 
 host, begin to sing " Glory to God in the Highest and on 
 earth peace, goodwill toward men." 
 
 The shepherds proceed up the church to the manger, 
 where other priests, personating the midwives, show the child 
 Jesus and bid them proclaim His birth to the people. The 
 shepherds adore the child and His mother, and then march 
 through the church singing a hymn of praise. 
 
 It has been generally supposed that up to this point the 
 characters in these church representations were acted solely 
 by the clergy and the members of the church choirs, but it 
 is probable that in some cases laymen took part in the 
 performances. For instance, it is unlikely that in remote 
 towns and villages the clerical staff of a church would be 
 sufficient in number to perform such episodes as those we 
 have just considered, and in an old Dutch novel probably 
 dating from the end of the 15th century, a translation of 
 which is printed in Garrick's "Old Plays," there is a story 
 that certainly corroborates this theory of the employment of 
 
.h"^ 
 
 8 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 laymen as actors. The book is entitled " A merye Jest of a 
 man that was called Howleglas," in the original Dutch he is 
 named Ulenspiegk, and is an account of the adventures of a 
 rogue of that name. In the course of the story we are told 
 how Howleglas goes to live in the house of a priest who 
 makes him his parish clerk. The priest is not a credit to 
 his cloth for he keeps a mistress. Howleglas and this 
 woman quarrel, and the rogue determines to be revenged on 
 her for the offence she has given him. His opportunity 
 comes at Easter, when it was the custom to play the 
 Resurrection of our Lord in the church. On this occasion, 
 so the story proceeds, " because than the men wer not 
 learned, nor could not read, the priest toke his leman, and 
 put her in the grave for an aungell : and this seing 
 Howleglas, toke to hym iij of the symplest persons that were 
 in the towne, that played the iij Maries ; and the parson 
 played Christe, with a baner in his hand. Than saide 
 Howleglas to the symple persons. Whan the aungel asketh 
 you whome you seke, you may saye. The parsons leman with 
 one iye. Than it fortuned that the tyme w^as come that they 
 must playe, and the aungel asked them whom they sought, 
 and than sayd they, as Howleglas had shewed and lerned 
 them afore, and than answered they, We seke the priests 
 leman with one iye. And than the prieste might heare that 
 he was mocked. And whan the priestes leman herd that, 
 she arose out of the grave, and would have smyten with her 
 fist Howleglas upon the cheke, but she missed him and 
 smote one of the simple persons that play one of the thre 
 Maries ; and he gave her another ; and then toke she him 
 by the heare ; and that seing his wyfe came running hastely 
 to smite the priestes leaman ; and than the priest seeing this 
 
THE ORIGIN OF DRAMA. 9 
 
 caste down hys baner and went to helpe his woman, so that 
 the one gave the other sore strokes, and made great noyse 
 in the churche. And than Howleglas seyng them lyinge 
 together by the eares in the bodi of the churche, went his 
 way out of the village, and came no more there." 
 
 It was to the stage of naive dramatization exemplified by 
 these Offices of Easter and the Shepherds that the latent 
 dramatic elements of church ceremonial had been developed 
 on the Continent about the time of the Norman Conquest. 
 We have now to see how in England the miracle play 
 reached its greatest effectiveness and its highest state of 
 development. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Z^t QSegtnningB of (Bngfis^ ©ramd. 
 
 IT was about the middle of the seventh century that 
 Hterature had first ventured to raise its head in England, 
 and up to the coming of the Normans it maintained a 
 somewhat precarious existence — confined to metrical para- 
 phrases of the Bible, war songs chronicles of the valorous 
 deeds of kings and warriors, translations from the Latin, but 
 never a trace of drama. The puny growth was cut short, 
 almost annihilated, by the shock of the Conquest, and for a 
 hundred or a hundred-and-fifty years English literature almost 
 ceased to exist. It was to the church of the day that it 
 owed its revivication, and the form the renewed life took 
 was the dramatic. 
 
 The alien clergy who flocked over in the train of the 
 Conqueror brought with them the germ of the miracle play — 
 the liturgical mystery — and they speedily made use of their 
 ornate ritual, dumb shows, and processions, to attract their 
 new congregations, and to impress on them the knowledge 
 of scriptural truths. 
 
 Out of the ordinary service of th e_rhurrh they evolved 
 spectacular effect, action^ and dialogue , t he three e lements 
 of d^agia^and gradual ly, the representations interpola ted into 
 the se rvices were elaborated .into true dramatic form. The 
 dialogue at first was i n Latin— the language of the church,— 
 and since that was an unknown tongue to the masses of the 
 people the required effect was produced almost entirely by 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH DRAMA. II 
 
 the acting. The next stage was reached when French or 
 Angl o-Norma n became the medium of expression, and at 
 last, about the thirteenth century, the great plunge was taken, 
 a nd English, the language of the common peop le, was used. 
 Immediately, the religious drama bounded into popularity. 
 The wandering minstrels, jongleurs, story-tellers, and other 
 popular entertainers saw its great possibilities, and began to 
 amuse the people in the streets and open places, on holidays 
 and at fairs, with acted scenes from the Bible story or the 
 legends of the saints. These holidays and fairs clashing 
 with the holy days and festivals of the church, the clergy 
 found the people unwilling to come to service, preferring the 
 amusing performances outside to the duller though more 
 reverent representations in the sacred buildings. The clergy 
 in this emergency acted with a promptitude and determina- 
 tion that did them credit. They excommunicated all these 
 poachers on their preserves, and themselves started full and 
 complete performances in the churches. The result was 
 electrical — the churches soon proved quite inadequate to 
 accommodate the vast crowds that flocked to see the miracle 
 plays, and, for the convenience of both actors and audience, 
 the venue was changed from the altar to the porch, thence 
 for a similar reason to the churchyard, and finally the sacred 
 precincts were abandoned for the public streets and open 
 spaces about the town. Every foot that increased the distance 
 of the place of performance from the church weakened the 
 ability of the clergy to retain the performances in their own 
 hands. Once the plays were removed from the church 
 the members of the city companies and the trade-guilds 
 aspired to be actors, while the wandering minstrels were 
 ready to lend their aid. As the performances became 
 
12 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 dissevered from the services of the church, the lay actors. 
 
 began to introduce the comic element, and to multiply the 
 
 characters. Though the clergy withdrew to some extent from 
 
 participation in the performance of miracle plays as the lay 
 
 actors came more and more to the front, it must not be 
 
 supposed that the clergy altogether ceased to act, or that no 
 
 . further representations took place in the churches. In fact, we 
 
 / / find that for many years the clerical and lay performances went 
 
 I on side by side, in spite of a growing feeling tha t the clergy 
 
 \ should not act an d that the churches were hardly the proper 
 
 places for performances in which scenes of buffoonery began 
 
 to intermingle with the simple scripture narrative. In 1210 
 
 a papal edict forbade the clergy to act in churches or at 
 
 mummings, a prohibition which was repeated by the Council 
 
 of Treves in 1227. 
 
 Acting in the churches did not altogether cease, however, 
 for about 1300 we find that a compromise had been made 
 — the clergy were allowed to represent the Resurrection and 
 the Nativity in the churches, but were not to act in any 
 open places. Still later we find lay actors performing in 
 churches ; thus in the accounts of S. Mary's, Leicester, under 
 the year 149 1 is the item — 
 
 " Paid to the players on New Year's Day at Even in the church — 6d." 
 and in 1499 2s. was paid for a like purpose. At Bewdley, 
 in 1572, we find that 6s. 8d. was paid to the queen's players 
 for performing in the church. In 1542 Bonner, Bishop of 
 London, issued a proclamation to the clergy of his diocese 
 forbidding all manner of common plays, games, or interludes 
 to be played, set forth, or declared within the churches or 
 chapels. Such prohibitions as this were probably not very 
 efficacious, for in " The Third Blast of Retreat from Plaies," 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH DRAMA. 1 3 
 
 published in 1580, there is a complaint that the players were 
 permitted "to publish their rhamettrie in everie temple of 
 God, and that throughout England." But in 1589 an 
 injunction was ratified in Rome prohibiting all the clergy 
 from playing in Miracle Plays, and the canons of James I., 
 promulgated in 1603, forbade any play to be performed in 
 a church. 
 
 A curious reference to these semi-dramatic representations 
 in English churches occurs in Lambarde's "Topographical 
 Dictionary," which was probably writte n about i "^70-1 c^ 80. 
 The author, after stating that at Witney in Kent the clergy 
 us^ed to set forth yearly, in the manner of a show or 
 interlude, the Resurrection of our Lord, goes on to say that 
 " the more lyvely heareby to exhibite to the eye the hole 
 action of the resurrection, the priestes garnished out certain 
 smalle puppettes, representing the persons of Christe, 
 the Watchmen, Marie, and others." Ele also states that 
 he had as a child been present in St. Paul's Cathedral in 
 London, at Whitsuntide when "the comyne downe of the 
 Holy Ghoste was set forthe by a white pigion that was let to 
 fly out of a hole that yet is to be sene in the mydst of the 
 roofe of the greate ile, and by a longe censer which, 
 descendinge out of the same place almost to the verie 
 grounde, was swinged up and downe . . . breathinge 
 out over the whole churche and companie a most pleasant 
 perfume of suche swete thinges as burned therein. With 
 the like doome shewes also they used everie where to 
 furnish sondrye parts of their church service as by their 
 spectacles of the Nativitie, Passion, and Assension." 
 
 This custom is also referred to in the following lines from 
 Barnaby Googe's translation of " Naogeorgus": — 
 
14 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 •' On Whit-Sunday white pigeons tame in strings from heaven flie, 
 And one that framed is of wood still hangeth in the skie. 
 Thou seest how they with idols play, and teach the people too ; 
 None otherwise than little girls with puppets used to do." 
 
 The first Miracle Play known to have been acted in 
 E ngland was the Miracle Play of S. Catheri ne, mentioned 
 by Matthew Paris as having_b een represented at Dunst^ ^Ble 
 V about the year iioo. It was the work of one Geoffrey, a 
 schoolmaster of that town, and was performed by his pupils, 
 the costumes being borrowed from the Abbey at S. Albans. 
 On the first night of the performance Geoffrey's house was 
 burnt down, and the wardrobe (including the costly 
 borrowed vestments), the properties, and the books were 
 entirely consumed. Geoffrey evidently looked upon this 
 disaster as a judgment upon him for his sin in writing a play, 
 and for his greater sin in training children as actors, and 
 thus giving them a liking for what some "unco' guid " folks 
 term the " Devil's Profession." At any rate,- he turned 
 monk, and, repenting of the errors of his former life, in due 
 time became abbot of the abbey whose vestments he had 
 lost. Willia m Stephanides, or Fitz-Stephen^ a mo nk of 
 Canterbury m the reign of Henry 11. , wrote "An account of 
 the most noble City of London," in which occurs the first 
 mention we have of dra matic entertainments in England 
 (Matthew Paris not writing till half a century later), as 
 follows: — "London, instead of common interludes belong- 
 mg to the theatres, has plays of ~F^more_ holy subject — 
 representation of those miracles which the holy confessors 
 wrought, or of the sufferings wherein the glorious constancy 
 of the martyrs did appear." Stephanides also describes the 
 performance of a Miracle Play founded on incidents in the 
 
/ 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH DRAMA. 1 5 
 
 life of S. Thomas a Beckett, and says that such entertain- 
 ments had then been long common in England. 
 
 Bvj he end of the i -^th century the representation o f the 
 miracle plays had passed almost entirely into the ha nds of 
 the laity, and more especially of the great trade guilds, who 
 began to give performances in honour of their patr on saints, 
 and under their direction we find the miracle play at its 
 best. A great impetus was given to the activity of the 
 guilds by a decree of the Council of Vienne in 131 1 
 ordaining the strict observance of the feast of Corpus 
 Christi on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. This day 
 was adopted by many of the trade guilds as their great 
 annual festival, and as the day is generally one of the 
 longest in the year, it lent itself to the production o f an 
 ela borate cycle of plays in which each craft could enact a 
 separate scene. The simple miracle play was extended 
 into a grand performance, which commenced with the 
 Creation, covered most of the chief events in the Bible 
 narrative, and ended with the Day of Judgment. Of these 
 great cycles, four have come down to us as the important 
 remains of English religious drama. The tex ts of the play s 
 acted at York, Wakefield, Chester, and Coventry, are th e \ \^ 
 orij£^^mmp1et(; ^ reh'r s W^ pn<;t;pc;;; of tho<;e great series of 
 miracle plays which, between the years 1350 and 1500 , were 
 acted all over the country with the greatest possible success. 
 Besides these great centres we know of miracle plays being 
 acted at about thirty other places in England, and from 
 some few of these fragments of the plays have been 
 preserved. 
 
B 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Y far the most important and interesting of the four 
 series or cycles of English miracle plays that have 
 survived to the present day, are those that were performed 
 in the streets of York, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth 
 centuries, by the members of the craft and trade guilds, with 
 the sanction, and under the active supervision, of the City 
 (/ ' Fathers. These plays ar e forty-eight in number, a nd were 
 \ probably composed about the mid dle of the fourteen th 
 \ centu ry, thoug h_the manuscript th at has been preserve d^oes 
 \ not appear to have been written till abo ut 143 0. This 
 manuscript has an interesting history ; we know that it was 
 revised at the time of the Reformation, and it now consists 
 of 270 leaves of parchment or vellum, of which forty-eight 
 are blank, encased in an ancient wooden binding. The 
 volume came into the possession of Horace Walpole in 1764 
 for the insignificant sum of one guinea, and was purchased 
 on the dispersion of the Walpole collection by a bookseller 
 named Rodd for ^220 los. od. From Rodd the book 
 passed, in 1842, to Mr. Heywood Bright, of Bristol, who 
 gave ^£235 for it, and only two years later it w^as sold to the 
 Rev. Thomas Russell for ^305. Finally, it became the 
 property of the late Lord Ashburnham, and still forms a 
 leading feature of the Ashburnham Hbrary. Though the 
 manuscript gives the text of forty-eight plays, we know from 
 
 I 
 
THE YORK PLAYS. 1 7 
 
 the records of the City of York that in the year 141 5 there 
 were fifty-one plays acted, and at an earHer date as many as 
 fifty-seven ; thus it is evident that several of the earlier plays 
 must either have been discontinued at the date of the 
 manuscript, or that the texts have been lost. It is well 
 known that wherever a long series of miracle i)lays was 
 performed the number of the plays was constantly changing. 
 Each trade guild was supposed to act a distinct play, and as 
 the guilds grew or decHned in number and wealth, the cycle 
 had to be extended to make room for a new comer, or a play 
 had to be omitted because the craft to which it had been 
 allotted had ceased to exist, or had become too poor to be 
 able to bear the considerable charge of worthily presenting 
 its pageant. 
 
 Miracle plays seem to have been acted at York from a \ 
 v ery early date ; the earliest notice we have of them is in \ 
 1378, but they had evidently been performed for many years/ 
 previously, while in 1394 we find them spoken of as having 
 existed for a very long time, and we know that in 1397 
 Richard II. was present at their performance. 
 
 The text of the plays is in the Northumbrian dkl^ t. and ^A 
 
 the metre is constantly varied to suit the subject matter of 
 
 the separate plays, while very creditable attempts are made 
 
 to fit the various characters with proper mediums of expression 
 
 — thus God, Abraham, and the Patriarchs express themselves 
 
 with becoming gravity and dignity ; the diction of Jesus and 
 
 the Virgin Mary is simple and dignified ; Satan, Pharoah, 
 
 Herod, Pilate, and Caiaphas are blusterous, pompous, and 
 
 daring. It is a noteworthy feature that in these plays even 
 
 those chara cters most calculated to arouse the clam orous 
 
 detestat ion of the audience are not wholly vicious — Pilate, 
 — — __2 
 
1 8 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 for instance, appears to be of a somewhat benevolent 
 disposition, and a rigid observer of justice ; while even 
 Herod, always the villain of the piece in a miracle play, is 
 here shown as a sympathiser with those suffering under 
 unjust oppression. The plays on the whole are reverent and 
 seemly in tone, are full of dramatic life and energy, and in 
 some plays, noteably those of the Passion and Crucifixion, 
 we find realism of a most impressive nature. The subjects 
 extend from the Creation of the World, set out in the first of 
 the series, to Doomsday, which was illustrated in the final 
 pageant, and the text closely follows the Bible narrative, with 
 occasional excursions into the apocryphal legends of the day. 
 Now and then the author seizes the opportunity to urge some 
 point of doctrine or practice upon his audience, thus, in the 
 play of Cain and Abel, to emphasize the propriety of paying 
 tithes he makes an angel deliver a message from the Deity: — 
 
 " The tente (i) to tyne (2) he askis, no more, 
 
 Of all the goodes he haves you sente, full trew. (3) 
 
 To ofifyr loke that ye be yore, (4) 
 
 And to my tale ye take entent, (5) 
 
 For ilke-a-lede (6) that liffe has tente, {7) shall you ensewe."(8) 
 
 A brief analysis of the plays composing the cycle is all 
 that can be attempted in these pages. The first play deals 
 with the creation of the world and the fall of Lucifer. 
 The scene opens with God enthroned in Heaven : — 
 
 " I am gracyus and grete, god withoutyn begynning, 
 
 I am maker unmade, all mighte es in me, 
 I am lyfe and way unto welth (9) wynnyng, 
 
 I am formaste and fyrste, als (10) I byd sail it be. 
 My blyssing of ble(ii) sail be blendyng, {12) 
 
 And heldand (13) fro harme to be hydande, (14) 
 
 (i) Tenth part. (2) Lose. (3) F.iith. (4) Ready. (5) Heed, (6) Man. (7) Given, 
 (8) Follow after. (9) Salvation. (10) As. (11) Aspect. (12) Blinding. (13) Descend- 
 ing. (14) Hiding. 
 
THE YORK PLAYS. I9 
 
 My body in blys ay abydande(i) 
 Unedande(2) withoutyn any endyng." 
 
 God then creates the nine orders of angels, who sing a 
 Te deiwi. Great dignity is conferred upon Lucifer, who 
 assumes to himself the attributes of the Deity, and is 
 punished by being thrown into Hell with those angels who 
 worshipped him instead of God. The process of creation 
 is then begun, and is continued in the second play. In the 
 next man is made — 
 
 ** To keepe this worlde bothe more and lesse 
 A skylfull beeste than will y make 
 After my shappe and my likenesse, 
 The whilke shalle wirshippe to me take." 
 
 Three plays are devoted to showing Adam and Eve in 
 the Garden of Eden, their fall, and expulsion from Paradise. 
 Then follows the story of Cain and Abel. An angel comes 
 to the brothers, and bids them sacrifice a tenth part of their 
 goods to God. Abel expresses his readiness to obey the 
 Divine command, but Cain, with many imprecations, 
 refuses to do so : — 
 
 Cain. — " We ! whythir now in wilde waneand, (3) 
 
 Trowes thou I think to trusse (4) of towne ? (5) 
 Goo, jape (6) thee, robard ungellande, (7) 
 Me liste noyt nowe to rouk (8) nor rowne. (9) 
 
 Ya ! devell me thynketh that werke were waste 
 That he no gaffe geffe hym agayne, to se. 
 Now fekyll friendshippe for to fraste, (10) 
 Me thynkith ther is in hym sarteyne. 
 If he be moste in myghte and mayne, 
 What need has he?" 
 
 There is a break here in the MS., and when it resumes, 
 
 (i) Abiding. (2) Unending. (3) Wilde waneand, query whether a form of swear- 
 ing. (4J Prepare. (5) Farm. (6) Mock. (7) Quarrelsome thief. (8) Kneel. (9) Pray. 
 (10) Prove. 
 
20 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Cain has evidently killed his brother, for an angel enters 
 and asks — Where is Abel ? Cain flies into a rage, strikes the 
 angel, and is cursed. 
 
 Plays eight and nine have the building of the Ark and 
 the Flood for their subjects. These plays, being performed 
 by the Shipwrights' and Mariners' Guilds, are full of 
 nautical touches — when Noah wants to find out whether 
 the water is abating, he casts the lead in regular sailor 
 fashion. Number ten represents the sacrifice of Isaac,^ and 
 then there is a long jump to Pharoah and the bondage in 
 Egypt. Pharoah boasts of his might, and orders the 
 Israelites to be oppressed. The incident of Moses and the 
 Burning Bush is represented, and then one after the other 
 messengers come to tell Pharoah of the plagues that have 
 fallen upon the land. He finally gives the Israelites leave 
 to go, but pursues them to the Red Sea, where he and his 
 men are drowned, while the Israelites raise a song of 
 praise : — 
 
 " Now ar we woune fra waa, and saved oute of the see, 
 Cantemus domino, to god a sange syne wee." 
 
 The next play opens the New Testament series, and is 
 prefaced by a prologue enumerating the prophecies of the 
 Advent of Christ. An angel announces to the Virgin 
 Mary that she is to be the mother of the Saviour. In this 
 play and the one following, which deals with Joseph's 
 doubts of his wife, every effort is made to emphasize to the 
 audience the doctrine of the miraculous conception and the 
 chastity of Mary ; the author deals with a delicate situation 
 in a masterly manner, and does not degenerate into coarse- 
 ness. The fourteenth play sets forth the Nativity in 
 considerable detail, and as it was performed by the Tylers' 
 
THE YORK PLAYS. 21 
 
 or Thatchers' Guild, it was perhaps fitting that the stable at 
 Bethlehem should be represented as a tumble -down 
 building with a roof much in want of repair. Joseph 
 bemoans the poorness of the shelter he is able to procure 
 for himself and his wife : — 
 
 " All weldand (i) God in Trinite, 
 I praye ye, lord, for ihy grete myght, 
 Unto thy symple servand see, 
 
 Here in this place wher we are pight, (2) oure self allone ; 
 Lord, graunte us gode herberow (3) this nyght within this wone.{4) 
 For we have sought both uppe and downe 
 Thurgh diverse stretis in this cite 
 So mekill(5) pepuU is comen to towne, 
 That we can nowhere herbered be, there is slike prees ; (6) 
 For suthe I can no socoure see, 
 
 but helde(7) us with there bestes. 
 And if we here all nyght abide, 
 We shall be stormed in this steede ; (8) 
 The walles are dune on ilke a side, 
 The ruffe is rayned aboven oure hede, 
 Als have I roo." (9) 
 
 Joseph goes to procure lights and fuel, and in his absence 
 the Child is born. 
 
 Mary. — " Now in my savvle grete joie have I, 
 I am all cladde in comforte clere. 
 Now will be borne of my body 
 Both God and man togedir in feere. (10) 
 
 Blist molt he be ! 
 Jesu ! my son that is so dere, 
 now borne is he^!" 
 
 She worships the Child : — 
 
 " Hayle my lord God ! hayle prince of pees ! 
 Hayle my fadir, and hayle my sone ! 
 
 (i) Almighty. (2) Placed. (3) Lodging. (4) Abode. (5) Many. (6) Such a crowd. 
 (7) Shelter. (8) Place. (9) Rest. (10) Company. 
 
22 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Hayle sovereyne sege (i) all sinnes to sesse ! (2) 
 Hayle God and man in erth to wonne ! {3) 
 
 Hayle ! thurgh whose myght 
 All this worlde was first begonne, merkness (4) and light." 
 
 In the following play we see the shepherds watching their 
 flocks by night. Angels proclaim to them the birth of 
 Christ, and they go to adore him and to make their humble 
 offerings — a brooch with a little tin bell attached, a horn 
 spoon, and some nuts threaded on a ribbon. In successive 
 plays we are shown the various incidents of the life of Christ 
 as narrated in the Gospels, no less than ten pageants being 
 devoted to the representation of the Passion and the Cruci- 
 fixion. In one of them there is a very curious circumstance ; 
 Satan is introduced as anxious to save the life of Jesus, 
 because, so he argues, if Jesus is killed the Devil's occupation 
 will be gone, as men will be saved by the death of Christ. 
 
 The thirty-seventh play is the Harrowing of Hell, one 
 always popular with a mediaeval audience, the subject being 
 taken from the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus. The scene 
 is placed in hell or purgatory, and no doubt a plentiful supply 
 of red fire and a full company of attendant devils added to 
 the realism of the representation. Christ comes to deliver 
 his saints, but leaves the evil-doers in torment. The remain- 
 ing plays are the Resurrection ; the appearances of Christ to 
 Mary Magdalene, on the road to Emmaus, and to Thomas ; 
 the Purification of the Virgin Mary (which is evidently out 
 of its proper place); thei^ Ascension ; the Coming of the Holy 
 Ghost ; the Death of the Virgin ; the departure of the 
 Apostles to preach the Gospel ; the Assumption ; and 
 finally the Day of Judgment. 
 
 These plays were performed by the members of the trade 
 
 (i) Warrior. (2) Cease. (3) Dwell. (4) Darkness, 
 
THE YORK PLAYS. 23 
 
 guilds of York on the day of the Feast of Corpus Christi, ^ 
 and we fortunately possess a full list (compiled by Roger 
 Burton, the then town clerk of York) of the plays given in 
 the year 14 15, and of the guilds that performed them. But 
 besides those already mentioned there were other plays at 
 York of which we have some notices, although the texts 
 appear to be lost. On Midsummer day the play of St. George// 
 was performed. There was also a very early play "settingl^ 
 forth the goodness of the Lord's Prayer, in which play all 
 manner of vices and sins were held up to scorn, and the 
 virtues were held up to praise." A guild, composed both of 
 men and women, was formed for the purpose of duly 
 performing this play, and records exist showing that in 1399 
 the guild had over a hundred members, and an income of 
 ;£26 5s. ii}^d., a large sum in those days. It was to this , 
 play that Wicliff, who died in 1384 referred when he wrote I 
 of " ye paternoster in Englisch tunge as men segn in ye play j/ 
 of York." It was played up to the year 1572. 
 
 Every ten years the guild of Corpus Christi at York gave a 
 performance of the Creed play. The guild seems to have been 
 founded in 1408 for the proper regulation and observance of 
 the Corpus Christi procession, and in 1446 it became 
 possessed, under the will of a chantry priest of York, named 
 William Revetor, who had been warden of the guild, of the 
 Creed play with the books and banners appertaining thereto. 
 The play was given at Lammastide ; the last performance 
 took place in 1545, and the guild was dissolved in 1547* 
 An attempt was unsuccessfully made in 1568 to revive the 
 play. The opinion of the ecclesiastical authorities was 
 against it, and they vetoed the performance. The Dean of 
 York, Matthew Hutton, gave as his reason for advising that 
 
24 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 it should not be played that "though it was plausible to 
 years ago, and would now also of the ignorant sort be well 
 liked, yet now in this happy time of the gospel I know the 
 learned will mislike it." The play had had its day, and was 
 perhaps at the suaimit of its popularity on the 7th of 
 September in the year 1483, a Sunday, when it was performed 
 before King Richard III., who was then in York for his 
 second Coronation. 
 
 The traders' plays were the glory of York, and yearly, at 
 the Feast of Corpus Christi, when days were long and nights 
 were short, the favoured citizens proudly wheeled out their 
 gaudy pageants, and in simple show set forth the Bible story. 
 Though each craft was solely responsible for its own part of 
 the representation, the control of the entire performance was 
 in the hands of the municipality, and a most careful super- 
 vision was exercised over the performances. The authorities 
 not only made provision for the time and places of playing, 
 but did their best to ensure that the plays should go on 
 without interruption or disturbance. On the eve of the 
 plays the mayor issued his proclamation, a copy of which has 
 been preserved, as follows : — 
 
 ** ®^C3 — We command of ye King's behalf and ye Mayor and ye 
 Sheriffs of this City, that no man go armed in this city with 
 swords nor Carhsle axes, nor none other defences in disturbance 
 of ye King's peace and ye play, or hindering of ye procession of 
 Corpore Christi, and that they leave their harness in their Inns, 
 saving knights and squires of worship that have swords borne 
 after them, of pain of forfeiture of their weapon and imprison- 
 ment of their bodies. And that men that bring forth pageants 
 that they play at the places that is assigned therefor and nowhere 
 else, of ye pain of forfeiture to be raised that is ordained there- 
 fore, that is to say 40/. And that men of crafts and all other 
 men that find torches that they conic forlli in array and in ye 
 manner as it has ])een used and cuslt)iiic(l before this time, not 
 
THE YORK PLAYS. 25 
 
 having weapon, carrying tapers of ye pageants. And officers 
 that are keepers of the peace of pain of forfeiture of their franchise 
 and their bodies to prison. And all manner of craftmen that 
 bringeth forth their pageants in order and course by good players 
 well arrayed and openly speaking upon payn losing 100/ to be 
 paid to the chamber without any pardon. And that every 
 player that shall play be ready in his pageant at c(invenient 
 time, that is to say at the midhour between 4 and 5 of the clock 
 in the morning, and then all other pageants fast following ilk one 
 after other as their course is without tarrying." 
 
 In 1399, and again in 141 7, it was prescribed that 
 
 " For the convenience of the citizens and of all strangers ccjming to 
 the said feast that all the pageants of the play called Corpus 
 Christi Play should begin to play, first 
 
 At the gates of the priory of the Holy Trinity in Mikelgate, 
 
 next 
 At the door of Robt. Ilarpham, next 
 At the door of the late John Gyseburn, next 
 At Skeldergate end and North Street end, next 
 At the end of Conyng Street towards Castelgale, next 
 At the end of Jubirgate, next 
 
 At the door of Henry Wymem deceased in Conyng St , then 
 At the Common Hall at the end of Conyng Street, then 
 At the door of Adam del Briggs deceased in Stayne Gate, then 
 At the end of Stayn Gate at the Minster gates, then 
 At the end of Girdlergate in Petergate, and lastly 
 Upon the pavement." 
 
 But in 1417 the restriction against playing elsewhere than 
 at the appointed places was removed, and it was ordered 
 that " those persons should be allowed to have the play 
 before their houses who would pay the highest price for the 
 privilege, but that no favour should be shown." This 
 arrangement proved popular, and probably existed as long 
 as the plays did; in 1519 we find that ambitious citizens, 
 desirous either of entertaining their friends or of attracting 
 notice to their shops, were willing to pay sums varying from 
 
26 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 one shilling to four shillings and fourpence for the privilege 
 of having a play performed at their threshold. 
 
 Until the year 1426 the great ecclesiastical function known 
 as the Corpus Christi procession and the popular miracle 
 plays had been given on one and the same day, but in that 
 year, owing to the persuasion of a wandering friar, the City 
 Council ordered that from thenceforth the plays should be 
 given on the vigil of the feast of Corpus Christi, and that 
 the procession should be solemnly made on the day of the 
 festival. This, however, did not suit the good citizens 
 of York, they were not going to have their beloved 
 plays ousted from the first place, procession or no 
 procession ; they insisted on having the pageants out on the 
 old established day, and as usual the popular will prevailed ; 
 the plays continued to be acted on the day of the festival, 
 and the procession was postponed to the morrow. 
 
 The York plays were essentially the plays of the people, 
 they were performed by the shopkeepers and artizans of the 
 city, and, with a single exception, * so far as we know 
 neither the clergy nor the religious houses had part or lot in 
 their production. The cycle is the most complete of any 
 collection of English miracle plays, and is, further, the only 
 series that we definitely know was played by the old crafts 
 and trade guilds at the feast of Corpus Christi. 
 
 * The exception is that in the year 1415 the play of the Purification, usually 
 acted by the hatmakers, the masons, and the labourers, was brought out by the 
 brothers of the Hospital of St. Leonard. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 t^t TTafteftefb (pfage. 
 
 /^r^HE series of miracle plays which we now have to 
 -L consider are more closely allied to the plays per- 
 formed at York than to any of the other extant plays. They 
 bear distinct traces of a Yorkshire origin, five of them indeed 
 are almost identical with plays in the York cycle, and it is 
 probable that at least some of them were acted by the trade 
 guilds of Wakefield. The cycle is variously known as the 
 Towneley, Widkirk, Woodkirk, or Wakefield Plays. The 
 first mentioned title is derived from the fact that the MS. 
 volume containing the text was long in the library at i/^ 
 Towneley Hall in Lancashire, t hough how it got there is 
 not known. The second and third titles are due to a 
 tradition that the book formerly belonged to the Abbey of 
 Widkirk, near Wakefield. As a matter of fact no such 
 abbey is known to have existed, but there was at Woodkirk, 
 some four miles north of Wakefield, a cell of Augustinian 
 Canons dependant on the great house of S. Oswald at 
 Nostel, and it is possible that the compiler of the present 
 text took some of the plays from a series, now lost, that was 
 at some time performed at Wakefield and in the surrounding 
 villages, and borrowed others from various other places, 
 especially from York. Certain topographical allusions 
 
28 
 
 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 iXy. 
 
 connect one of the plays, the Seamda Pastorum, with the 
 neighbourhood of Wakefield, and two or three plays are 
 earmarked as having been played by certain of the Wake- 
 field trade guilds. So early as the reign of Henry I. two 
 fairs were held annually at Woodkirk, which would attract 
 large crowds from the surrounding country, and it is 
 more than possible that the plays we are now considering 
 formed one of the attractions. The men of Wakefield had 
 some reputation as actors, for we find that in the year 1446 
 players from Wakefield were assisting at the performances 
 in York, and received 6d. for their pains. 
 
 The composition of the Wakefield plays has been 
 attributed to the early years of the fifteenth, cenliixy, but it 
 is possible that some of them have a somewhat more remote 
 origin, while one at least, the Hanging of Judas, is not 
 earlier that the sixteenth century. The diversity of style and 
 language, indeed, compel the conclusion that the MS. 
 volume is not an acting edition of a settled series of plays, 
 but rather a compilation of various plays that were then in 
 favour in the neighbourhood of Wakefield. 
 
 The dialect is certainly, in some of the plays, akin to that 
 of the West Riding rural population, while the incidents 
 introduced into the narrative are such as would appeal to a 
 country audience. Thus Cain and his servant, in the play 
 of Cain and Abel, are rough country clowns, their language 
 is of the most vulgar description, and the first entrance of 
 Cain, urging on the tired horses and oxen that are drawing 
 his plough, must have caused huge delight to the bucolic 
 spectators. Indeed, there is but little reverence or feeling 
 in the plays, their feature is the great freedom from restraint, 
 and the boisterousness of the humour. Even in the play 
 
THE WAKEFIELD PLAYS. 
 
 29 
 
 just mentioned the crime of murder is lightly treated, and 
 Cain, after being cursed by the offended Deity, turns with 
 undiminished vigour to indulge in a comic scene with his 
 servant. The Secunda Pastoriim, or Second Shepherd's play, 
 which forms one of the series, is nearly pure fooling, and it 
 has, with some justice, been described as the first farce in 
 the English language. It is prefaced by an altogether non- 
 religious and comic interlude — forming a complete scene or 
 drama in itself, and having nothing whatever to do with the 
 subject of the Nativity. 
 
 The shepherds are assembled in the fields on Christmas 
 Eve, and begin in turn to talk of their troubles — they 
 grumble at the severity of the weather : — 
 
 " Lord, what these weders ar cold, and I am 
 
 Ylle happyd ; ( i ) 
 I am nere-hande dold, (2) so long have 
 
 I nappyd ; 
 My legys they fold, my fyngers ar chappyd, 
 It is not as I wold, for I am al lappyd 
 
 In sorow. " 
 
 Thev complain of the heavy taxes they have to pay, of their 
 termigant wives, of the disadvantages of matrimony (for all 
 the world like a modern problem play), of their hard work 
 and low wages. Presently they lie down to sleep — one 
 Mak by name with them. As soon as the shepherds are all 
 soundly sleeping, and loudly snoring, Mak rises very quietly 
 and slips away with a fat sheep on his back. He hurries 
 home with his booty and arouses his wife. They discuss 
 what they shall do with the sheep, and the wife proposes 
 that they put it in the cradle, and that she shall pretend she 
 has just been confined : — 
 
 (i) Wrapped up. (2) Stupid. 
 
so THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Wife. — ** A good bowrde (i) have I spied, since thou can none, 
 
 Here shall we hym hyde, to thay (the shepherds) be gone ; 
 In my credylle abyde. Lett me alone, 
 And I shalle lyg(2) besyde in chylbed and grone," 
 Mak agrees. — 
 
 "Thou red; (3) 
 And I shalle say thou was lyght (4) 
 Of a knave childe this nyght." 
 
 We can imagine the fun caused by their efforts to wrap 
 
 up the strugghng sheep in baby clothes, and to get it safely 
 
 tucked into the cradle, and covered up with the blanket. 
 
 At last they succeed, and Mak then returns to the still 
 
 sleeping shepherds, and quietly lies down again and pretends 
 
 to be fast asleep. One by one the shepherds wake, and 
 
 begin to tell their dreams — how they had dreamt that they 
 
 had seen Mak, dressed in a wolf's skin, in the act of carrying 
 
 off a sheep. They wake up the sham sleeper, and Mak says 
 
 that he too has had a dream — he has dreamt that his wife 
 
 has presented him with a son and heir, and he must needs 
 
 go home to see if all be well. As soon as Mak has gone 
 
 the shepherds miss one of the flock, and at once suspecting 
 
 Mak, they follow him home and demand admission to his 
 
 house. He bids them 
 
 ** Speke soft 
 Over a seke woman's heede. " 
 
 They charge him with having stolen their sheep, but he 
 
 indignantly denies the accusation. 
 
 *' Now if ye have suspowse(5) to (jille or to me, 
 Come and rype (6) oure howse, and then may ye se 
 
 Who had hir. 
 If I any shepe fott, (7) 
 Aythor cow or stott. (8) 
 And Gylle, my wyfe, rose nott 
 
 (i) Jest. {2) Lie. (3) Advise. (4) Delivered. (5) Suspicion. (6) Ransack. 
 (7) Fetched. (8) Young bull. 
 
THE WAKEFIELD PLAYS. 3 1 
 
 Here syn she lade hir. 
 As I am true and lele, to God here I pray, 
 That this be the fyrst mele that I shalle ete this day." 
 
 The shepherds search the house, Mak and his wife using 
 all their wits to keep them from going too near the cradle. 
 Finding no trace of their sheep, they are about to leave the 
 room in despair, but just as they are going out a thought 
 strikes one of them, he turns back and asks leave to kiss the 
 new baby in the cradle. 
 
 ** Gyf me lefe him to kys, and lyft up the clout." 
 
 Spite of Mak's attempts to prevent him going near the 
 cradle he persists in doing so,, lifts up the coverlet, and of 
 course discovers the lost sheep. As a punishment Mak is 
 tossed in a blanket till the shepherds are tired, and as they 
 again lie down to sleep the angel sings " Gloria in Excelsis," 
 and announces the birth of Christ. 
 
 '* Ryse hyrdmen heynd, (i) for now is he borne, 
 That shall take fro the feynd that Adam had lorne : (2) 
 That warloo (3) to sheynd, (4) this night is he borne, 
 God is made your freynd : now at this morne 
 
 He behestys. 
 
 At Bedlam go se, 
 
 Ther lygys that fre {5) 
 
 In a cryb full poorely, 
 
 Betwyx two bestys." 
 
 The play then proceeds much as in the other shepherds 
 plays that have been preserved. The shepherds try to imitate 
 the angel's song, and then proceed to the stable, where they 
 worship the child Jesus, and make their simple offerings — a 
 bob of cherries, a bird, and a little ball. 
 
 The Wakefield cycle consists of thirty-two plays, and 
 commences in the usual way with the Creation, which was 
 
 (i) Gentle. (2) Lost. (3) Wizard. (4) Shame. (5) Freeman. 
 
32 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 played by the Barbers of the town. God proclaims himself, 
 and then at once begins to make the world — 
 
 " At the begynnyng of oure dede 
 Make we hevene and erthe, on brede, (i) 
 
 And lyghtes fayre to se ; 
 For it is good to be so, 
 Darknes from light we parte on two, 
 
 In tyme to serve and be. 
 Darknes we calle the nyght 
 And lith (2) also the bright. 
 It shalle be as I say ; 
 After my will this is furth broght. 
 Even an morne both ar they wroght, 
 
 And thus is maid a day." 
 
 The second play, which was acted by the Glovers, deals with 
 the episode of Cain and Abel, and in this play we get our 
 first glimpse of the stage clown, a character destined to 
 develop into the fool of Shakespeare and the low comedian 
 of to-day. It is Garcio, Cain's servant, who claims this 
 distinction. As he enters he addresses the audience — 
 
 " Alle haylle, alle hayle, bothe blithe and glad 
 For here come I, a mery lad, 
 Be peasse your dyn, (3) my master bad, 
 Or els the deville you spede. 
 
 Felowes, here I you forbede 
 To make nother nose ne cry ; 
 Who so is so hardy to do that dede 
 The deville hang hym up to dry. 
 Gedlynges, I am a fulle gret wat, {4) 
 
 For if my master com, welcom hym then. 
 Fare welle, for I am gone." 
 
 The next play has the Flood for its subject, and consists 
 largely of nagging matches between Noah and his wife. 
 
 (i) Abroad. (2) Light. (3) Cease your noise. (4) Man. 
 
THE WAKEFIELD PLAYS. 33 
 
 She refuses to enter the ark till Noah, after giving her ai 
 severe thrashing, pushes her in and bids her take the tiller! 
 while he casts the lead. Then follow plays dealing with/ 
 Abraham_an^L_Isaac, Jacob and Esau, the Old Testament 
 prophecies of Christ, Pharoah, the taxing of the world by 
 Caesar Augustus, the Annunciation, Salutation, and Nativity, 
 the visit of the Wise Men, the flight into Egypt, the slaughter 
 of the Innocents, the Purification, Jesus among the Doctors, 
 John the Baptist, the Last Supper, three plays on the Passion 
 and Crucifixion, the last being coarse and cruel, the Harrowing 
 of Hell, the Resurrection, the appearance of Christ to the 
 disciples, the Ascension, Doomsday, the raising of Lazarus, 
 and the hanging of Judas. 
 
>x^ 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE Chester plays are more'^seriot^s in tone than those 
 we have already considered ; the humour, though 
 ^ present, is not so boisterous as in the Towneley series, and 
 Va'^ didactic tendency Is shown in the "introduction of an 
 Expositor, who at the end~~or~each play explains its 
 significance and lesson^ This is the only senes thaTshows 
 any real effort to serve the religious object to which Miracle 
 Pla^s were siipposed to be directed. The plays are^^twenty-^ 
 five innumber, and they were acted by the twenty-five trade 
 companies of the city on the Monday, Tuesday, and 
 Wednesday in Whitsun week, from 12 68 to 1 577, and again 
 in 1600, In the year 1328 the plays received a great 
 impetus by the act of Pope Clement, who decreed a 1000 
 days of pardon, to which the Bishop of Chester added 
 another month, to everyone who should resort "in peaceable 
 manner with good devotion to hear and see the said plays 
 from time to time as oft as they shall be played within the 
 city." The ^series commences w ith the Fall of Lucifer, 
 performed by the Tanners ; next the Creation and Fall, by 
 the Drapers ; the effect of the representation of the Creation 
 was heightened by sending among the crowd as many 
 strange animals as could be brought together, the creation 
 of birds being imitated by sending up a flight of pigeons. 
 The Deluge was done by the \Vater-Carriers of the Dee, 
 
 f '^ 
 
^ 
 
 E CHESTER PLAYS. 35 
 
 and was one of the humorous plays, being almost entirely 
 taken up by an altercation between Noah and his wife. 
 The play begins with God's announcement to the patriarch 
 of the coming deluge, and the command to him to build the 
 Ark. Noah replies — 
 
 " O Lorde, I thanke thee, lowde and still, 
 That to me arte in suche will. 
 And spares me and my howse to spill. 
 As I nowe southly ( i ) fynde. 
 Thy byddinge, Lorde, I shall fulfill, 
 And never more thee greve nor grill, (2) 
 That such grace hath sent me till, 
 Amonght all mankinde. 
 
 [Turning to his sons and their wives] 
 
 Have done, you men and wemen all, 
 Hye you, leste this watter fall. 
 To worche this shippe, chamber and hall, 
 As God hath bedden us doe." 
 
 After this the wife and sons of Noah say a few words 
 relating to their respective duties during the construction. 
 Noah commences the building of the " shippe," and the play 
 proceeds as follows :— 
 
 Noah. 
 
 " Now in the name of God I will begyne 
 To make the shippe that we shall in, 
 That we maye be ready for to swyme 
 . At the cominge of the fludde : 
 
 Thes hordes heare I pynne togeither, 
 
 To beare us safife from the weither, 
 
 That we maye rowe both heither and theither. 
 
 And saffe be from the fludde. 
 
 Of this treey will I make the maste ; 
 
 Tied with cabbelles that will laste, 
 
 With a saile yarde for iche blaste, 
 
 (i) Truly. (2) Provoke. 
 
36 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 And iche thinge in their kinde : 
 
 With toppe-castill, and boe-spritte, 
 
 With cords and roppes, I hold all mete 
 
 To sayle fourth at the nexte weete ; 
 
 This shippe is att an ende. 
 
 Wyfife, in this vessel we shall be kepte : 
 
 My children and thou, I woulde in ye lepte. 
 
 Noah's Wife. 
 
 In fayth, Noye, I hade as liffe thou slepte ! 
 
 For all thy frynish ( i ) fare, 
 
 I will not doe after thy rede. (2) 
 
 Noah. 
 Good wyffe, doe nowe as I thee bydde. 
 
 Noah's Wife. 
 
 Be Christe ! not or I see more neede ' - ' 
 
 Though thou stande all the daye and stare." 
 
 Noah laments the "crabbed" nature of womankind. The 
 
 ark, however, is at length finished, and after enumerating 
 
 the animals that are to take refuge therein, Noah 
 
 enters the ark with all his family, excepting his wife. 
 
 Here considerable liberty is taken with the Biblical 
 
 version, and a strange scene is witnessed. Noah's 
 
 wife, a person of exceedingly whimsical temper, in 
 
 reply to her husband's appeal to her to enter the ark, gives 
 
 vent to a volley of strong language, saying that unless her 
 
 "gossips" are allowed to go in with her she "will not oute 
 
 of this towne," and she tells him to row where he lists, and 
 
 to get a new wife. At last the dutiful Japhet compels his 
 
 mother to enter by main force, and immediately upon her 
 
 entrance she vigorously boxes Noah's ears. He remarks — 
 
 " Ha, ha, marye, this is holte ! 
 o be still. 
 
 (i) Nice. (2) Advice. 
 
 Hi 
 
THE CHESTER PLAYS. 37 
 
 Ila, children, methinkes my botte remeves, 
 
 Our tarryinge heare hyghlye me greves, 
 
 Over the lande the wather spreades ; 
 
 God doe as he will. 
 
 Ah, greate God, that arte so good, 
 
 That worckes not thy will is wood, 
 
 Nowe all this worlde is one a fludde, 
 
 As I see well in sighte. 
 
 This wyndowe I will shutte anon, 
 
 And into my chamber I will gone, 
 
 Tell this watter, so great^e one, 
 
 Be slacked through Thy mighte." 
 
 The window of the ark is now closed for a short time, 
 supposed to be during the period of the flood, after which 
 it is opened, and Noah thanks God for granting him such 
 grace. The Ahnighty repHes, and blesses the patriarch, and 
 the play finishes with the following speech by God : — 
 
 ** My bowe betweyne you and me 
 In the firmament shal be, 
 By verey tocken that you shall see. 
 That suche vengance shall cease. 
 That man ne woman shall never more 
 Be wasted with watter, as hath before ; 
 But for synne that greveth me sore. 
 Therfore this vengance was. 
 
 My blessinge Noye, I give thee heare, 
 To thee, Noye, my servante deare ; 
 For vengance shall noe more appeare, 
 And nowe farewell, my darlinge deare." 
 
 The examples already given of the literature of the miracle 
 plays have been of a humorous nature. I now want to draw 
 attention to these old playwrights' power of building up 
 a tragic and pathetic play, and for this purpose I take the 
 play of the "Sacrifice of Isaac," the fourth play in the 
 
38 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Chester series : — God calls to Abraham, and bids him offer 
 his son as a sacrifice. Abraham replies — 
 
 *'My Lorde, to thee is myne intente 
 Ever to be obediente ; 
 That Sonne that thou to me hast sente, 
 
 Offer I will to thee ; 
 And fulfill thy commanndemente, 
 With heartie will, as I am kente, (i) 
 Highe God, Lorde omnipotente, 
 
 Thy byddinge done shal be. 
 My meanye (2) and my children eich (3) one 
 Lenges (4) at home, both alle and one 
 Save Isaake, my sonne, with me shall gone 
 
 To a hill heare besyde." 
 
 Abraham then says to Isaac : — 
 
 " Make thee readye, my deare darlinge, 
 For we must doe a littill thinge. 
 This woode upon thy backe it bringe, 
 
 We maye no longer abyde. 
 
 A sworde and fier that I will take ; 
 
 For sacrefice me behoves to make ; 
 
 Code's byddinge will I not forsake, 
 
 But ever obediente be. 
 
 Isaac. — Father, I am all readye 
 
 To doe your byddinge moste mekclye, 
 To beare this woode full beane (5) am I, 
 As you commaunded me. 
 
 Abraham. — O Isaake, my darlinge deare. 
 
 My blessinge nowe I give thee heare. 
 Take up this faggote with good cheare. 
 
 And on thy backe it bring ; 
 And fier with us I will take. 
 
 Isaac. — Your byddinge I will not forsake ; 
 Father, I will never slake 
 
 To fulfill your byddinge." 
 
 1 1) Taught. (2) Company. (3) Each. (4) Remain. (5) Obedient. 
 
THE CHESTER PLAVS. 39 
 
 They go to the place of sacrifice, where Isaac, being 
 
 frightened, says : — 
 
 " Father, I am fall sore afifeared 
 To see you beare that drawne sworde : 
 I hope for all niyddel earde (i) 
 
 You will not slaye your childe." 
 
 Abraham. — Dreede thee not, my childe, I reade ; 
 Our Lorde will sende of his godheade 
 Some manner of beaste unto this steade, 
 Either tame or wild." 
 
 Soon after, Abraham tells Isaac that he must kill him. 
 
 Isaac. — "Alas ! father, is that your will, 
 Your owine child for to spill 
 
 Upon this hille's brinke ? 
 If I have treasspasede in anye degree, 
 With a yarde you may beat me ; 
 Put up your sorde, if your will be, 
 
 For I am but a childe. 
 
 Abraham. — O, my deare sonne, I am oorye 
 To doe to thee this great anoye : 
 Code's commaundmente doe must I, 
 His workes are ever full mylde. 
 
 Isaac. — Woulde God my mother were here with me ! 
 Shee woulde kneele downe upon her knee, 
 Prainge you, father, if it may be, 
 For to save my life,'' 
 
 Abraham replies that he must obey the divine command, 
 
 and Isaac then asks his father's blessing. 
 
 " Father, seinge you muste nedes doe soe. 
 Let it passe lightlie, and over goe ; 
 Kneelinge on my kneeyes towe. 
 
 You blessinge on me spreade. 
 
 Abraham. — My blessinge, deere son, give I thee 
 And thy mother's with hart free 
 The blessing of the Trinitie 
 
 My deare sone, on thee lighle. 
 
 (i) The world. 
 
40 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Isaac. — Father, I praye you, hyde my eyne 
 That I see not the sorde so keyne, 
 Your strocke, father, woulde I not seene, 
 Leste I againste it grylle," (i) 
 
 Isaac is then bound and laid on the altar. 
 
 Isaac. — "A ! mercye, father, why tarye you soe? 
 Smyte of my head, and let me goe ; 
 I pray you rydd me of my woe, 
 For nowe I take my leve. 
 
 Abraham. — Ah, sonne ! my harte will breake in three, 
 To heare thee speake such words to me. 
 Jesu ! on me thou have pittye. 
 
 That I have moste in mynde. 
 
 Isaac. — Nowe, father, I see that I shall dye : 
 Ahiiightie God in magestie ! 
 My soule I ufter unto thee ; 
 
 Lorde, to it be kinde." 
 
 Abraham takes the sword, and is about to cut off his son's 
 
 head, when an angel appears and stays his hand. He points 
 
 out a lamb entangled in some briars, which Abraham offers 
 
 in sacrifice. God appears and utters his blessing upon 
 
 Abraham and his seed, and the play is concluded by the 
 
 Expositor explaining the moral. 
 
 ** This deed you see done here in this place. 
 In example of Jesu done it was. 
 That for to win mankind to grace 
 
 Was sacrificed on the roode. 
 By Abraham, I maie understande 
 The father of heaven that can fand, (2) 
 With his Sonne's bloode to breake that bande, (3) 
 
 That the devill had broughte us to. 
 By Isaake understande I maie, 
 Jesu, that was obediente aye, 
 Ilis father's will to work alwaie. 
 
 And death for to confounde." 
 
 At this point a messenger riding through the crowd of 
 
 (i) Rebel. (2) Find. (3) Curse. 
 
THE CHESTER PLAYS. 4I 
 
 spectators arrives at the pageant to announce the coming of 
 the next play in the series, and the Barbe rs and Wax Cha nH ler^: 
 who acted the Sacrifice of Isaac, go off in their pageant to 
 re-enact the play in another part of the city. The nex t play , , 
 which is on the subject of T^-^la j^ni and his A ss, and is not to 
 be found in any other English collection, concludes the 
 represe ntation of the Old Testament history, and in the-nexF 
 pageant the Salutation and the l^ativity are played. Then 
 comes the Shepherds' play, which, as in other cycles, is an 
 elaborate picture of country life. In succeeding plays the 
 main incidents of the life of Christ are set out ; then we 
 come again^ in the nineteenth of the series, to the ever popular 
 Harrowing of Hell, which, like the play of the Judgment 
 Day, was made the medium of much topical allusion. Thus, 
 we find that one of the dwellers in the infernal regions is a 
 woman who tells the audience that — 
 
 *' Some tyme I was a tavernere, 
 A gentill gossipe and a taptere, 
 Of wyne and ale a trustie brewer, 
 
 Which wo hath me wroughte ; 
 Of Cannes I keple no trewe measuer, 
 My cuppes I soulde at my pleasuer. 
 Deceaving manye a creature, 
 
 Tho my ale were naughte." 
 
 She had adulterated her ale, and brewed thin beer, offences 
 of too grave a nature to permit any pardon, and in con- 
 sequence she is left to the tender mercies of the devil, who 
 exclaims — 
 
 " Welckome dere ladye, I shall thee wedd, 
 For many a heavye and droncken head, 
 Cause of thy ale were broughte to bed 
 Farre worse than anye beaste." 
 
 The following proclamation contains the earliest authentic 
 
42 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 mention we have of the Chester plays, and gives an interesting 
 account of the origin of the plays and the manner of their 
 performance : — 
 
 " The proclamation for Whitsone plays, made by Wm. Newall, clarke 
 of the Pendice, 24 Hen. 8., Wm. Snead, 2nd yere maior. 
 
 For as much as of old time, not only for the augmentation and 
 increase of the holy and catholick faith of our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, and to exort the mindes of comon people to good devotion 
 and holsome doctrine thereof, but also for the comenwelth and 
 prosperity of this city, a play and declaration of divers storyes of 
 the Bible, beginning with the creation and fall of Lucifer, and 
 ending with the generall Judgment of the World, to be declared 
 and played in the Whitsonne weeke, was devised and made by 
 one Sr Henry Frances, sometyme monck of this monastrey 
 disolved, who obtayning and got of Clement, then bishop of 
 Rome, a thousand dayes of pardon, and of the bishop of Chester 
 at that time forty days of pardon, graunted from thensforth to 
 every person resorting in peaceble manner with good devotion to 
 heare and see the sayd plays from tyme to tyme, as oft as they 
 shall be played within the sayd citty (and that every person or 
 persons disturbing the sayd playes in any manner wise to be 
 accused by the authority of the said pope Clement's bulls untill 
 such tyme as he or they be absolved thereof), which playes were 
 devised to the honor of God by John Arnway, then Maior of 
 this citty of Chester, his brethren and whole community thereof, 
 to be brought forth, declared, and played at the cost and charges 
 of the craftsmen and occupations of the said citty, which hither- 
 unto have from tyme to tyme used and performed the same 
 accordingly. 
 
 Wherfore Mr. Maior, in the King's name, stratly chargeth and 
 comandeth that every person or persons, of what estate, degree, 
 or condition so ever he or they be, resorting to the said playes, 
 do use themselves peacibli, without making any assault, affray, 
 or other disturbance whereby the same plays shall be disturbed, 
 and that no manner of person or persons, whosoever he or they 
 be, do use or weare any unlawfull weapons within the precinct of 
 the sayd citty during the time of the sayd playes (not only upon 
 payn of cursing by authority of the sayd pope Clement's bulls) 
 but also upon payne of enprisonment of their bodyes and making 
 fine to the King at Mr. Maior's pleasure." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 €U €ot)entrg (pfag6. 
 
 C OTEN TRY shared with York the d istinction of_being 
 the supreme home of the English miracle i3[ay. A 
 complete cycle of plays has been preserved which are said, 
 on somewhat inconclusive authority, to have been acted at 
 Coventry at the Feast of Corpus Christi. These plays are 
 in cluded in th e_Cottonian CoHertinn in theJBntish Musfilim, 
 and are ascribed to Coven try on th e strength of an inscription 
 by~~Sir Robert Cotton's librarian. If they did really belong 
 t(T~CoveiiLi>, the ptays are tK^ose' that were acted by the 
 religious community of the Grey Friars, and are not in any 
 way connected with the plays or pageants which we know 
 were exhibited by the trading companies of the town. The 
 conclusion of the prologue to the plays indicates rather a 
 series of plays for performance at Corpus Christi generally 
 than at any particular place : — 
 
 " A Sunday next if that we may 
 At VI. of the bell we gynne our play __ 
 
 In N town, wherfor we pray -^ 
 
 That God now be your spede. Amen." 
 
 The M.S. probably dates from the time of Henry VI., or 
 about the yea r 146 8^ and consists ofJb]:ty=t-we ^pla} '5 , which 
 were not, however, all acted in any one year. The practice 
 was to perform the first twenty-eight plays, covering the 
 
II 
 
 44 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 I period from the Creation of the World to the Betrayal of 
 Christ, one year, and the remaining plays, up to Doomsday, 
 the next year. The plays, as might be expected if they were 
 
 I acted by ecclesiastics, have a higher and more religious tone 
 than those of the other series ; the humour is less exuberant, 
 
 ^ and altogether the plays seem to have been performed with 
 some idea of illustrating to t h e people the great truths of the 
 Christian religion. Eight of the plays are founded on the 
 spurious gospels in the New Testament Apochrypha. 
 
 Coventry does not, however, depend for its histrionic fame 
 on the plays included in the Cottoman Jyl^^_ Quite apart 
 from these the town was peculiarly famous for its religious 
 dramas. 
 
 From a very early date the various trading companies of 
 Coventry acted miracle plays, and continued to do so until 
 the year 1580, when the performances were temporarily 
 suppressed. In 1584 an attempt was made to revive them, 
 and a new play on the Destruction of Jerusalem was provided 
 to add fresh interest to the representation. Very considerable 
 expense was incurred on account of this revival, no less 
 than ;£"i3 6s. 8d. being paid to the author of the new play, 
 but it was all in vain. The days of the miracle play were 
 numbered ; the popular mind was beginning to require more 
 than the simple fare they provided ; and the year i5§Li„ 
 witnessed the last performance of miracle plays at Coventry. 
 Dugdale, in his "Antiquities of Warwickshire," which was 
 published about 1656, states that he had himself spoken 
 with old people who had in their younger days witnessed 
 the miracle plays at Coventry at the festival of Corpus Christi, 
 and who told him that great crowds of people were wont to 
 assemble from far and near to see the performances. Hey- 
 
 I 
 
t^ . 
 
 THE COVENTRY PLA. 
 
 45 
 
 wood, in his play, "The Four P's," written in 1530, refers 
 to the Coventry plays— ^^^ ' "^ 
 
 *' For as good hap would have it chance, 
 This devil and I were of olde acquaintance ; 
 For oft, in the play of Corpus Christi, 
 He hath play'd the devil at Coventrie." 
 
 The texts of the plays represented by the various trade 
 guilds have been lost, with the exception of that belonging 
 to the Shearmen and Taylors, which is on the subject of the 
 bir th of (^ jiristj with which it deals in a more extensive 
 manner than was usual in miracle plays. This play not only 
 sets forth the Nativity, but includes the visit of the Wise Men 
 from the East, the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, and 
 the Massacre of the Innocents. At the commencement of 
 the play the prophet Isaiah foretells the coming of the 
 Messiah, and then the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin 
 Mary the approaching birth of her son Jesus. The shepherds 
 are introduced, and when the child is born they adore him 
 and, as usual, offer their gifts, in this instance — a pipe, a hat, 
 and a pair of mittens. Then Herod enters, and is told by a 
 messenger, who speaks in most villainous French, of the 
 birth of one who is to be the King of the Jews. Herod is, 
 of course, depicted as a braggart and boaster of the most 
 exaggerated kind ; his pride and his furious ravings being 
 perhaps more pronounced in this play than in any other 
 miracle play in which the character was introduced. As this 
 play was perhaps acted so late as the year 1591, and 
 Shakespeare was probably living at Stratford, only a few 
 miles from Coventry, till within a few years of that time, it 
 has been thought not improbable that he witnessed some 
 late performance of the play, and that the references he 
 
46 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 makes in his own dramas were suggested by his recollections 
 of the violent rhetoric and action of the Coventry Herod. "^ 
 For this reason, if for no other, we may justify some little 
 consideration of Herod as represented by the Coventry 
 tailors. He was dressed to represent a Saracen in a gown of 
 gaudy colours, and bore in his hands, which were covered 
 with red gloves or gauntlets, a sceptre and a painted wooden 
 sword. His face was concealed behind a highly-coloured 
 mask, and on his head he wore an iron helmet with an 
 ornamental crest. The accounts of the Coventry companies 
 contain many curious items in connection with this 
 character : — 
 
 " Item, to a peyntour for peyntyng the fanchon and Herode's 
 
 face — xd. 
 Item, peyd to a peynter for peyntyng and mendyng of Herode's 
 
 heed — myL 
 Item, paid for a gowen to Arrode — \\]s. iij. 
 Item, paid for peynttyng and stenyng theroff — \]s. myi. 
 Item, paid for iij platis to Ileroddi's crest of iron — \]d. 
 Item, paid for colour and coloryng of Arade — iiij." 
 
 Altogether there is no reason to doubt that Herod when he 
 leapt upon the stage presented a sufficiently gorgeous and 
 terrible appearance, and certainly his words do not belie his 
 looks. He announces himself as "the myghtyst conquerowre 
 that ever walkid on grownd," and, as some justification for 
 the statement, says — 
 
 " Magog and Madroke bothe thes did I confownde, 
 And in this bryght l^ronde there bonis I brak on sunder, 
 That all the wyde worlde on those rappis did wonder." 
 
 He tells his audience that it is he who is the cause of 
 
 * Compare IJa/nlel, Act iii, scene 2 ; Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii, 
 scene 3 ; Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii, scene i. 
 
THE COVENTRY PLAYS. 47 
 
 lightning and thunder, and of earthquakes ; that he is prince 
 of " purgatorre," and chief captain of hell. His rage when 
 he is angered is something to be remembered, for not content 
 with stamping and raving in the circumscribed limits of the 
 stage, he on occasion descends from the platform and rages 
 among the crowd of onlookers. When he is informed that 
 the wise men from the East have escaped from his messengers 
 his fury is boundless : — 
 
 " I stampe, I stare, I loke all ahowt, 
 Myght I them take I schuld them bren at a glede, (i) 
 I ren, I rawe, (2) and now I am wode, (3) 
 A that these velen trayturs hath mard this my mode, 
 They schal be hangid yf I ma cum them to." 
 
 And then occurs this curious stage direction : " Here Erode 
 ragis in the pagond, and in the strete also." The massacre 
 of the young children then takes place, in spite of the 
 desperate resistance offered by the mothers of Bethlehem, 
 and the bodies are brought to Herod in a cart. On hearing 
 that Jesus is not among the slain, but has escaped with 
 Joseph and Mary into Egypt, the King again falls into a violent 
 passion, orders his horse to be brought, and ends the play 
 by riding away through the crowd of spectators as if in 
 pursuit of the Holy Family. 
 
 As a contrast to the fury and bluster of Herod, let us 
 conclude this short account of the " Shearmen and Taylors' 
 play" by quoting the pretty and tender little lullaby sung by 
 the mothers over their infants just before the massacre : — 
 
 " Lully, lulla, thw littell tine child ; 
 By by, lully, lullay, thw littell tine child ; 
 By by, lulla, lullay. 
 
 (i) Burn on live coals. (2) Rave. (3) Mad. 
 
48 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 O sisters, too ! how may we do 
 
 For to preserve this day 
 This pore yongling, for whom we do singe 
 
 By by, lully, luUay. 
 
 Herod, the King, in his raging, U 
 
 Chargid he hath this day ^^ 
 
 His men of might, in his owne sight, ^ 
 
 All yonge children to slay. 
 
 That wo is me, pore child, for thee, 
 
 And ever morne and say. 
 For thi parting nether say nor sing 
 
 By by, lully, lullay. 
 
 ^- 1 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Ot^er (Bngfie^ (Qltracfe Qpfage. 
 
 BESIDES the miracle plays acted at York, Wakefield, 
 Chester, and Coventry, there were others of a similar 
 nature performed in every part of England. Not only in the 
 centres of population were these plays popular ; they were 
 represented either regularly or occasionally in a large number 
 of the smaller towns and villages, and it would perhaps not 
 be very wide of the mark to say that there was no part of 
 England in which a miracle play was not acted some time 
 during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 In London the performances seem to have been mainly 
 in the hands of the parish clerks, and of the scholars or 
 choristers of St. Paul's. In 1378 we find the latter body 
 petitioning Richard II. to prohibit some ignorant and 
 inexpert persons from acting "The History of the Old 
 Testament," to the great prejudice of the petitioners, who 
 had been at considerable expense in preparing for a public 
 representation of the play at the following Christmas. The 
 parish clerks were wont to yearly perform a series of miracle 
 plays in the fields lying to the north of the city, now known 
 as Clerkenwell and Skinner's Well. On July i8th, 19th, 
 and 20th, 1390, they played at Clerkenwell before Richard 
 II. and his Queen, and a great concourse of the nobles and 
 dignitaries of the realm, and in the year 1409 it is recorded 
 that they played at Skinner's Well a drama which lasted for 
 
 4 
 
50 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 eight days, and extended from the Creation of the World to 
 Doomsday. This performance, Stow tells us, was given in 
 the presence of "the most part of the nobles and gentles in 
 England." Weever, referring to these plays in his " Funeral 
 Monuments," says " They call this Corpus Christi play in 
 my country, which I have seen acted at Preston and 
 Lancaster, and last of all at Kendall, in the beginning of the 
 reign of King James ; for which the townsmen were sore 
 troubled ; and upon good reasons the play finally supprest, 
 not only there, but in all other towns of the kingdom." 
 Another mention of the Kendal performances, together with 
 a curious testimonial to the value of the miracle plays as 
 teachers of Scripture knowledge, is found in the writings of 
 the Rev. John Shaw, who, in 1644, was in spiritual charge 
 of the parish of Cartmel, in Lancashire. He says: — "One 
 day an old man about sixty, sensible enough in other things, 
 and living in the parish of Cartmel, coming to me about 
 some business, I told him that he belonged to my care and 
 charge, and I desired to be informed in his knowledge of 
 religion ; — I asked him how many Gods there were ; he said 
 he knew not ;— I, informing him, asked him again how he 
 thought to be saved ; he answered he could not tell, yet 
 he thought that was a harder question than the other ; — I 
 told him that the way to salvation was by Jesus Christ, God- 
 man, who, as He was man, shed His blood for us on the 
 crosse, &c. ; — Oh, sir, said he, I think I heard of that man 
 you speak of once in a play at Kendall called Corpus Christ 
 play, where there was a man on a tree, and blood ran downe 
 &c. ; and after, he professed that he could not remember 
 that ever he heard of salvation by Jesus Christ but in 
 that play." 
 

 I 5- 
 
OTHEH ENGLISH MIRACLE PLAYS. 5 1 
 
 At Newcastle-on-Tyne there was a cycle of sixteen plays 
 performed from 1426 to 1589, of which only one, "Noah 
 and the Flood," has been preserved; and, during the fifteenth 
 century, a series of fourteen plays was acted in Dublin, the 
 text of one only, the play of " Abraham and Isaac," being 
 known to-day. Of the grand cycle of thirty-six plays which 
 we know was regularly represented at Beverley the whole of 
 the text has been lost, and the same may be said of the great 
 majority of English miracle plays, for, with the exception of 
 the four series described in former chapters, only about a 
 dozen separate plays are now extant. Three of these are 
 contained in a fifteenth century manuscript preserved in the 
 Bodleian Library, and are specially interesting as the remains 
 of the old Cornish religious plays. They are written in 
 Cymric, and the subjects are : — "The Origin of the World," 
 "The Passion of our Lord," and "The Resurrection." 
 Another Cornish play was that of "Adam and Seth," which 
 was also the subject of one of the Beverley series. 
 These Cornish miracle plays were not acted on moveable 
 pageants or temporary platforms, as was the custom in other 
 parts of England, but in round enclosures of earth or stone, 
 relics perhaps of the Roman amphitheatres, or of the more 
 ancient Grecian theatres. Richard Carew, in his " Survey 
 of Cornwall," dated 1602, gives an interesting description of 
 the performance of miracle plays in these Cornish rounds : — 
 " The Guary miracle, in English a miracle play, is a kinde of 
 Enterlude, compiled in Cornish out of some Scripture history 
 with that grossness which accompanied the Romanes veins 
 Comedia. For representing it they raise an earthen am{)hi- 
 theatre in some open field, having the diameter of his 
 enclosed playne some forty or fifty feet. The country 
 
52 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 people flock from all sides, many miles off, to hear and 
 see it ; for they have therein devils and devices, to delight 
 as well the eye as the eare ; the players conne not their 
 parts without booke, but are prompted by one called the 
 ordinary, who followeth at their back with the book in his 
 hand, and telleth them softly what they must pronounce aloud. 
 Which manner once gave occasion to a pleasant conceyted 
 gentleman of practising a mery pranke ; for he, undertaking, 
 perhaps of set purpose, an actor's roome, was accordingly 
 lessoned beforehand by the Ordinary that he must say after 
 him. His turn came. Quoth the Ordinary, ' Goe forth, 
 man, and show thyself.' The gentleman steps out upon the 
 stage, and like a bad clarke in Scripture matters, cleaving 
 more to the letter than the sense, pronounced those words 
 aloud. ' Oh,' says the fellow softly in his eare, ' you marre 
 all the play.' And with this his passion, the actor makes 
 the audience in like sort acquainted. Herein the prompter 
 falles to flat rayling and cursing in the bitterest terms he 
 could devise ; which the gentleman with a set gesture and 
 countenance still soberly related, untill the Ordinary, driven 
 at last into a madde rage, was faine to give over all. Which 
 trousse, though it broke off the Enterlude, yet defrauded 
 not the beholders, but dismissed them with a great deale 
 more sport and laughter than twenty such Guaries could 
 have afforded." 
 
 Miracle plays were also acted at Leeds, where a cycle in 
 verse was performed by the trade-guilds at the festival of 
 Corpus Christi, and also at Leicester, Reading, Lincoln, 
 Worcester, Shrewsbury, Tewkesbury, and a great number of 
 other places. In 1487 Henry VH. was entertained at 
 Winchester with a play called "The Harrowing of Hell, or 
 
OTHER ENGLISH MIRACLE PLAYS. 53 
 
 the Triumphant Entry of Christ into the Infernal World," 
 by the choir boys of Hyde Abbey and St. Swithin's Priory, 
 two local monasteries. Just a hundred years before the 
 Bishop of Winchester had forbidden the performance of 
 plays in the cemetery of his cathedral. At Cambridge, 
 in 1350, a play on "The Children of Israel" was acted, and 
 in 141 6 the play of St. George of Cappadocia was performed 
 at Windsor before Henry V. and his guest, the Emperor 
 Sigismund. In the seaport of Kingston-upon-HuU the play 
 of " Noah " was performed annually, for over 300 years, on 
 Plough Monday, the Monday after Twelfth Night, by the 
 members of the Shipmasters' or Mariners' Guild, which still 
 exists as the Trinity House. The performance was preceded 
 by the celebration of Mass in the parish church, which was 
 dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and where the " Ark " was 
 kept out of harm's way during the year by being suspended 
 from the roof of the church. This ark was fashioned on 
 the model of an ordinary ship, with mast and rigging, and 
 round the sides of the vessel boards were hung, on which 
 were painted pictures of the animals and birds that were 
 supposed to take refuge within. The records of the Guild 
 for the year 1591 show that in that year a new ark was 
 purchased at a cost of J^i 4s. iid. 
 
 The Miracle Play seems to have been also performed in 
 Scotland, for we find records of representations in Aberdeen 
 from 1442 to 1531, and in Edinburgh in 1503 and 1554. 
 
 In addition to the fixed and regular performances which 
 we have hitherto been describing, there were others given 
 by bands of strolling players who wandered over the country, 
 either assisting in the local plays or giving performances on 
 their own account wherever they were allowed to do so. 
 
54 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Thus, players from Coventry are found performing at 
 Bristol in 1570, and actors from London, Donnington, and 
 Wakefield were playing in the York plays in 1446-7, the 
 Londoners receiving the sum of six shillings and eightpence 
 for their pains, while the Donnington and Wakefield men 
 were rewarded with one shilling and sixpence respectively. 
 After the Reformation the Miracle Plays lost their 
 popularity, other forms of drama were ousting them from 
 public favour, and with the close of the sixteenth century 
 they practically ceased to be performed in England. 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 tX}t (production of a (ttliracfe (pfag. 
 
 THE records of the cities that were noted for their 
 miracle plays, especially those of York and Coventry, 
 and the accounts and minute books of the various crafts and 
 trade guilds, contain so many entries relating to the plays, 
 that it is tolerably easy to ascertain the manner in which a 
 miracle play was produced, and how the details of the 
 performances were arranged. The object of the present 
 chapter is to consider the miracle play as it was staged and 
 acted, quite apart from any literary or religious features, 
 or in other words to deal solely with what may be termed 
 the stage-management of the performance. When a company 
 or guild reached a position of sufficient importance and 
 opulence, it aspired to share with the other companies and 
 guilds in the responsibilities and glories of the Easter, 
 Whitsuntide, or Corpus Christi festivals. The first duty o f 
 the members was to apply to the city authority for permissio n 
 to" produce a play, and for the allotment to them of a subject. 
 This sanction was not always easily obtained, as the inclusion 
 of a new play in the settled cycle meant a certain amount of 
 disarrangement of the series. Each guild was very jealous 
 of any interference with the subject of its own particular 
 pageant, and resented very keenly any attempt to deprive 
 it of any portion of its play. The new comer could be 
 accommodated in one of three ways — it could either under- 
 
56 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 take an entirely new play on a subject not dealt with in the 
 pageants of the other companies ; or, a play already belonging 
 to the series, and dealing with several incidents in the 
 Scriptural narrative, could be split up, and one or more 
 incidents be entrusted to the applicants for treatment by 
 them as a separate play ; or, the new guild could arrange for 
 the transfer to it of a play previously performed by a guild 
 that, owing to poverty or other reasons, could not longer 
 properly support its part of the series. This last was, perhaps, 
 the most frequent method of acquiring a right to a play, and 
 there are records in the registers of York and other cities of 
 such transfers having been approved by the authorities. 
 
 The responsibilities of the guild were great. Once a play 
 had been allotted to it, it was bound under severe penalties 
 to worthily and regularly sustain the burden. This was no 
 light task, for the cost of producing a play was very con- 
 siderable, and had to be borne by the members of the 
 guild, with the assistance, in some cases, of contributions 
 from the members of a guild that did not bring out a 
 pageant of its own. Thus, in York, on the 21st November, 
 15 1 7, it was ordered "that for a peace to be had betwixt 
 the Skinners and the Vestment Makers, that from henceforth 
 the Vestment Makers shall pay yearly to the bringing forth 
 of the Skinner's pageant, every master eight pence, and 
 every journeyman fourpence, and no more, to be paid with- 
 out denial yearly to the Chamberlain's hands afore the feast 
 of Whitsunday, and then the Skinners to receive it at the 
 Chamberlain's hands, and they not to be charged with the 
 representation of their pageant." At Coventry we find 
 similar enactments ; thus, the Bakers, Chandlers, and Cooks 
 were ordered to contribute towards the expenses of the 
 
THE PRODUCTION OF A MIRACLE PLAY. 57 
 
 Smith's play, which was the Trial and Crucifixion of Christ ; 
 and, in 1548, the Cappers received 3s. 4d. from the 
 Whittawer's Company for the " hyer of our pageand," and 
 for several years the Cardmakers and Sadlers paid 13s 4d. 
 towards the cost of the Capper's pageant. The penalty for 
 failing to produce a pageant was heavy, as will be seen from 
 entries in the Coventry accounts for the years 1428 and 
 1459. In the former year the Smiths were ordered to 
 "occupie the said pachand (pageant) forthe evry yere upon 
 the payne of xli (ten pounds) to be payed at evry defaute to 
 the use of the chambur," and on the later date it was ordained 
 that "every Craft that hath pagant to play in, that the 
 pagant be made ready and brought forth to play upon pain 
 of 100 shillings, to be raised of four masters of the Craft 
 that so offend." 
 
 To meet the expenses incurred by a guild in taking part 
 in the miracle plays, a yearly rate, varying in the different 
 guilds from a penny to fourpence, was levied on every 
 member. In 1479, the Shipmen's or Mariners' Guild at 
 York ordered that every member of the guild "sailing as 
 master with a freeman, pay yearly twopence, and he that 
 sails as a fellow pay a penny, to the sustenation and uphold- 
 ing, as well of the pageant of Noah, as of the bringing forth 
 and burning of certain torches before the shrine of Corpus 
 Christi yearly," In some places, payment of pageant money, 
 as this yearly levy was called, was enforced on all persons 
 exercising any craft or trade, whether members of a guild or 
 not; the "foreigners," or non-members, having to pay twice 
 as much as the admitted craftsmen, and the collection was 
 continued long after the original object had passed into 
 oblivion. At York, for instance, pageant money survived 
 
58 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 till the year 177 1, or nearly 200 years after the miracle plays 
 had ceased to be performed. 
 
 For the purpose of collecting the pageant money, and of 
 generally superintending the performance of its play, each 
 craft appointed certain of its members, generally two in 
 number, to act as Pageant Mast^ rs^. These officials were 
 elected some little time before the day or days fixed for the 
 festival, and, besides having to get in the money, they were 
 entrusted with the spending of it, and had to subsequently 
 account to their craft for every penny received and paid. 
 
 When a play, or a subject for a play, had been duly 
 
 assigned to a guild, the next step was to procure the book 
 
 of words. Where the play was to be an entirely new one, 
 
 some learned man, generally a monk or a priest, was 
 
 commissioned to write it. We have seen how at Coventry 
 
 a new play was provided in 1584, on the subject of the 
 
 Destruction of Jerusalem ; the author w^as an Oxford scholar 
 
 named Smythe, one of the earliest literary members of the 
 
 great Smith family, and he founded his play in a great 
 
 measure on the chronicles of Josephus. Here is the entry 
 
 from the city accounts of the payment made to him for his 
 
 play: — "Paid to Mr. Smythe of Oxford, the 15 day of 
 
 April, 1584, for his pains for writing of the tragedy, 
 
 ^13 6s, 8d." Where the play to be produced was an old 
 
 one, the text had, perhaps, to be revised, and the parts for 
 
 each character had to be written out. Thus we get such 
 
 items in the accounts as the following : — 
 
 " Paid to Robert Crowe for makyng of the boke for the paggen, 
 
 20s." 
 " John Green for writing of the play booke, 5s." 
 " Item, for amending Noye Pyleh, iiijd." 
 '* Item, payd to Nicholas Helpby for wrytg the play, vijd." 
 
THE PRODUCTION OF A MIRACF.K PLAY. 59 
 
 A most important personage was the prompter, or " bearer 
 of the original," who perhaps also filled the office of stage 
 manager, and instructed the performers in their parts. In 
 1494, the Smith's Company of Coventry paid this functionary 
 6d., which seems but a small remuneration for such a 
 responsible post; in 1584, the honorarium had risen to 2s., 
 which was the sum paid to "Robert Lawton for kepynge of 
 the booke." 
 
 Very great care was exercised in .chnosin c r ^r ^ d frnjm ng 
 the actors. From the municipal records at York we learn 
 that thelTouncil itself looked after this department, for on 
 the 3rd of April, 1476, it was ordained — "That yearly in 
 the time of Lent there shall be called before the mayor for 
 the time being four of the most cunning, discreet, and able 
 players within this city, to search, hear, and examine all the 
 players and plays and pageantes throughout all the artificers 
 belonging to the Corpus Christi play. And all such as they 
 shall find sufficient in personne and cunning, to the honour 
 of the City, and worship of the said Crafts for to admit and 
 able ; and all other insufficient persons either in cunning, 
 voice, or person to discharge, remove, and avoid. And 
 that no player that shall play in the said Corpus Christi play 
 be conduct and retained to play but twice on the day of the 
 said play, and that he or they so playing play not over twice 
 the same day, upon pain of 40s. to forfeit unto the chamber 
 as often times as he or they shall be found in default in the 
 same." 
 
 The play and the players having been selected the 
 rehearsals commenced ; the number varied according to the 
 newness and difficulty of the play; for the new pla^ u^t 
 Coventry in 1584, the Smiths thought six rehearsals 
 
6o THK MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 necessary, while the Cappers were content with five. For a 
 play that had previously been performed by a guild a couple 
 of rehearsals seem to have been all that were required. 
 These were conducted either in some open space or in the 
 halls of the guilds, or in rooms hired for the purpose. 
 " Paid for Sent Marye Hall to reherse there, ijd." 
 The actors were paid small sums in respect of their 
 attendances at rehearsals, and as they took place early in 
 the morning, also had breakfast provided for them, as well 
 as a supply of liquid refreshment. Eating and drinking, as 
 we shall see later on, formed an ever present feature of both 
 rehearsals and public performances. 
 
 " Payd to the players for rehearsal — Imprimis, to God, ii.s. viij.d. ; 
 
 itm. to Pilate his wife, ii.s. ; itm. to the Devil and Judas, 
 
 i.s. vi.d." 
 " Paid to the plears at the fyrst reherse, ij.s. vj.d ; Paid for ale, 
 
 iiij.d." 
 
 A full account has been preserved of the expenses 
 
 incurred by the Smiths of Coventry, in 1490, in rehearsing 
 
 their pageant of the Trial and Passion of Christ. They 
 
 were as follows : — 
 
 " This is the expens of the furste reherse of our players in Ester 
 weke. 
 
 Imprimis in Brede, - - - iiij.d. 
 Itm. in Ale, .... viij.d. 
 
 Itm. in Kechyn - - . . xiij.d. 
 Itm. in Vynegre, - - - jd. 
 
 Item Payd at the Second Reherse in Whyttson weke, in brede, 
 ale, and kechyn, ii.s. iiij.d." 
 
 Each craft had its own moveable stage or pageant, on 
 which it represented the play allotted to it. These pageants 
 were erections or scaffolds upon either four or six wheels, 
 and were divided into two parts or rooms, an upper and a 
 
THE PRODUCTION OF A MIRACLE PLAY. 6 1 
 
 lower. The upper one, which was either open at the top 
 and sides, or covered in with a canopy, arches, battlements, 
 or the like, was the stage ; while the lower room, which was 
 enclosed with painted cloths, served as a dressing and 
 retiring room for the performers. Every portion of the 
 vehicle that was open to public view was highly ornamented 
 in colours. On some pageants there was a raised platform 
 at the back of the stage, on which certain parts of the 
 action took place ; in the floor of the stage were trap 
 doors communicating with the lower room, through which 
 the performers ascended and descended. In some cases, 
 as we shall see, the descent was supposed to be to the 
 infernal regions, while the ascent from the stage to the 
 raised platform at the back counterfeited the passage from 
 earth to Heaven. The floor of the stage was strewn with 
 rushes. 
 
 The pageants were not flimsily constructed erections, nor 
 intended for merely temporary use. They were solidly 
 and carefully built of wood and iron, and evidently lasted 
 for a number of years. Entries showing repairs to pageants 
 are very numerous, as well as those of payments for their 
 decoration. The accounts of the Company of Smiths of 
 Coventry contain the following : — 
 
 1462. " Item, expende at the fest of Corpus Christi yn reparacion of 
 the pagent, that ys to say, a peyre of new whelys, the pryce 
 viij.s. ; item, for naylys and ij, hokys for the sayd pagiente, 
 iiij.d." 
 
 1470. " Item, ij. clampys of iron for the pagent viij.d., item, ij. legges 
 
 to the pagent and the workemanship withall, vjd." 
 
 1471. " Expenses for burneysshing and peyntyng of the fanes to the 
 
 pagent xx.d. ; expenses to a joyner for workemanshipp to the 
 pagent, vij.d," 
 1480. "Item, paid for ij. peyre newe whelis, viij.s. ; expenses at the 
 
62 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 settyng on of hem, vij.d. ; item, for byndyng of thame, viij.d. ; 
 
 payd to a carpenter for the pagent rowf, vj.d." 
 1499. "Item, paid for havyng oute of the paygant and swepying 
 
 thereof and havyng in, and for naylles and ij. claspes of iron, 
 
 and for mendyng of a claspe that was brokon, and for coterellis 
 
 and for a bordor to the pagaunte, xix.d." 
 1554. "Item, payd to payntter for payntyng of the pagent tope, 
 
 xxij.d." 
 
 When the pageants were not in use they were kept in 
 
 buildings hired for the purpose, which were known as 
 
 pageant-houses. In York these buildings appear to have 
 
 been the property of the Corporation, and to have been 
 
 hired by the various guilds at a yearly rent of one shilling 
 
 each. In 1502 the Council ordered that the Coopers should 
 
 have sufficient and convenient room for their pageant within 
 
 the pageant-house of the Baxters. The accounts of the 
 
 Coventry Company of Smiths contain frequent items relating 
 
 to the repairing and rent of their pageant-house : — 
 
 "Item, paide to James liradshawe for mendynge the pageant- 
 howse doores, iiij.d. ; item, to Christofer Burne for a key and 
 settynge on the locke on the doore, v d. ; item, paide to 
 Baylyffe Emerson for halfe-yeres rent of the pageant-house, 
 ij.s. vj.d. ; item, gyven to Bryan, a sharman, for his good wyil 
 of the pageante-house, x.d." 
 
 In 1586, the Smiths sold their pageant-house for a pound, 
 and the pageant itself for forty shillings. 
 
 As the time for the playing drew near, proclamations 
 were issued by the authorities ordering all evil disposed 
 persons to leave the town, announcing the precautions that 
 would be taken against riots and disturbances during the 
 performances, and settling the order of the plays and other 
 details. Specimens of these proclamations have already been 
 given in the chapters dealing with the York and Chester 
 plays. On the evening before the plays the various stations 
 
THE PRODUCTION OF A MIRACLE PLAY. 63 
 
 appointed for the performances were marked out by banners 
 bearing the city arms, and probably scaffolds or tiers of 
 seats were erected for the accommodation of those of the 
 better class of spectators who could not obtain places in 
 the windows of the neighbouring houses. 
 
 At length the great day dawns. The narrow streets of 
 the ancient city are crowded with holiday folks, who have 
 come from far and near to see the plays. Lords and ladies 
 from the castles and great houses of the county are here, with 
 hosts of knights, esquires, men-at-arms, and grooms. Farmers 
 have jogged into the city with wives or daughters ; monks, 
 palmers, pilgrims, jongleurs, mountebanks and pedlers, 
 merchants, tradesmen and apprentices, all jostle and elbow 
 each other in their anxiety to get a good place. The 
 members of the crafts, who have assembled at the appointed 
 spot almost before sunrise, are busy dressing for their parts, 
 and putting the finishing touches to the finery of their 
 pageants ; all eagerly awaiting the signal to set out on 
 their triumphant progress through the city. But first gaily 
 accoutred heralds, or vexiliatores, ride through the streets, 
 and with sound of trumpets read the Banes, or Bans, which 
 are the time honoured prologue to the performances. The 
 Banes read before the Chester plays on the 4th of June, 
 1600, have been preserved. A few verses will serve to 
 show their nature : — 
 
 " Reverende lordes and ladyes all, 
 That at this tyme here assembled bee, 
 By this messauge understande you shall 
 That some tymes there was mayor of this citie 
 Sir John Arnway, Knighte, who most worthiiyc 
 Contented himselfe to sett out in playe 
 The devise of one Done Rondall, monke of Chester Abbey. 
 
64 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 This moonke, moonke-like, in Scriptures well scene, 
 
 In storyes travilled with the beste sorte, 
 
 In pagentes set fourth apparently to all eyne 
 
 The olde and newe testament, with livelye comforth, 
 
 Interminglinge therewith, onely to make sporte. 
 
 Some thinges not warranted by any writt, 
 
 Which to gladd the hearers he woulde men to take yt. 
 
 As in this citie divers yeares the have bene set out, 
 Soe at this tyme of Pentecoste, called Whitsontyde, 
 Allthough to all the citie followe labour and coste, 
 Yet God giving leave that tyme shall you, in playe. 
 For three dayes together, begyninge on Mondaye, 
 See these pagentes played to the beste of theire skill ; 
 When to supplye all wants shalbe noe wantes of good will. 
 
 This worthy Knighte, Arnway, then mayor of this citie, 
 
 This order toke, as declare to you I shall. 
 
 That by 24 occupations, artes, craftes, or misterie. 
 
 These pagentes should be played, after breefe rehearsal! ; 
 
 For everye pagente a carriage to be provyded wilhall ; 
 
 In which sorte we porpose, this Whitsontyde, 
 
 Our pageantes into three partes to devyde." 
 
 The remaining verses indicate the subject of the play to 
 be enacted on each pageant, and the guild or craft by which 
 it will be played. Thus — 
 
 " The appearinge angell and starr upon Christes birth, 
 To sheapeardes poore, of base and lowe degree. 
 You Painters and Glasiors decke out with all meirthe. 
 And see that Gloria in excelsis be songe merelye." 
 
 When the heralds have done, the pageants are at length 
 permitted to start upon their long round. They are drawn 
 by men or by horses. In the former case it is the privilege 
 of the journeymen of the craft, who are not engaged as 
 actors, to fill the place of draught horses. In 1433, ^^^ 
 Weaver's Company of Coventry passed the following resolu- 
 tion : — " Also it is ordeyned that the journeymen of the said 
 
A MYSTERY PLAY. 
 
THE PRODUCTION OF A MIRACLE PLAY. 65 
 
 craft schall have yearly six shillings and eight pence, and for 
 that they schall have owte the paggent, and on Corpus 
 Christi day to dryve it from place to place ther as it schal be 
 played, and then for to brynge it geyn into the paggent- 
 house, without any hurte, nyther defawte, and they for to 
 put the master to no more coste." The Smiths of Coventry, 
 in 1490, paid one shilling and twopence for having their 
 pageant moved from place to place; while at York, in 1584, 
 it took six labourers to drag the Baker's pageant, for which 
 they received two shillings. The Coventry Drapers and 
 Cappers employed respectively ten and twelve men for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 It cannot have been easy work to move these heavy 
 vehicles about the ill-paved streets of our old cities, and a 
 striking testimony to either the clumsiness of the pageants 
 or the badness of the roads is afforded by the frequent 
 entries in the Companies' accounts of such items as, '' for 
 sope for the pagent wheles," "talowe to the pagent," "paid 
 for shope and gresse to the wheles." Horses, however, 
 were often harnessed to the cars, and the accounts show 
 many payments for the hire of animals and harness, and for 
 providing the drivers with meat and drink. The Coventry 
 Cappers were probably wise in their generation when they 
 hired a carpenter to accompany their pageant, so that any 
 mishap could at once be attended to. 
 
 The pageants were either escorted through the city by a 
 guard of craftsmen, or men were hired to stand round it, 
 and to keep order among the audiences. In 1476, the 
 Company of Armourers, at York, ordered "that all the 
 masters of the same craft from now forth yearly, on Corpus 
 Christi day, in the morning, be ready in their own proper 
 
 5 
 
66 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 persons, every one of them with an honest weapon, to await 
 upon their pageant-masters and pageant, at the playing and 
 setting forth their said pageant, at the first place where they 
 shall begin. And so to await upon the same their pageant 
 through the city, to the play be played as of that same 
 pageant." And in 1493 the Spurriers and Lorimers made a 
 similar regulation. 
 
 The pageants were drawn from street to street, and station 
 to station, in proper order. Archdeacon Rogers, who saw 
 the plays acted at Chester, in 1594, has described the mode 
 of exhibition : — 
 
 " The maner of these playes were, every company had his pagiant, 
 which pagiants weare a high scafold with two roumes, a higher 
 and a lower, upon four wheels. In the lower they apparelled 
 themselves, and in the higher roume they played, beinge all open 
 on the tope, that all behoulders might heare and see them. The 
 places where they played them was in every streete. They 
 began first at the Abay gates, and when the first pagiante was 
 played it was wheeled to the highe crosse before the Mayor, and 
 so to every streete, and soe every streete had a pagiant playing 
 before them at one time, till all the pagiantes for the day 
 appointed weare playen, and when one pagiant was neere ended, 
 worde was broughte from streete to streete, that soe they might 
 come in place thereof, exceedinge orderlye, and all the streetes 
 have their pagiantes afore them all at one time playeinge 
 together ; to see w'ch playes was greate resorte, and also scafoldes 
 N and stages made in the streetes in those places where they 
 
 N determined to playe their pagiantes." 
 
 Dugdale, in his "Antiquities of Warwickshire," gives 
 similar information about the Coventry pageants. He says, 
 that there they " had theaters for the severall scenes very 
 large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the 
 eminent parts of the city, for the better advantage of 
 spectators." By this arrangement, a complete succession of 
 plays was kept up throughout the city from dawn to dusk, a 
 
THE PRODUCTION OF A MIRACLE PLAY. 67 
 
 plan which prevented undue crowding at any one point, a 
 very desirable thing in those days of narrow streets, and gave 
 everyone an opportunity of witnessing the entire series of plays. 
 The actors were paid for their services, the rate of 
 remuneration depending on the length, not the dignity, of 
 the parts. So far as we can learn, Pilate was the most highly 
 paid character — his representative at Coventry in 1490 
 received 4s., Herod and Caiaphas ranking next with 3s. 4d. 
 each, while the actor who played God or Jesus, surely a most 
 trying role, seeing that the play dealt with the Trial and 
 Passion, had to be content with 2s., the same sum being 
 paid to Pilate's wife. Here are some other entries in the 
 salary list for that year : — 
 
 " Itm to the Bedull, iiijd. 
 
 Itm to one of the Knights, ijs. 
 
 Itm to the devyll and to Judas, xviijd. 
 
 Itm to Peter and to Malchus, xvjd. 
 
 Itm to Anna, ijs., ijd. 
 
 Itm to Pilatte is Sonne, iiijd. 
 
 Itm to another Knighte, ijs." 
 
 At Hull, wages ruled low at first, but gradually rose by 
 increments of a few pence at a time. In 1447, God received 
 6d., in 1484, 8d., in 1487, lod., and in 1520 his salary 
 reached the maximum of one shilling. In 1485, Noah got 
 8d., and his wife is., which sums were increased in 1520 to 
 2S. and IS. 6d. respectively. Sometimes an actor undertook 
 to play two characters, and then his remuneration seems to 
 have been slightly increased. In the accounts of the 
 Coventry Smiths, for 1584, are some items of payments for 
 doubling parts : — 
 
 " Itm payd to Reignolde lleadly for playinge of Symon and 
 Phynea, vs. 
 
68 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Itm payd to John Hoppers for playing of Jesus and Zacharyas, 
 
 iijs. 
 Itm payd to John Green for playinge of Matthias and Esron, 
 
 ijs." 
 
 The general ntiljity '^'"'" existed in those days, and seems 
 to have been, in comparison with the leading actors, fairly 
 well paid. Thus at Coventry a man named Fawston got 46.. 
 for hanging Judas, 4d. for cock-crowing, and 5d. for setting 
 the world on fire in the last scene of all. 
 
 Besides their wages, the actors received liberal rations of 
 food and ale. Pilate, as the leading man, was permitted to 
 drink wine, in order, perhaps, to mark his superiority to the 
 common run of actors, who were obliged to content them- 
 selves with home-brewed beer. Judging from the charges 
 made by the pageant-masters against their Guilds, the 
 progress of the pageants must have been frequently interrupted 
 in order that the players and all concerned might eat and 
 drink. We are told that they refreshed themselves "at 
 every reste." Before the plays commenced a breakfast was 
 provided ; dinner was served at mid-day, roast beef and goose 
 finding places on the board ; and after the day's labours 
 were over, all partook of a hearty supper. This last meal 
 cost the Coventry Smiths, in 1584, the sum of eight shillings 
 and sixpence, and we can form some idea of the magnitude 
 of the meal, when we recollect that a rib of beef or a goose 
 could be purchased for about 3d. or 4d., and that ale was 
 2d. a gallon. Such entries as the following occur over and 
 over again in the various accounts : — Drink to players, ijs. ; 
 drivers for drink, iiijd. ; spent at tavern, xijd. ; drink to 
 musicians, ijd. ; drink at the pageant, viijd. ; item for ix 
 gallons of ale, xviijd. ; for a quarte of wyne, ijd. 
 
THE PRODUCTION OF A MIRACLE PLAY. 69 
 
 We have hitherto spoken of the guilds as each producing 
 their own plays, but this was not always done, for sometimes 
 a guild, or a number of guilds, would contract with a person 
 skilled in the stage craft of the day to produce their play or 
 plays for them. In 1452, by an agreement made on the 
 Monday before Palm Sunday, the Smiths' Company of 
 Coventry agreed with one, Thoms Colclow, that he should 
 produce their pageant for the next twelve years. The text 
 of the agreement has been preserved, and runs as follows : — 
 "That Thoms Colclow, skinner, ffro this day forth shall 
 have the rewle of the pajaunt unto the end of twelve years 
 next following. He for to find the players, and all that 
 longeth thereto all the seide time, save the kep of the craft 
 shall let bring forth the pajant, and find clothes that gon 
 about the pajant, and find rushes thereto ; and every Whit- 
 sun week who that be keps of the craft shall dine with 
 Colclow, and every master lay down fourpence, and Colclow 
 shall have yearly for his labour forty-six shillings and eight- 
 pence, and he to bring into the master on Sunday next after 
 Corpus Christi day the original (that is, the play-book), and 
 fetch his seven nobles ; and Colclow must bring in at the 
 latter end of the time all the garments that longen to the 
 pajant as good as they were delivered to him." In 1591, all 
 the Coventry Companies contracted with a man named 
 Massye for the production of their plays. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Z^c ^cenerg, (pxoptxtxCB anb ©reeeee. 
 
 THE limited stage-room at the disposal of the 
 producers of a miracle play in England precluded 
 any very ambitious attempts in the way of scenery, indeed 
 moveable scenes, as we understand them, were unknown in 
 this country until after the Restoration. Still something 
 was done to give an appropriate, or what was considered to 
 be an appropriate appearance to the pageants on which the 
 various plays were enacted. For instance, in the play of the 
 Creation painted cloths were, probably, unrolled at the 
 proper time to pictorially illustrate the action of the Creator. 
 In a French Mystery of 1542 we find that at the separation 
 of light from darkness they displayed a cloth, one half of 
 which was coloured white and the other half black. When 
 fish were made, the stage direction was, " show a sea with 
 fish in the sea;" and, similarly, at the creation of the 
 heavenly bodies, "Show a sky painted all over with stars 
 and the names of planets." The direction for the creation 
 of birds was very naive — " Then one ought in secret to put 
 little birds flying in the air and alighting upon the earth, 
 with the most foreign birds that one is able to procure." It 
 is perhaps not going too far to assume that if these primitive 
 methods were used in the neighbouring country of France, 
 something of the same kind was to be seen on the English 
 pageants, although the necessity of leaving the stage open 
 
THE SCENERY PROPERTIES, AND DRESSES. 7 1 
 
 to the audience on at least three sides would prevent any 
 extensive user of anything hkely to obstruct the view. 
 
 In the play of the Flood we know that a large " practical " 
 Ark was used, and in those plays where part of the action 
 was supposed to take place within a house, and part in the 
 open country or in a street, a building of some sort would 
 be erected at the back or side of the stage, with an open 
 front, so that the audience could see what was passing inside. 
 The stable at Bethlehem, and the hut in the Wakefield 
 Shepherds' Play, will at once occur to the reader as instances. 
 Other erections of this kind, which Halliwell-Phillips has 
 aptly described as not unlike "decorated sentry boxes," 
 would represent the Palaces of Herod and Pilate, the 
 Temple at Jerusalem, the room in which the Last Supper 
 was eaten, the Synagogue, and so on. For other plays 
 tapestries were hung round the pageant, on which various 
 incidents of the play were painted. Thus we find in the 
 inventories of the possessions of the guilds such items as 
 " halfe a yarde of Rede Sea," " three paynted clothes to hang 
 abowte the pageant," and "two pajiont clothes of the 
 Passion." 
 
 In man^ofthe plays two pageants or stages were required, 
 as well as some smaller scaffolds or stages which were 
 appropriated to the use of individual characters. Such a 
 play was the Trial of Christ, where Herod, Pilate, and the 
 High Priest each had their separate stage, the actors going 
 from one stage to the other as the action required. 
 Another, and perhaps a better example, is furnished by the 
 plays of the Council of the Jews and the Last Supper in the 
 Coventry series. These plays were probably represented 
 together, and the texts contain some very quaint stage 
 
72 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 directions, which well show the primitive nature of the scenic 
 arrangements, and also give minute particulars of the 
 costumes to be w'orn by the characters. In the Council 
 of the Jews, Annas and Caiaphas each has his stage, 
 which is supposed to represent his house, and between 
 the two is a third stage, which is the Council House. We 
 are first introduced to Annas — " Here xal Annas shewyn 
 hymself in his stage be seyn after a busshop of the hoold 
 lawe, in a skarlet gowne, and over that a blew tabbard 
 furryd with whyte, and a mytere on his hed, after the hoold 
 lawe ; ij doctorys stondyng by him in furryd hodys, and on 
 (one) beforn hem with his staff of astat, and eche of hem on 
 here hedys a furryd cappe, with a gret knop in the crowne, 
 and on stondyng beforn as a Sarazyn, the wiche xal be his 
 masangere." 
 
 Annas wishes to discuss with Caiaphas the action they 
 are to take respecting Jesus, so he sends his messenger or 
 Saracen to invite him to a conference. The messenger 
 leaves the scaffold and makes his way to the stage 
 representing the house of Caiaphas. 
 
 " In the meantime (I modernise the spelling), Caiaphas 
 shews himself in his scaffold, arrayed like to Annas, saving 
 his tabard shall be red, furred with white ; two doctors with 
 him arrayed with pellises after the old guise, and furred caps 
 on their heads." 
 
 The messenger salutes the High Priest and tells his 
 business, Caiaphas expresses his readiness to meet Annas, 
 and sends the messenger back to say so. Then the two 
 dignitaries leave their scaffolds and ascend the centre stage 
 with their servants and the Pharisees. This "myd place" 
 is arranged to represent " a lytil oratory, with stolys and 
 
THE SCENERY, PROPERTIES, AND DRESSES. 73 
 
 cusshonys clenly beseyn, lyche as it were a cownsel-hous." 
 
 By-and-bye, the twenty-sixth pageant arrives, and on it is 
 set forth the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and 
 then comes the twenty-seventh of the series, the scene of 
 which is the exterior and interior of Symon's house. 
 
 " Here Cryst enteryth into the hous with his disciplis and 
 ete the Paschal lomb; and in the mene tynie the cownsel- 
 hous befornseyd xal sodeynly enclose, schewyng the bus- 
 chopps, prestys, and jewgys syttyng in here astat, lyke as it 
 were a convocacyon." 
 
 This sudden unclosing was nothing more than the drawing 
 apart of the curtains that had been hung across the front of 
 the meeting-place of the Jews, for which purpose certain of 
 the pageants were provided with curtain hooks and rings. 
 
 Soon Judas slips away from Symon's house, and crosses 
 over to the Council house, where he arranges to betray his 
 Master. The High Priests and their followers then separate, 
 and go back to their own scaffolds, while the room in 
 Symon's house in turn " suddenly uncloses," and shows 
 Christ and his disciples partaking of the Last Supper. 
 Such were the simple devices by which the old actors made 
 the story they had to tell clear to their uncritical and friendly 
 audiences. 
 
 If their scenery was primitive, their properties were beyond 
 reproach. Their crosses, spears, tools, and such like, were 
 as realistic as wood and paint could well be. The old 
 property masters had a passion for gilt, they gilded every- 
 thing they could ; the cross, the post to which Jesus was 
 tied when he was scourged, the hair of God's wig, his throne, 
 and even his face, till they learned by experience the dangers , 
 of the practice. They made horses and other beasts of 
 
74 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 hoops and canvas, artificial clouds, trees, tombs, and beds. 
 
 Storm, lightning, thunder, and rain were ready at hand, and 
 
 they even managed an earthquake, with the aid of a huge 
 
 barrel filled with stones, which they kept in the room below 
 
 the stage, in company with windlasses for raising angels aloft, 
 
 and other strange contrivances. Globes of some combustible 
 
 substance were contrived to represent this world of ours, 
 
 and were duly set on fire and consumed when the Day of 
 
 Judgment was played. 
 
 " Payd for the baryll for the yerthequake ; payd for tyntyng 
 (attending) the yerthequake, iiij.d. ; payd for starche to make 
 the storm, vj.d. ; payd for makyng of iij worldys, ijs. ; payd 
 for pantyng of the worldys ; payd for settynge the world of 
 fyer, v.d. ; payd for kepyng the wynd, vj.d." 
 
 are a few of the entries in the old account books. 
 
 But the masterpiece of realism was Hell Mouth, perhaps 
 the most popular and most eagerly awaited feature of the 
 Miracle plays. In any play in which the Devil took part 
 Hell Mouth was sure to figure, though it was in plays like 
 the Harrowing of Hell and Doomesday that it attained its 
 greatest magnificence. It was generally represented as a 
 square, embattled tower, the entrance to which was through 
 a gaping and hideous dragon's head, with glaring eyes, 
 enormous nose, and moveable jaws lined with rows of long, 
 projecting teeth. 
 
 " An hideous hole all vaste, vvithouten shape, 
 
 Of endlesse depth, orewhelm'd with ragged stone, 
 With ougly mouth, and griesly jawes doth gape, 
 And to our sight confounds itself in one." 
 
 (when the jaws opened, fire and smoke, produced by 
 braziers and bellows hidden away behind, were vomited 
 from the mouth and nostrils. \ Drums were beaten, horns 
 
HELL MOUTH. 
 
 (From an Old German Print.) 
 
THE SCENERY, PROPERTIES, AND DRESSES. 75 
 
 blown, tin-cans banged, and amid the wild din the devil and 
 his imps leapt in and out of the flaming opening, to drag 
 the wicked characters to limbo, or to stir up the unhappy 
 occupants of the infernal regions. 
 
 To have a good Hell Mouth was the great and absorbing 
 ambition of the old stage managers, and many are the 
 entries relating to it — 
 
 Item, paide lor payntyng and makyng new hell hede, xij.d. 
 
 Item, payd for mendyng new hell hede, vj.d. 
 
 P'd to Jhon Huyt for payntyng of hell mowthe, xvj.d. 
 
 P'd for makyng hell mouth and cloth for hyt, iiij.s. 
 
 Payde for kepynge hell hede, viij.d. 
 
 Item, payd for kepyng of fyer at hell mothe, iiij.d. 
 
 The costumes worn by the various characters were both 
 curious and costly. Saints and holy persons were distin- 
 guished by gilt hair and beards. Christ wore a long sheep- 
 skin. Herod was dressed as a Saracen, and bore a 
 formidable looking sword. He was represented as always 
 being in a passion, and was sometimes attended by a small 
 boy, armed with a bladder tied to a stick, whose duty was to 
 beat Herod whenever his rage gave signs of abating, and so 
 stir him up to fresh fury. The Shakesperean expression " to 
 out — Herod Herod," indicates the extravagance with which 
 the part was played. Demons wore hideous masks, as they 
 still do in pantomimes, and ange ls wer e made supremely 
 happy, and, we must thmk, uncomfortable, by having to wear 
 gilded skins, and golden wings fastened to their shoulders. 
 TH'ey also wore flowing white surplices, and had diadems on 
 their heads. The Devil was a very prominent character, for 
 he wore horns and a tail, and a bright red beard. His coat 
 and hose were made of rough hair, and he was intended to 
 present an uncouth and horrible appearance. Both he and 
 
76 THE MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 Pilate carried huge clubs made of leather and stuffed with 
 wool. -^The First Person in the Trinity was represented as a 
 pope, with a tiara and sceptre, while the leaders of the Jews 
 were attired as bishops in mitres, hoods, and rochets. Adam 
 and Eve in the garden of Eden were dressed in close-fitting 
 coats of white leather and hose, stained or dyed to (probably) 
 a flesh colour. At the proper time they put on, over these 
 " fleshings," rough garments of skins. 
 
 '* Two cotes and a payre hosen for Eve stayned ; a cote and hosen 
 for Adam steyned." 
 
 The tradition that they appeared naked on the stage is 
 quite unfounded, and it is hardly necessary to say that the 
 female characters were acted by men or boys. Most of the 
 characters wore gloves, and those who did not conceal their 
 features behind masks had their faces painted. 
 
 Item paid for gloves to the pleyares, xixd. 
 
 Item paid for a pair of gloves for God. 
 
 Item paid to the peynter for peynting of ther ffases, viijd. 
 
 Item paid for pyntyng off ther fasus, ijd. 
 
 Finally, the lost souls wore parti-coloured dresses of black 
 and yellow to represent flames, and they had their faces 
 blackened. 
 
 Miracle plays ceased to be acted in this country about the 
 year 1600, by which time our unequalled English drama had 
 almost reached the summit of its glory. Shakespeare, 
 Marlowe, Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Massenger, Webster, 
 and others, were busily building up that great mass of 
 dramatic literature, which is the pride of Englishmen and 
 the envy of the civilized world. Almost at one bound, 
 England leapt from the tied-down conventionality of the 
 miracle play to a drama abounding in life and energy. I do 
 
r 
 
 THE SCENERY, PROPERTIES, AND DRESSES. 77 
 
 not claim for the miracle play that it exerted any very great 
 influence on our subsequent drama, but this may be said for 
 it, it certainly made Shakespeare possible. It had fostered 
 a national love of acting ; it had taught men to exercise their 
 imaginations, and to "make-believe;" it had made drama 
 the popular amusement. It had sown the seed of comedy, 
 and had already marked out the broad distinctions between 
 historical plays, comedies, and tragedies ; and, greatest 
 result of all, it had for ever knocked on the head, so far as 
 Enghsh drama is concerned, the great fallacy of classic 
 drama, that tragedy and comedy were and must be distinct 
 rituals ; in other words it promulgated the great canon of 
 Romantic art, that tragedy on the stage is made more 
 effective and more impressive when the serious and painful 
 episodes are separated and relieved by the introduction of 
 pleasing and humorous incidents and characters ; that as 
 tragedy and comedy clash and mingle in our daily life, so 
 they must go hand in hand to make a perfect play, which is, 
 or should be, but a picture of more or less idealised life. 
 
Hppen&iy. 
 
 •■■il<Hi»' 
 
 I. — The Order of the York Plays. 
 
 '"T^HE order of the Pageants of the Play of Corpus 
 1^ Christi, in the time of the mayoralty of William 
 Alne, in the third year of the reign of King Henry the 
 Fifth, after the Conquest of England, compiled by Roger 
 Burton, town clerk, in the year 14 15." (Translation). 
 
 PERFORMED BY. 
 
 I. Tanners. 
 
 2. Plasterers. 
 
 3. Cardmakers 
 [i.e., the makers of 
 cards for combing 
 wool]. 
 
 4. Fullers. 
 
 5. Coopers. 
 
 SUBJECT AND CHARACTERS. 
 
 God the Father Almighty 
 creating and forming the heavens, 
 angels, and archangels, Lucifer 
 and the angels that fell with him 
 to hell. 
 
 God the Father in his own 
 substance creating the earth and 
 all which is therein, by the space 
 of five days. 
 
 God the Father creating Adam 
 of the clay of the earth, and 
 making Eve of Adam's rib, and 
 inspiring them with the breath of 
 life. 
 
 God forbidding Adam and Eve 
 to eat of the tree of life. 
 
 Adam and Eve and a tree 
 betwixt them ; the serpent de- 
 ceiving them with apples ; God 
 speaking to them and cursing the 
 serpent, and with a sword driving 
 them out of Paradise. 
 
8o 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 6. Armourers. 
 
 7. Gaunters or 
 Glovers. 
 
 8. Shipwrights. 
 
 9. Pessoners (Fish- 
 monpjers) and 
 Mariners. 
 
 Adam and Eve, an angel with 
 a spade and distaff assigning 
 them work. 
 
 Abel and Cain offering victims 
 in sacrifice. 
 
 God warning Noah to make an 
 Ark of floatable wood. 
 
 Noah in the Ark, with his wife ; 
 the three sons of Noah with their 
 wives ; with divers animals. 
 
 10. Parchment-Makers Abraham sacrificing his son 
 and Bookbinders. Isaac on an altar, a boy with wood, 
 
 and an angel. 
 
 [I. Hosiers. Moses lifting up the serpent in 
 
 the wilderness ; King Pharaoh ; 
 eight Jews wondering and expect- 
 ing. 
 
 12. Spicers or Grocers. A doctor declaring the sayings 
 of the prophets of the future birth 
 of Christ. Mary ; an angel salut- 
 ing her ; Mary saluting Elizabeth. 
 
 13. Pewterers and 
 Founders \i.e. the 
 metal melters and 
 moulders! 
 
 Mary, Joseph wishing to put 
 her away ; an angel speaking to 
 them that they go to Bethlehem. 
 
 14. Tylers \i.e. thatchers]. Mary, Joseph, a midwife ; the 
 
 Child born, lying in a manger 
 betwixt an ox and an ass, and an 
 angel speaking to the shepherds, 
 and to the players in the next 
 pageant. 
 
 15. Chandlers. The shepherds talking together, 
 
 the star in the East ; an angel 
 giving the shepherds the good 
 tidings of the Child's birth. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 8: 
 
 1 6. Orfevers or Gold- The three Kings coming from 
 
 17. SMITHS, Goldbeaters the East, Herod asking them 
 and MoNEVMAKERS. about the child Jesus ; the son of 
 
 Herod, two counsellors, and a 
 messenger. Mary with the Child, 
 a star above, and the three Kings 
 offering gifts. 
 
 41. Hatmakers, Masons, Mary with the Child, Joseph, 
 
 and Labourers. Anna, the midwife with young 
 
 pigeons ; Simeon receiving the 
 
 Child in his arms, and two sons 
 
 of Simeon. 
 
 [This play, though numbered 41 in Burton's list, is obviously 
 misplaced, and should come between the plays he 
 numbers 17 and 18. The play was at one time per- 
 formed by the Brothers of the Hospital of St. Leonard.] 
 
 18. Marsshals [/.f. the Mary with the Child, and Joseph 
 shoers of horses and fleeing into Egypt at the bidding 
 
 of an angel. 
 
 Herod commanding the child- 
 ren to be slain ; four soldiers 
 with lances ; two counsellors of 
 the King, and four women 
 lamenting the slaughter of the 
 children. 
 
 The Doctors, the Child Jesus 
 sitting in the Temple in their 
 midst, questioning and answering 
 them. Four Jews, Mary and 
 Joseph seeking Him, and finding 
 Him in the Temple. 
 
 Jesus, John the Baptist baptiz- 
 ing Him. 
 
 Jesus, Mary, bridegroom with 
 bride, the Ruler of the Feast 
 with his household, with six 
 water-pots, in which the water is 
 turned into wine. 
 
 6 
 
 Veterinaries]. 
 
 19. Girdlers, Nailers, 
 and Sawyers. 
 
 20. Spurriers and 
 LoRiMERS (bit-makers). 
 
 21. Barbers. 
 
 [2 1 a]. Vintners. 
 
82 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 2 2. Fewers or Smiths. 
 
 23. Curriers. 
 
 [23A]. Ironmongers. 
 
 24. Plumbers and 
 Patten-makers. 
 
 [24A]. Pouch-makers, 
 Bottellers, and 
 Cap-makers. 
 
 25. Skinners. 
 
 26. Cutlers, Blade- 
 smiths, Sheathers, 
 Scalers, Buckle- 
 makers, and Horners. 
 
 27. Baxters or Bakers. 
 
 Jesus upon the pinnacle of the 
 Temple, Satan tempting Him, 
 with stones, and two angels 
 ministering. 
 
 Peter, James, and John ; Jesus 
 ascending into the mountain 
 and transfiguring Himself before 
 them ; Moses and Elias appear- 
 ing, and a voice speaking from a 
 cloud. 
 
 Jesus, and Simon the Leper 
 asking Jesus to eat with him ; 
 two disciples, Mary Magdalene 
 washing the feet of Jesus with 
 her tears, and wiping them with 
 her hair. 
 
 Jesus, two Apostles, the woman 
 taken in adultery, four Jews 
 accusing her. 
 
 Lazarus in the tomb, Mary 
 Magdalene, Martha, and two 
 Jews in wonderment. 
 
 Jesus upon an ass with its foal, 
 xii. Apostles following Jesus, six 
 rich and six poor men, eight boys 
 with branches of palms, singing 
 Benedictus, etc., and Zacchaeus 
 climbing into a sycamore tree. 
 
 Pilate, Caiaphas, two soldiers, 
 three Jews, Judas selling Jesus. 
 
 The paschal lamb, the Lord's 
 Supper, the xii. Apostles, Jesus 
 girt with a linen towel washing 
 their feet; the institution of the 
 Sacrament of Christ's Body in 
 the New Law ; the communion 
 of the Apostles. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 83 
 
 28. CORDWANERS Or 
 
 Shoemakers. 
 
 29. Bowers and 
 Fletchers (Arrow- 
 featherers). 
 
 30. Tapisers and 
 CoucHERS [i.e., 
 Tapestry-weavers and 
 Couch-coverers]. 
 
 31. LiTTESTERS [i.e., 
 
 Bedmakers]. 
 
 32. Cooks and Water- 
 leaders. 
 
 Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, four- 
 teen armed soldiers, Malchus, 
 Peter, James, John, Jesus, and 
 Judas kissing and betraying Him. 
 
 Jesus, Annas, Caiaphas, and 
 four Jews persecuting and scourg- 
 ing Jesus. Peter, the woman 
 accusing Peter, and Malchus. 
 
 Jesus, Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, 
 two counsellors, and four Jews 
 accusing Christ. 
 
 Herod, two counsellors, four 
 soldiers, Jesus, and three Jews. 
 
 Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, two 
 Jews, and Judas bringing back 
 to them the thirty pieces of silver. 
 
 The Hanging of Judas. 
 
 [32A]. Salse-makers or 
 Sauce-makers. 
 
 [This play is not in Burton's list.] 
 
 33. Tilemakers, Jesus, Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, 
 
 Millers, Ropers, six soldiers carrying spears and 
 
 SiEVERS, Turners, ensigns, and four others leading 
 
 Hayresters (Workers Jesus from Herod, desiring 
 
 in horse-hair), and 
 BoLLERS (bowl- 
 makers). 
 
 34. TuNNERS or 
 
 Shermen [/.(?., those 
 who cut the nap off 
 cloth]. 
 
 Barabbas to be released and 
 Jesus to be crucified, and then 
 binding and scourging Him, 
 placing a crown of thorns upon 
 His head ; three soldiers casting 
 lots for the vest of Jesus. 
 
 Jesus, covered with blood, 
 bearing His Cross to Calvary ; 
 Simon of Cyrene, Jews compelling 
 him to bear the Cross ; Mary, 
 the mother of Jesus, the Apostle 
 John informing her of the con- 
 demnation of her Son, and of 
 His journey to Calvary ; Veronica 
 
84 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 35. Pinners or wire- 
 workers, Latoners, 
 and Painters. 
 
 36. Butchers and 
 Poulterers. 
 
 37. Sellers or Sadlers, 
 Verrours or Glaziers, 
 and Fuystours [those 
 who made saddle-trees] 
 
 38. Carpenters. 
 
 wiping blood and sweat from the 
 face of Jesus with the napkin on 
 which is imprinted Jesus's face ; 
 and other women lamenting 
 Jesus. 
 
 The Cross, Jesus stretched 
 upon it on the earth, four Jews 
 scourging and dragging Him with 
 ropes, and afterwards uplifting the 
 Cross, and the body of Jesus 
 nailed to it, on Mount Calvary. 
 
 The Cross, two thieves cruci- 
 fied, Jesus hung on the Cross 
 between them, Mary the mother 
 of Jesus, John, Mary, James, and 
 Salome. Longeus with a lance, 
 a slave with a sponge, Pilate, 
 Annas, Caiaphas, a centurion, 
 Joseph of Arimathea and Nico- 
 demus laying Him in the tomb. 
 
 Jesus despoiling 
 spirits 
 
 Hell, twelve 
 
 six good and six bad. 
 
 Jesus rising from the tomb, four 
 soldiers armed, and the three 
 Maries lamenting. Pilate, Caia- 
 phas. 
 
 Note. — When the soldiers inform Pilate that Christ has 
 risen, they are told to tell the people that He was taken 
 away by twenty thousand armed men. For consenting 
 to spread this falsehood, they are given a thousand 
 pounds and promised promotion. Pilate moralises : — 
 
 " Thus schall the sothe be bought and solde, 
 And treasonne schall for trewthe be tolde." 
 
 39. Winedrawers 
 
 Jesus, Mary Magdalene with 
 spices. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 85 
 
 40. Broggours [i.e. 
 Brokers] and VVool- 
 PACKERS. [Fhe 
 Sledgemen or Carriers 
 
 Jesus, Luke and Cleophas in 
 the guise of Pilgrims. 
 
 also performed this play]. 
 
 41. [See above, between Nos. 17 and 18.] 
 
 42. Scriveners, Luminers 
 [i.e. Illuminators], Ques- Jesus, Peter, John, James and 
 
 TORS [i.e. Pardoners] 
 and DuBP.ERS [i.e. the 
 cloth furbishers.] 
 43. Talliaunders [i.e. 
 Tailors.] 
 
 44. Potters. 
 
 45. Drapers. 
 
 [45A]. Linen-weavers. 
 
 46. Woollen-weavers. 
 
 47. HosTiLERs or LVN- 
 
 KEEPERS. 
 
 40. Mercers. 
 
 other apostles. Thomas feelin< 
 the wounds of Jesus. 
 
 Mary, John the Evangelist, two 
 Angels, and eleven Apostles ; 
 Jesus ascending before them, and 
 four angels carrying a cloud. 
 
 Mary, two Angels, eleven Apo- 
 stles, and the Holy Spirit descend- 
 ing on them, and four Jews in 
 wonderment. 
 
 Jesus, Mary, Gabriel with two 
 x^ngels, two virgins, and three 
 Jews of the kindred of Mary, eight 
 Apostles and two Devils. 
 
 A play, omitted in the MS., 
 called Fergus, and founded on an 
 incident in the apocryphal legend 
 of the Death of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 Mary ascending with a crowd 
 of Angels, eight apostles, and 
 Thomas, the Apostle, preaching 
 in the desert. 
 
 Mary, Jesus crowning her, sing- 
 ing with a crowd of Angels. 
 
 Jesus, Mary, twelve Apostles, 
 four angels with trumpets, and 
 four with a crown, a lance and 
 two scourges ; four good spirits 
 and four evil spirits, and six devils. 
 
50 APPENDIX. 
 
 II. — Extract from City Register of York relating 
 TO THE Performance of the Miracle Plays in 
 1426 (translated). 
 
 " In the name of God. Amen. Whereas for a long 
 course of time the articifiers and tradesmen of the city of 
 York have, at their own expense, acted plays ; and particu- 
 larly a certain sumptuous play, exhibited in several pageants, 
 wherein the history of the Old and New Testament in 
 divers places of the said city, in the feast of Corpus Christi, 
 by a solemn procession is represented, in reverence to the 
 sacrament of the body of Christ. Beginning first at the 
 great gates of the priory of the Holy Trinity in York, and 
 so going in procession to and into the Cathedral Church of 
 the same ; and afterwards to the hospital of St. Leonard, in 
 York, leaving the aforesaid sacrament in that place. Pre- 
 ceded by a vast number of lighted torches, and a great 
 multitude of priests in their proper habits, and followed by 
 the mayor and citizens, with a prodigious crowd of the 
 populace attending. 
 
 "And whereas, upon this, a certain very religious father, 
 William Melton, of the order of the Friars Minors, 
 professor of holy pageantry (?) and a most famous preacher 
 of the word of God, coming to this city, in several sermons 
 recommended the aforesaid play to the people, afifirming 
 that it was good in itself, and very commendable so to do. 
 Yet also said that the citizens of the said city, and other 
 strangers coming to the said feast, had greatly disgraced the 
 play by revellings, drunkenness, shouts, songs, and other 
 insolencies, little regarding the divine offices of the said 
 day. And what is to be lamented they lose, for that reason, 
 the Indulgences by the holy father. Pope Urban IV. (who 
 instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264), in this part 
 graciously conceded. Those, namely, faithful in Christ, 
 who attended (here follow the indulgences), and therefore, 
 as it seemed most wholesome to the said father William, 
 the people of the city were inclined that the play should be 
 played on one day, and the procession on another, so that 
 the people might attend divine service at the churches on 
 the said feast for the indulgences aforesaid. 
 
APPENDIX. 87 
 
 " Wherefore Peter Buckey, mayor of this city of York 
 (here follow names of two Sheriffs, ten Alderman, and 
 twenty-one burgesses), were met in the Council Chamber of 
 the said city, the 6th day of June, 1426, and by the said 
 wholesome exhortations and admonitions of the said father 
 William being incited, that it is no crime, nor can it offend 
 God, if good be converted into better. 
 
 "Therefore, having diligently considered of the 
 premises, they gave their express and unanimous consent 
 that the course aforesaid should be published to the whole 
 city in the Common Hall of the same, and having their 
 consent that the premises should be better reformed. 
 Upon which the aforesaid mayor convened the citizens 
 together in the said hall, the loth day of the month afore- 
 said and the same year, and made proclamation in a solemn 
 manner, where it was ordained by the common assent that 
 this solemn play of Corpus Christi should be played every 
 year on the vigil of the said feast, and that the procession 
 should be made constantly on the day of the said feast, so 
 that all people being in the said city might have leisure to 
 attend devoutly the matins, vespers, and the other hours of 
 the said feast, and be made partakers of the indulgences in 
 that part by the said Roman Pope Urban the fourth most 
 graciously granted and confirmed." 
 
 III. — The Order of the Wakefield Plays. 
 
 I. The Creation of the World, and of Adam and Eve. 
 
 The Fall. 
 .2^Cajn f^,nd Ahf^].. 
 
 3. 'Ine Building of the Ark, and the Flood. 
 
 4. The Sacrifice of Isaac. 
 
 5. Jacob and Esau. 
 
 6. Processus Prophetarum. 
 
 7. Israel in Egypt. 
 
 8. Ccesar Augustus orders the World to be taxed. 
 
 9. The Annunciation. 
 
 10. The Salutation. 
 
 11. The First and Second Shepherd's Plays. 
 
 12. The Visit of the Wise Men of the East. 
 
88 APPENDIX. 
 
 13. The Flight into Egypt. 
 
 14. The Massacre of the Innocents. 
 
 15. The Purification. 
 
 16. Jesus in the Temple. 
 
 17. John the Baptist. 
 
 18. The Last Supper, and the Betrayal. 
 
 19. The Trial before Caiaphas. 
 
 20. The Trial before Pilate. 
 
 21. The Crucifixion. 
 
 22. Processus Talentorum. 
 
 23. The Harrowing of Hell. 
 
 24. The Resurrection. 
 
 25. The Appearance of Christ on the Road to Emaus. 
 
 26. The Appearance to Thomas. 
 
 27. The Ascension. 
 
 28. The Day of Judgment. 
 
 29. The Raising of Lazarus. [This play is obviously mis- 
 
 placed]. 
 
 30. The Hanging of Judas. [Added to the MS. about the 
 
 sixteenth century]. 
 
 IV. — The Order of the Chester Plays. 
 
 PERFORMED BY. SUBJECT. 
 
 1. Tanners. The Fall of Lucifer. 
 
 2. Drapers. The Creation of the World, 
 
 Adam and Eve, and how Cain 
 slew Abel. 
 
 3. Water-drawers. The Ark, and the Flood. 
 
 4. Barbers and Wax Th^ Wigtr^rjpt^ ^f j^ot and 
 
 Chandlers. Abraham, the sacrifice-iif Isaac, 
 
 and the offering of Melchizedek. 
 
 5. Cappers and Linen- Story of Balaam and Balak. 
 
 DRAPERS. 
 
 6. Wrights and Slaters. The Birth of Christ. 
 
 7. Painters and Glaziers. The Shepherd's Play. 
 
 8. Vintners. The Visit of the three Kings, 
 
 and Processus Prophetarum. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 89 
 
 Mercers. 
 
 10. Goldsmiths and 
 Masons. 
 
 11. Smiths. 
 
 12. Butchers. 
 
 13. Glovers. 
 
 14. corvisors. 
 
 15. Bakers. 
 
 16. Fleshers, Bowyers, 
 Coopers, Stringers, 
 and Ironmongers. 
 
 17. Cooks. 
 
 18. Skinners. 
 
 19. Sadlers and Ffust- 
 ERERS [saddle-tree 
 makers.] 
 
 20. Tailors. 
 
 21. Fishmongers. 
 
 22. Shermen. 
 
 23- 
 
 The offerings of the three 
 Kings, and their return to their 
 own countries. 
 
 The Massacre of the Innocents. 
 
 Christ in the Temple. 
 
 The Temptation in the Wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 The Raising of Lazarus, and 
 the healing of Cecus, the blind 
 man. 
 
 The Journey of Our Saviour 
 to Jerusalem. 
 
 The Last Supper. 
 
 The Passion and Crucifixion. 
 
 The Harrowing of Hell. 
 
 The Resurrection. 
 
 The Appearances of Christ 
 after His Resurrection. 
 
 The Ascension. 
 
 The Descent of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 A play dealing with the pro- 
 phecies of the coming of Anti- 
 Christ. 
 
 A play in which the Old Testa- 
 ment prophecies are explained. 
 
 24. Dyers and Hewsters. Anti-Christ. 
 
 25. Weavers. The Last Judgment. 
 
90 APPENDIX. 
 
 V. — The Order of the Grey Friars' Plays at Coventry. 
 
 1. The Creation. 
 
 2. The Temptation and Fall. 
 
 3. Cain and Abel. 
 
 4. The Flood. 
 
 5. Abraham and Isaac. 
 
 6. Moses and the Tables of the Law. (A monologue by 
 
 Moses.) 
 
 7. The Prophecies relating to Christ. 
 
 8. The Barrenness of Anna. 
 
 9. Mary in the Temple. 
 
 10. The Betrothal of Mary and Joseph. 
 
 11. The Salutation and Conception. 
 
 12. The Return of Joseph. 
 
 13. The Visit to Elizabeth. 
 
 14. The Trial of Joseph and Mary. (In this play we have 
 
 a trial by ordeal illustrated). 
 
 15. The Birth of Christ. 
 
 16. The Adoration by the Shepherds. 
 
 17. The Visit of the Magi. 
 
 18. The Purification. 
 
 19. The Massacre of the Innocents, and the Rejoicing and 
 
 Death of Herod. (Herod and his knights are 
 represented as feasting after the slaughter of the 
 children. Death appears, and carries off Herod, 
 and hands him over to the tender mercies of the 
 Devil). 
 
 20. Christ in the Temple among the Doctors 
 
 21. The Baptism of Christ. 
 
 22. The Temptation in the Wilderness. 
 
 23. The Woman taken in Adultery. 
 
 24. The Raising of Lazarus. 
 
 25. The Council of the Jews. 
 
 26. Christ's Entry into Jerusalem. 
 
 27. The Last Supper. 
 
 28. The Passion and betrayal. 
 
 ^' j-The Trials of Christ. (Probably performed together). 
 
 31. The Dream of Pilate's Wife. 
 
 32. The Condemnation and Crucifixion. 
 
APPENDIX. 91 
 
 ^;^. The Harrowing of Hell. 
 
 34. The Burial of Jesus. 
 
 35. The Resurrection. 
 
 36. The Three Maries at the Tomb. 
 
 37. The Appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 38. The Appearance on the road to Emaus. 
 
 39. The Ascension. 
 
 40. The Descent of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 41. The Assumption of Mary. 
 
 42. The Last Judgment. 
 
 VI. — Advertisement of a Miracle Play performed in 
 A Puppet Show at Bartholomew Fair, early in 
 THE Eighteenth Century. 
 
 "By Her Majestie's permission. At Hartley's booth 
 over against the Cross and Daggers, next to Mr. Miller's 
 booth, during the time of Bartholomew Fair will be pre- 
 sented a little opera, called The Old Creation of the 
 World, newly reviv'd, with the addition of the glorious 
 battle obtained over the French and Spaniards by his Grace 
 the Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 "The contents are these : — 
 
 1. The Creation of Adam and Eve. 
 
 2. The intreagues of Lucifer in the Garden of Eden. 
 
 3. Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise. 
 
 4. Cain going to plow, Abel driving sheep. 
 
 5. Cain killeth his brother Abel. 
 
 6. Abraham offering his son Isaac. 
 
 7. Three Wise men of the East guided by a star, who 
 
 worship Him. 
 
 8. Joseph and Mary flew (sic) away by night upon an ass. 
 
 9. King Herod's cruelty ; his men's spears laden with 
 
 children. 
 
 10. Rich Dives invites his friends, and orders his porter to 
 
 keep the beggers from his gate. 
 
 11. Poor Lazarus comes a-begging at rich Dives's gate, and 
 
 the dogs lick his sores. 
 
 12. The Good Angel and Death contend for Lazarus's life. 
 
92 APPENDIX. 
 
 13. Rich Dives taken sick and dieth. He is buried in 
 
 great solemnity. 
 
 14. Rich Dives in Hell and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, 
 
 seen in a most glorious object, all in machines 
 descending in a throne, guarded with multitudes 
 of Angels, with the breaking of the clouds, dis- 
 covering the Palace of the Sun, in double and 
 treble prospects, to the admiration of all spectators. 
 Likewise several rich and large figures, with dances, 
 jiggs, sarabands, anticks, and country dances 
 between every Act ; compleated with the merry 
 humours of John Spendall and Punchanello, with 
 several other things never yet exposed. 
 
 Performed by Mat. Heatly. 
 
 ViVAT Regina !" 
 
 1 
 
3nt)cy. 
 
 Aberdeen, plays at, 53 
 
 Abraham and Isaac, 38 
 
 Actors, payment of, 54, 60, 67 
 
 Adam and Eve, costumes of, 76 
 
 Angels, costumes of, 75 
 
 Annas, costume of, 72 
 
 Ark, description of Noah's, 35 
 
 Athens, plays at, i 
 
 Authors' remuneration, 4^, 58 
 
 Bacchantic Dances, i 
 
 Balaam, play of, 41 
 
 Banes or Banns, 63 
 
 Beverley Plays, 51 
 
 Bewdley Church, play in, 12 
 
 Burton, Roger, of York, 23, 79 
 
 Caiaphas, costume of, 72 
 
 Cain and Abel, play of, 18, 19, 28, 
 
 32 
 Cambridge, play at, 53 
 Carew's "Survey of Cornwall" 
 
 (quoted), 51 
 Chester plays, 34, 66, 88 
 Chinese drama, origin of, 3 
 Christmas Services in Churches, 7, 
 
 13 
 
 Church and Stage, 4 
 
 Churches, plays in, 11, 12 
 
 Clement, decree of Pope, 34, 42 
 
 Clergy as actors, 7, ii 
 
 Clerkenwell Plays, 49 
 
 Clown, stage, 32 
 
 Contracting for Performances, 69 
 
 Cornwall, plays in, 51 
 
 Corpus Christi, Feast of, 15, 43 ; 
 
 plays at, 23, 44, 50 ; York 
 
 Guild of, 23 
 Costumes of Actors, 72, 75 
 Council of Treves, 12 
 Council of Vienne, 15 
 Coventry Plays, 43, 66, 69, 71, 90 
 Creation, plays on the, 18. 31, 34 
 Creed play at York, 23 
 Crucifixion, plays of the, 22, 33 
 
 Curtains used, 73 
 
 Cycles of plays, changes in, 17 
 
 Dancing, religious, i, 3 
 
 Demons, 75 
 
 Destruction of Jerusalem, play, 44 
 
 Devil, costume of the, 75 
 
 Dionysus, I 
 
 Doctrine in plays, 18 
 
 Double plays, 71 
 
 Drama, origin of English, 5 
 
 Dugdale (quoted), 44, 66 
 
 Dunstable, play at, 14 
 
 Earthquakes, 74 
 
 Easter services, 6, 13 
 
 Eating and drinking during plays, 
 
 60, 68 
 Edinburgh, plays at, 53 
 English drama, origin of, 5 
 Expositors, 34 
 
 Fairs, acting at, 1 1, 28 
 
 Fitz-Stephen (quoted), 14 
 
 Flood, plays of the, 20, t,2, 34, 53 
 
 Gilding actors' faces, 73 
 
 God, costume of, 76 
 
 Greek drama, religious nature of, i 
 
 Grey Friars' plays at Coventry, 43 
 
 Guard to pageants, 65 
 
 Guary Miracles in Cornwall, 51 
 
 Harrowing of Hell, 22, 41, 52 
 
 Hell Mou'th, 74 
 
 Heralds, 63 
 
 Herod, 18, 45, 75 
 
 Heywood, John (quoted), 45 
 
 " Howleglas, jest of" (cjuoted), 8 
 
 Hull play, 53, 67 
 
 Indian drama, origin of, 3 
 Isaac, sacrifice of, 37 
 
 Japanese drama, origin of, 3 
 
94* 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Kendal, play at, 50 
 
 Lambarde's " Topographical Dic- 
 tionary " (quoted), 13 
 Lay actors, introduction of, 7, 1 1 
 Leeds, plays at, 52 
 Leicester, players at, 12, 52 
 Lincoln, play at, 52 
 Liturgical Mystery, 5, 10 
 London, performances in, 49 
 Lord's Prayer, York play of, 23 
 Lullaby, quaint, 47 
 
 Masks, 75 
 
 Miracle Plays, influence of, 76 ; 
 meaning of, 4 ; origin of, 5, 
 II; in Puppet show, 91; of 
 St. Catherine, 14 
 
 Mystery, meaning of, 4 
 
 "Naogeorgus" (quoted), 13 
 Nativity, plays of, 20, 31, 45 
 Newcastle, plays at, 51 
 New Testament plays, 20 
 Noah and his wife, 32, 36 
 Norman Conquest, influence on 
 literature, 10 
 
 Pageant Houses, 62 ; masters, 58 ; 
 
 money, 57 ; payments for 
 
 moving, 65 
 Pageants or stages, 60, 64, 66, 71 
 Painted clothes or scenes, 70 
 Painting faces, 76 
 Parish Clerks of London, 49 
 Pilate, 76 
 
 Play, choosing a, 55 
 Plays, payments for, 25 
 Proclamation of plays, 24, 25, 42, 62 
 Prompter, 59 
 Properties, 73 
 Puppet Show, 91 
 
 Reading, play at, 52 
 Rehearsals, 59 
 Religious origin of drama, I 
 Richard II. at Clerkenwell, 49 ; at 
 
 York, 17 
 Richard III. at York, 24 
 Rogers, Archdeacon (quoted), 66 
 
 Roman drama, origin or, 3, 
 
 St. Catherine, miracle play of, 14 
 
 St. George, York play of, 23 
 
 St. Nicholas, miracle of, 5 
 
 St. Paul's, London, Whitsuntide 
 
 service, 13 ; choristers of, 49 
 Sambuso, Japanese dance, 3 
 Scenery, 70 
 
 Scotland, miracle plays in, 53 
 Seats for spectators, 63 
 Shakespeare and Coventry plays, 45 
 Shaw, Rev. John (quoted), 50 
 Shearmen and Taylor's play at 
 
 Coventry, 45 
 Shepherds, office of the, 7 ; play at 
 
 Chester, 4 ; play at Wakefield, 
 
 28, 29 ; play at York, 22 
 Shrewsbury, play at, 52 
 Skinners Well, plays at, 49 
 Stage, decoration of, 61 
 Stephanides (quoted), 14 
 Strolling Players, 53 
 
 Tewkesbury, play at, 52 
 
 Towneley plays, 27 
 
 Trade Guilds, performances by, ii, 
 
 15, 55 
 Treves, Council of, 12 
 
 Vienne, Council of, 15 
 
 Utility actors, 68 
 
 Wakefield plays, 27, 33, 87 
 Weever's "Funeral Monuments" 
 
 (quoted), 50 
 Whitsuntide, plays at, 13, 34 
 Wicliff (quoted), 23 
 Widkirk plays, 27 
 Winchester, play at, 52 
 W^indsor, play at, 53 
 Witney, Christmas Service at, 13 
 Woodkirk plays, 27 
 Woodkirk Fair, 28 
 Worcester, play at, 52 
 World on fire, 68, 71 
 
 York plays, 16, 79 
 
 York proclamations, 24, 25, 86 
 
SOME RECENT BOOKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., 
 
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The Cross, in Ritual, Architecture, and Art. 
 
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 gave an added charm to the work." — Daily Free Press. 
 
 " The book is interesting both to the general reader and the student." — 
 Cheshire Notes and Queries. 
 
 " Those who care only to be amused will find plenty of entertainment in 
 this volume, while those who regard it as a work of reference will rejoice at 
 the variety of material, and appreciate the careful mdcxxn^.''' —Dundee 
 Courier. 
 
 "Very interesting subjects, lucidly and charmingly written. The 
 versatility of the work assures for it a wide popularity."— A^^;M<fr« Gazette. 
 
 " A happy and useful addition to current literature." — Norfolk Chronicle. 
 
 " The book is a very fascinating one, and it is specially interesting to 
 students of history as showing the vast changes which, by gradual course of 
 development have been brought about both in the principles and practice of 
 the law." — The Evenim^ Gazette. 
 
The Doomed Ship ; or, The Wreck in the 
 Arctic Regions. 
 
 By WILLIAM HURTON. 
 Crown 8vo., Elegantly Bound, Gilt extra, js. 6d. 
 
 " There is no lack of adventures, and the writer has a matter-of-fact way 
 of telHng them." — St>ectator. 
 
 " ' The Doomed Ship,' by William Hurton, is a spirited tale of adventures 
 in the old style of sea-stories. Mr. Hurton seems to enter fully into the 
 manliness of sea life." — Idler. 
 
 Chronologies and Calendars. 
 
 By JAMES C. MACDONALD, f.s.a. Scot. 
 Crown 8vo. , price ys. 6d. 
 
 " It is unlike most books on its subject in being brief and readable to an 
 unlearned student. But its chief interest and its unquestionable value is for 
 those who consider dates more curiously than most men need do in an age 
 in which incorporated societies endeavour to persuade a man to insure his 
 life by presenting him with an illuminated table of days. Those who are 
 engaged in original historical researches will find it invaluable both for 
 study and for reference." — 1 he Scotsf/ian. 
 
 "A large amount of carefully prepared information." — Aberdeen Free 
 Press. 
 
 A Lawyer's Secrets. 
 
 By HERBERT LLOYD. 
 Author of **The Children of Chance," etc. 
 
 Price One Shilling. 
 
 "Mr. Herbert Lloyd gives us a succession of stories which may 
 reasonably be taken to have their origin in the experience of a lawyer 
 practicing at large in the criminal courts. It is natural that they 
 should be of a romantic nature ; but romance is not foreign to a 
 lawyer's consulting room, so that this fact need not be charged against 
 this lawyer's veracity. . . . The stories, seven in all, cover the 
 ground of fraud and murder, inspired by the prevailing causes of 
 crime — greed and jealousy. Our lawyer is happy in having the 
 majority of his clients the innocent victims of false charges inspired 
 and fostered in a great measure by their own folly ; but this is a 
 natural phase of professional experience, and we are only concerned 
 with the fact that he generally manages it as effectively in the interests 
 of his clients as his editor does in presenting them to his audience." 
 — Literary World. 
 
 " A volume of entertaining stories. . . . The book has much the 
 same interest as a volume of detective stories, except that putting the 
 cases in a lawyer's mouth gives them a certain freshness. It is well 
 written, and makes a capital volume for a railway journey." — The 
 Scotsman. 
 
 '* A very entertaining volume." — Birmingham Daily Gazette. 
 
Biblical and Shakespearian Characters 
 Compared. 
 
 By the Rev. JAMES BELL. 
 Grown 8vo., 3s. Gd. 
 
 Between the Hebrew Bible and Shakespeare there exists some interesting 
 and instructive points of resemblance, especially in respect of their ways of 
 life and character. No doubt certain inevitable differences also exist 
 between them, but these do not hide the resemblance ; rather they serve 
 to set it, so to speak, in bolder relief. 
 
 The author in this volume treats ot this striking resemblance, under 
 certain phases, between Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespearian Drama. 
 
 The following are the chief " Studies " which find a place in the work : — 
 Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespeare : a Comparison — Eli and Hamlet — 
 Saul and Macbeth — ^Jonathan and Horatio — David and Henry V. — 
 Epilogue. 
 
 "One of the most suggestive volumes we have met with for a long 
 time." — Birtninghatn Daily Gazette. 
 
 " A deeply interesting book." — The Methodist Times. 
 
 "A highly interesting and ingenious work." — British Weekly. 
 
 The New Fairy Book. 
 
 Edited by WILLIAM ANDREWS, f.r.h.s. 
 Price Jf8. 6cl. Demy 8vo. 
 
 This Volume contains Fifteen New Fairy Stories by 
 Popular Authors. Many charming original illustrations are 
 included. 
 
 It is beautifully printed in bold clear type, and bound in a 
 most attractive style. 
 
 "A very delightful volume, and eminently qualified for a gift book. 
 
 . . . The stories are bright and interesting." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 *' We hope the book will get into many children's hands." — Review 
 of Revieius. 
 
 " We can recommend the stories for their originality, and the volume 
 for its elegant and tasteful appearance. " — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Chponieled from the Earliest to the Present Time. 
 
 By WILLIAM ANDREWS, f.r.h.s. 
 Fcap. ^0. Bevelled boards, gilt tops. Price 4s. 
 
 This work furnishes a carefully prepared account of all the great Frosts 
 occurring in this country from a.d. 134 to 1887. The numerous Frost 
 Fairs on the Thames are fully described, and illustrated with quaint wood- 
 cuts, and several old ballads relating to the subject are reproduced. It is 
 tastefully printed and elegantly bound. 
 
 " A very interesting volume." — Northern Daily Telegraph. 
 
 "A great deal of curious and valuable information is contained in these 
 pages ... A comely volume." — Literary World. 
 
 "An interesting and valuable work."— P^-fj/ Middlesex Times. 
 
 •'A volume of much interest and great importance."— A'tjM^r/zaw 
 Advertiser. 
 
The Prime Minister of Wurtemburg. 
 
 By ELLER, 
 
 Author of " Ingatherings." 
 Grown 8vo. Bound in cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 •* This anonymously-written story is of much power, and presents to us a 
 picture of the Government in Wurtemburg a hundred and sixty years ago, 
 when the reigning Duke Alexandra, in his indulgence and foolishly fond 
 treatment of his Cabinet Minister and Finance Director, the Jew Siece, has 
 placed his subjects at the mercy of a crafty and designing man. How his 
 object to overthrow the hero of the story, Gustave Lanbek, and his father, 
 by forcing him to take an office which would bring him the contempt of 
 his friends and the hatred of the people, was ultimately frustrated by the 
 encompassing of his own ruin, is a plot which is developed and completed 
 in a most dramatic manner. There is, too, a thread of love-making, the 
 course of which runs Ijy no means smoothly, deftly introduced into the main 
 theme of the story, which lightens and relieves the plot. The book is one 
 which we have thoroughly enjoyed, and both author and publishers are to 
 be complimented upon the production of a volume effectively written and 
 attractively printed and bound." — Norfolk Chronicle. 
 
 " The book has the great merit of soon interesting the reader. The 
 get-up of the book reflects credit upon the publishers."— Z)az'(;/ Mail. 
 " A pretty story well X.o\d..'' — Hull News. 
 
 " Ingatherings." 
 
 By ELLER. 
 
 Grown 8vo. Elegantly hound in doth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 " This is an exceedingly interesting collection of writings in prose and 
 poetry. The book opens with a quaint story descriptive of the manner in 
 which a young German nobleman, by his purity and goodness, delivered an 
 old baron and his lovely daughter from the power of the evil one. Among 
 the other pieces of prose are 'The Voices of Nature,' *A Dream,' 'A 
 Reverie,' each of which proves the author to possess considerable ability. 
 Their artistic style is delightfully refreshing. The poems are for the most 
 part original, but there are one or two gems from the pens of Goethe, 
 Schiller, and other master-minds. The publishers are to be congratulated 
 on the general get-up of the hook."— Chester Courant. 
 
In The Temple. 
 
 By a BARRISTER-AT-LAW. 
 Price One Shilling. 
 
 This book opens with a chapter on the history of the 
 Temple. Next follows an account of the Knight Templars. 
 The story of the Devil's Own is given in a graphic manner. 
 A Sketch of Christmas in the Temple is included. In an 
 entertaining manner the reader is informed how to become a 
 Templar, the manner of keeping terms is described, and lastly, 
 the work concludes with a chapter on call parties. 
 
 " Amusing and interesting sketches." — Law Times. 
 
 *• Pleasing gossip about the barristers' quarters." — The Gentlewoman. 
 
 "A pleasant little volume."— 7"-^^ Globe. 
 
 The Red, Red Wine, 
 
 By the rev. J. JACKSON WRAY. 
 
 Grown 8vo., 330 pp. A portrait of the Author and other illustrations. 
 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 "This, as its name implies, is a temperance story, and is told in the 
 lamented author's most graphic style. We have never read anything so 
 powerful since ' Danesbury House,' and this book in stern and pathetic 
 earnestness even excels that widely-known book. It is worthy a place in 
 every Sunday School and village library ; and, as the latest utterance of 
 one whose writings are so deservedly popular, it is sure of a welcome. It 
 should give decision to some whose views about Local Option are hazy." 
 — [oyful News. 
 
 " The story is one of remarkable power." — The Teviperancc Record. 
 *' An excellent and interesting story." — The Temperance Chronicle. 
 
 Faces on the Queen's Highway. 
 
 By FLO. JACKSON. 
 
 Elegantly Bound, Crown Svo., price 2s. Gd. 
 
 Though oftenest to be found in a pensive mood, the writer 
 of this very dainty volume of sketches is always very sweet 
 and winning. She has evidently a true artist's love of 
 nature, and in a few lines can limn an autumn landscai)e full of 
 colour, and the life which is on the down slope. And she can 
 tell a very taking story, as witness the sketch "At the Inn," 
 and " The Master of White Hags," and all her characters are 
 real, live flesh-and-blood people, who do things naturally, and 
 give very great pleasure to the reader accordingly. Miss Jackson's 
 gifts are of a very high order. — Aberdeen Free Pre.'is. 
 
Yorkshire Family Romance. 
 
 By FREDERICK ROSS, f.r.h.s. 
 
 Elegantly bound in cloth gilt, Demy 8vo., 6s. 
 
 Contents :— The Synod of Streoneshalh— The Doomed ITeir of 
 Osmotherley— St. Eadwine, the Royal Martyr— The Viceroy Siward— 
 Phases in the Life of a Political Nartyr— The Murderer's Bride— The 
 Earldom of Wiltes—BIackfaced Clifford— The Shepherd Lord— The Felons 
 of Ilkley— The Ingilby Boar's Head— The Eland Tragedy— The Plumpton 
 Marriage— The Topcliffe Insurrection — Burning of Cottingham Castle — 
 The Alum Workers— The Maiden of Marblehead— Rise of the House of 
 Phipps — The Traitor Governor of Hull. 
 
 *' The grasp and thoroughness of the writer is evident in every page, and 
 the hook forms a valuable addition to the literature of the North Country." 
 — Oentlevjoman. 
 
 "Many will welcome this work." — Yorkshire Post. 
 
 Legendary Yorkshire. 
 
 By FREDERICK ROSS, f.r.h.s. 
 
 Elegantly hound in doth gilt. Demy Svo., 6s. 
 
 Contents :— The Enchanted Cave— The Doomed City— The Worm of 
 Nunnington— The Devil's Arrows — The Giant Road Maker of Muigrave — 
 The Virgin's Head of Halifax — The Dead Arm of St. Oswald the King — 
 The Translation of St. Hilda— A Miracle of St. John— The Beatified 
 Sisters — The Dragon of Wantley — The Miracles and Ghost of Watton — The 
 Murdered Hermit of Eskdale— The Calverley Ghost— The Bewitched 
 House of Wakefield. 
 
 *' It is a work of lasting interest, and cannot fail to delight the reader." 
 — Beverley Recorder. 
 
 " The history and the literature of our county are now receiving marked 
 attention, and Mr. Andrews merits the support of the public for the 
 production of this and other interesting volumes he has issued. We 
 cannot speak too highly of this volume, the printing, the paper, and the 
 binding being faultless." — Driffield Observer. 
 
 In Folly Land. 
 
 By cap and bells. 
 
 Crown 8vo., One Shilling. 
 
 "'Folly Land' is the title of a neatly-produced shilling volume of 
 humorous verse by a writer who — if we are not misinformed — veils a 
 well-known name under the nom de guerre of ' Cap and Bells.' Some of 
 the comic poems, 'A Wicked Story' and 'Just my Luck,' for instance, 
 are funny. A humorous and unhackneyed recitation is always a welcome 
 addition to the not varied repertoire of the professional or amateur reciter, 
 and some of the contents of ' Folly Land ' are likely to become popular." — 
 The Star. 
 
stepping Stones to Socialism. 
 
 By DAVID MAXWELL, c.k. 
 Crown Svo., I40 pp. ; fancy cover^ 1h. ; doth hound, 2s. 
 Contents : — In a reasonable and able manner Mr. Maxwell 
 deals with the following topics : — The Popular meaning of the 
 Word Socialism — Lord Salisbury on Socialism — Why There is 
 in Many Minds an Antipathy to Socialism— On Some 
 Socialistic Views of Marriage — The Question of Private 
 Property — The Old Political Economy is not the Way of 
 Salvation — Who is My Neighbour? — Progress, and the Con- 
 dition of the Labourer — Good and Bad Trade : Precarious 
 Employment — All Popular Movements are Helping on 
 Socialism — Modern Literature in Relation to Social Progress — 
 Pruning the Old Theological Tree— The Churches: Their 
 Socialistic Tendencies — The Future of the Earth in Relation 
 to Human Life — Socialism is Based on Natural Laws of Life — 
 Humanity in the Future — Preludes to Socialism — Forecasts of 
 the Ultimate Form of Society — A Pisgah-top View of the 
 Promised Land. 
 
 "A temperate and reverent study of a great question." — London 
 Quarterly Revieio. 
 
 "Mr. David Maxwell's book is the timely expression of a richly- 
 furnished mind on the current problems of home politics and social ethics." 
 — Ea.stern Morning JVews. 
 
 '* Quite up-to-date." — Hull Daily Mail. 
 
 The Studies of a Socialist Parson. 
 
 By the Rev. W. H. ABRAHAM, m.a. (London). 
 Crown Svo.y Price One Shillinfj. 
 
 The volume consists of sermons and addresses, given mostly at the St. 
 Augustine's Church, Hull. The author in his preface says, " It is the duty 
 of the clergyman to try and understand what Socialism is, and to lead men 
 from the false Socialism to the true." 
 
 Contents : — The Working-man, Past and Present : A Historical 
 Review — Whither are we going ? — National Righteousness — The True 
 Value of Life — Christian Socialism — Jesus Christ, the True Socialist — 
 Socialism, through Christ or without Him? — The Great Bread Puzzle — 
 Labour Day, May I, 1892 — The People, the Rulers, and the Priests- 
 Friendly Societies — Trades' Unions — The People's Church— On some 
 Social Questions— The Greatest Help to the true Social Life— The Great I 
 Am — God as a present force — Signs of the Times. 
 
 "The volume is deserving of all praise."— 6^/a5-^'^a; Herald. 
 
 "An admirable contribution to the solution of difficult problems. Mr. 
 Abraham has much that is valuable to say, and says it vi^W'—Spatator. 
 
 " The book is as a whole sensitive and suggestive. The timely words on 
 'Decency in Journalism and Conversation' deserve to be widely read."— 
 London Quarterly Review. 
 
*' Valuable and interesting." — The Times. 
 
 '* Readable as well as instructive." — The Globe. 
 
 *' A valuable addition to any \\\)xzxy.'''' —Derbyshire Times. 
 
 The Bygone Series. 
 
 In this series the following volumes are included, and issued at 7s. 6d. 
 each. Demy 8vo., cloth gilt. 
 
 These books have been favourably reviewed in the leading critical 
 iournals of England and America. 
 
 Carefully written articles by recognised authorities are included on 
 history, castles, abbeys, biography, romantic episodes, legendary lore, 
 traditional stories, curious customs, folk-lore, etc., etc. 
 
 The works are illustrated by eminent artists, and by the reproduction of 
 quaint pictures of the olden time. 
 
 BYGONE BERKSHIRE, edited by Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., f.s.a. 
 
 BYGONE CHESHIRE, edited by William Andrews, f.r.h.s. 
 
 BYGONE DERBYSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, f.r.h.s. 
 
 BYGONE ESSEX, edited by William Andrews, f.r.h.s. 
 
 BYGONE ENGLAND, by William Andrews, f.r.h.s. 
 
 BYGONE KENT, edited by Richard Stead, b.a. 
 
 BYGONE LANCASHIRE, edited by Ernest Axon. 
 
 BYGONE LEICESTERSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, f.r.h.s. 
 
 BYGONE LINCOLNSHIRE (2 vols.), edited by William Andrews, 
 
 f.r.h.s. 
 BYGONE LONDON, by Frederick Ross, f.r.h.s. 
 BYGONE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, by William Stevenson. 
 BYGONE SCOTLAND, by David Maxwell, C.E. 
 BYGONE SOMERSETSHIRE, edited by Cuming Walters. 
 BYGONE SOUTHWARK, by Mrs. E. Boger. 
 
 BYGONE SURREY, edited by George Clinch and S. W. Kershaw, f.s.a. 
 BYGONE SUSSEX, by W. E. A. Axon. 
 
 BYGONE WARWICKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, f.r.h.s. 
 BYGONE YORKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews, f.r.h.s. 
 
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