opened by a kind of prologue or proclamation, but the single pieces which followed were extremely short, and probably only so many distinct and independent scenes arranged in a series like the cantos of an epos, without any thing like transition or connection. The Towneley collection, for instance, opens with the Fall of Lucifer; in the next piece, God the Father appears, and announcing Himself as the Alpha and Omega, begins the Ccreation; after a hymn of praise from the cherubim, He descends from His throne and goes off the scene. Thereupon Lucifer takes possession of the throne, and calls upon the other angels to obey him; while they are disputing, God the Father returns, and drives Satan and his adherents to Hell. Then follows the creation of Adam and Eve, which is succeeded by the history of Cain and Abel, and so on. This epical cast the Miracle-plays still retained, even at a much later date, when they had increased so greatly in outward bulk that the representation of the Creation, for instance, at Skinners' Wells, in 1409, lasted, agreeably to sacred history, a whole week; and when at Chester a cycle of Mysteries comprehended the whole history of the world from the fall of Lucifer to the last Judgment. The Miracle-plays of Chester were particularly famous, and, from A. D. 1268, were regularly exhibited at first, as Collier attempts to shew, in French (though perhaps also in Latin), but after 1338, in English. The oldest existing MS. "The History of Christ's Descent into Hell, after the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus," belongs to the times of Edward III., and a MS. of thirty pieces is extant, which dates with the reign of the pious Henry VI.*

This custom, as was from its very nature to be expected, led gradually to abuse. However correct may have been the view at first, that such plays were an excellent means of instructing the people, and even though popes and bishops may have granted an indulgence of 1000 years to such as might attend the representa

* This is the Towneley collection, consisting apparently of public pieces represented at Widkirk Abbey. Two other collections, besides a few single pieces, have descended to modern times;-one, of forty-two pieces, which were exhibited at Coventry, the MS. of which belongs to the times of Henry VII.; the other is the Chester collection, consisting of twenty-four pieces, of which three MSS. exist of the several years 1595, 1600, 1617.-Collier, ii. 137 and 227.

tion throughout of the Chester cycle, yet their rapid declension into bad taste, coarseness, and immorality, was a natural consequence both of the thing itself and of the character of the times. This corruption began with the attempt to exhibit the scriptural story more and more in detail, while a license was gradually assumed of mixing up with them, and interpolating, allusions to existing manners, and other incongruous matters*. When we find that in the representation of the Fall, Adam and Eve appeared on the stage perfectly naked, and in the next scene with aprons of figleaves; when we read the coarse insults of Abel which are put into the mouth of Cain, and how Noah, after carrying his wife into the ark, is, after a long wrangling, greeted with a smart box on the ears †, we cannot but approve of the decree of the Mexican Synod, confirmed by the Pope in 1589, by which the clergy were forbidden to take any part in such spectacles. Before this date, indeed, many of the parts had already fallen to the students and children of the choir, but now the entire representation was abandoned to them. Generally, however, the taste for them had been declining since the beginning of the sixteenth century; the exhibitions had become less frequent everywhere, and entirely ceased at Chester in 1577, at Coventry in 1591, at York and Newcastle in 1598; they continued longest at Lancaster, Preston, and Kendall, having survived there down to the first years of James; about which date, also, the Religious musical dramas-the so-called Oratorios, arose out of, and completely superseded them, in Italy.

With this ecclesiastical and religious commencement of dramatic art, however, a popular element quickly associated itself. Not merely were the Mysteries themselves so far secularized, that in the larger towns they were at an early date acted also by the guilds and corporations, but as soon as a taste had been once awakened for dramatic exhibitions, they became a regular part of all public festivities, whether designed in honour of, or for the amusement of the sovereign, nobles, &c. or for any other secular object. Profane Mummings and Mimes were without doubt as old, if not older, than the Miracle-plays. Such were no doubt the first rude beginnings of dramatic composition into which order and regu

* Collier, ii. 150, &c.

+ See the Extracts in Collier, ii. 158, 160, 163.

larity were gradually introduced. Dumb-shows of this kind were in all probability the plays in vogue at the court of Edward the Third, which are mentioned by the name of the Ludi domini regis. Historical and allegorical characters represented some appropriate story or event on moveable stages, erected for the occasion, in the public streets, courts, and halls; and sovereigns and nobles were greeted, on their arrival at any city or cloister, with an address from a Hector, a Julius Cæsar, an Arthur, a Charlemagne, &c., delivered from a raised platform or stage (Warton, iii. 37; Collier, ii. 261). In the reign of Henry the Sixth, about the middle of the fifteenth century, when companies of strolling players, for the most part in the pay of the wealthy nobles, became common, speeches in verse and prose were introduced into the pantomimic exhibitions, though as yet they were only irregularly interspersed. The practice was, however, gradually so far extended, that dialogue regularly alternated with pantomime; that being first indicated in dumb-show which was afterwards to be more fully developed in the dialogue and action.

The first period of the history of the English drama reaches to the middle of the fifteenth century; the second dates from the union of its ecclesiastical and religious original with its secular element; while the third, commencing with the influence of the study of classical antiquity, closes with the appearance of Shakspeare as a dramatic writer.

It was in the earlier half of the fifteenth century that Moral plays first appeared-an event which may unhesitatingly be regarded as marking an epoch. For the Moralities, as they subsequently attracted the attention of the people, greatly contributed to the gradual decay of a taste for the Miracle-plays, although it was from them in part that they themselves derived their origin. For the natural desire to give greater variety and attraction to these exhibitions, which were so constantly recurring, gradually led to the practice of introducing in the Mysteries the favourite allegorical characters of the lay pageants. Thus, in the eleventh piece of the Coventry collection, we meet with Veritas, Justitia, Pax, and Misericordia, while Death is personified in three of the following pieces. Out of the church especially this innovation was eagerly adopted, and the allegorical characters of Sin and Death, Faith,

Hope, and Charity, the chief virtues and vices, soon became leading parts of the piece, and ultimately absorbed the historical matter. The Moralities, therefore, arose in part out of the combination of the Mysteries with the lay-pageants.* The Devil and Vice (called also Iniquity, Sin, Desire, Haphazard, &c.), were too important personages to be omitted: the former was usually represented in the most hideous form possible, with a huge bottle-nose, hairy skin, cloven feet, and a tail; while Vice-the prototype of our modern Harlequin-was dressed in a parti-coloured cloak, with a long wooden sword, the very impersonation of agility and mischief, whose delight was in bantering, jeering, and belabouring the devil (his frequent but not invariable companion) until his Satanic majesty, to the great amusement of the spectators, bursts out into a loud roar of pain. The catastrophe is generally the reward of virtue, the condemnation of vice and of the vicious, or their pardon by God's grace. The end in view appears to be the moral improvement of the spectators, by a representation of good, and its consequences, under general and abstract forms, in the same way that the Mysteries were intended to promote the cause of religion. With this serious object, however, there was joined a plentiful provision for fun and merriment. A good idea of these Moralities may be derived from a sketch of one of the oldest, but nevertheless a very elaborate one, belonging to the time of Henry VI., and still existing in MS., entitled "The Castle of Perseverance." The piece opens with a dialogue between Mundus, Belial, and Caro, in which they dilate on their respective powers and privileges. When this is finished, "Humanum Genus" appears, just born and naked, and announces himself. While he is yet speaking, a good and a bad angel take their places on his right and left, and invite him to follow them. Humanum Genus joins the bad angel, who immediately conducts his pupil to Mundus, who is talking with his two friends, Stultitia and Voluptas. The latter are commanded to wait and attend upon Humanum Genus. Detractio is likewise bidden to be one of his attendants, and procures him the acquaintance of Avaritia, who thereupon introduces him to the

* Warton, ibid., derives them exclusively from the latter; Collier, ibid., from the former. Collier, however, overlooks the fact, that allegorical representations were, without doubt, much earlier in the lay spectacles than in the miracle-plays.

six other deadly sins. While the bad angel rejoices, the good one grieves, and at last sends Confessio to Humanum Genus, by whom he is at first rejected as coming too soon, &c. &c. However, by the

help of Pœnitentia, Confessio ultimately succeeds in reclaiming Humanum Genus, and the penitent, upon wishing to know where he can dwell in security, is brought to the Castle of Perseverance, whereupon the bad angel remarks that Humanum Genus is now forty winters old. The seven cardinal virtues are his companions in the castle, which is besieged unsuccessfully by the seven deadly sins, headed by Belial. From the lamentations of the latter, we learn that they suffer most from the roses which Caritas and Pœnitentia shower upon them, and by which they are beaten black and blue. They ultimately retire discomfited. The siege, however, must have lasted long, for we are told that during it Humanum Genus has become "hory and olde." Nevertheless, the conflict is not yet at an end; what did not succeed by open force, is now attempted by stratagem. Avaritia crawls unperceived beneath the castle walls, and by her artful persuasions, Humanum Genus is induced to quit it. He leaves the castle, and lives with Avaritia; but Garcio (a boy) as representative of the rising generation, demands of him the treasures which, with the assistance of Avaritia, he had accumulated, alleging that Mundus had given them to him. Mors also and Anima appear, and the former delivers a long speech on the greatness and universality of his power, while Anima, on the other hand, invokes the aid of Misericordia; notwithstanding which, the bad angel sets off for the infernal regions with Humanum Genus on his back. A discussion then takes place in heaven between Misericordia and Pax on one side, and Justitia and Veritas on the other, the former pleading for, the latter against, Humanum Genus. At last God decides in favour of the former, and the evil spirit is driven to hell, and God himself concludes the piece with an epilogue, wherein he sets forth the moral.

Similar in form and contents, but much more simple in construction, are several other Moralities which have been preserved either in MS. or print, from the times of Henry VI., Edward IV,, Henry VII.; and of these a detailed analysis is given by Collier. To the commencement of the reign of Henry VIII, the characters