[9] The clergy long continued to assist at these exhibitions, if they did not always act in them. In 1417, an English Mystery was exhibited before the Emperor Sigismund, at the Council of Constance, on the usual subject of the Nativity. The English Bishops had it rehearsed several days, that the actors might be perfect before their imperial audience. We are not told in what language their English Mystery was recited; but we are furnished with a curious fact, that “the Germans consider this play as the first introduction of that sort of dramatic performance in their country.”—“Henry of Monmouth,” by the Rev. J. E. Tyler, ii. 61.
[10] The Spanish nation, unchangeable in their customs, have retained the last remains of the ancient Mysteries in the divisions of their dramas, called “Jornadas.”
[11] “A sheep-skin for Jews, wigs for the Apostles, and vizards for Devils,” appear in the churchwardens’ accounts at Tewkesbury, 1578, “for the players’ geers.”—“Hist. of Dramatic Poetry,” ii. 140. The same diligent inquirer has also discovered the theatrical term “properties,” in allusion to the furniture of the stage, and which is so used by Shakspeare, employed in its present sense in an ancient morality.—Ib. ii. 129.
[12] “Reliques of Ancient Poetry,” i. 129.
[13] “Dictionnaire de l’Académie Française.”—The proverbial phrase is accompanied by a very superfluous remark—“Ce mot a passé d’usage avec les mœurs de ces temps anciens.” See also “Dict. de Trevoux,” art. Mystère.
[14] That the translation of the “Chester Plays” was made from the French, and not from the Latin, as Warton supposed, is ingeniously elucidated by Mr. Collier. In the English translation, some of the original French passages have been preserved.—“Annals of the Stage,” ii. 129.
When Warton found that these plays were translated into English, he concluded that they were from the Latin. He totally forgot that the French was long the prevalent language of England. And this important circumstance, too often overlooked by preceding inquirers, has thrown much confusion in our literary history.
The best account we have of Ralph Higden may be found in the first volume of Lardner’s Cyclopædia on “The Early History of the English Stage,” a work of some original research, at page 193.
[15] The earliest and rudest known miracle-play in English has been published by Mr. Halliwell—The Harrowing of Hell. It was written in the reign of Edward the Second, and is a curious instance of the childhood of the drama.
[16] The reign of Henry the Sixth may he fixed upon as the epoch of a new species of dramatic representation, known by the name of a moral.—Collier, i. 23.