[119.] jousts, tournaments.
[120.] countenance.
[121.] dreaded.
[122.] took off.
[123.] pity.
[124.] know.
[125.] In the nineteenth century men learned again to appreciate Chaucer.
[126.] The most dramatic part of the early ritual centered about Christ's death and resurrection, on Good Fridays and Easter days. An exquisite account of this most impressive service is preserved in St. Ethelwold's Latin manual of church services, written about 965. The Latin and English versions are found in Chambers's Mediaeval Stage, Vol. II. For a brief, interesting description, see Gayley, Plays of Our Forefathers, pp. 14 ff.
[127.] How much we are indebted to the Norman love of pageantry for the development of the drama in England is an unanswered question. During the Middle Ages it was customary, in welcoming a monarch or in celebrating a royal wedding, to represent allegorical and mythological scenes, like the combat of St. George and the dragon, for instance, on a stage constructed for the purpose. These pageants were popular all over Europe and developed during the Renaissance into the dramatic form known as the Masque. Though the drama was of religious origin, we must not overlook these secular pageants as an important factor in the development of dramatic art.
[128.] Miracles were acted on the Continent earlier than this. The Normans undoubtedly brought religious plays with them, but it is probable that they began in England before the Conquest (1066). See Manly, Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama, I, xix.