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" By promyfes firfl:, whych fliall be declared all, 



" Then by hys ovvne Sonne, the worker pryncypall." 



" After that Adam bywayleth here hys fall, 

 " God vvyll fhewe mercy e to every generacyon, 

 " And to hys kyngedom, of hys great goodneffe call 

 •' Hys elected fpoufe, or faythfull congregacyon, 

 " As here rtiall apere by open proteflacyon, 

 " Which from Chrifie's birthe fhall to hys death conclude, 

 " They come that therof wyll fliewe the certytude." 



Regardless, however, of theEifhop's ftrenuousoppofition to the 

 fufferance of profanefs on the Stage, it fliould feem from an adt paffed 

 in the fecond year of the reign of Elizabeth, that the comic mufe 

 flill prefumed to fport with the holy word, direding her wit againft 

 the Liturgy of the newly-eftablifhed Church. By this adl (which is 

 intituled, An Act for the uniformitie of Common Prayer 

 AND Service in the Church, and the administration of 

 the Sacraments,) " it is ordeyned and enafled, that if any per- 

 " fon or perfons * whatfoever, after the feaft of St. John Baptifl, 

 " fhall in any Enterludes, Plqyes, Songs, Rimes, or by other open 

 " words, declare or fpeake any thing in derogation, depraving or 



defpifing 



* The perfons alluded to in this aft were probably thofe certain perfons noticed by 

 Spenser, luhofe proper fuuBion it was, to fing at all feafts and meetings, in his time, 

 the produftions of the Irifli Bards. See View of the State of Ireland, and Htfl. Mem. 

 of the IriJIi Bards, p. 143. 



