94 



sion. These views, of the different ecclesiastical bodiesi^ 

 were opposed and counteracted, (but in vain,) both by the 

 hierarchy and the civil government, with a becoming zeal 

 for religion, and a just sense of decorum. In the year 

 1258, an injunction was given by the Barons of England, 

 that secular plays should not be permitted to be per- 

 formed before the abbot and his monks; and Ludi Thea- 

 ti'ales are forbidden to be performed in churches and 

 church-yards: which shews, that the practice must have 

 been pretty general.* It is not improbable, that mysteries 

 and miracle plays were adopted, or at least brought into 

 more general use, for the purpose of evading provisions 

 and ordinances of this nature; by mixing something with 

 the dramatic form, that was religious and sciiptural. The 

 monks, and other ecclesiastics, flattered themselves that 

 they should be able, by this device, to elude the ordi- 

 nances and decrees against profane stage plays and inter- 

 ludes; and, at the same time, to allure the populace. Nor 

 should Ave ascribe it merely to policy and deep design, 

 that the monks, and other ecclesiastics, insinuated them- 

 selves into all scenes of revelry which were going foi'ward; 

 and affected to take such a lead in the sports and amuse- 

 ments of the people. We are too fond of assigning ab- 

 struse 



* We have various instances of dramatic performances, exhibited by reli- 

 gious bodies, of which the reader may find some enumeration, in Godwin's 

 Life of Chaucer, Warton's History of Poetry, and other books of that kind. 

 We are told, that the fourth general council of Laleran made a decree, pro- 

 hibiting the clergy from attending secular pla3's. 



