The English Moral Plays 391 
It was an easy matter, though, for these traveling actors to sim- 
plify the staging of these plays, and to arrange for playing-places 
remote from the influence of the church, where their liking for 
realism could have free play. No place could have been more 
suitable than the inn, which afforded the desired freedom from clerical 
restraint, and at same time a shelter, when necessary, from the in- 
clement weather that thre. 1 much of the year would drive the 
spectators within doors. Consequently the author of Mankind let 
his hero welcome Mercy “to bis house”; later he is supposed to 
call for the tapster, while New-Gyse orders the hostler to bring a 
football for their amusement; and the proprietor is the first man 
appealed to for contributions... The text seems also to imply that 
the performance took place indoors, for the weather is said to be 
cold, and one of the characters leaves the stage to go into the 
“yard”; but circumstances alone would determine whether the play 
should be given in the courtyard or the hall, and the demands 
upon the stage-manager were therefore simple enough to permit 
of either.2 Mankind, apparently, was played on an open platform 
or in some court, provid«:} with no set properties, and simply con- 
nected by a side entranc ; with the “yard,” and by another door 
with the room to which t. » devil and the vices retire. The prop- 
erties were simple. Instead of castles, ditches, and barricades, 
only common articles that could be easily carried, or even more 
easily borrowed at each stopping-place, are mentioned—a net for 
Tytivillus, a spade and a bag of corn for Mankind, a wallet, a flute, 
and some other trifles for the vices.* Such. stage-craft was well 
within the limited resources of a small company traveling in in- 
dependence of the church or any municipal organization. 
How freely these companies of actors could travel in the face of 
frequently renewed legal prohibitions can not be known, but wher- 
ever they played their motive was gain. One of the most inter- 
esting passages of Mankind concerns its financing.t The piece is 
already half done, and the vices are playing for popular favor, 
when suddenly the devil Tytivillus, who up to this point has been 

several times mentioned. The King’s was so high as to be reached by 
a ladder, and was probably supplied with a curtain, for he is said to 
“cum fra his chamber” (1942-53, 808, and the stage-directions between 
parts 1 and 2). Such properties had been used long before on the 
pageants of the York Plays, but they could not be used freely by actors 
who would aim to travel with the least possible amount of baggage. 
BLS, (C14, LT. 2 547, 
3 292, 317, 528, 437_38, 465. 4 447-487. 
