S 02 ' THE DRAMA. 



side ; the house upon the other ; then Heaven. . . . Caiaphas will take his 

 place here, and with him the Jewish people ; next, Joseph of Arimathea. . . . 

 In the fourth compartment will be seen Nicodemus. . . . We shall also repre- 

 sent the town of Emmaus, in which Jesus Christ was entertained." 



In addition to these prologues addressed to the public by the author or by 

 the "director of the play," we meet in some of the mysteries with short sermons 

 in prose delivered by priests, who appeared upon the stage in their stoles to 

 excite the devotion of the actors and audience. Sometimes even a high mass 

 would be held just before the representation, as a preparation for witnessing 

 a piece in which was to be given an episode in the life of our Lord (Fig. 

 382) or the martyrdom of some saint. When these religious dramas were 

 still played in the churches they generally terminated with a Te Deum or a 

 Magnificat, sung by the principal actor when he reached the end of his part. 

 As a rule, the play was not begun until all the actors who were to appear in 

 it had " done the show," as it was called, either on foot, or on horseback, or 

 in a carriage ; that is to say, had exhibited in the streets not only the costumes 

 to be worn, but the engines or mechanical contrivances to be used on the 

 stage. The representation once begun, the actors who were not required on 

 the stage were compelled, in the intervals, to remain in view of the audience, 

 seated upon benches placed at each side of the theatre, for the " slips " were 

 not then invented to increase the optical illusion by favouring the entry or 

 egress of the players. The unity of time was altogether disregarded, as well 

 as the unity of place. Thus, for instance, in representing the history of 

 Notre- Dame, a child of four or five years old would take the part of Mary in 

 the beginning of the piece, and would be succeeded, as the play progressed, by 

 another girl fifteen or sixteen years old, who would in her turn be suc- 

 ceeded by a third person to represent Mary when married to Joseph, and the 

 mother of Jesus. The result of this triple change was that the spectators had 

 before them upon the benches three incarnations of one and the same person, 

 each of a different age, appearance, and dress. 



It may be guessed that there was no great accuracy with regard to dress 

 in these representations. The playwrights and actors, or dramatic poets, who 

 represented the funeral of Julius Caesar with choristers bearing the crucifix 

 and holy water, did not trouble themselves about historical and archaeological 

 truth. But, excepting these primitive errors, it may safely be said that the 

 theatre of the fifteenth century was little inferior, in point of splendour and 



