214 Charles Davidson — JEnglish Mystery Plays. 



For the ' ridings ' a word will suffice. As the burghers of Aber- 

 deen met Queen Margaret without the city walls, so selected mem- 

 bers of each gild in other cities went out wearing their liveries and 

 bearing their banners/ and, riding two and two, escorted the king or 

 other dignitary into the city and over the designated roufe to the 

 palace where he was to lodge. 



The Processions. 



The Christian church probably held processions from the first 

 century.^ These multiplied in the Middle Ages and modified greatly 

 many other customs. Thus the royal riding and the procession 

 simulated each other, and were sometimes combined especially in 

 England in the Procession of St. George.^ Indeed, in many places 

 this ceremony was known as 'Riding the George.'* Many proces- 

 sions after the thirteenth century contained one or more pageants. 

 These were carried on moving pageant wagons, but sometimes, in 

 place of the mgeant, groups^ afoot personated characters. Of mov- 

 ing pageants the best illustrations are afforded by the Lord Mayor's 

 Show in London. Thus, the pageant of the Assumption was borne 

 before the new Lord Mayor from the Tower to Guildhall,' and later, 

 when allegorical devices were in vogue, many elaborate pageants 

 were devised, of which the descriptions have been preserved.'' Of 

 those where individuals walking personated characters, we notice 

 the Whit-Monday procession at Leicester, where the Virgin Mary 

 was carried as a pageant and the twelve apostles walked,® and the 

 pageant groups at Aberdeen.^ The pageantry was sometimes very 

 elaborate, as at Dublin in the Procession of St. George,'" which pre- 

 sented the Emperor and Empress attended by two doctors, two 

 knights and two maidens ; St. George who received three shillings 



1 Herbert, (a) The gilds of London bore banners of trade at the coronation of Henry 

 IV, 1399, vol. 1, p. 90. 



(b) The order of gilds of London in royal entries, vol. 1, pp. 101-2. 



(c) A cut of the procession, vol. 1, p. 139. 



(d) The citizens of London met the king at Blackheath, vol. 1, p. 91. 



2 The procession was greatly developed by St. John Chrysostom. 



3 The Gild of St. George, Norwich, had a pageant with a 'riding' in procession.— 

 English Gilds, p. 447. 



4 As at Leicester, Kelly, p. 38. 



5 These groups oftentimes contained beasts of wondrous shape, formed of hoops and 

 canvas or wicker-work. e Herbert, vol. 1, p. 45T. 



7 There are in print thirteen pageants of the Drapers, eleven of the Grocers, and 

 many produced by the other companies during the years from 1588-1691. Thej^ bear the 

 names of Thomas Middleton, Thomas Jordan, Thomas Heywood, etc., as authors.— Her- 

 bert, pp. 334, 459-61. 



8 Kelly, p. T. 9 See p. 223. lo Hist, of Dublin, vol. 1, p. 109. 



