Charles Davidson— English Mystery Plays. 221 



The tailzeouris, the Coronatioun of our Lady. 



Litstaris, Sanct Nicholes. 



Wobstaris, walcaris, and bonet makaris, Saint John. 



Baxtaris, Sanct Georg. 



Wrichtis, messonis, sclateris, and cuparis, The Resurrectioun. 



The smithis and hammirmen to furneiss The Bearmen of the Croce.i 



The impossibility of forming a connected play out of these tableaux 

 is sufficiently evident. Many other references to the procession 

 might be given ; thus in 1484 the penalty of absenteeism was the 

 loss of freedom for a year, i. e., the freedom of the craft, not per- 

 sonal freedom; in 1531, the craft that failed to furnish its pageant 

 must pay a fine of forty shillings. 



The order in procession was established by the city fathers and 

 was apparently the same for every procession. The Candlemas and 

 Corpus Christi processions are sometimes mentioned together, but 

 the regulation of 1531 established beyond question that the pageants 

 were for Candlemas. It seems that on Corpus Christi day after the 

 procession a play was usually performed on Windmill-hill. The play 

 is mentioned in a regulation of 1440 and again in 1479, but it prob- 

 ably changed from year to year, and was under the care of the 

 Abbot of Bon-Accord. It certainly was not the charge of the gilds. 



II. " Bassingbourne, Cambridg-eshire, 1511 (Play of St. George)". Players and musi- 

 cians were secured in Cambridge. Labor and materials contributed by individuals and 

 by twenty-seven neighboring villages.2 



III. Bethersden, Kent. 1533 (Ludi beatee Christinas). Evidence not published. Prob- 

 ably a church play. 



IV. Cambridge, about 13503 (Ludus Filiorum Israelis). A school play,4 probably. 

 William de Leune and Isabel his wife gave at their admission into the gild of Corpus 

 Christi 30 s. 13 d. for alms, and expended in Ludo Filiorum Israelis half-a-mark. 



After 1544 there were many plays. In 1546 Jephtha was acted at 

 Christmas. In 1564 Queen Elizabeth was present on Sunday,^ Aug. 

 6, at a performance of Aulularia, on Monday of Dido, on Tuesday of 

 Ezechias, which was written by Nicholas Udall. School plays, even 

 when on Biblical themes, are an offshoot from the mystery play, and 

 should be kept distinct. 



V. Canterbury, time of Henry IV (Play of Corpus Christi by the crafts). Evidence 

 not at hand. Possible, but out of the district where such plays Avei^e in vogue. The lack 

 of allusions to these plays is significant. 



1501-3 (Three Kyngs of Coleyn, on Twelfth Day).6 A special play in connection Avith 

 a banquet at the Guildhall. Noteworthy for a description of horses constructed of can- 



1 Records of Aberdeen, p. 451. 



2 Sharp, p. 34 ; also Lyson's Magna Britannia, Cambridgeshire, p, 89 ; also for items. 

 The Antiquary, vol. 7, 1883, p. 35. 



3 Not 1355, as given by Stoddard. 



4 Retrospective Review, vol. 13, pp. 7-11 ; Masters, vol. 1, p. 5. 



s Nichols, vol. 1, p. 186. 6 Ninth Report of Hist. MSS. Commission, p. 1?»7. 



