19 

 MARCH 15, 1906. 



S 1 \ 1 i:d Meeting. 



Vice-President A. T. Schauffler in the chair. 



Rev. H. M. Brown chosen temporary secretary. 



On recommendation of the council the following persons were 

 elected t<> membership: Henry Lewis Morris, Frederick John- n 

 Ernest S. Mapes, A. 1). Parker, R. S. Guernsey. 



Committees were appointed to see what measures should be 

 taken to secure the preservation of the Poe Cottage, and the en- 

 largement of the park around the grave of Joseph Rodman Drake. 



The thanks of the society were voted to Reginald Pelham 

 Bolton for his gift to the society of a copy of his work entitled : 

 " Fort Washington, with a History of the Defense and Reduc- 

 tion of Mt. Washington." 



Lecture. 



" The Mediaeval Drama." illustrated by lantern slides, b) 

 Thomas Gaffney Taaffe. Ph.D., of the College of the City of 

 Xew York. 



THE MEDLEYAL DRAMA. 



In every race and in every age the earliest attempts at dramatic 

 representation have been associated with divine worship. It was 

 so with the classic drama of Greece and in the same manner we 

 find the modern drama beginning with Mystery plays and Miracle 

 plays. It is true that some faint traces are to be found in these 

 early religious dramas, especially in some of the closet dramas, of 

 the influence of the classic dramatists of Greece and Rome, but 

 that is not to be wondered at when we consider that the monks, 

 to whom we owe most of them, were also the custodians of what- 

 ever remained of the old learning. These traces, however, are so 

 slight that mediaeval drama is practically a new growth. 



The purpose of these plays was to impress upon a simple and 

 unlettered people the truths of religion which were likely to fall 

 upon unheeding ears from the lips of the preacher. The Mys- 

 tery play was designed to present some doctrine of the Church, 

 while the Miracle play represented some event in the life of a 

 saint. Although these plays were familiar on the continent of 

 Europe from the fifth or sixth century, they were unknown in 

 England until after the Xorman conquest. Thev were at first 

 produced in the church and later on platforms erected in front of 



