43 
Just, however, as in ancient Greece the drama had a religious 
origin, so when the drama reappeared in England it sprung 
from religious observance. Popular in its aim, liturgical in 
its origin, it took as its subjects events which belonged strictly 
either to sacred history or to accepted legends. 
The lecturer alluded to the practice in Catholic countries 
of representing the scene in miniature of the stable at 
Bethlehem, with the infant Saviour, the parents, the manger, 
etc., and considered it as not only a very ancient custom, 
but, for the young and unlettered, as educationally sound. 
St. Francis of Assisi, he said, represented the same scene 
with a real child and real men and women. One of the 
earliest forms of religious drama was the solemn burial of 
the crucifix on Good Friday and its disinterment on Easter 
Sunday with pompous ritual. 
The next stage in the development is when to the dumb- 
show words are added. The first appearance of dramatic 
dialogue in the services of the Church has been traced to the 
ninth century. Of these interpolations, or Tropes, as they 
were called, the most important, that sung on Easter Day, 
was based on the conversation between the angels at the 
tomb and the three Marys. 
The lecturer traced the further elaboration of these 
ceremonies, many variations of which are still in existence, 
described in old MSS. The last step towards the production 
of the Miracle play was the introduction into the originally 
Latin versions of refrains and speeches in the vernacular 
tongues. Thus the drama developed in England : the tableau, 
the tableau vivant, the symbolical representation in dumb- 
show, the addition of dialogue, and finally the separation of 
the dramatic representation from the service, and the sup- 
planting of Latin by English. 
As the Miracle plays grew in popularity, and stage effects 
became desirable, performances in churches became in- 
creasingly impossible. The Church-yard was next tried ; 
then the village green. Thus the play became divided from 
the service, gradually became associated with the trade-guilds; 
the clergy ceased to perform in them, and ultimately were led 
to discourage them. 
Mr. Crump went on to shew how the Miracle play, still 
religious in its conception, became more and more associated 
with the guilds of the middle ages, and gave many descriptions 
of the gorgeous sacred pageants held under their auspices, — 
those of London and York being taken from old MSS. dating 
back to the fifteenth century. 
