Ancient Sports and Pastimes. 621 
been discovered in Salisbury Cathedral. The ceremonies 
that were performed at the feast of fools and of the boy 
bishop were probably the precursors of the mysteries or 
regular religious dramas, which were mostly founded on 
narratives from the authentic or from the apocryphal 
gospels. The mysteries were generally performed in 
churches, and the clergy were the actors. The most sacred 
persons were, without hesitation, brought on the stage, and 
the people do not seem to have considered that there was 
any irreverence in this; the ideas of our forefathers on such 
subjects differed essentially from ours, and their notions of 
propriety were not quite so strict, for there can be little 
doubt, that in the mystery of the fall, Adam and Eve ap- 
peared on the stage in a costume more nearly resembling 
that adopted in the Garden of Eden than modern taste 
would allow. The first play of this kind was performed in 
England about I110; it was written by Geoffrey, a 
Norman, afterwards Abbot of St. Albans. 
The Coventry mysteries acquired great celebrity. Dug- 
dale relates, in his “ History of Warwickshire,” that “ before 
the suppression of monastries, this city (Coventry) was 
very famous for the pageants that were played therein upon 
Corpus Christi day (one of their ancient faires), which, 
occasioning great confluence of people thither far and near, 
was of no small benefit thereto; which pageants being 
acted with mighty state and reverence by the Grey Friars, 
had theatres for the several scenes, very large and high, 
placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the principal parts of 
the city for the better advantage of the spectators, and con- 
tained the story of the Old and New Testament, composed 
in the Old English rithme.” 
The celebrity of the performances, says Hone, may be 
inferred from the rank of the audience, for at the festival 
of Corpus Christi in 1483, Richard visited Coventry to 
see the plays, and at the same season in 1492 they were 
attended by Henry VII. and his Queen, by whom they 
were highly commended. 
The authors of the mysteries were obliged to enliven 
their audience by the introduction of a few comic scenes 
and characters. Noah’s wife is represented as a regular 
vixen; her illtemiper and obstinacy doubtless created 
amusement. She positively refuses to enter the ark unless 
she is allowed to take with her her gossips every one. She 
is ultimately dragged in by main force. The author of 
evil, who is represented as a contemptible and ugly demon, 
