M Y S T E R Y. 471 
Writer, now alive, who has inveftigated the hiftory of 
human manners with great compreheniion and fagacity.” 
Voltaire’s theory on this fubjeft is alfo very ingenious, 
and quite new. Religious plays, he fuppoi'es, came ori¬ 
ginally from Conftantinople ; where the old Grecian ftage 
continued to flourilhin fome degree, and the tragedies of 
Sophocles and Euripides were reprefented, till the fourth 
century. About that period, Gregory NazianZ.en, an 
archbiihop, a poet, and one of the fathers of the church, 
banillied Pagan plays from the ftage at Conftantinople, 
and introduced felett ftories from the Old and New Tefta- 
inent. As the ancient Greek tragedy was a religious 
fpeftacle, a tranfition was made on the fame plan; and 
the chorufi'es were turned into Chriftian hymns. Gregory 
wrote many facred dramas for this purpofe, which have 
not furvived thofe inimitable compofttions over which 
they triumphed for a time; one, however, his tragedy 
called Xpifo; Tttmryoiv , or Chrift’s Paftion, is ftill extant. 
In the prologue it is faid to be in imitation of Euripides, 
and that this is the firft time the Virgin Mary has been 
produced on the ftage. The faftiion of adting fpiritual 
dramas, in which, at firft, a due degree of method and 
decorum was preferved, was at length adopted from Con¬ 
ftantinople by the Italians; who framed, in the depth of 
the dark ages, on this foundation, that barbarous fpeties 
of theatrical amufement called nn/ftcries, or facred come¬ 
dies, and which were foon afterwards received in France. 
This opinion is fuppofed, by Mr. War ton, to derive con¬ 
firmation from the early commercial intercourfe that fub- 
fifted between Italy and Conftantinople. In further de¬ 
fence of this hypothecs, it may be obferved, that the Feaft 
of Fools, and of the Afs, together with other religious 
farces of that fort, fo common in Europe, originated in 
Conftantinople. They were inftituted, though perhaps 
under other names, in the Greek church, about the year 
990, by Theophyladf, patriarch of Conftantinople, pro¬ 
bably with the defign of weaning the minds of the people 
from the Pagan ceremonies,particularly the Bacchanalian 
and calendary folemnities, by the fubftitution of Chriftian 
fpedtacles, partaking of the fame fpirit of licentioufnefs. 
This practice was lubfifting in the Greek church two 
hundred years afterwards. 
We may here remark, that in the fourth century it was 
■cuftomary to make Chriftian parodies and imitations in 
Greek, of the beft Greek daffies, for the ufe of the 
Chriftian fchools. This practice prevailed much under 
the emperor Julian, who forbade the Pagan poets, orators, 
and philofophers, to be taught in the Chriftian feminaries. 
Apollinaris, bifliop of Laodicea, W'rote Greek tragedies, 
adapted to the ftage, on moft of the grand events record¬ 
ed in the Old Teftament, after the manner of Euripides. 
On fome of the familiar and domeftic ftories of Scripture, 
he compofed comedies in imitation of Menander. He 
wrote Chriftian odes on the plan of Pindar. In imita¬ 
tion of Homer, he wrote an heroic poem on the hiftory 
of the bible, as far as the reign of Saul, in twenty-four 
books. 
Mr. Warton mentions a much earlier and more lingu¬ 
lar Ipecimen of a theatrical reprefentation of facred hiftory 
than that which is mentioned by Voltaire. Some frag¬ 
ments of an ancient Jewifh play on the Exodus, or depar¬ 
ture of the Ifraelites from Egypt, under their leader and 
prophet Mofies, are yet preferved in Greek iambic. The 
principal characters of this drama are Moles, Zipporah, 
and God fpeaking from the burning bufh. Moles deli¬ 
vers the prologue, or introduction, in a fpeech of fixty 
lines, and his rod is turned into a lerpent on the ftage. 
The author of this piece is Ezekiel, a Jew, who is called 
the tragic poet of the Jew's ; and, according to Huetius, 
he lived at leaft before the Chriftian era. Some fay that 
he was one of the LXX, under the reign of Ptolemy Phi- 
ladelphus. Warton thinks that he compofed this play 
after the deftrudlion of Jerusalem, and in the time of Ba- 
roebas, as a political fpedtacle, with a view of animating 
his dejefted countrymen with the hopes of a future deli¬ 
verance from their captivity under the condudl of a new 
Mofes, like that from the Egyptian fervitude. 
Boileau, on the authority of Meneftrier, feems to think 
that the ancient pilgrims, on their return from Jerulalem, 
introduced thefe facred exhibitions into France, among 
whom are reckoned St. James of Compoftella, St. Bourne 
of Provence., St. Remi, &c. See. who compofed fongs on 
their adventures ; intermixing recitals of palfages in the 
life of Chrift, deferiptions of his crucifixion, of the day 
of judgment, of miracles, and of martyrdoms. To thefe 
tales, which were recommended by a pathetic chant, and 
a variety of gefti'culations, the credulity of the multitude 
gave the name of “ Vilions.” Thefe were recited by the 
pious itinerants, with accompaniments which formed a 
fort of theatrical fpedtacle. At length their performances 
excited the compalfion and charity of fome citizens of 
Paris, who erected a theatre for their exhibition of thefe 
ftories, with the additional advantage of feenery and other 
decorations. At length profefled practitioners in the hif- 
trionie art were hired to perform thefe folemn mockeries 
of religion, which foon became the principal public 
amufement of a devout but undifeerning people. 
Mr. Strutt (Sports and Paftimes of the People of Eng¬ 
land) has given a detailed account of the fucceftive ule 
of the miracle's, myfteries, and moralities, in this country; 
and in this enquiry they mull be coniidered in connexion 
with each other. 
The theatrical exhibitions at London, in the twelfth 
century, were called Miracles, becaufe they confuted 
of facred plays, or reprefentations of the miracles wrought 
by the holy confefl'ors, and the fufterings by which the 
perfeverance of the martyrs was manifefted. Such fub- 
jedts were certainly very properly chofen, becaufe the 
church was ul'ually the theatre wherein thefe pious 
dramas were performed, and the adlors were the eccle- 
fiaftics or their fcholars. The firft play of this kind 
fpecified by name, I believe, is called St. Catharine, and, 
according to Matthew Paris, was written by Geofrey, 
a Norman, afterwards abbot of St. Alban’s ; lie was fent 
over into England to take upon him the direction of the 
fchool belonging to that monaftery; but, coming too 
late, he went to Dunltable and taught there, where he 
caufed his play to be performed, and borrowed from the 
lacrift of St. Alban’s fome of the ecclefiaftical veftments 
of the abbey to adorn the adtors. But M. Paris, who 
wrote about the year 1240, does not l’peak of them as 
things newly invented, but fuch as “ miracula vulgariter 
appellamus.” In later times, thefe dramatic pieces ac¬ 
quired the appellation of Mysteries. 
Thefe miracle-plays, or myfteries, in Chaucer’s days, 
were exhibited during the fealon of Lent, and fometimes 
a fequel of Scripture-hiftories was carried 011 for feveral 
days. In the reign of Richard the Second, (1380.) the 
parilh-clerks of London put forth a play at Skinner’s 
Wells, near Smithfield, which continued three days ; the 
king, queen, and many of the nobility, being prefent at 
the performance. In the fucceeding reign another play 
was adted at the fame place, and lalled eight days; this 
drama began with the creation of the world, and con¬ 
tained the greater part of the hiftory of the Old and 
New Teftament. It does not appear to have been ho¬ 
noured with the royal prelence, but was well attended 
by moft of the nobility and gentry of the realm. The 
laft of thefe performances, no doubt, bore a clofe analogy 
to the well-known myftery entitled Carpus Chrifti, or 
Ludus Covcntricr, the Coventry Play ; tranferipts of this 
play, nearly if not altogether coeval with the time of its 
reprefentation, are yet in exiftence. The prologue to 
this curious drama is delivered by three perfons who 
fpeak alternately, and are called vexillators; it contains 
the argument of the feveral pageants, or adts, that con- 
ftitute the piece, and they amount to no lefs than forty; 
and every one of thefe acts confifts of a detached fubjeeft 
from the holy writ, beginning with the creation of the 
univerfe, and concluding with the laft judgment. In the 
firit 
