religious plays, either the representations of miracles wrought by holy confeffors, or the fufferings, of martyrs. 4" Lundonia pro fpectaculis theatralibus, pro ludis fcenicis, ludos habet fanctiores, repræfentationes miraculorum quæ fancti confeffores operati funt, feu reprefentationes paffionum, quibus claruit conftantia martyrum." Defcriptio nobiliffime civitatis Lundonie. Fitz-Stephen's very curious defcription of London is a portion of a larger work, entitled Vita fanti Thome, Archiepifcopi & Martyris, i. e. Thomas a Becket. It is afcertained to have been written after the murder of Becket in the year 1170, of which Fitz-Stephen was an ocular witnefs, and while King Henry II. was yet living. A modern writer with great probability fuppofes it to have been compofed in 1174. the author in one paffage mentioning that the church of St. Paul's was formerly metropolitical, and that it was thought it would become so again, fhould the citizens return into the island." In 1174 King Henry II. and his fons had carried over with them a confiderable number of citizens to France, and many English had in that alfo year gone to Ireland. See Differtation prefixed to Fitz-Stephen's Defcription of London, newly translated, &c. 4to. 1772. p. 16. Near the end of his Defcription is a paffage which ascertains it to have been written before the year 1182. Lundonia & modernis temporibus reges illuftres, magnificofque peperit; imperatricem Matildam, Henricum regem tertium, & beatum Thomam" [Thomas Becket]. Some have fuppofed that inftead of tertium we ought to read fecundum, but the text is undoubtedly right; and by tertium, Fitz-Stephen must have meant Henry, the fecond fon of Henry the Second, who was born in London in 1156-7. and being heir-apparent, after the death of his elder brother William, was crowned king of England in his father's lifetime, on the 15th of July, 1170. He was frequently ftyled rex filius, rex juvenis, and fometimes he and his father were denominated Reges Anglia. The young king, who occafionally exercifed all the rights and prerogatives of royalty, died in 1182. Had he not been living when Fitz-Stephen wrote, he would probably have added nuper defunctum. Neither Henry II. nor Henry III. were born in London. See the Differtation abovecited, p. 12. Mr. Warton has remarked, that " in the time of Chaucer, Plays of Miracles appear to have been the common refort of idle goffips in Lent: Therefore made I my vifitations To prechings eke, and to thife pilgrimages, And in Pierce Plowman's Creed, a piece perhaps prior to Chaucer, a friar Minorite mentions these Miracles as not lefs frequented than markettowns and fairs: We haunten no taverns, ne hobelen about, The elegant writer, whose words I have juft quoted, has given the following ingenious account of the origin of this rude fpecies of dramatick entertainment: "About the eighth century trade was principally carried on by means of fairs, which lasted several days. Charlemagne established many great marts of this fort in France, as did William the Conqueror, and his Norman fucceffors in England. The merchants who frequented these fairs in numerous caravans or companies, employed every art to draw the people together. They were therefore accompanied by jugglers, minftrels, and buffoons; who were no lefs interested in-giving their attendance, and exerting all their skill on thefe occafions. As now but few large towns existed, no publick fpectacles or popular amufements were established; 'The Wif of Bathes Prologue, v. 6137. Tyrwhitt's edit, and as the fedentary pleasures of domestick life and private fociety were yet unknown, the fair-time was the feafon for diverfion. In proportion as thefe fhews were attended and encouraged, they began to be fet off with new decorations and improvements and the arts of buffoonery being rendered ftill more attractive, by extending their circle of exhibition, acquired an importance in the eyes of the people. By degrees the clergy obferving that the entertainments of dancing, mufick, and mimickry, exhibited at these protracted annual celebrities, made the people less religious, by promoting idleness and a love of feftivity, profcribed these sports, and excommunicated the performers. But finding that no regard was paid to their cenfures, they changed their plan, and determined to take these recreation's into their own hands. They turned actors; and inftead of profane mummeries, prefented ftories taken from legends or the Bible. This was the origin of facred comedy. The death of Saint Catharine, acted by the monks of faint Dennis, rivalled the popularity of the profeffed players. Mufick was admitted into the churches, which ferved as theatres for the reprefentation of holy farces. The festivals among the French, called La fête des Foux, de l' Ane, and des Innocens, at lengh became greater favourites, as they certainly were more capricious and abfurd, than the interludes of the buffoons at the fairs. Thefe are the ideas of a judicious French writer now living, who has inveftigated the history of human manners with great comprehenfion and fagacity." 66 Voltaire's theory on this fubject is also very, ingenious, and quite new. Religious plays, he 6 fuppofes, came originally from Conftantinople; where the old Grecian flage continued to flourish in fome degree, and the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides were represented, till the fourth century. About that period, Gregory Nazianzen, an archbishop, a poet, and one of the fathers of the church, banifhed pagan plays from the flage at Conftantinople, and introduced stories from the Old and New Teflament. As the ancient Greek tragedy was a religious fpectacle, a tranfition was made on the fame plan; and the choruffes were turned into Christian hymns. Gregory wrote many facred dramas for this purpose, which have not survived those inimitable compofitions over. which they triumphed for a time: one, however, his tragedy called Xpicos Taoxov, or Chrift's Paffion, is ftill extant. In the prologue it is faid to be an imitation of Euripides, and that this is the firft time the Virgin Mary had been introduced on the ftage. The fafhion of acting spiritual dramas, in which at first a due degree of method and decorum was preferved, was at length adopted from Conftantinople by the Italians; who framed, in the depth of the dark ages, on this foundation, that barbarous fpecies of theatrical reprefentation called 6 "At Conftantinople" as Mr. Warton has elsewhere obferved, it feems that the ftage flourished much, under Juftinian and Theodora, about the year 540. for in the Bafilical codes we have the oath of an a&refs, μη αναχωρειν της πορνείας. Tom. VII. p. 682. edit. Fabrot. Græco-Lat. The ancient Greek fathers, particularly faint Chryfoftom, are full of declamation against the drama; and complain, that the people heard a comedian with much more pleasure than a preacher of the gofpel." Warton's Hiftory of English Poetry, Vol. I. p. 244. n. MYSTERIES, or facred comedies, and which were foon after received in France. This opinion will acquire probability, if we confider the early commercial intercourfe between Italy and Conftantinople: and although the Italians, at the time when they may be supposed to have imported plays of this nature, did not understand the Greek language, yet they could understand, and confequently could imitate, what they faw." In defence of Voltaire's hypothefis, it may be further obferved, that The feast of Fools, and of the Afs, with other religious farces of that fort, fo common in Europe, originated at Conftantinople. They were inftituted, although perhaps under other names, in the Greek Church, about the year 990. by Theophylact, patriarch of Conftantinople, probably with a better design than is imagined by the ecclefiaftical annalifts; that of weaning the minds of the people from the pagan ceremonies, by the fubftitution of chriftian fpectacles partaking of the fame fpirit of licentiousness. To those who are accuftomed to contemplate the great picture of human follies, which the unpolished ages of Europe hold up to our view, it will not appear surprising, that the people who were forbidden to read the events of the facred hiftory in the Bible, in which they were faithfully and beautifully related, fhould at the same time be permitted to fee them reprefented on the ftage, difgraced with the grossest improprieties, corrupted with inventions and additions of the most ridiculous kind, fullied with impurities, and expreffed in the language of the lowest farce." "On the whole, the Mysteries appear to have |