We have said that the laity intended no opposi- tion to the Church, and that the clergy recognised no such opposition, and did not anticipate it; yet by or even before the end of the 13th century the laity had robbed the clergy of a great part of their influence, and in the course of the 14th became the means of paralyz- ing it entirely. The length, too, to which these per- formances were carried surpasses credence. No subject was deemed too sacred to be chosen as a theme, no sub- ject too holy to be represented. Heaven was depicted, in which the Father was surrounded by his holy angels. Hell was portrayed by a dark and yawning cavern, from which issued hideous bowlings, as of tormented souls; but whence also, with a curious inconsistency, came the jesters and buffoons of the sacred drama. Not only were all the Scripture characters freely introduced, but angels, archangels, Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, Belial, and even the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Some of these dramas lasted for a number of days, one of tliciii covering the whole period of time from the crea- ti.iii i>r the world to the last judgment. No wonder, tlioii. that these plays, which were originally designed as a means of instructing the people, and were performed in the churches, rapidly degenerated until they turned into a species of scandalously irreverent buffooner}% From being employed as a means of instruction, they were thus converted into a means of amusement; from being enacted in the churches and by the clergy, they came to be performed by strolling and vagabond play- ers on temporary and portable stages constructed on wheels. Thenceforth the theatre took a wider scope;
art labored to supply the ever-increasing weakness of religious impressions ; creations of the poet's fancy ap- peared side by side with scriptural characters ; popular scenes became by degrees more common, and hence lit- tle bj' little arose the drama of our own day — a light amusement intended for the pastime of an idle crowd.
The 14th and 15th centuries were fertile of relig- ious dramas in many parts of Europe, and throughout the centuries immediately following they continued in full force. In Germany they were very popular. -In France they did not prevail largely after the 15th century. In Italy they were very congenial to the people, whose delight in sensible objects is so intense, and societies for their performance were formed as in France. They were largely popular in the 15th centu- ry (comp. Eoscoe, Life of Lorenzo, i, 402; Hallam, Z,iV. i, 124, 125), and they have in some of their forms been continued for the edification and amusement of the pop- idace quite down to our own times (Ticknor, Hist, of Spanish Lit. i, 229, foot-note 3). In Spain they were likewise common, and their origin is so remote that " it can no longer be determined" (Ticknor, i, 230). There, however, the clergy were left to play these mysteries, as is apparent from the code of Alfonso X, which was prepared about 1260, and in which, after forbidding the clergy certain gross indulgences, the law goes on to say : " Neither ought they to be makers of buffoon plays, that people ma^' come to see them ; and if other men make them, clergymen should not come to see them, for such men do things low and unsuitable. Nor, more- over, should such things be done in churches ; but rath- er we say they should be cast out in dishonor, without punishment to those engaged in them ; for the church of God was made for praj^er, and not for buffoonery; as our Lord Jesus Christ declared in the Gospel that his house was called the house of prayer, and ought not to be made a den of thieves. But exhibitions there be that clergymen may make, such as that of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, which shows how the angel came to the shepherds, and how he told them Jesus Christ was born ; and, moreover, of his appearance when the three kings came to worship him, and of his resurrec- tion, which shows how he was crucified and rose the third day. Such things as these, which move men to do well, may the clergy make, as well as to the end that man ma}^ have in remembrance that such things did truly happen. But this must they do decently, and in devotion ; and in the great cities where there is an arch- bishop or bishop, and vmder their authorit}', or that of others by them deputed, and not in villages, nor in small places, nor to gain money thereby." But though these earliest religious representations in Spain, whether pantomimic or in dialogue, were thus given, not only by churchmen, but bj' others, certainly before the middle of the 13th centurj', and probably much sooner, they passed entirely out of the control of those who intended them for religious and moral purposes, and though they were continued for several centuries afterwards, still no fragment of them, and no distinct account of them, now remain to us (see Ticknor, i, 231 ; and compare below).
In England they continued in full force for above four hundred years — a longer period than can be as- signed to the English national drama as we now recog- nise it. Their height of popularity was in the 15th century. Of these mj-steries, two complete series, which are supposed to belong to the loth century (Hallam, Lit. i, 124 [105]), have lately been published from an- cient manuscripts, the Toicnley Mysteries, performed by the monks of Woodchurch, near Wakefield, and the dif- ferent leading companies of that town : and the Coven- try Mysteries, performed with like help of the trades in Coventry, by the Gray Friars of that ancient city. Both of these collections begin with the creation, and carry on the story in different pageants or scenes until the judgment-day. The first two have been published by the Shakespeare Society, and the other by the Sur- tees Society. The Townley mysteries are full of the