ile element then very prominent, we may attribute the
caricatures of the devil, formerly so common. Before the tenth century,
the devil was thought too dreadful to be portrayed, but afterwards, as
the Church made a liberal exhibition of the torments of hell, the idea
occurred of deterring offenders by representing evil spirits in as
frightful a form as possible. Some think that such figures were
suggested by the Roman satyrs, but they may have come from Jewish or
Runic sources. There is a mediaeval story of a monk having carved an
image of the devil so much more repulsive than he really was, that the
sable gentleman called upon him one night to expostulate. The monk,
however, was inexorable. But the story says further that, although the
holy man was proof against the entreaties of the devil, he was not so
well armed against the fascinations of the fair, and owing to his
suffering a defeat at the hands of the latter came afterwards to be shut
up in prison. The original of his portrait again called upon him, and
the monk agreed that, if he would obtain his release, he would represent
him as a handsome fellow.

As times advanced, people began to fear the devil less, and to be amused
at these strange carvings. From regarding them as ludicrous, it was only
a step to make humorous caricatures--and there could be little harm in
ridiculing the Devil. Thus we frequently find imps and demons brought in
to perform the comic parts in the Church mysteries. It was a short
advance from the ludicrous to the humorous, and thus we find the devil a
merry fellow, playing all kinds of practical jokes on mankind. Such
representations would now appear rather ludicrous than humorous, and are
seldom seen, except to amuse children on Valentine's Day.

CHAPTER III.

Origin of Modern Comedy--Ecclesiastical Buffoonery--Jougleurs and
Minstrels--Court Fools--Monks' Stories--The "Tournament of
Tottenham"--Chaucer--Heywood--Roister Doister--Gammer Gurton.

As the early drama of Greece arose from the celebration of religious
rites, so that of modern times originated in the church. This does not
seem so strange when we remember that religion is in connection with
abstract thought, and with an exercise of the representative powers of
the mind. And if we ask how comedy could have been thus introduced, the
reply must be that the ideal of former ages was very different from our
own. In the days when the mind was dull and inactive, striking
il