ontempt, and an Act of
Parliament in the reign of Edward III. ordered strollers of this kind to
be whipped out of the town. An old satire written at the time of the
Reformation brings together actors, dustmen, jugglers, conjurers, and
sellers of indulgences.

But we want something more than wits and drolleries, and even public
performances, to complete our idea of Comedy. We must have literary
composition and artistic construction. From songs of warlike
achievements such as were chanted by the old scalders to cheer their
chiefs over the bowl, there arose by degrees fanciful tales with which
the Saxons and their successors amused themselves after their dinner,
and round the blazing hearth. In the tenth century the clergy found
stories to amuse the post-prandial hour--extravagant, indelicate, or
profane--such were the times, but marking improved activity of thought.
Thus they enjoyed such a tale as that a "prophet" went to Heriger
(Archbishop of Mayence about 920) and told him he had been to the nether
world, a place, he said, surrounded by woods. The Archbishop replied
that, if that was the case, he would send his lean swine there to eat
acorns. The prophet added that afterwards he went to heaven, and saw
Christ and his saints sitting at table and eating; John the Baptist was
the butler, and served the wine, and St. Peter was the cook. The
Archbishop asked the stranger how he fared himself, and on his saying
that he sat in the corner and stole a piece of liver--Heriger instead of
praising his sanctity ordered him to be tied to a stake, and flogged for
theft. The "Supper," as old as the tenth century, is another humorous
description. A grave assembly of scriptural characters, from Adam and
Eve downwards, are invited, Cain sits on a plough, Abel on a milk-pail
&c.; two, Paul and Esau, are obliged to stand for want of room, and Job
complains of having nothing to sit on but a dunghill. Jonah is here the
butler. Samson brings honey to the dessert, and Adam apples--

"Tunc Adam poma ministrat, Samson favi dulcia.
David cytharum percussit, et Maria tympana,
Judith choreas ducebat et Jubal psalteria
Asael metra canebat, saltabat Herodias."[51]

Thus stories, by degrees, began to be not only composed, but written,
and although not intended for acting, to be dignified with the old name
of "Comedies." Such poems were written by Robert Baston, who accompanied
Edward II. to Scotland.

The Tournament of Tottenham is a