rity of history that Caesar travelled with his
Mimes, and it is, therefore, not improbable that they came into Britain
with him. England, then, during the occupancy of the Romans, must have
known the Dramatic Art, or else (as Dibdin observes) Pacuvius, Accius,
and Livius Andronicus were ignorant of it. Martial tells us that it did,
and so does Boadicea, so that we have not only Roman authorities for it,
but also British.

The word "Pantomime" could not, I may say here, have been Anglicised
earlier than sometime during the seventeenth century. Dr. Johnson's
earliest example is from "Hudibras"--

"Not that I think those _Pantomimes_,
Who vary action with the times,
Are less ingenious in their art
Than those who duly act one part."

Bacon and Ben Jonson use the Latin _Pantomimi_--"Here be certain
_Pantomimi_ that will represent the voices of players." Again in the
"Masque of Love's Triumph," etc., 1630, "After the manner of the old
_Pantomimi_ they dance over a distracted Comedy of Love."

The fall of the Roman Empire and the progress of Christianity in Europe
sounded the death knell of Paganism and its attributes, of which
Pantomime was deemed to be one, owing to the bad odour in which this
form of entertainment had got to during the last days of the Empire.
Notwithstanding this the church was only too glad to avail itself of
Pantomime as a vehicle to portray before the world at large, and in
order to turn attention to the great moral truths to be deduced from the
death of Him on Calvary Hill. These exhibitions of religious subjects,
in the form of _tableaux vivants_, took place in the churches, and,
having regard to the sacred edifices in which they were given, they
were, especially in the beginning, I conjecture, performed in dumb show,
without any dialogue. Afterwards dialogue was introduced, and they began
to be, not only held in the churches, but also in the church-yards, the
streets, and in booths.

It is true the sacred play was not a new institution, as one is said to
be mentioned about the time of the Fall of Jerusalem. In Cornwall, plays
were given in the ancient times in the open air, after the fashion of
the Roman Amphitheatre, with the dialogue in the Cymric tongue.
Pantomimical performances might also have been given in those open-air
theatres by the Romans.

Perhaps no better example of the early Sacred Drama I can give, and
which is still with us, and performed daily, is the sacrifi