in and Crispianus; the Vintners, Bacchus
and his story; the Carpenters, Mary and Joseph; the Smiths represented
Vulcan; and the Bakers played the comedy of Ceres, the goddess of corn.
The stage was erected on Hogges-green, now College-green; and probably
the entertainment was carried out _al fresco_. The first playhouse
established in Dublin was in Werburgh-street, in 1633. Shirley's plays
were performed here soon after, and also those of "rare Ben Jonson."
Ogilvy, Shirley's friend, and the promoter of this enterprise, was
appointed Master of the Revels in Ireland in 1661; and as his first
theatre was ruined during the civil war, he erected a "noble theatre,"
at a cost of L2,000, immediately after his new appointment, on a portion
of the Blind-quay. Dunton describes the theatres, in 1698, as more
frequented than the churches, and the actors as "no way inferior to
those in London." The Viceroys appear to have been very regular in their
patronage of this amusement; and on one occasion, when the news reached
Dublin of the marriage of William of Orange and Mary, the Duke of
Ormonde, after "meeting the nobility and gentry in great splendour at
the play, passed a general invitation to all the company to spend that
evening at the Castle."[535]

The inventory of the household effects of Lord Grey, taken in 1540,
affords us ample information on the subject of dress and household
effects. The list commences with "eight tun and a pype of Gaskoyne
wine," and the "long board in the hall." A great advance had been made
since we described the social life of the eleventh century; and the
refinements practised at meals was not the least of many improvements. A
_bord-clothe_ was spread on the table, though forks were not used until
the reign of James I. They came from Italy, to which country we owe many
of the new fashions introduced in the seventeenth century. In _The Boke
of Curtosye_ there are directions given not to "foule the _bord-clothe_
wyth the knyfe;" and Ben Jonson, in his comedy of "The Devil is an Ass,"
alludes to the introduction of forks, and the consequent disuse of
napkins:

"The laudable use of forks,
Brought into custom here as they are in Italy,
To th' sparing o' napkins."

The English edition of the _Janua Linguarum_ of Comenius, represents the
fashion of dining in England during the Commonwealth. The table was
simply a board placed on a frame or trestles, which was removed after
the meal to leav