ur to amuse themselves with you; never to be frightened
at a thousand obstacles which may be opposed to one; have a face of
brass and a heart of stone; insult worthy men who are persecuted; rarely
venture to speak the truth; appear devout, with every nice scruple of
religion, while at the same time every duty must be abandoned when it
clashes with your interest. After these any other accomplishment is
indeed superfluous."

MYSTERIES, MORALITIES, FARCES, AND SOTTIES.

The origin of the theatrical representations of the ancients has been
traced back to a Grecian stroller singing in a cart to the honour of
Bacchus. Our European exhibitions, perhaps as rude in their
commencement, were likewise for a long time devoted to pious purposes,
under the titles of Mysteries and Moralities. Of these primeval
compositions of the drama of modern Europe, I have collected some
anecdotes and some specimens.[96]

It appears that pilgrims introduced these devout spectacles. Those who
returned from the Holy Land or other consecrated places composed
canticles of their travels, and amused their religious fancies by
interweaving scenes of which Christ, the Apostles, and other objects of
devotion, served as the themes. Menestrier informs us that these
pilgrims travelled in troops, and stood in the public streets, where
they recited their poems, with their staff in hand; while their chaplets
and cloaks, covered with shells and images of various colours formed a
picturesque exhibition, which at length excited the piety of the
citizens to erect occasionally a stage on an extensive spot of ground.
These spectacles served as the amusements and instruction of the people.
So attractive were these gross exhibitions in the middle ages, that they
formed one of the principal ornaments of the reception of princes on
their public entrances.

When the Mysteries were performed at a more improved period, the actors
were distinguished characters, and frequently consisted of the
ecclesiastics of the neighbouring villages, who incorporated themselves
under the title of _Confreres de la Passion_. Their productions were
divided, not into acts, but into different days of performance, and they
were performed in the open plain. This was at least conformable to the
critical precept of that mad knight whose opinion is noticed by Pope. It
appears by a MS. in the Harleian library, that they were thought to
contribute so much to the information and instruction o