footlights. In any case, these
late experiences, which came by way of surprise to the professional
purveyors of theatrical entertainment, give added emphasis to the
statement that the stage is the child of mother church, and that the
origin of drama in the countries whereof we have record is always
religious. The mediaeval beginnings in Europe and England have been
described in their details by many scholars. Suffice it here to say that
the play's birthplace is at the altar end of the cathedral, an extension
of the regular service. The actors were priests, the audience the vast
hushed throngs moved upon by incense, lights, music, and the intoned
sacred words, and, for the touch of the dramatic which was to be the
seed of a wonderful development, we may add some portion of the sacred
story acted out by the stoled players and envisaged in the scenic pomp
of the place. The lesson of the holy day was thus brought home to the
multitude as it never would have been by the mere recital of the Latin
words; scene and action lent their persuasive power to the natural
associations of the church. Such is the source of modern drama; what was
in the course of time to become "mere amusement," in the foolish phrase,
began as worship; and if we go far back into the Orient, or to the
south-lying lands on the Mediterranean, we find in India and Greece
alike this union of art and worship, whether the play began within
church or temple or before Dionysian altars reared upon the green sward.
The good and the beautiful, the esthetic and the spiritual, ever
intertwined in the story of primitive culture.

And the gradual growth from this mediaeval beginning is clear. First, a
scenic elaboration of part of the service, centering in some portion of
the life and death of Christ; then, as the scenic side grew more
complex, a removal to the grounds outside the cathedral; an extension of
the subject-matter to include a reverent treatment of other portions of
the Bible narrative; next, the taking over of biblical drama by the
guilds, or crafts, under the auspices of the patron saints of the
various organizations, as when, on Corpus Christi day, one of the great
saints' days of the year, a cycle of plays was presented in a town with
the populace agog to witness it, and the movable vans followed each
other at the street corners, presenting scene after scene of the story.
Then a further extension of motives which admitted the use of the lives
of the saint