their cycle, and the motley crowd gathered to hear the
Bible narratives familiar to each and all, even as the Greek myths which
are the stock material of the Greek drama were known to the vast
concourse in the hillside theater of that day. In effect the circus had
come to town, and we may be sure every urchin knew it and could be found
open-mouthed in the front row of spectators. No possibility here of
subtlety and less of psychologic morbidity. The beat of the announcing
drum, the eager murmur of the multitude, the gay costumes and colorful
booth, all ministered to the natural delight of the populace in show and
story. The fun relieved the serious matter, and the serious matter made
the fun acceptable. With no shift of scenery, the broadest liberty, not
to say license, in the particulars of time and place were practiced;
the classic unities were for a later and more sophisticate drama. There
was no curtain and therefore no entr'act to interrupt the two hours'
traffic of the stage; the play was continuous in a sense other than the
modern.

As a result of these early conditions, the English play was to show
through its history a fluidity, a plastic adaptation of material to end,
in sharp contrast with other nations, the French, for one, whose first
drama was enacted in a tennis court of fixed location, deep perspective
and static scenery.

On the holy days which, as the etymology shows, were also holidays from
the point of view of the crowd, drama was vigorously purveyed which made
the primitive appeals of pathos, melodrama, farce and comedy. The actors
became secular, but for long they must have been inspired with a sense
of moral obligation in their work; a beautiful survival of which is to
be seen at Oberammergau to-day. And the play itself remained religious
in content and intention for generations after it had walked out of the
church door. The church took alarm at last, aware that an instrument of
mighty potency had been taken out of its hands. It is not surprising to
find various popes passing edicts against this new and growingly
influential form of public entertainment. It seemed to be on the way to
become a rival. This may well have had its effect in the rapid taking
over of the drama by the guilds, as later it was adopted by still more
worldly organizations.

It was not from the people that the change to complete secularization of
subject-matter and treatment came; but from higher cultural sources:
from th