nted were indicated in various
ways--Heaven, for instance, by a beautiful {26} pavilion; Hell, by the
mouth of a huge dragon. The costumes of the actors were often
elaborate and costly, and there was some attempt at imitating reality,
such as putting the devils into costumes of yellow and black, which
typified the flames and darkness of Hell.

Fairly complete cycles were in existence as early as 1300; they reached
the height of their perfection and popularity in the later fourteenth
and in the fifteenth centuries; and they began to decline in the
sixteenth century. After 1550 the performances became more and more
irregular, until, at the accession of King James I, they had
practically ceased.

+The Moralities+.--Of somewhat later origin than the miracle plays, but
existing contemporaneously with them, were the moralities. In a
twelfth-century miracle play characters had been introduced which were
not the figures of Biblical story, but personified abstractions, such
as Hypocrisy, Heresy, Pity. By the end of the fourteenth century there
had come into existence plays of which all the characters were of this
type. These, however, were probably not direct descendants of the
miracles; but rather the application of the newly learned dramatic
methods to another sort of subject matter, the allegory, a literary
type much used by poets and preachers of the time. Such plays were
called 'moral plays' or 'moralities.' Unlike the miracle plays, these
remained independent of each other, and showed no tendency to grow
together into cycles. The most beautiful of them, written at the end
of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century, is that
called _The Summoning of Everyman_. It represents a typical man
compelled to enter upon the long, {27} inevitable journey of death.
Kindred and Wealth abandon him, but long-neglected Good-deeds, revived
by Knowledge, comes to his aid. At the edge of the grave Everyman is
deserted by Beauty, Strength, and the Five Senses, while Good-deeds
alone goes with him to the end. Moralities of this type aimed at the
cultivation of virtue in the spectators, just as the miracle plays had
aimed at the strengthening of their faith. Another type of morality
dealt with controversial questions. In one of these, _King Johan_,
written about 1538, historical personages are put side by side with the
allegorical abstractions, thus foreshadowing the later historical
plays, such as Shakespeare's _K