tion of information" relative to the plays once performed there, and the manner in which the actors were dressed. In 1456, Queen Margaret was at Coventry, when she saw “alle the pagentes pleyde save domesday, which might not be pleyde for lak of day.” Even as late as 1575, “certain good harted men of Coventree” had the honour of performing before Queen Elizabeth in the celebrated entertainment at Kenilworth, and gained considerable applause.f And Heywood, in a passage which has been frequently quoted, alludes to the devil as a famous character in the old Coventry mysteries:—

“For as good happe wolde have it chaunce,
Thys devyll and I were of olde acqueyntaunce;
For oft, in the play of Corpus Christi,
He hath played the devyll at Coventry.”;

The Coventry Mysteries attracted the attention of the antiquary, Dugdale, at an early period, and he has given us the following curious and important account of them :—

“Before the suppression of the monasteries, this city was very famous for the pageants that were play'd therein, upon Corpus-Christi day; which occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and

* Collected from the records of the corporation. Mr. Sharp has also printed a Coventry play of a later date, which does not contain the dialectical peculiarity mentioned above.

+ Laneham's Letter, 12mo. Lond. 1575, p. 32.

t Playe called the foure P P. sig. d. ii. Sharp has given us many particulars relative to this character. See also Collier's Hist. Dram. Poet. vol. ii. p. 262-266.

near, was of no small benefit therto; which pageants being acted with mighty state and reverence by the friers of this house, had theaters for the severall scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the eminent parts of the city, for the better advantage of spectators: and contain'd the story of the NewTestament, composed into old English Rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. [in bibl. Cotton. sub effigie Wesp. D. 9..] intituled Ludus Corporis Christi, or Ludus Coventriae. I have been told by some old people, who in their younger years were eye-witnesses of these pageants so acted, that the yearly confluence of people to see that shew was extraordinary great, and yielded no small advantage to this city.” “ — Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, fol. Lond. 1656, p. 116, col. 1.

I scarcely think, however, that this notice of the

* The reader will not perhaps be displeased to see this passage as it stands in the original MS. of Dugdale's work :-‘‘Before the suppression of the monasteries, this cittye was very famous for the pageants that were play'd therein upon Corpus Christi day. These pageants were acted with mighty state and reverence by the fryers of this house, and conteyned the story of the New Testament which was composed into old English rime. The theatres for the severall scenes were very large and high; and, being placed upon wheeles, were drawne to all the eminent places of the cittye, for the better advantage of the spectators. In that incomparable library belonging to Sir Thomas Cotton, there is yet one of the bookes which perteyned to this pageant, entitled Ludus Corporis Christi, or Ludus Coventrie. I myselfe have spoke with some old people who had, in their younger yeares, bin eyewitnesses of these pageants soe acted; from whom I have bin told that the confluence of people from farr and neare to see that shew was extraordinary great, and yielded noe small advantage to this cittye.”

MS. affords much evidence in favour of James's title, except so far as it shows that Dugdale himself had no doubt whatever about its correctness. It will be observed that Dugdale does not give a right reference to the press-mark of the manuscript, and he had probably not examined the volume with much attention, or he could scarcely have omitted to notice the following passage at the end of the prologue, which has been adduced to prove that these mysteries were not exclusively” performed before the “gentyllys and 3emanry” of Coventry:—

“A Sunday next, yf that we may,
At vi. of the belle we gynne oure play
In N. towne.”

“The letter N,” observes Mr. Collier, “is placed for the nomen of the town, which was to be filled up as occasion required, by the person making the proclamation.” If the opinion I have formed of their locality be correct, I can account for this by supposing that the prologues of the vexillators belong to another series of plays, or that these mysteries were occasionally performed at other places. The summaries of the pageants, as given in the prologue, are often confusedly numbered; and it must be confessed that the conclusion would suit a company of strolling players much better than the venerable order of the Grey

* “It appears, by the latter end of the prologue, that these plays or interludes were not only played at Coventry, but in other towns and places upon occasion.” — Wright's Historia Histrionica, 8vo. Lond. 1699, p. 17. + History of Dramatic Poetry, vol. ii. p. 156.