probably a kind of dumb show, intermingled, it may be, with a few short speeches, at length they grew into regular scenes of connected dialogues, formally divided into acts and scenes.”  Colley Cibber has:  “It has been conjectured that the actors of the Mysteries of Religion were mummers, a word signifying one who makes and disguises himself to play the fool without speaking.  They were dressed in an antic manner, dancing, mimicking, and showing postures.”  Mr. Wright also observes (in his work on the Mystery Plays of Chester, published by the Shakespearean Society) that the “chief effect seems to have been caused by the dumb show.”

Before dealing with the Mysteries, and as perhaps a kind of retrospect, let us have a look what Wharton has to say of the early drama.  “Trade,” he says (in the early centuries) “was carried on by means of fairs, which lasted several days.  Charlemagne established many great marts of this sort in France, as did William the Conqueror and his Norman successors in England.  The merchants, who frequented these fairs in numerous caravans and companies, employed every art to draw the people together.  They were, therefore, accompanied by jugglers, minstrels, and buffoons (i.e., Pantomimists), who were no less interested in giving their attendance and exercising their skill on these occasions.  Few large towns existed, no public spectacles or popular amusements were established; and as the sedentary pleasures of domestic life and private society were yet unknown, the fair time was the season for diversion.  In proportion as the shows were attended and encouraged, they began to be set off with new decorations and improvements; and the arts of buffoonery being rendered still more attractive by extending their circle of exhibition, acquired an importance in the eyes of the people.  By degrees the Clergy, observing that the entertainments of dancing, music, and mimicry exhibited at these annual celebrations made the people less religious by promoting idleness and a love of festivity, proscribed these sports and excommunicated the performers.”

Mystery plays were afterwards divided into three classes, though the generic term Mysteries, meaning all three, is generally used.  In the Mysteries, Biblical events were principally used; Miracle plays were obtained from the legends of the saints; and the last, Moralities, allegorical stories of a moral character not essentially taken from the Bible, or from the legends of the saints, comprised the third heading.  The Mysteries were for several centuries known on the Continent before they were performed in England.  The earliest Mystery play known to have been acted in England was at Dunstable about the year 1110.  It was probably in Latin, and composed by a Norman monk.