In an incredibly short space of time the whole party are mounted and cantering towards Hyde Park. It must have been on this occasion, surely, that Mr. Pepys was so delighted with the court party, Lady Castlemaine having a yellow plume in her hat; but the happy and triumphant Mrs. Stewart had her hat cocked and a red plume, and moreover, "with her sweet eye, little Roman nose, and excellent taille," seems to have eclipsed, as he sorrowfully confesses, even the object of his own especial and unfailing admiration, Lady Castlemaine. The Queen had "a crimson short pettycoate, and her hair dressed à la negligence; mighty pretty; and the King rode hand in hand with her,”—as a loving husband should do.

A splendid concert was given on the river a few years later in honour of the birth of the unfortunate Prince of Wales.

Mr. Abel, the celebrated musician and one of the Royal Band, June 18, 1688, gave an aquatic concert in honour of the birth of the Prince of Wales. The barge was richly decorated, and illuminated by numerous torches. The music was composed expressly for the occasion, and the performers, vocal and instrumental, amounted to 130. The first performance took place facing Whitehall, and the second opposite Somerset House, where the Queen Dowager then resided. Great numbers of barges and boats were assembled, and each having flambeaux on board, the scene was extremely

brilliant and pleasing. "The music being ended, all the nobility and company that were upon the water gave three shouts to express their joy and satisfaction; and all the gentlemen of the music went to Mr. Abel's house, which was nobly illuminated, and honoured with the presence of a great many of the nobility: out of whose window there hung a fine machine full of lights, which drew thither a vast concourse of people. The entertainment lasted till three in the morning."

These entertainments, however, and the delights of the Mulberry and Spring Gardens, were but homely attempts at those magnificent fêtes which we shall shortly record as forming the glories of Ranelagh and Vauxhall.

* Malcolm.

CHAPTER VII.

THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES.

“But was the devil a proper man, gossip?"

"As fine a man of his inches as ever I saw."-Jonson.

It may be interesting, before noticing the drama of Elizabeth's day, to refer briefly, very briefly, to its earlier history and progress.

Dramatic performances in England are noticed by Fitz-Stephen, in his life of Becket, and are supposed even at that early period to have been established and customary amusements. We need hardly inform our readers that the earliest theatres were churches, the earliest performers priests and monks, the earliest plays representations of the Bible. These plays were called Miracles, or plays of Miracles, and the first extant-supposed to date in the early years of Edward the Third-exhibits the descent of Christ to Hell, to liberate from thence Adam, Eve, John the Baptist, and the Prophets.

Besides single and unconnected plays, there are three complete series or sets of these Miracle plays One of them, the Ludus Coventriæ,

now extant.

or Miracle plays represented at Coventry, on the feast of Corpus Christi, consists of forty-two plays, from "The Creation," the first, to "Doomsday," the last play.

These went on in a regular progressive series, day after day, until the whole Bible, Apocrypha and all, was completely acted through. Ridiculous, and even profane in some measure, as they appear now, they were sublime spectacles then; and regarded by the spectators with deep interest and considerable awe. The most sacred persons of the Trinity were introduced, and, as far as the knowledge, taste, and idea of the day went, suitably and characteristically attired. For instance, in a work of an old French Mystery or Miracle, the Almighty, when calling Eve from the side of Adam, has a regal and pontifical dress—the triple crown, and the ball and cross in his hand. In the accounts of the Coventry pageant, 1490, is mentioned a cheverel, or false hair, gilt for God (Jesus), and also a "chevel gyld for Petur." In the accounts of the churchwardens of Tewkesbury, 1578, for even so late as this the old Miracle plays were preserved here, we read of "six sheepskins for Christ's garments," and also " eight heads of hair for the Apostles, and ten beards and a face or vizier for the Devil."

Indeed, it seems not impossible (see Chaucer's Miller's Tale), that the lower orders in those days derived their chief knowledge of Scripture history from such representations.

They were not long confined to the purlieus of convents and religious houses, though the clergy continued to bear a share in their performance till far on in the sixteenth century; and from a passage in a tract printed in 1572, it appears that even then interludes were occasionally played in churches. But this was now an infrequent circumstance, and strongly reprobated. But at a very early date, the getting up of the Miracles in cities and large towns, such as Chester, Coventry, York, Durham, Lancaster, Kendal, Bristol, Cambridge, &c., &c., devolved mainly on the trading companies, each guild undertaking a portion of the performance, and sustaining a share of the expense. The exhibitions took place annually at Whitsuntide, or some great festival.

Then, moveable stages were erected for these performances, which were wheeled from street to street, one pageant succeeding another at the appointed spots, the Abbey gate, market-places, High-cross, &c., until the whole had been exhibited. These stages, scaffolds, or pageants (for each they were indifferently called), consisted of two rooms, a higher and a lower, sometimes indeed of three. In the higher one the Almighty was often represented surrounded by his angels, and in the lower one all the hideous appendages that fancy could suggest were collocated in order to give a vivid representation of the devil and his angels in their glowing abode. It seems to have been always the province of one or more persons to open and shut