CHAPTER VII.
"PAY HERE." Acting, as a distinct profession, seems to have been known in England at least as far back as the reign of Henry VI.

There had been theatrical exhibitions in abundance, however, at a much earlier period.

Stow, in his "Survey of London," in 1599, translates from the "Life of Thomas a Becket," by Fitzstephen, who wrote about 1182, mention of "the shews upon theatres and comical pastimes" of London, "its holy playes, representations of miracles which holy confessors have wrought, or representations of tormentes wherein the constancie of martirs appeared." As Mr.Payne Collier observes, "no country in Europe, since the revival of letters, has been able to produce any notice of theatrical performances of so early a date as England." But our primitive stage was a chapel-of-ease, as it were, to the Church.
The plays were founded upon the lives of the saints, or upon the events of the Old and New Testaments, and were contrived and performed by the clergy, who borrowed horses, harness, properties, and hallowed vestments from the monasteries, and did not hesitate even to paint and disguise their faces, in order to give due effect to their exhibitions, which were presented not only in the cathedrals, churches, and cemeteries, but also "on highways or greens," as might be most convenient.

In 1511, for instance, the miracle-play of "St.
George of Cappadocia" was acted in a croft, or field, at Basingborne, one shilling being paid for the hire of the land.

The clergy, however, were by no means unanimous as to the propriety and policy of these dramatic representations.