ing. Latin, the language in which the services
were conducted, was unintelligible to the mass of
the people, and as early as the fifth century the
clergy had begun to use such devices as tableaux
vivants of scenes like the marriage in Cana and
the Adoration of the Magi to make comprehen-
sible important events in Bible history. Later,
the Easter services were illuminated by repre-
sentations of the scene at the sepulchre on the
morning of the Resurrection, in which a wooden,
and afterwards a stone, structure was used for the
tomb itself, and the dialogue was chanted by differ-
ent speakers representing respectively the angel,
the disciples, and the women. From such begin-
nings as this there gradually evolved the earliest
forms of the MIRACLE PLAY.

As the presentations became more elaborate,
the place of performance was moved first to the
churchyard, then to the fields, and finally to the
streets and open spaces of the towns. With this
change of locality went a change in the language
and in the actors, and an extension of the field from
which the subjects were chosen. Latin gave way
to the vernacular, and the priests to laymen; and
miracle plays representing the lives of patron
saints were given by schools, trade gilds, and
other lay institutions. A further development
appeared when, instead of single plays, whole
series such as the extant York, Chester, and
Coventry cycles were given, dealing in chrono-

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