The religious or miracle plays soon extended their boundaries, became blended with “mummings,” or “disguisings,” and entertainments of pageantry.  Morals, interludes, and masques were gradually brought upon the scene.  Dancers, singers, jugglers, and minstrels became indispensable to the performances.  The Church and the Theatre drifted apart; were viewed in time as wholly independent establishments.  The actor asserted his individuality; his profession was recognised as distinct and complete in itself; companies of players began to stroll through the provinces.  The early moral-play of the “Castle of Perseverance,” which is certainly as old as the reign of Henry VI., was represented by itinerant actors, who travelled round the country for that purpose, preceded by their standard-bearers and trumpeters, to announce on what day, and at what hour, the performance would take place.  It would seem that the exhibition concluded at nine o’clock in the morning, so that the playgoers of the period must probably have assembled so early as six.  In the reign of Edward IV. the actors first obtained parliamentary recognition.  The Act passed in 1464, regulating the apparel to be worn by the different classes of society, contains special exception in favour of henchmen, pursuivants, sword-bearers to mayors, messengers, minstrels, and “players in their interludes.”  The first royal personage who entertained a company of players as his servants was probably Richard III. when Duke of Gloucester, who seems, moreover, to have given great encouragement to music and musicians.  In the reign of Henry VII. dramatic representations were frequent in all parts of England.  The king himself had two companies of players, the “gentlemen of the chapel,” and his “players of interludes.”

The early actors, whose performances took place in the open air or in public places, doubtless obtained recompense for their labours much after the manner of our modern street exhibitors:  by that system of “sending round the hat,” which too many lookers-on nowadays consider as an intimation to depart about their business, leaving their entertainment unpaid for.  The companies of players in the service of any great personage were in the receipt of regular salaries, were viewed as members of his household, and wore his livery.  They probably obtained, moreover, largess from the more liberally disposed spectators of their exertions.  But as the theatre became more and more a source of public recreation, it was deemed necessary to establish permanent stages, and a tariff of charges for admission to witness the entertainments.  For a long time the actors had been restricted to the mansions of the nobility, and to the larger inn-yards of the city.  In 1574, however, the Earl of Leicester, through his influence with Queen Elizabeth, obtained for his company of players, among whom was included James Burbadge, the father of the famous Shakespearean actor, Richard Burbadge, a patent, under the Great Seal, empowering