The demons were generally funny, and Noah’s wife, who argued about going into the ark.  The shepherds, also, watching their flocks by night, were almost sure to make the people laugh.

But there were solemn moments, too, when the people reverently listened to the grave words of God the Father, or to those, tender and loving, of Mary, the Virgin Mother.  And when the shepherds neared the manger where lay the wondrous Babe, all jesting ceased.  Here there was nothing but tender, if simple and unlearned, adoration.

In those early days Latin was the tongue of the Church, and the Miracle plays were at first said in Latin.  But as the common folk could not understand what was said, the plays were chiefly shown in dumb show.  Soon, however, Latin was given up, and the plays were acted in English.  Then by degrees the churches grew too small to hold the great crowds of people who wished to see the plays, and so they were acted outside the church door in the churchyard, on a stage built level with the steps.  The church, then, could be made to represent heaven, where God and the angels dwelt.  The stage itself was the world, and below it was hell, from out of which came smoke and sometimes flames, and whence might be heard groans and cries and the clanking of chains.

But the playing of Mysteries and Miracles at the church doors had soon to be given up.  For the people, in their excitement, forgot the respect due to the dead.  They trampled upon the graves and destroyed the tombs in their eagerness to see.  And when the play was over the graveyard was a sorry sight with trodden grass and broken headstones.  So by degrees it came about that these plays lost their connection with the churches, and were no more played in or near them.  They were, instead, played in some open space about the town, such as the market-place.  Then, too, the players ceased to be monks and priests, and the acting was taken up by the people themselves.  It was then that the playing came into the hands of the trade guilds.

Nowadays we hear a great deal about “trades unions.”  But in those far-off days such things were unknown.  Each trade, however, had its own guild by which the members of it were bound together.  Each guild had its patron saint, and after a time the members of a guild began to act a play on their saint’s day in his honor.  Later still the guilds all worked together, and all acted their plays on one day.  This was Corpus Christi Day, a feast founded by Pope Urban IV in 1264.  As this feast was in summer, it was a very good time to act the plays, for the weather was warm and the days were long.  The plays often began very early in the morning as soon as it was light, and lasted all day.

The Miracles were now acted on a movable stage.  This stage was called a pageant, and the play which was acted on it was also in time called a pageant.  The stage was made in two stories.  The upper part was open all round, and upon this the acting took place.  The under part was curtained all round, and here the actors dressed.  From here, too, they came out, and when they had finished their parts they went back again within the curtains.