them are spoken of without the least intimation of novelty, it may be supposed that they were still more ancient. From the enumeration of the dresses appropriated to one of these entertainments, which consisted of various kinds of disguises, they seem to have merited rather the denomination of Mummeries, than of theatrical divertisements. How far they were enlivened by dialogue or interlocutory eloquence, is not known; but, probably, they partook more of the feats of pantomime than of colloquial excellency, and were better calculated to amuse the sight than instruct the mind. In the wardrobe rolls of Edward III. A.D. 1348, is an account of the dresses for furnishing the plays, or sports, of the king, held in the castle of Guildford, at the feast of Christmas, as follow: "80 tunics of buckram, of various colours; 42 vizors, of various simi

litudes, namely, 14 of faces of women, 14 of faces of men, with beards, 14 of heads of angels, made with silver; 28 crests; 14 mantles, embroidered with the heads of dragons; 14 white tunics, wrought with heads and wings of peacocks; 14 with heads of swans, with wings; 14 tunics, painted with eyes of peacocks: 14 tunics of English linen, painted; and 14 tunics, embroidered with stars of gold and silver."

MUMMINGS.

IN the middle ages, Mummings were common; and at court, as well as in the mansions of the nobility, on festival occasions, the whole company would appear in borrowed characters; and, as full licence of speech was granted, the discourses were not always restrained within the bounds of propriety. In the year

1377, the citizens of London, at the feast of Christmas, made a mumming, to please the young prince Richard, son of Edward the Black Prince (afterwards Richard II.) in the following manner : "On the Sunday before Christmas, (A. D. 1377,) in the night, one hundred and thirty citizens, disguised and well horsed, in a mummery, with sound of trumpets,, sackbuts, cornets, shalms, and other minstrelsy, and innumerable torch-lights of wax, rode from Newgate, through Cheapside, over the bridge, through Southwark, and so to Kennington, beside Lambeth, where the young prince remained with his mother and the duke of Lancaster his uncle, the earls of Cambridge, Hereford, Warwick, Suffolk, and divers other lords. In the first rank rode forty-eight, in the likeness and habit of esquires, two and two together, clothed in red coats, and gowns