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ladies of the realm made no scruple of acting such parts as suited their fancies. On the public stage, the female characters were performed by men. Some time after the æra above mentioned, Sir William Davenant set aside the plain front curtains, already alluded to, and caused painted scenes to be substituted in their stead; and, by way of completing the theatrical improvements, he introduced women upon the stage, to sustain their proper characters.

One reason why the ornaments of the stage were formerly so plain and few was, the low price of admission into the theatres. In the prologue to the "Woman Hater," by Beaumont and Fletcher, mention is made of the twopenny gallery. The playhouse called the Hope, had seats at five several prices, from sixpence to half-a-crown; and the admission

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to other theatres was equally easy. The price to the pit was constantly one shilling.

It was common for the audience, while they sat at the play, to drink wine, or beer, as well as smoke tobacco: a fashion which was continued till the latter end of the reign of Charles I.

The practice of performing common plays, games, or interludes, in churches and chapels, was abolished in the reign of Henry VIII. A.D. 1542; but the acting of plays on the sabbath day continued till the reign of Charles I. and then they were performed by the choristers, or singing boys, of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Chapel Royal. The usual time of acting was early in the afternoon. In the reign of Charles I. they usually began at three; so that the whole play might be performed by day-light.

MAY GAMES.

THE first of May was consecrated by the heathens, and kept in honour of the goddess Flora. The Romans, on this day, used to go out and fetch laurel, green boughs, branches of trees, and flowers, with singing and rejoicing, and with them they adorned their houses. This custom, continued by the Christians, was condemned by the council of Toledo, on account of its origin; yet it has been constantly kept up in England. "On the kalend, or first of May," says Bourne, "commonly called May-day, the juvenile part of both sexes are wont to rise a little after midnight, and walk to some neighbouring wood, accompanied with music and blowing of

horns, where they break down branches of trees, and adorn them with nosegays and crowns of flowers: when this is done, they return with their booty homewards, about the rising of the sun, and make their doors and windows to triumph with their flowery spoils; and the after-part of the day is chiefly spent in dancing round a tall pole, called a Maypole, which, being placed in a convenient part of the village, stands there, as it were consecrated to the goddess of flowers, without the least violation being offered to it in the whole circle of the year." These games are now confined to country towns and villages; but, formerly, London itself was not without them. "In the month of May," says Stow, "the citizens of London, of all estates, generally in every parish, and in some instances, two or three parishes joining together, had their se

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veral Mayings, and fetched their Maypoles, with divers warlike shows, with good archers, morrice-dancers, and other devices for pastime, all day long; and towards evening they had stage-plays and bonfires in the streets. These great Mayings and Maygames were made by the governors and masters of the city, toge-ther with the triumphant setting up of the great shaft, or principal Maypole, in Leadenhall-street, before the parish church of St. Andrew."

It seems to have been the constant custom, at the celebration of the Maygames, to elect a Lord and Lady, or King and Queen, of the May, who probably presided over the sports." The Lord of the May, and without doubt his Lady also, was decorated with scarfs, ribands, and other fineries.

At the commencement of the sixteenth cen