ging from
every point of the compass to the one common centre of Piran Round.
Then, imagine the assembling in the amphitheatre; the running round the
outer circle of the embankment to get at the entrances; the tumbling and
rushing up the steps inside; the racing of hot-headed youngsters to get
to the top places; the sly deliberation of the elders in selecting the
lower and safer positions; the quarrelling when a tall man chanced to
stand before a short one; the giggling and blushing of buxom peasant
wenches when the gallant young bachelors of the district happened to be
placed behind them; the universal speculations on the weather; the
universal shouting for pots of ale--and finally, as the time of the
performance drew near and the minstrels appeared with their pipes, the
gradual hush and stillness among the multitude; the combined stare of
the whole circular mass of spectators on one point in the plain of the
amphitheatre, where all knew that the actors lay hidden in a pit,
properly covered in from observation--the mysterious "green-room" of
the strolling players of old Cornwall!

And the play!--to see the play must have been a sight indeed! Conceive
the commencement of it; the theatrical sky which was to open awfully
whenever Heaven was named; the mock clouds coolly set up by the
"property-man" on an open-air stage, where the genuine clouds appeared
above them to expose the counterfeit; the hard fighting of the angels
with swords and staves; the descent of the lost spirits along cords
running into the plain; the thump with which they must have come down;
the rolling off of the whole troop over the grass, to the infernal
regions, amid shouts of applause from the audience as they rolled! Then
the appearance of Adam and Eve, packed in white leather, like our modern
dolls--the serpent with the virgin's face and the yellow hair, climbing
into a tree, and singing in the branches--Cain falling out of the bush
when he was struck by the arrow of Lamech, and his blood appearing,
according to the stage directions, when he fell--the making of the Ark,
the filling it with live stock, the scenery of the Deluge, in the fifth
act! What a combination of theatrical prodigies the whole performance
must have presented! How the actors must have ranted to make themselves
heard in the open air; how often the machinery must have gone wrong, and
the rude scenery toppled and tumbled down! Could we revive at will, for
mere amusement, any of the