de the town.
Whatever may have been the case with the players, it is certain that
such plays were not confined to the centres of which we have spoken. We
read of a lost Beverly cycle, and of another at Newcastle, of which one
play--"The Building of the Ark"--has fortunately been preserved. Like
performances took place at Witney and Preston, at Lancaster, Kendall,
and Dublin. The relative perfection of Chester and Coventry, and
probably of York, were bound to influence those and other towns, which
looked to them as the capitals of the dramatic art. Evidence of the
popularity of miracle plays in places near and remote is forthcoming in
the shape of literary remains or parochial records. Cornwall is famous
for its religious drama, to which are due the best monuments of its dead
tongue; but other counties were not backward in zealous attachment to
the Miracle Play. A few excerpts from Church-wardens' and other accounts
may be given by way of showing the extent of the custom:

ASHBURTON, DEVON

1528-9. "ix^s ix^d for painting cloth for the players and making their
tunics, and for 'chequery' for making tunics for the aforesaid
players, and for making staves for them, and crests upon their
heads for the festival of Corpus Christi."

1533-4. "ij^d rewardyd and alowyd to the pleers of Cryssmas game, that
pleyd in the said churche."

1537-8. "j^d for a pair of silk garments (_seroticarum_) for King Herod
on Corpus Christi day."

1542-3. "ij^s i^d ij devils' heads (_capit. diabol._) and necessary
things in the clothes for the players."

1547-8. "ij^s to the players on Corpus Christi day." (During the reign
of Edward VI. the plays were discontinued, to be revived in that of
his successor.)

1555-6. "ij^d payd for a payr of glouys for hym that played God Almighty
at Corpus X^pi daye." "vj^d payd for wyne for hym that played Saynt
Resinent."

1558-9. "ij^d for a payr of glouys to him that played Christ on Corpus
X^pi daye."

ST. MARTIN'S, LEICESTER

1546-7. "Item p^d for makynge of a sworde & payntynge of the same for
Harroode viij^d."

In the Corporation MSS. of Rye, Sussex, are the following entries:

1474. "Payed to the players of Romeney, the which pleyed in the churche
16^d"

1476. "Payed to the pleyers of Winchilse, the whiche pleyed in the
churche yerde, vppone the day of the Purification of our Laday
16^d"

The performance o