en field,
having the Diameter of his enclosed playne some 40 or 50 foot. The
Country people flock from all sides, many miles off to hear and see it;
for they have therein devils and devices, to delight as well the eye as
the eare; the players conne not their parts without booke, but are
prompted by one called the Ordinary, who followeth at their back with
the booke in his hand, and telleth them softly what they must pronounce
aloud."

Writing a century and a half later than Carew, Dr. Borlase describes the
amphitheatres in which these Cornish plays were given; more particularly
one in the parish of St. Just near the Land's End. This _round_ as it
was popularly called, was "an exact circle of 126 feet in diameter; the
perpendicular height of the bank, from the area within, now seven feet;
but the height from the bottom of the ditch without, ten feet at
present, formerly more. The seats consist of six steps, fourteen inches
wide, and one foot high, with one on the top of all, when the rampart is
about seven feet wide." Another round or amphitheatre was described by
Dr. Borlase as a perfectly level area 130 feet across, and surrounded by
an earthen mound eight feet high.

In such magnificent surroundings of open-air, picturesque country, sea,
and sky, were these curious plays given to instruct and edify a
multitude drawn at large from the country-side, which often must remain
camped for two or three days in the neighbourhood to see the
performances out.

IV.--From "The Cornish Drama," by Henry Jenner

(_Celtic Review_, April 1907)

"The trilogy known as the _Ordinalia_ consists of:--(_a_) _Origo Mundi_,
which begins with the Creation of the World, ... and ends with the
building of Solomon's Temple; (_b_) _Passio Domini_, which represents
the Temptation of Christ and the events from the Entry into Jerusalem
to the Entombment; (_c_) _Resurrectio Domini_, which gives the story of
the Harrowing of Hell, ... the Resurrection, and the events between the
Resurrection and the Ascension with which it ends. Interpolated in the
middle is the Legend of St. Veronica, and Tiberius, and the Death of
Pilate. Running through all three is the old legend of the Origin of the
Wood of the Cross." (Our two Mysteries are from "_C_").

V.--Contemporary Account of Sir David Lindsay's "Satire of the Three
Estates"

(_From a Letter Written by Sir Wm. Eure, 26th Jan. 1540_)

"In the feast of Ephipane at Lightgowe, before the kin