and it is highly
probable that necessity suggested to the _tragitour_ or juggler, who was
reduced to one solitary companion, the jester or jackpudding, to make up
his "company," the idea of substituting puppets to supply the place of
other living characters. The drama was in much the same state of
progress throughout the civilized portions of Europe; and to the Italians
and Spaniards the ingenuity of "Punchinello" has been attributed. In
England these wooden performers were called _motions_; and Mr. Punch took
among them the rank of _mirth-maker_. If there yet lives a being who has
not at some moment of his life felt a thrill of delight at the prospect
of a half-hour's exhibition of this gentleman's performance in his
miniature theatre, we pity him most heartily.

The oratorio is a mystery or morality in music. The Oratorio commenced
with the priests of the Oratory, a brotherhood founded at Rome, 1540, by
St. Philip Neri, who, in order to attract the youthful and
pleasure-loving to church, had hymns, psalms, or spiritual songs, or
cantatas sung either in chorus or by a single favourite voice. These
pieces were divided into two parts, one sung before the other, after the
sermon. Sacred stories or events from Scripture, written in verse, and,
by way of dialogue, were set to music, and the first part being
performed, the sermon succeeded, which people were inclined to remain to
hear, that they might also hear the conclusion of the musical
performance. This ingenious device precluded the necessity, we presume,
of locking the doors to prevent the egress of the congregation after
prayers, and before the sermon, that has in some places since been
resorted to.

The institutions of the Oratory required that corporal punishments should
be mingled with their religious harmony; and the custom would seem to
have been, that at certain seasons, of frequent occurrence, the brethren
went through severe castigation from their own hands, upon their own
bodies, with whips of small cords, delivered to them by officers
appointed for the purpose. This ceremony was performed in the dark,
while a priest recited the Miserere and De Profundis with several
prayers; after which, in silence and gloom, they were permitted to resume
their attire, and refrain from their self-inflictions.

Mysteries and moralities ceased altogether about the year 1758 in this
country; a comedy by Lupton, bearing that date, being about the last
trace of the o