[7] Perhaps the very last remains of such rude dramatic exhibitions are yet to be traced in our counties--about Christmas-tide, or rather old Christmas, whose decrepit age is personified. In Lancashire and Yorkshire, and also in Dorsetshire, families are visited by "the great Emperor of the Turks" and St. George of England, or by the lion-hearted Richard. After a fierce onset, ringing their tin swords, the Saracens groan and drop. The Leech appears holding his phial; from some drops the dead survive their fate, and rise for the hospitable supper. The dialogue, however, has not been so traditional as the exhibition. The curious portion of these ancient exhibitions is, therefore, totally lost in the substitutions of the rude rustics. The Wassail Songs, or the Christmas Carols, have come down with fewer losses than these ancient "Tales of the Crusaders;" for the language of emotion, and the notice of old picturesque customs, cling to the memory, and endure with their localities. But for these we must travel far from the land of the Cockneys. [8] Bouterwek. [9] The clergy long continued to assist at these exhibitions, if they did not always act in them. In 1417, an _English Mystery_ was exhibited before the Emperor Sigismund, at the Council of Constance, on the usual subject of the Nativity. The _English Bishops_ had it rehearsed several days, that the actors might be perfect before their imperial audience. We are not told in what language their _English Mystery_ was recited; but we are furnished with a curious fact, that "the Germans consider this play as the first introduction of that sort of dramatic performance in their country."--"Henry of Monmouth," by the Rev. J. E. Tyler, ii. 61. [10] The Spanish nation, unchangeable in their customs, have retained the last remains of the ancient Mysteries in the divisions of their dramas, called "Jornadas." [11] "A sheep-skin for Jews, wigs for the Apostles, and vizards for Devils," appear in the churchwardens' accounts at Tewkesbury, 1578, "for the players' geers."--"Hist. of Dramatic Poetry," ii. 140. The same diligent inquirer has also discovered the theatrical term "properties," in allusion to the furniture of the stage, and which is so used by Shakspeare, employed in its present sense in an ancient morality.--Ib. ii. 129. [12] "Reliques of Ancient Poetry," i. 129. [13] "Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française."--The proverbial phrase is accompanied by a very superfluous remark--"Ce mot a passé d'usage avec les moeurs de ces temps anciens." See also "Dict. de Trevoux," art. _Mystère_.