One of their chief composers was PIERRE GRINGOIRE, of whose rare _Sotties_ I have several reprints by the learned Abbé Caron. Gringoire invented and performed his _Sotties_, in ridicule of the Pope, on a scaffold or stage, to charm his royal master, Louis the Twelfth, in 1511; for an ample list of his gay satires see "Biog. Universelle," art. "Gringoire." [18] Strype's "Mem. of Eccles. Hist.," iii. 379. [19] "Annals of the Stage," i. 107. [20] Warton's "Hist. of Eng. Poetry," iii. 428, 8vo. [21] Rastell's "Collection of Statutes," fo. 32--d. [22] Both these ancient dramas are reprinted in Hawkins' "Origin of the English Drama." Many such dramas remain in manuscript. [23] "Bibliothèque du Théâtre Français," iii. 263, ascribed to the Duke de la Vallière. He has preserved many passages exquisitely humorous. He felt awkwardly in performing his duty to his readers, after what his predecessors, Messieurs Parfait, had declared;--and, to calm the terrors of _les personnes scrupuleuses_, it is amusing to observe his plea, or his apology, for noticing these admirable antipapistic satires:--"They are outrageous and abound with impieties; but they are extremely well written for their time, and truly comic. I considered that I could not avoid giving these extracts, were it only to show to what lengths the first pretended reformers carried their unreasonable violence against the holy Father, and the court of Rome." The apology for their transcription, if not more ingenuous, is at least more ingenious than the apology for their suppression. THE REFORMER BISHOP BALE; AND THE ROMANIST JOHN HEYWOOD, THE COURT JESTER. BALE, Bishop of Ossory, and JOHN HEYWOOD, the court jester, were contemporaries, and both equally shared in the mutable fortunes of the satiric dramas of their times; but they themselves were the antipodes of each other: the earnest Protestant BALE, the gravest reformer, and the inflexible Catholic HEYWOOD, noted for "his mad merry wit," form one of those remarkable disparities which the history of literature sometimes offers.