There have been many histories of the theatre and the drama in France written by French historians. _Histoire du Théâtre en France_, Paris, 1881, two volumes, Monsieur Petit de Julleville; _Histoire de la Société Française au Moyen Âge_, Paris, 1880, by Monsieur Rosières; _Mise en Scène des Mystères_, Paris, 1885, by M. Paulin, Paris; _Le Drame Chrétien_, by M. Marius Sepet; _Tableau de la Littérature au Moyen Âge_, by M. Villemain; _Histoire du Théâtre Français_, Paris, 1745 to 1749, fifteen volumes, by les Frères Parfaict; _Dictionnaire du XIX^{me} Siècle_, by La Rousse; and there may be many others, but with them all, our understanding of the extravagance and expenditure, and the consequent elegance and richness attained by theatres in France during the period in which we are now interested, would be incomplete without a study of the life of Gilles de Retz. His love for the theatre manifested itself not simply in looking at the spectacle and hearing the play, but in organising, arranging, and presenting the plays of the time in theatres established and conducted by himself. Some of these presentations were in his own châteaux, but others were given in the neighbouring cities--Nantes, Angers, Blois, Orleans, and minor places in the provinces of Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and Poitou. One cause of his indulgence in theatrical display appears to have been the desire to make himself popular with the people. That he loved the theatre and its plays, and that they gave him pleasure, is not to be doubted, but after all, it is supposed that his ambition to shine among the people formed the real foundation. The theatre had always been intended as a means of amusement. An attempt was made in France and the Latin countries during the fifteenth century, to combine in the theatre instruction of a religious kind with pleasure and amusement. This attempt was fostered by the clergy, and, in its execution, theatrical plays were performed in sundry chapels and sanctuaries. Whether the Passion Play at Oberammergau is a revival or continuation of this custom, is suggested but not decided. But such plays were common enough in the fifteenth century and met with favour in the Church. In its origin, this departure was exclusively religious, and was adopted by the Church as an ingenious and original continuation of the education of the people in the mysteries of the Christian religion. Originally, it employed only sacred topics, and used only terms taken from the ritual, or from the Bible, and was altogether in prose Latin.