The play of ‘Alexander and the King of Egypt,’ is a representation of the northern Christmas play, and is taken from a rare printed copy in my possession. It consists of six pages, with very common paper and type, the title-page being, ‘Alexander and the King of Egypt. A mock play, as it is acted by the mummers every Christmas. Newcastle: Printed in the year 1788,’ It is given here verbatim, with two or three slight omissions, necessary for modern ears. The great similarity between the northern and western plays will immediately be seen, showing the common origin; but these performances must be seen to be properly appreciated. The mummers, in several parts of the country where they do not go to the extent of acting the old Christmas play, are generally dressed somewhat in the manner described for ‘St. George and the Dragon,’ one of the party being the clown or buffoon of the set; and they have some doggrel lines, of which a few show symptoms of the same antiquity as the plays; for rhymes, that appear to have been the _ad libitum_ production of some modern rustic wit, will be introduced, with “A room! a room! a gallant room!” or some such line, and the characters are then introduced in the style of the plays, and this style, as before referred to, is as old as the Mysteries; take, for example, a specimen from the sixth of the Chester Plays, where the Nuntius says,— “Make rombe, lordinges, and geve us waie, And lette Octavian come and plaie; And Syble the Sage, that well fayer maye, To tell you of propheseye.” Two or three specimens of these mummers’ songs are given by Mr. Dixon, in his ‘Collection of Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England,’ edited for the Percy Society in 1846. These mummings, as well as the plays and carol singings, end in an appeal to the box, and right enough too; for, do not we all, when we have given our services for any purpose, carry round the box, in some shape or other, whether the clergyman for his tithes, the lawyer and physician for their fees, the soldier for his pay, or the statesman for his salary?