The second pageant was “Paradise,” provided by the Grocers and Raffemen. In the Grocers’ books, now lost, were the items of expenditure about this pageant, among others, for painting clothes for Adam and Eve, &c. In the French collections, a legendary incident is introduced in this play: When Adam attempts to swallow the apple, it will not stir; and, according to the legend, this was the cause of the lump in the man’s throat, which has been preserved ever since. The third pageant, “Hell Carte,” was brought forth by the Glaziers, &c. One of a series of illuminated drawings of the eleventh century, illustrative of the Old and New Testaments, part of the Cottonian Library in the British Museum, gives an idea of the manner in which this subject was represented. By no very complex machinery, the huge painted mouth was made to open and shut, and demons are represented dragging into it a variety of classes of dishonest people; thereby conveying a moral and satirical admonition against some of the crying sins of the day, most practised among, and most offensive to, the lower and middle classes of society. One of these offenders was the ale-wife, who gave short measure. In a _miserere_ in Ludlow church, there is set forth a demon carrying an ale-wife, with her false measure and gay head-dress, to the mouth, while two other demons play on the bagpipes, and read from a scroll the catalogue of her sins. The fourth pageant, “Abel and Cain,” was furnished by the Sheremen, &c. Disputes between Cain and his man were comic scenes introduced into it, and formed its chief attraction. The fifth, “Noyse Ship,” was brought forth by the Bakers. A fragment of a Newcastle play of the same name affords a specimen of its probable character. The _dramatis persona_ are Noah, his wife, and Diabolus; and a considerable portion of the play consists of disputes between Noah and his wife, about entering the ark, as:— NOAH. Good wife, doe now, as I thee bidd. NOAH’S WIFE. Not I, ere I see more need, Though thou stande all day and stare. NOAH. . . . that women ben crabbed be, And not are meek, I dare well say. That is well seen by me to-day, In witness of yet, eiehone. Good wife, let be all this beare, That thou mak’st in this place here, For all they wene thou art master, And soe thou art by St. John. Further rebellion on the part of the spouse compels Noah to carry out the threat, Bot as I have blys, I shall chastyse this. To which she replies:— “Yet may ye mys Nicholle Nedy.” He stops beating her, for the reason, “That my bak is nere in two.” To which she adds:— “And I am bet so blo—” The sixth pageant was Abraham and Isaac. Of the details of this, and the seventh and eighth, no records have been found.