It is therefore worth while to give some account of the chief objects of expenditure. First of all there was the pageant itself. The name appears in every possible variety of spelling in Coventry documents. Dugdale, on the authority of eye-witnesses, describes the pageants as ‘Theaters for the severall Scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels.’ Painted cloths were used ‘to lap aboubt the pajent,’ and there was a carved and painted top, adorned with a crest, with vanes, pencils, or streamers. On the platform of the pageant such simple scenic apparatus as a seat for Pilate, a pillar for the scourging, a ‘sepulchre,’ and the like, was fixed. The Weavers’ pageant seems to have had an ‘upper part’ representing the Temple; also divisions described in the stage directions as ‘the for pagand’ and ‘the tempull warde.’ The Cappers’ pageant was fitted up with a ‘hell-mouth.’ The Drapers also had a ‘hell-mouth,’ with a windlass, and fire at the mouth, and a barrel for the earthquake, and three worlds to be set afire. ‘Scaffolds,’ distinct from the pageant itself, were drawn round with it. These, according to Sharp, were for spectators, but they may have been supplementary stages, made necessary by the number of episodes in each play at Coventry. Certainly the action was not wholly confined to the pageant, for in the Shearmen and Taylors’ play, ‘Here Erode ragis in the pagond & in the strete also’; and again, ‘the iij Kyngis speykyth in the strete.’ The pageant was constantly in need of repairs. A pageant-house had to be built or hired for it. On the day of the feast it was cleaned, strewn with rushes; and the axle was greased with soap. Men were paid to ‘drive’ or ‘horse’ it, and the Cappers expected their journeymen to undertake this job. The players received payments varying with the importance of their parts. The sums allowed by the Weavers in 1525 ranged from 10_d._ to 2_s._ 4_d._ Minstrels, both vocalists and instrumentalists, were also hired, and in 1573 one Fawston, evidently an artist of exceptional talent, received from the Smiths, besides 4_d._ ‘for hangyng Judas,’ another 4_d._ ‘for Coc croyng.’ The Drapers paid as much as 3_s._ 4_d._ ‘for pleayng God,’ and 5_s._ ‘to iij whyte sollys’ or ‘savyd sowles,’ 5_s._ ‘to iij blake sollys,’ or ‘dampnyd sowles,’ 16_d._ ‘to ij wormes of conscyence,’ and the like. Payments also occur for speaking the prologue, preface, or ‘protestacyon.’ The corporation exercised control over the players, and in 1440 ordered under a penalty of 20_s._ ‘quod Robertus Gñe et omnes alii qui ludunt in festo Corporis Christi bene et sufficienter ludant ita quod nulla impedicio fiat in aliquo ioco.’ In 1443, an order forbade members of certain crafts to play in any pageant except their own without the mayor’s licence.