But the only allusion even remotely suggesting miracle-plays that I can find in the printed civic records is in 1581, in which year some interrogatories as to St. George’s Hall contain a deposition by an old man to the effect that he had known the hall fifty years, and that the mayor and chamberlains had been wont to lay therein pageants, &c.[886] NORWICH, NORFOLK. _Whitsun Plays._ J. Whetley writes from Norwich on Corpus Christi even (May 20), 1478, to Sir John Paston in London, of a visit of Lord Suffolk to Hellesden, ‘at hys beyng ther that daye ther was never no man that playd Herrod in Corpus Crysty play better and more agreable to hys pageaunt than he dud[887].’ I do not know whether it is fair to infer from this that in 1478 the Norwich plays were not at Whitsuntide, but at Corpus Christi; but this would account for J. Whetley’s trope. On Sept. 21, 1527, the guild of St. Luke, composed of painters, braziers, plumbers, &c., made a presentment to the Assembly of the town that,— ‘where of longtime paste the said Guylde of Seynt Luke yerly till nowe hath ben used to be kept and holden within the citie aforesaid upon the Mundaye in pentecoste weke at which daye and the daye next ensuyng many and divers disgisyngs and pageaunts, as well of the lieffs and martyrdoms of divers and many hooly Saynts, as also many other light and feyned figurs and picturs of other persones and bests; the sight of which disgisings and pageaunts, as well yerly on the said Mondaye in pentecoste weke in the time of procession then goyng about a grett circuitte of the forsaid citie, as yerly the Tuysday in the same weke [serving] the lord named the Lord of Misrule at Tumlond within the same citie, hath ben and yet is sore coveted, specially by the people of the countre.’ The presentment goes on to show that much resort and profit have accrued to the city, but all the cost has fallen on the guild, which ‘is almost fully decayed’; and urges an order,— ‘that every occupacion wythyn the seyd Citye maye yerly at the said procession upon the Mondaye in Pentecost weke sette forth one pageaunt.’ It was agreed that each craft should play,— ‘one such pageaunt as shalbe assigned and appoynted by Master Mair and his brethern aldermen, as more playnly appereth in a boke thereof made.’ In the same hand is a list of crafts and plays (cf. p. 425)[888]. Some extracts made in the eighteenth century from the, now lost, books of the Grocers’ Company, contain (_a_) two versions of their play on _The Fall_, dating from 1533 and 1565 respectively (cf. p. 425), and (_b_) various notices of the same from the Assembly Book. The latter begin in 1534, when ‘4 Surveyors of yᵉ Pageant’ with a ‘Bedell’ were chosen, and an assessment of 22_s._ 10_d._ made for the pageant and the Corpus Christi procession. The expenses include, besides repairs to the pageant, fees to actors, refreshments, &c.,— ‘It. to Sʳ Stephen Prowet for makyng of a newe ballet, 12ᵈ.