All the places named, Fyfield, Idbury, Milton, Langley, and Lyneham, are in Wychwood, and may have formed in the thirteenth century, if they do not all now, part of the parish of Shipton-under-Wychwood. SHREWSBURY, SHROPSHIRE. The civic orders and accounts refer occasionally to plays. The first on record was given before Prince Arthur in 1495. In 1516 the abbot of Shrewsbury, in 1533 the bishop of Exeter, and in 1542 the royal commissioners were present. The subject in 1516 was the martyrdoms of Saints Feliciana and Sabina. In 1518 it was the Three Kings of Cologne. In 1510, 1518, 1533, 1553, and 1556 the performances were at Whitsuntide. The bailiffs, according to a notice in 1556, ‘set forward’ the plays, and the ‘lusores’ belonging to the town, who are mentioned in 1527 and 1549, were perhaps the performers. The locality was, in 1542, the churchyard of St. Chad’s. In 1495, 1516, and 1533 it was the quarry outside the walls, where it is stated in 1570 that ‘the plases have bin accustomyd to be usyd[902].’ Here there were traces of a seated amphitheatre as late as 1779[903]. Thomas Ashton became master of the free school in 1561, and he produced plays in the quarry. Elizabeth was to have been at his _Julian the Apostate_ in 1565, but came too late. In 1567 he gave the _Passion of Christ_[904]. An undated list of Costs for the Play includes ‘a desert’s (_disard’s_) hed and berd,’ ‘vi dossen belles’ for a morris, ‘gonne poudoʳ’ and other attractions for a devil[905]. _Shrewsbury Show._ The craft-guilds took part in the Corpus Christi procession, and the guild of Mercers inflicted a penalty of 12_d._ on brethren who on that feast should ‘happen to ride or goe to Coventre Faire or elleswhere out of the town of Shrewesburye to by or sell[906].’ Until about 1880 Shrewsbury Show was held on the Monday after Corpus Christi day. The crafts had tableaux which, after the Reformation at least, were emblematic rather than religious[907]; thus— Tailors. Adam and Eve or Elizabeth. Shearmen. St. Blasius or Edward IV. Skinners and Glovers. King of Morocco. Smiths. Vulcan. Painters. Rubens. Bricklayers. King Henry VIII. Shoemakers. SS. Crispin and Crispinian. Barbers. St. Katharine. Bakers. Venus and Ceres. SLEAFORD, LINCOLNSHIRE. The accounts of the guild of Holy Trinity for 1480 include:— ‘It. payd for the Ryginall of ye play for ye Ascencon & the wrytyng of spechys & payntyng of a garmet for god, iijˢ. viijᵈ.[908]’ Miss Toulmin Smith finds in the same accounts for 1477, a ‘kyngyng,’ i.e. _Three Kings of Cologne_ on Corpus Christi day[909]; but I read the entry:— ‘It. payd for the ryngyng of ye same day, ijᵈ.’