VIII King Herod, the Wise Men, and the Massacre of the Innocents That the children should long to see the pageant in which Herod appeared was no wonder, for he was a very well-known character in the miracle plays. Just as in some fairy tales the wicked giant is well known, and is always expected to be as wicked as possible, so in these plays Herod was always represented as a furious tyrant and a great boaster, who raged and stormed and used such exaggerated language that he seemed more like a madman than a sane human being. Though in the time of Queen Elizabeth miracle plays were growing rare, it is just possible that Shakespeare as a boy may have seen some of them, and when he makes Hamlet say that one of the actors in the play-scene “out-herods Herod,” he may have been thinking of the particular stamping and shouting Herod whom he himself had watched. But in any case, during the lifetime of Shakespeare the memory of the furious king must have lingered in the minds of old people at Stratford-on-Avon, many of whom as children must often have seen him blustering and screaming and ordering people to be killed. At the windows of Master Robert Harpham’s house at any rate, on this June day when Henry V was king, there was much talk about the coming “Herod,” who was said to be an excellent player and to rage more furiously than any of the actors who had taken part in previous years. Excitement therefore ran high, when the Goldsmiths’ pageant drew up, for in their play—_The Three Kings coming from the East_—Herod was for the first time to appear. The stage represented Herod’s palace. It was a very small palace, and it looked something like an enlarged sentry-box, brightly painted and ornamented at the top with a dome and various pinnacles. From its doorway, on to the space in front of it, there presently stepped a herald, who in these pompous words announced the coming of the King: “Peace, Lord Barons of great renown! Peace, Sir Knights of noble presence! Peace, gentleman companions of noble order! I command that all of you keep silence. Peace, while your noble king is in presence! Let no person stint to pay him deference; Be not bold to strike, but keep your hearts in patience, And to your lord keep heart of reverence, For he, your king, has all _puissance_! In the name of the law, I command you peace! And King Herod—‘_la grandeaboly vos umport._’” The last words, spoken by the herald in a low voice and with a knowing smile, were greeted with a roar of delight, for Herod was to some extent a comic character, at whom every one might laugh and “_la grandeaboly vos umport_” is bad French for “_the devil run away with you_!” And now Herod himself majestically strode forth, and again laughter, half derisive, half admiring, rang out, for in spite of all the boasting and stamping which every one knew was coming, he made a magnificent figure.