It was no unusual thing in the Greek towns and cities to see a jolly company of these mimes and musicians in grotesque costumes, their faces masked or smeared with soot, riding in chariots through the streets so that they might advertise their plays. These plays were little dramas and comedies in which pantomime and music played an important part. Pantomime was popular with the Romans and for this reason despised by the early Christians. It survived, nevertheless, through a few obscure actors and mountebanks. Gradually these mimics and their fellows banded themselves together. They appeared at festivals whenever they were summoned, only to disappear afterward into the deep obscurity of a stroller’s life. The mimics, or jongleurs (as they were called in France in the early Middle Ages), kept alive the tradition of dramatic entertainment. Among the famous mimics was Taillefer, who rode into the battle of Hastings tossing his sword into the air and catching it again, while he sang songs of Roland and Charlemagne. In France and in England the pantomimist was welcome in castle, in convent, and on village green. From the Vth Century on, the Church gave much thought to forms of dramatic public worship, and sought thereby to interest and instruct the people. Living pictures, accompanied by songs, were used to illustrate the gospel narrative. On great festival days, such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, the priests performed in pantomime the incidents appropriate to the occasion. Out of these very simple rites grew the mysteries, miracles, and the elaborate morality plays in which pantomime played a very important part. In addition to such sacred plays, there were no end of secular plays. These were given all over Europe by townsfolk and peasants, in the streets, at the fairs, and in the great halls of the castles. Among the most popular of the English folk plays were the St. George plays. These were acted at Christmas time by bands of masked townsmen and peasants who called themselves mummers. Several versions of these old St. George plays, which can still be adapted and used in a Christmas mask, have come down to us. Among the characters are St. George, the Doctor, Little Jack, Father Christmas, the old dragon, and the Morris men.