Note 37 — The Nativity.

A singular chapter in the history of the Middle Ages is that which gives account of the early Christian Drama, the Mysteries, Moralities, and Miracle-Plays, which were at first performed in churches, and afterwards in the streets, on fixed or moveable stages. For the most part the Mysteries were founded on the historic portions of the Old and New Testaments, and the Miracle-Plays on the lives of saints; a distinction not always observed, however, for in Mr. Wright’s Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, the Resurrection of Lazarus is called a Miracle, and not a Mystery. The Moralities were plays, in which the Virtues and Vices were personified. See Appendix.