From the York proclamation of 1415 we learn that the players were expected to be in their places between 3 and 4 a.m., while the prologue of the Coventry plays contains the lines:
At Sunday next yf that we may At six of the belle, we gynne our play In N---- towne.
This is interesting, as proving that pageants were sometimes acted in a number of places, somewhat in the style of strolling players. It is known for a fact that the Grey Friars of Coventry had a cycle of Corpus Christi plays; and it has been conjectured that they were forced by the competition of the Trade Gilds to exhibit them outside the town. Whatever may have been the case with the players, it is certain that such plays were not confined to the centres of which we have spoken. We read of a lost Beverly cycle, and of another at Newcastle, of which one play--"The Building of the Ark"--has fortunately been preserved. Like performances took place at Witney and Preston, at Lancaster, Kendall, and Dublin. The relative perfection of Chester and Coventry, and probably of York, were bound to influence those and other towns, which looked to them as the capitals of the dramatic art. Evidence of the popularity of miracle plays in places near and remote is forthcoming in the shape of literary remains or parochial records. Cornwall is famous for its religious drama, to which are due the best monuments of its dead tongue; but other counties were not backward in zealous attachment to the Miracle Play. A few excerpts from Church-wardens' and other accounts may be given by way of showing the extent of the custom:
1528-9. "ix^s ix^d for painting cloth for the players and making their tunics, and for 'chequery' for making tunics for the aforesaid players, and for making staves for them, and crests upon their heads for the festival of Corpus Christi."
1533-4. "ij^d rewardyd and alowyd to the pleers of Cryssmas game, that pleyd in the said churche."
1537-8. "j^d for a pair of silk garments (_seroticarum_) for King Herod on Corpus Christi day."
1542-3. "ij^s i^d ij devils' heads (_capit. diabol._) and necessary things in the clothes for the players."
1547-8. "ij^s to the players on Corpus Christi day." (During the reign of Edward VI. the plays were discontinued, to be revived in that of his successor.)