guild were wealthy it might be required to manage two scenes, and those
costly ones. For scenes differed considerably in expense: such
personages as God and Herod, and such places as Heaven or the Temple,
were a much heavier drain on the purse than, say, Joseph and Mary on
their visit to Elizabeth. Where there was no difficulty on the score of
finance, a guild might be entrusted with a scene--if there was a
suitable one--which made special demands on its own craft. Thus, from
the York records we learn that the Tanners were given the Overthrow of
Lucifer and his fellow devils (who would be dressed in brown leather);
the Shipwrights, the Building of the Ark; the Fishmongers and Mariners
jointly, the scene of Noah and his family in the Ark; the Goldsmiths,
the Magi (richly oriental); the Shoers of Horses, the Flight into Egypt;
the Barbers, the Baptism by John the Baptist (in camel's hair); the
Vintners, the Marriage at Cana; the Bakers, the Last Supper; the
Butchers and Poulterers, the Crucifixion.

As soon as a Guild had been allotted its scene it appointed a manager to
carry the matter through. The individual expense was not great,
somewhere between a penny and fourpence for each member. Out of the sum
thus raised had to be paid the cost of dresses and stage-scenery, and
the actors' remunerations (which included food during the period of
rehearsals as well as on the actual playing days). No such crude
simplicity as is made fun of in the _Midsummer Night's Dream_ was
admitted into the plays given in the towns, however natural it may have
been to villages. Training and expense were not spared by rival guilds.
As we saw in the directions for the acting of the old play of _Adam_,
propriety in diction and behaviour on the part of the actors was
insisted upon as early as the tenth century. An interesting record
(dated 1462) in the Beverley archives states that a certain member of
the Weavers' Guild was fined for not knowing his part. It would be quite