improved rapidly in character, were separated from the Miracles, and were
performed at entertainments or "revels" by trade guilds, by choir boys and
by companies of strolling actors or "minstrels." At the close of such
entertainments the minstrels would add a prayer for the king (an
inheritance from the religious drama), and this impressive English custom
still survives in the singing of "God Save the King" at the end of a public
assembly.

THE SECULAR DRAMA. When the Normans came to England they brought with them
a love of pageants, or spectacles, that was destined to have an important
influence on the drama. These pageants, representing scenes from history or
mythology (such as the bout between Richard and Saladin, or the combat
between St. George and the Dragon), were staged to celebrate feasts, royal
weddings, treaties or any other event that seemed of special importance.
From Norman times they increased steadily in favor until Elizabeth began
her "progresses" through England, when every castle or town must prepare a
play or pageant to entertain the royal visitor.

[Sidenote: THE MASQUE]

From simple pantomime the pageant developed into a masque; that is, a
dramatic entertainment accompanied by poetry and music. Hundreds of such
masques were written and acted before Shakespeare's day; the taste for them
survived long after the Elizabethan drama had decayed; and a few of them,
such as _The Sad Shepherd_ of Ben Jonson and the _Comus_ of
Milton, may still be read with pleasure.

[Sidenote: POPULAR COMEDY]

While the nobles were thus occupied with pageants and masques, the common