The  Newcastle  plays  lasted  ten  years  longer,  by  which  time
his  career  as  a  dramatist  had  begun.  The  Chester  plays  were
acted  till  the  end  of  the  century ;  the  Beverly  till  1604,  when
Shakespeare's  work  was  already  drawing  towards  its  close.  Even
later  than  this  we  hear  of  a  Passion  Play  acted  before  Gondomar,
the  Spanish  ambassador,  but  as  to  this  allowance  must  be  made
for  foreign  influence,  and  we  may  regard  the  Miracle  play  as
finally  dying  with  the  death  of  Elizabeth.  In  its  prolonged
old  age  it  had  overlapped  the  noblest  period  of  the  English
drama,  but  its  direct  influence  had  long  passed  away2,  and
the  reminiscence  of  the  Harrowing  of  Hell  in  the  Porter's
speech  in  Macbeth,  is  perhaps  the  most  notable  trace  which  it
has  left  on  the  drama  of  the  Shakespearian  age.  But  the
Miracle  plays  had  fostered  a  love  of  acting  in  almost  every
county  in  England.  They  had  prepared  the  ground  from
which  the  Shakespearian  harvest  was  to  spring  in  all  its
glorious  abundance,  and  in  this  indirect  manner  their  influence
had  been  potent  for  good.
The  history  of  the  Morality,  in  its  later  development  as  the
didactic  interlude,  is  somewhat  different  During  the  first  half
of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  plays  with  many  of  the  characteristic
features  of  the  later  Moralities  enjoyed  much  popularity.  Such
were  the  Triall  of  Treasure  (printed  1 567),  Like  Will  to  Like
(printed  1568),  All  for  Money  (printed  1578),  The  Three  Ladies
of  London  (printed  1584),  and  The  Three  Lords  and  Three
Ladies  of  London  (printed  as  late  as  1 590).  The  increasing

1  The  play  seems  to  have  been  revised  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,
but  was  probably  written  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.
