Religion sometimes appears terrifying because it is anxious about mankind. In 16th-century Elizabethan England, when the Puritans were beginning to infiltrate the body of Protestantism, preachers saw the Devil everywhere: on Sundays, on ordinary days, in clothing, drinks and in enjoyment. Particularly in the theatre.

The playhouses, said John Northbrooke, an empassioned preacher, are where Satan moves speedily. There, he wrote in a pamphlet in