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Further to Karen's response to Taiwon, I believe that the days just before Lent were popular last-fling days for putting on plays, as continued to be the case in the 16th and 17th centuries. Shrovetide carnival parades of apes and fools readying themselves for penance and absolution by engaging in a 3-day saturnalia often included persons masked as beasts to embody their excesses. See Rupert Chris Hassel, *Renaissance Drama and the english Church Year (U of Nebraska Press, 1979). Helen Ostovich Department of English / Editor, _REED Newsletter_ McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L9 (905) 525-9140 x24496