These changes simply take note of the fact that the Pope is no longer deemed to possess any authority over the conduct of the actors or the audience. From thenceforth such matters lay solely with the monarch or his deputy on the spot, the mayor. But could the matter rest there? We have seen that in fact it did not; that the Banns and Proclamations for the Chester plays were altered again and again within the next sixty years, and that the alterations cor-- respond closely to changes in the government of the country's religious life. We have seen moreover that the condition of the religious stage in Chester between 1570 and 1600 was paralleled in York, Wakefield, Coventry and Lincoln.† In short we are con-- fronted with a gradual introduction of State Censorship, operated by the Court of High Commission for the North on behalf of the Privy Council in London acting for the sovereign; and this as a direct consequence of the Reformation.