THEATRE: Not an uncommon title for a sixteenth-century book meant to provide a critical conspectus on a subject. Such books share with theatrical auditoria the function of offering an object of scrutiny rendered circumscribed and made available for serious reflection to a spectator whose situation allows him or her an objectifying, but not dispassionate vantage.

worldlings: The term suggests not only creatures of this world, but those with allegiances to this world.