VICE

VICE. Halliwell says-" The buffoon of our early drama." When the " Mysteries" ceased to be played for the amusement of our medieval ancestors, a kind of performances succeeded, which were known as Moralities. In these the dialogue was sustained by allegorical characters, " such as Good Doctrine, Charity, Faith, Prudence, Discretion, Death, and the like, and their discourses were of a serious cast." The foil to all these excellent personages was the Vice or Iniquity, Avho usually personified some evil propensity, and kept up a running fire of wit at the expense of the rest.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.