THE CHESTER MYSTERIES. 195 
And Trowle says :— 
« Sing we now, let’s see, 
Some song will I assaye ; 
All men now sing after me, 
For music of me learn you may.” 
And afterwards they wend forth to Bethlehem, and when they 
see Mary, and ‘‘ Jesus Christ lapped in hay,” they kneel down 
to worship and give thanks, and kiss the manger and the 
swaddling clothes, and offer grotesque rustic gifts. 
‘‘Lo ! I bring thee a bell ! 
Lo! I bring thee a flaggett, 
And thereby a spoon, 
To eat thy pottage withal at noon.” 
Trowle offers a pair of his wife’s old hose, an offering which 
is sometimes quoted as an instance of intentional absurdity, yet 
there is nothing to ridicule in Trowle’s simple declaration that 
he has nothing else to give 
‘¢ That is worth anything at all, 
But my good heart while I live, 
And my prayers till death do me call.” 
After this, quite irrelevantly, four boys come in, and they 
bring offerings, too, and then the First Shepherd solemnly bids 
farewell to the Lord’s Mother, and the Second Shepherd says, 
“ Brethren, let us all three, singing, walk homewards.” 
It is characteristic of the age, to which these performances 
belong, that they all determine to keep sheep no more, Trowle 
counsels the others to agree “for their misdeeds amends to 
make,” as he, for one, intends todo. ‘‘ Shepherd’s craft I now 
forsake,” he declares. He will betake himself wholly “to that 
childe,” and find an “ anker” or hermitage near by, where he 
may watch and wait in his prayers. 
“ Sheep will I keep none now,” says the Third Shepherd ; 
he and the Second Shepherd determine to go forth and “ preach 
in every place.” 
“This world I wholly refuse,” says the First Shepherd. Bare- 
foot on his feet, he will go into the wilderness to bemoan his 
sins. 
Deeply as the medizval mind did sometimes read into the 
depths of the Gospel story, they do not seem to have caught 
the least hint of any significance in the visions being sent to 
simple labouring men, whose watch-keeping by night was the 
proper work of their humble calling. 
I would mention that the Shepherd’s Play is succeeded by 
that of the three Kings. Iam unable to notice the mass of legend 
that has in this case grown up about the narrative of the Evan- 
gelist ; but before I quit the subject of the first day’s perform- 
ances, I must at least devote a few words to the very peculiar 
scene of Octavian and the Sibyl. It occurs in the midst of the 
sixth play, which bears the general title of ‘‘ The Salutation 
