312 Elbert N. S. Thompson 
corporeus” that “passed readily from the sense to the imagination, 
and from the imagination to the memory,’! preachers would re- 
cognize the same efficacy in the allegorical play, and willingly 
give it their support. Thus it happened that the precepts of the 
pulpit became the stock property of the theater; that the sermon 
supplied the matter and the spirit of the moral play. 
CuHapter Il.—Tue Most Typican Moran Puay. 
The moral teaching that the church saw fit to intrust to the 
stage, and the means most commonly used to embody such intract- 
able material in dramatic form, are best illustrated by the earliest 
of the extant English moralities, The Castle of Perseverance. This 
long play of almost four thousand lines, truly a “ sermo corporeus,” 
depicts the ceaseless struggle between sin and holiness for the 
soul of the hero, Mankind. Although he at the start represents 
himself as a naked infant born but the night before to the “woo 
& wepynge” of the world, the play cannot strictly be said to 
begin the story with the follies of his youth, as some moral plays 
did, for immaturity either in thought or act is nowhere noticeable. 
Since, however, the matter of the Castle of Perseverance is so 
full and varied, it may fairly be called a ‘“full-scope” morality. 
‘It may also be called the mode/ play. The spirit that pervades 
it responds exactly to the spirit of the medieval church; the 
doctrine taught is in strict accord with ecclesiastical teaching; and 
the experiences through which the personified abstractions pass 
represent the favorite episodes of medieval allegory. In all these 
respects, The Castle of Perseverance is the most typical specimen 
of the morality play. 
At the beginning, Mankind is brought face to face with the great 
problem of life. His reference to his weakness and inexperience, 
it seems, has no dramatic significance, and, in view of the pur- 
pose of the play, offers no real inconsistency. The churchly 
author would simply have us understand that even the infant is 
subject to temptation, and morally responsible for his acts. Con- 
sequently, two angels accompany Mankind, Good Angel sent by 
Christ to guide the boy, and Bad Angel delegated by Satan to 
tempt him; for 

1 Etienne de Bourbon, 5, Prologue. 
