366 Elbert N. S. Thompson 
notice of Tyndale and the other English exiles who, especially 
after Henry’s favor was in 1540 turned to persecution, sought refuge 
in Germany. Soon the critics of Henry’s reactionary policy were 
throwing their arguments into dialogue form. Such controversial 
pieces circulated without restriction during Edward’s reign, and 
exerted a wide influence until the Marian oppression checked their 
activity, and the progressive spirit of Elizabeth rendered them 
unnecessary. 
To a certain extent the Catholics used the dialogue to defend 
their church from its assailants; but not till late in the sixteenth 
century, and with only half-hearted zeal. More’s undramatic dia- 
logue in reply to Tyndale’s book on the mass was the one work to 
reach any degree of excellence. But the Protestants struck with 
vigor at the points most in controversy, both religious and politi- 
cal.. A priest opens one dialogue with a long lament for the death 
of Mass in Strassburg. His two servants discuss the death-scene, 
and wind up with a bitter attack on Wolsey and his party. Another 
dialogue between a Gentleman and a Husbandman gives a picture of 
the oppression each class suffered from the clergy. Finally, in 1548, 
William Turner, who had passed a long exile in Germany, issued 
his Endightment against Mother Messe.2 Two Protestants, Veryte 
and Knowledge, bring accusations before Wisdom that lead to the 
arrest of the sorceress, Mother Messe. She is brought before Judge 
God’s Word, where Knowledge presents the indictment, and, in 
spite of Covetous’ defense, obtains against her a verdict of exile. 
The breadth of this last-mentioned dialogue, its dramatic pos- 
sibilities, and its allegorical framework, naturally encouraged the 
use of the religious drama in the struggle. This incentive was then 
still further augmented by the actual dramas of controversy that 
Englishmen came to know on the Continent. The Neo-Latin drama 
that arose in Holland about 1530 sought to give to Biblical plays 
a Terentian structure, and at the same time to inject into the his- 
torical narrative a considerable amount of contemporary interest.* 
The Protestants eagerly made use of this rejuvenated and extended 
sacred play to further their cause. The best known drama of this 
type is Thomas Kirchmayer’s Pammachius, a Protestant adaptation 
of the old legend of Antichrist, in which the Pope is represented 
as the Satanic ruler whose sway is terminated by the triumph of 

1 Herford, 46—48. 
elbid.. (G5—66: 
3 Chambers, 2. 217. 
