The English Moral Plays 379 
plainly derived from Lydgate’s Reson and Sensualyte, or its Old 
French original, Les Echecs Amoureux. But Medwell, the author 
of Nature, did not subordinate the moral purpose of the play, as 
did Lydgate, to the end of humanism, and on the whole gives to 
the new spirit a less generous recognition than did his successor, 
the author of The Four Elements. 
Another significant deviation in these humanistic plays from the 
ecclesiastical pattern is noticeable in the nature of the guide or 
preceptor chosen for the hero. Instead of Good Angel or Mercy, 
as of old, it is Natura and Studious Desire in one play, and God's 
“ minister,” Lady Nature, with Reason in the other, that point the 
way to the desired end. The employment of Reason in this office 
was continued by John Redford in Wit and Science, and by the 
revisers who prepared the play for later audiences.? 
Redford’s play is clothed in the form of romance. Wit, an un- 
proved youth, is courting Science, the only daughter of Reason. 
Reason is ready to grant his suit if he proves himself worthy of 
Science, and he counsels the youth to strive hard to win her. But 
Wit scorns the counsel of his guide, Instruction, and, accompanied 
only by Study and Diligence, presses forward. Very shortly, though, 
he is assailed on the road by the giant, Tediousness, and almost 
killed, and later, after Honest Recreation has played the Good 
Samaritan, by Idleness. Through her corrupting influence his ap- 
pearance and manners are so debased that Science, when they meet, 
does not recognize him, and flees. But Reason, still ready to aid, 
encourages him to renew his efforts, this time keeping Diligence 
and Study under the control of Instruction. So escorted, Wit 
passes safely the haunt of Tediousness, whom Gayley has aptly 
called the Giant Despair of the moral plays, and is accepted by 
Science. 
The Marriage of Wit and Science revises Redford’s version to 
the improvement of the dramatic structure, but the motif itself re- 
mains essentially the same. The youth is impatient of his guides, 
and not till Shame has schooled him is he ready to accept their service 
and so win his bride. The other modernization, The Contract of 
Marriage between Wit and Wisdome, injects into the plot much of 
the humorous realism of true comedy. The two soldiers, Snatch 
and Catch, who return from Flanders singing, 

1 xliii—xliv. 
* I have been unable to see J. Seifert’s work on this group of plays, 
Wit-und Science-Moralitdten, Prague, 1892. 
