CHARACTERISATION IN THE PASSION-PLA Y 343 



over the sepulchre. 1 They dance to the sepulchre, and 

 then dance round it singing. The idea which the 

 dancing is intended to convey appears to be that of 

 contempt. In much the same manner, in a Dispute 

 betiveen Mary and the Cross, the Jews are represented 

 as dancing round the Virgin by tens and twelves in order 

 to mock her as she weeps at the foot of the cross. 2 Mary 

 Magdalen expresses her wantonness by dancing ; in the 

 Digby Mysteries the dance with a dandy leads to her 

 seduction ; in the Alsfelder Play she heads a regular 

 Devils' Dance, being assisted by Lucifer cum aliis 

 demonibus ; in another play, the Ludus Mariae Magda- 

 lene in gaudio, we have a very effective choral dance of 

 the Magdalen and Procus, one of her lovers. 3 Of a 

 similar character is the dance of a shepherdess with 

 a hunter, and with devils in an Obersteiern play per- 

 formed till a quite recent date. 4 The foolish virgins 

 in the Ludus de decem Virginibus also express their 

 folly by feasting and dancing as the following stage- 

 directions indicate : 5 Tune omnes fatuae habeant 

 convivium, deponant seque dormiant, and Tune 

 fatuae corizando et cum magno gaudio vadunt ad 

 alium locum. 



It will be seen from the above by no means exhaus- 

 tive list of instances how widely dancing was used 

 in the passion-play as a symbol of character. 6 



1 L, vol. ii. p. 302. 



2 Legends of the Holy Rood, E.E.T.S., p. 142. In the Coventry Mysteries 

 (p. 319) the Jews dance round the cross before it is raised. 



3 See C, p. 55 ; I, p. 112 ; and B, vol. i. p. 80. 4 See Q, p. 343. 



5 Bechstein, Wartburg BibliothcJc, vol. i. p. 18. 



6 In a Wcihnachtsspiel from the fifteenth century (ed. Piderit, 1869), Mary 

 employs Joseph to rock the cradle. He gets a knave to help him et sic servus et 

 Joseph corisant per cunabulum cantando ' In dulci jiibilo. ' There is afterwards 



