Aug. 28, 1885.] 



♦ KNOAVLEDGE ♦ 



Noe. Behold to the heven the cateraetes alle, 

 That ar open fulle even, f;rete and smalle, 

 And the pianettes seven left hag thare stalle (place), 

 Thise thonera and levyn (tlmnders and lightnings) downe 



gar falle ; 

 Therfor, wife, have done, com into ship fast. 



U.cor. Yei, Noe, go cloute thi shone, the better wille thai last. 



The sons' -wives seek to persuade lier, but in vain, and 

 a .second fight ensues, with the result that Noah groans 



3Iy bak is nere in two ; 

 And his wife 



And I am bet so bio.* 

 After which the termagant yields, and they enter the 



In the York play, Xoah's wife is equally obstinate, 



Come hedir faste, dai 



nd, I 



oldili.; 



but in the <'iiil ;, i: il . 



In the Coventry .S( 

 " a preacher of rights 

 the troublesome shrew 

 variants. 



After the jjatriarch ar 

 and caulked and "pyched 

 " Sante John" and in '' ri"(xlL''s 

 she answers — 



order) t 



looner, gives him 

 o ark only on her 

 oming with her, 



.■nc and helpful, 

 lie C'liester she is 

 : ;i!id Towneley 



ivc built the ark 



Noali adjures his wife by 



" to come in, but 



And r, 

 For w 



w for til 

 Lhoutoii fui; 



it of this town : 

 But 1 have my gossips every cchone (or 

 One foot fiu-ther I will not gone ; 

 They shall not droune, by Saint John, 

 An I may save their life ! 

 They loven me full well, by Christ '. 

 But thou let them into thy chest. 

 Else row, row where thee leiste 

 And get thee a new wife. 

 Shem, son, lo I thy mother is wrawe ; 

 By God, such another I do not knawe '. 

 Father, I shall fetch her in, I trow, 

 Witliouten any fail. 

 Mother, my father after theo send. 

 And bids thee uuto yeinder ship wend, 

 Look up and see the wind. 

 For we ben ready to sail, 

 e. Shem, go again to him, I say ; 

 I will not come therein to-day. 

 Shall we all fetch her ii ' 



:)nld 



n Chri 





e bles; 

 ied you betii 



life rcfu.scs to go 



on board 

 advance, 

 Song ending 



Here is a 1-: 

 Itwilln-iu, ,. 



Though N<".-' ■', 



At last the three sons for, 

 s.ays to Iter, " thou wilt dj 

 Noah says to her— ' 



Weloonle, wife, i 



c her in " whether," as She 

 not,'' and as she is pulled i 



Upon which she gives him a box on the eais, anflwering, 



Have then that for thy note (nodd'e), 

 -lud Noah cries : 



In the only relic of the Newcastle-on-Tyne pageaiits,!tho 

 play of "Noah's Ark," performed by the shipwrights, 

 the devil persuades Noah's wife to give her husband -a 

 stupefying drink while he is building the ark, but an 

 angel appears, and by his help the devil is confounded 

 and the " ship well made." 



The pruverbial quarrelsomeness of Noah and his wifi- 

 is ilhisl lilted in Chaucer's " Canterbui-y Tales," when 

 Nicholas examines the carpenter on his knowledge of 

 Noah's flood : — 



Hast thon not herd, quod Nicholas also. 

 The sorwe of Noe with his felawship, 

 Or that he mighte get his wife to ship ? 

 Him had be lever, I dare wel undertake. 

 At thilke time, than all his wether's blake, 

 That she had had a ship hireself alone. 

 In the presentment of AbraJiam's Sacrifice, the scene 

 upon Mount Moriah loses none of its dignity and pathos 

 at the hands of the dramatist. An exceptional featur<' 

 of the Chester pageant is its opening with r. comic pro- 

 logue by one " Gobbel on the Green," but in the dialogue- 

 between the father and the doomed son the language i- 

 not less touching than that of either the Towih1(\. 

 Tork, or Coventry, which last-named is much inferiijr i- 

 the rest. 



In the Towneley, after dismissing two boys and an ass 

 which had accompauied them "forth of towne," Abraham 

 reaches the mountain : — 



» ToioncU]/ Myiferies, pp. 28, 29, 31. t York II.I'., p. 47. 



Lo, my SI 



, hero 





haac. Wod and fyere ar in my Lend 



Telle me now, if ye have space. 



Where is the boest that shuld be brend (burnt 

 Ahruham. Now, son, I may no longer layn (conceal), 



Sich wille is into myne hart went ; 



Thou was ever to me fulle bavn (ready) 



Ever to fullille myne entent. " 



Bot certanly thou must be slayii. 



And it may be as I have ment. 

 Isaac. I am hevy and nothyng fayn (without joy) 



hastcly that ahalle be shent (destroyed) 



I. 



Isaac 



Thon shalle be dede what so ever be 



A, fader, mercy ! mercy ! 



That, 1 say, may not be denyde ; 



Take thi dede therefor mekely. 



A, good sir, abide; 



laU-r! 



What, son? 



To do yi uro wille I am redy, 



Wi ere so ever ye go or ride. 



If I may oght overtake youre wille, 



Syn I have trespast I wold be bet. 



1 in clay, 



Sir, 1- 



* That eomo artistic mise en scene was attempted is ehowii iu thi- 

 following stage direoiions: — "Then Noy shall goe into tbo Arlie 

 with all his famylyo, his wife exoepte : the Arke must bo horded 

 rounde about, and on tho hordes all the beastes and fowlea hero after 

 rohoarsod must bo painted, that these wcrdes may agree with t)i<' 



