THE DRAMA. 



5<>9 



a portrayal, sometimes even a criticism, upon the Church in it* human and 

 temporal aspects ; canons, bishops, cardinals, and even popes are not spared, 

 and the actor that is to say, the author shows no mercy in his condemnation 

 of the vices and faults which he can discern in them. The moralite also 



Fig. 385. The Actor (Author) listening to the Personification of his Thought. Miniature from 

 the " Chevalier delibfireV' by Olivier de la Marche. Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century 

 (No. 173, B.L.). In the Arsenal Library, Paris. 



deals with the kings and temporal nobility, and, often assuming a political 

 character, calls them to account for their public or private conduct. Some- 

 times, again, a fact taken from the sacred books, or some idea occurring to the 



