go UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 
lyric which plays fancifully with the individual letters of Mary’s name;* 
the other is one of the most facetious and popular of the religious lyrics 
current during the Middle Ages, The Five Joys of Mary, sometimes also. 
written in the form, The Seven, Nine, and Fifteen Joys of Mary. It is in 
the form of the Five Joys that it is found in the York Plays.? This. 
form of the lyric, however, affected the drama most extensively when at 
Brussels it was given the dignity of a separate play. 
Of the many types of prayers and complaints in Middle English 
none is characterized by a more peculiar and striking tone than that in 
which the prayer is made to suit the especial needs of an old man.+ In 
these lyrics the speaker sometimes laments the sins of his youth, complains. 
of his decrepit condition, and describes in detail the physical decay which 
accompanies old age. Many of these are of the nature of dramatic 
monologues and readily adapt themselves to dramatic treatment. It is 
difficult to read the speeches of characters in the plays, such as Noah, 
Joseph and Simeon, without feeling that they were in a very definite 
sense influenced by these complaints.s And the humorous treatment 
of Joseph in the Corpus Christi plays, especially in Chester and Coventry,® 
t See Cov., p. 88; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. CIX, p. 64; Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. II, pp. 04f. See also- 
the prayer to Jesus (Percy Soc., Vol. II, p. 278). See for parallel passages, Appendix p. 20. 
2 Pp. 4093 ff. See also for Latin forms, Das deutsche Kirch., Vol. I, pp. 150 ff.; Hymni Latini (Mone), 
Vol. II, pp. 161 ff.; Rich. R. of Hamp., Vol. I, pp. 408 ff.; and for English forms, Minor Poems of V. MS,,. 
Vol. I, pp. 25 ff., 31 ff., 133 ff.; Wm. of Shoreham, p. 117; An Old Eng. Misc., p. 87; Spec. of Lyric Poetry 
(Percy Soc., Vol. IV), pp. 54 ff., 94 ff.; Christmas Carols (P. Soc., Vol. IV), pp. 7 £.; Songs and Carols (P. 
Soc., Vol. XXIII), pp. 68 ff.; Béddeker, Altenglische Dichtung, p. 218; Anglia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 164, 226,-. 
232, 242, 257; Rel. Ant., Vol. I, p. 48; Miatzner’s Altenglische Sprachproben, pp. 51; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. 
LXXXIX, pp. 275, 282; Vol. CIX, pp. 48, 49; Cursor Mundi (EETS), Parts V, VI, p. 1468. See further 
Groéber, Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, p. 973. For parallel passages, see Appendix, p. 22. 
3 CrEIZENACH, Vol. I, p. 340; CHAMBERS, Vol. II, p. 87. 
4 Rel. Ant., Vol. I, pp. 119, 197; Vol. II, p. 210; Hymns to V. and C., pp. 36, 83; Anglia, Vol. III, 
p- 270; The Minor Poems of Lydgate (Percy Soc., Vol. II), pp. 240, 254; Spec. of Relig. Poetry (P. Soc., 
Vol. IV), p. 47; Bann. MS, Vol. II, pp. 457, 781; The Poetical Works of Skelton (ed. Dyce), Vol. I, pp. 2 ff. 
Sometimes the passage simply describes the condition of the body in old age, without taking the form of a 
complaint. See The Minor Poems of Lydgate (Percy Soc., Vol. II), p. 30; The Pricke of Conscience (ed. 
R. Morris), p. 22; Hymns to V. and C., p. 79; Minor Poems of Vernon MS, Vol. II, pp. 446 ff.; Twenty- 
six Polit. Poems (EETS), p. 138. The best known of these is perhaps ‘‘ Maximon,” Rel. Ant., Vol. I, pp. 110 ff.; 
pr. also in Anglia, Vol. III, pp. 279 ff., and in Béddeker, Alteng. Dicht., pp. 244 ff. 
5 Chester, Vol. I, pp. 98, 130, 189; York, pp. 43, 102, 138, 436; Town., pp. 25, 161, 181 ff.; Cov., pp: 
96, 118; see also Nice Wanton, Manly’s Pre-S. Dr., Vol. I, ll. 260 ff., for the same type of speech in the mouth. 
of an old woman. For parallel passages, see Appendix, pp. 22 ff. 
6 Chester, Vol. I, pp. 098, 138 ff.; Cov., pp. 117 ff., 131 ff., 145 ff. 
