158 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
victed of blasphemy for mixing up Thomas Cromwell with Oliver; and 
the history of the Corn Laws related with vocal and instrumental accom- 
paniment. These traditions are sacred, not because they contain historical 
facts, which never are and never could be sacred, but because they are 
ritual, which is always sacred. 
FEATURES OF THE TRADITIONAL NARRATIVE. 
I propose to conclude by referring to a number of features which are 
found in traditional narratives of all descriptions, and which can be 
explained, and in my view only explained, on the supposition that these 
narratives are all accounts of ritual drama. 
(1) The narrative is invariably dramatic. This is, of course, charac- 
teristic of the drama, but not of history, which is seldom dramatic. 
(2) Though the characters are often represented as coming from 
different countries, they all speak the same language. In tradition, as on 
the stage, interpreters are unknown. 
(3) The action of the narrative is often carried on by means of songs 
and rhymes ; this never happens in real life. 
(4) The traditional narrative, unlike history, always contains a great 
deal of conversation. If all the authentically recorded utterances of every 
English king from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries were put together, 
they would not amount to the utterances of the meanest stage hero. 
(5) In tradition the costume of the characters is often described in 
detail. It is, of course, important that the leading characters in the ritual 
drama should be correctly dressed, but we are very seldom told what 
historical characters wore. 
(6) Traditional narratives often have a conventional setting, such as the 
gateway of a city, the doorway of a palace, or outside a hut in the forest. 
In real life people seldom give out their secrets at such places, but in 
tradition they make a practice of it. . 
(7) In the traditional narrative the hero often spends what he supposes 
to be a day in a cave or on an island, and finds on his return home that he 
has been away a whole year. This does not occur in real life, but on the 
stage a year often elapses between Act I and Act IT. 
(8) The characters in the traditional narrative always remain the same age. 
We see this clearly in Homer. Helen’s amorous adventures last for about 
thirty years, but at the end she is still a young and beautiful girl. Nestor, 
at the beginning of the siege of Troy, is a hale but very old man; at the 
end of the siege he is still a hale but very old man, and he returns home 
and goes on being a hale but very old man. In the same way Njal, when 
we first meet him, is a wise old man to whom people go for advice ; forty 
years later he is still a wise old man to whom people go for advice. An 
old Helen, and a young Nestor or Njal, are as unthinkable as an old 
Columbine or a young Pantaloon. 
(9) Not only do the characters remain at the same age, but they are 
all contemporaries. Prof. Gilbert Murray has noticed this ; he says : 
‘ There is an extraordinary wealth of tradition about what we may call 
‘the Heroic Age. Agamemnon, king of Mycenz and Argos, Priam, 
‘ king of Troy, and the kings surrounding them, Achilles, Aias, Odysseus, 
