Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 149 



This leads us to the consideration of the songs, not lamentations, 

 which sometimes contained the Easter Play in embryo, and some- 

 times were introductory to it. Of the former we have this of the 

 fourteenth century :^ 



Duo piieri [maria magdalena] : 



Certe multis argumentis sudariuni et vestes. 



vidi signa resurgentis. surrexit Christus spes mea, 



Chorus : praecedet suos in Galilsea. 

 Die nobis Maria^, [Chorus ;] 



quid vidisti in via ? Credendnm est magis soli Mariae veraci 



Duo pueri [maria m.J -.^ qi^am Judaeorum turbse fallaci ; 



Sepulchrum Christi viventis scimns Christum surrexisse 



et gloriam vidi resurgentis, ®^ mortuis vere ; 



angelicos testes, *^ nobis, victor rex, miserere. 



Of the second the introductory songs in the plays below, given as 

 Milchsack's fourth group,* will serve as examples. Our considera- 

 tion of these lyrics may well close with Hoffman's ' Ludus de Nocte 

 Pasche,' which I give in full, as showing what parts in the transition 

 the Latin and vernacular tongues held respectively in these plays.^ 



INCIPIT LUDUS DE NOCTE PASCHE. 



Prima Maria cantat : 



Heu nobis intemas mentes^ 

 quanti pulsant gemitus 

 pro nostro consolatore, 

 quo privantur miseri, 

 quem crudelis ludseorum 

 morti dedit populus. 

 lam percusso heu pastore 

 oves errant misere, 

 sic magistro discedente 

 turbantur discipuli 

 atque nos absente eo 

 dolor tenet nimius. 

 Sed eamus et ad eius 

 properemus tumulum. 

 si dileximus viventem,'" 

 diligamus et mortuum 

 et ungamus corpus eius 

 oleo sanctissimo. 



1 Mone, p. 22. 



2 Compare (p. 26) with the Victimoe Paschali Laudes of the York Missal. 



3 Almost all important MSS. of the liturgical drama are monastic MSS. (Les MysttVes, 

 par L. Petit de Julleville, p. 31, refcrrinfi- to M. L. Gautier). Consequently, in those 

 monasteries where women were not permitted to enter, the Maries were represented by 

 boys. 4 See p. 156. ^ Hoffmann, 3, 273. e See p. 157. i See pp. 148, 157. 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. IX. October, 1892. 



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