Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. \*1\ 



differ essentially from those of another. That we may see, how- 

 ever, what this difference was, as well as learn something of the 

 character of the plays themselves, I give three extended plays 

 which include the Office of the Shepherds and that of the Magi. 



Of these plays, the first, the Rouen Play, still held its place in the 

 service, and was, therefore, acted as two plays, the Office of the 

 Shepherds falling on Christmas day, and that of the Magi on Epi- 

 phany (Jan. 6th). The third", the Orleans Play, had passed out of 

 the church, and was played " ad januas monasterii." It shows a 

 fusion of the two plays, as does also that of Freising. The play is 

 no longer a part of the church service ; therefore there is no proces- 

 sion, as in the Rouen Play. The excision of the procession 

 suggested a use for the separate play of the Magi ; it was inserted 

 in the place of the procession. 



The Orleans Play affords us a view of a first step in cyclic for- 

 mation. But this method of insertion could find but a limited field 

 of operation, since the earliest plays did not dramatize some world- 

 epic, thus affording a framework for numberless insertions, but were 

 illustrative of some single motive contained in the liturgy. 



How the Resurrection Cycle was joined to the Christmas Cycle, 

 and how the resulting cycle of Christ's life was, through the aid of 

 the prophecies, extended back to the creation of the world, will be 

 considered in the following chapters. 



Our concern, at present, is with the methods employed for com- 

 bining the Play of the Shepherds with that of the Magi, i. e., with 

 the formation of the Christmas Cycle itself. Here the Freising Play 

 is of value as illustrating the uniform tradition throughout the 

 churches, for it is certain that the Freising is not immediately 

 derived from the Orleans, nor the Orleans from the Freising. 

 Neither was the Freising play formed from the Rouen, though 

 possibly the Orleans play may have been. 



These positions are supported by many proofs. The most evi- 

 dent, as regards the Freising, is the absence of the Adoration by the 

 Shepherds. This shepherd episode in F would seem to point to an 

 early liturgical form for model. The angel makes the announce- 

 ment ; the shepherds say. Let us go ; the Magi meet them returning, 

 and they announce that they have seen the child. The dramatic 

 situation involved in the adoration is entirely omitted. This is the 

 case also in the Nantes and Laon rituals. 



Elsewhere in the development of dramatic incident, F, R and O 

 do not agree. In the first recognition of the star F agrees with R, 



