Charles Davidson — English Mystery Flays. 203 



to a foreign cause, of each break or eddy that betokens the vexation, 

 dubiety, or sudden illumination of the national life that lies at the 

 bottom of, and is faithfully mirrored in, every literature worthy of 

 the name. 



XY. 

 THE ATTITUDE OF THE CLERGY TOWARD THE PLAY. 



There still remain for our consideration, before we turn to England, 

 the question of the divorce of the play from the church, and that of 

 the status of the writers of these later plays, whose number is 

 legion and whose prolixity^ appals the reader. 



The writers upon mystery plays agree with great unanimity that 

 the plays were driven out of the churches by the disapproval of the 

 higher clergy. It is stated that the introduction of lay actors, of 

 the vernacular speech, and, above all, of burlesque and comic epi- 

 sodes, scandalized the devout and provoked the prohibitions of popes 

 and councils. It seems to me that the statement is true only in a 

 much narrower sense. 



In the first place the plays did not leave the churches,^ but, in their 

 less developed ritualistic form, remained a part of the service until 

 the Reformation, and indeed in many countries or sections long 

 after. The people delighted in pageants, masques, and shows of 

 every kind, and the church did not yield its right to make the ser- 

 vice attractive by tableau, puppet-show, and liturgical drama, 

 although such plays received comment less often than the open-air 

 plays. 



If, then, these plays survived in the churches, it must have been 

 understood that the clerical prohibition was not directed against 

 every species of mystery play, for no play within the church could 

 have withstood for centuries the uniform opposition of the higlier 

 clergy. A glance at the attitude of the church toward plays before 

 the mystery arose may aid us in understanding the situation, for 

 the Roman church has usually kept in touch with its earlier tradi- 

 tions. 



From the beginning of the third century, when Tertullian wrote 

 his De Spectaculis, until the tenth century, the church held con- 



1 The history of Joseph iu the 'Viel Testament' fills 7000 verses, Les Actes des 

 Apotres, par Arnoul et Simon Greban, is given in 61,908 verses. The Mystere de Sainte 

 Marguerite contains 10,000 verses. 2 Julleville, vol. 1, p. 78. 



