242 Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 



entrelacee rime might be expected. Furthermore, as a correspon- 

 dence between the sonnet and this stanza oftentimes holds as regards 

 the division into octet and sestet, so here we might expect to find, as 

 in the sonnet, that the cauda departs more readil}^ from the estab- 

 lished type than does the double quatrain. Accordingly, since we 

 have found deterioration in alliteration in the work of this poet, 

 we need not be surprised at finding entrelacee rime in the cauda of 

 his stanza. 



Ex.20. York Plavs. No. IX. Stanza]. 



) abababat)cdcccd. 



The author is evidently experimenting, since he misses through 

 the insertion of the first line of the cauda a favorite riming form of 

 the Coventry and Woodkirk plays, a type that had at a later date a 

 profound influence upon the septenar stanza. 



The alliteration is excessive, but the iambic movement is fairly 

 regular, and rime tests, as we shall see later, go to prove this play 

 the work of the author of X and YUI. Comparison with play 

 XXVI, which follows, will immediately reveal the difference in 

 stanza, although the riming is the same. 



Ex.21. York Plays. Ko. XXYI. Stanza 4. 



Kj lOU 



O U 1 • <7 ViJ - 



V ^ Li —rr- 



I, il /* /. o<v - 



u w o 



<J — (III .—— -Cl t 1 ■ 



oo o — 



U </C» — '• U U O : 



coo — r— 





O r 



It viMj- " <-' U i.J ■ 



O- 



. Oil ijii u ^} ■ 



UU(J 







u c o o o 









(J u u o u 





i.1 ij — o ^<^ 





IJ tjiJ IJ u 





I, U ,t Co 



ababababcdcccd. 



