246 Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 



This poem is assigned by Horstmann^ to the Northern dialect, by- 

 Morris, as stated by Horstmann, to the West-Midland. The stanza is 

 found in the Woodkirk plays in ' The Conspiracy ' and ' The As- 

 cension.' It is one of the favorite stanzas in the so-called Coventry 

 cycle, occurring in the following plays — 



The Prologue, 



n. The Fall of Man, 



IV. Noah's Flood, 



X. Mary's Betrothment, 



XII. Joseph's Return, 



1^\. The Adoration by Shepherds, 



XXI. The Baptism of Christ, 



XXII. The Temptation. 



XXVI. The Entry into Jerusalem, 



XXVII. The Last Supper, 



XXIX. King Herod, 



XLI. The Assumption of the Virgin, 



XLTI. Doomsday. 



These Coventr}^ plays are probably of East-Midland origin.^ The 

 same district appears to have been the locale of this stanza, which is 

 found also in 'The Castell of Perseverance.'^ It would appear, 

 therefore, that the poem of Susanna should be assigned to a poet 

 south of York, whose style was affected by Northern extravagances 

 in alliteration. 



The stanza w^as also of late date, since it passed into the Morali- 

 ties. 



From a fusion of the septenar stanza with this East-Midland 

 stanza arose a new type with the following characteristics — 



1. Alliteration in greatest excess. 



2. So great an overplus of unstressed syllables that the recitation 

 must have simulated chanting when the integrity of the stanza was 

 preserved. 



3. Surreptitious stress increased the accents to five and six in a 

 line. 



4. The rime of the East-Midland stanza was adopted. 



This measure, with the reiteration of alliteration, was considered 

 the proj^er introduction for persons of dignity, and is used in all four 

 cycles, although the Ch and the Co soften greatly the alliteration. 

 As the actor of royal rank usually appears at the beginning of the 



1 Anglia, 1, p. 93. 2 Pollard, p. XXXVIII. 3 Pollard, p. 64. 



