Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 259 



In Ch, vol. 2, 13. 31, Goe nowe to Cayphas, 



And bycle hym doe the righte. 



In W, p. 188, Go pleyn the to Sir Cayphas, 



And byd hym do the right. 



The language in Y and in J is different, although the situation is 

 the same. AVe return now to the discussion of the cycles. 



IV. The so-called Coventry plaj^s are, I think, the work of one 

 author. They are of late date, I should say of the early part of the 

 sixteenth century. Thej^ Lave little or no direct dependence upon 

 the other cycles. It has been shown as probable that they were 

 written in the northern part of East Anglia. 



I am reluctant to advance a theory for their origin, since I cannot 

 offer sufficient coniirmatory data, but I would suggest that the}" may 

 be the work of some author connected with one of the great religious 

 houses of the Fen District. These plays appear to me to rest upon 

 church plays that have received their development at the hands of 

 those closely connected with the ceremonial of religious life. 



It might be expected that plays, made in such a house for the 

 instruction and diversion of rustics, would emphasize the homiletic 

 element, and would draw largely upon the Apocrypha.^ The fre- 

 quent intrusion of Latin Avith explanatory verses was also a char- 

 acteristic of church plays. The stanzas of dimeters, pp. 159, 164, 

 180, 348, 353, simulate the Latin hymns of the Christmas time and 

 of the Resurrection service. A certain restraint pervades the plays, 

 very different from the spontaneity of the York and Woodkirk plays. 



It would seem that these plays w^ere recast by one writer into 

 cyclic form. The fragmentary condition of many stanzas may 

 arise in part from imperfect re-working of the material ; but this 

 conclusion cannot be drawn with confidence, since at this date the 

 alternation of stanzaic schemes within a single play or poem seems 

 oftentimes to have been favored for the sake of variety. I have 

 nothing to offer concerning the indications that the cycle w^as in the 

 hands of a traveling troupe, monkish or otherwise. 



V. The craft plays of Coventry were in close connection with the 

 York and Woodkirk cycles, as is proved by the dependence of the 

 Weavers' play of Coventry and the '■ Pagina Doctorum' of Woodkirk 

 upon York XX. A common source must, I think, be postulated for 

 the Coventry ' Nativity,' the Chester ' Salutation,' and the York XII. 



I For Apocryphal agreements in ' The Barrenness of Anna,' ' Mary in the Temple,' 

 'Mary's Betrothment,' etc., see Hone. 



