Charles Davidion — English Mystery Plays. 279 



For I am he that may make or mar a man, 

 My self if I it say as men of cowrte now say ; 

 Supporte a man to-day, to-morne agans him than, 

 On both parties thus I play and fenys me to ordan 



The right ; 

 Bot alle fals indytars. 

 Quest mang'ers and jurers. 

 And alle thise fals out ryders, 

 Ar welcom to my sigigt. 



The coarseness of the early English comedy, of Gammar Gurton's 

 ISTeedle, is here, but it is probably no coarser than the life it depicts. 

 The shepherd folk, the Mak of the hovel, the peasant and his wife, 

 were prone to call a spade a spade. The fun is old English fun, 

 rude, coarse, outspoken, and fond of hard knocks, but not lascivious. 



But where in the history of these cycles does this author stand ? 

 The stanza is late. In ' Conspiracio et Captio' his work is an intro- 

 duction; in ' Flagellacio ' it is the play to which a foreign introduction 

 has been prefixed. I judge him a late contributor to a cycle already 

 long established. His plays seem to me a direct contribution to the 

 cycle, rather than plays elsewhere popular which finally gained a 

 position in the cycle, because his work in * Conspiracio et Captio ' is of 

 the nature of a new introduction to a play with which he was con- 

 versant. His other plays, especially those of the shepherds, super- 

 seded the plays of the original compilation. 



Possibly one significant agreement may point to his church afiilia- 

 tions, since it seems to prove an acquaintance with one set of church 

 plays rather than another : — ' 



Noah's answer to Deus, " What art thou," W. 



Noah's answer to Angel, " What art thou," Newcastle. 



Noah's answer to Deus, " A ! Lorde, I lowe J'e lowde and stille," Y. 



Noah's answer to God, "O, Lorde, I thanke thee lowde and stille," 

 Ch. 



It is not impossible that light might be shed upon the literary in- 

 terpendence of the churches by an exhaustive study of such passages. 



B. The passage from " Cayphas " to "Tunc dicet Sanctus Johan- 

 nes " is the fragment of the parent cycle whose characteristics we 

 have already discussed.^ 



C. This passage extends from *' Tunc dicet Sanctus Johannes " to 

 the words — "Now wote ye what I have done," in Jesus' speech. 

 This is introductory to the final instructions of Jesus to his disciples. 

 It is written in couplets, which, towards the last, approach the suc- 

 ceeding extract in the literalness of its rendering of the Biblical nar- 



1 See p. 256. 2 See p. 267. 



