292 Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 



Corpus Christ! procession to visit the play at Coventry.* The 

 people flocked to these plays from distances that were then consid- 

 ered great. Nothing could be more reasonable than that the players 

 of one city should take note of the successful plays of another, and 

 seek to incorporate such plays into the home cycle. 



XXVI. 



CORRESPONDENCE OUTSIDE OF THE PARENT CYCLE. 



In the Woodkirk plays are found portions of three York plays not 

 included in the parent cycle. These York plays are — 



Y XXXiy. Christ Led up to Calvary. 

 Y XXXVIII. The Resurrection. 



Y XLYIII. The Judgment Day. 



The York play, ' Christ Led up to Calvary,' agrees in subject with 

 W 'Flagellacio,' which has been already the subject of our discussion.^ 

 We have recognized one scene of the tormentors as the work of our 

 earliest comedy writer, to whom we have also assigned certain other 

 portions of the W cycle. 



The second scene begins with ' Johannes Apostolus,' and corre- 

 sponds to the second scene of the York play. An examination of 

 this may inform us as to the genesis of the play. 



Stanza 10. W impairs verse movement by introducing 'so,' 'we,' 

 substitutes ' Caiphas ' for ' bushoppe,' ' fled ' for ' went,' ' f als witnes ' 

 for 'soteltes,' destroys alliteration four times. W omits stanza 11, 

 gives stanza 12. A leaf is lost in Y. Portions of stanza 13, and of 

 one following the lost leaf and numbered by Miss Smith 14, and 

 stanza 15, bring the Y play to the introduction of Jesus bearing the 

 cross. W apparently agrees in general with the lost Y, but intro- 

 duces Mary's attempt to take the cross, and departs otherwise from 

 the Y stanzas extant. 



W may paraphrase Y stanzas 16 and 17, or these stanzas may 

 depend directly upon the Biblical narrative as given in some church 

 play. 



Y stanza 19 follows in W. W omits Y^ 20 and the first part of 

 Y 21. In Y the women leave in stanza 21, but in AY tho}^ must 

 have left in Y 19, thus abridging the altercation with the soldiers. 



1 Hibbert, P. A. The Influence and Development of English Gilds, p. 63. 



2 See p. 279. 



