44 
The Towneley Cycle naturally came in for special treatment 
before a Burnley audience. It received its name from the 
fact that the only known MS. was long in the possession of 
the Towneley family, only passing out of their hands finally 
at the sale of 1883. It was purchased by Mr. B. Quaritch, 
in whose hands it remains. The plays are undoubtedly 
connected with Wakefield, and contain allusions to the 
“ shroges,” or rough moorland of Horbery, near Wakefield. 
They are in the dialect of the West Riding. Mr. Crump 
shewed in a clear and concise manner the development of the 
various stages of this remarkable MS. and then proceeded 
to deal with the Chester plays and the Coventry Cycle. 
Mystery plays dealt with Gospel events, depicting the 
fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, as accomplished by 
the Nativity, the Passion and the Resurrection. Miracle 
plays were concerned with incidents derived from the legends 
of the Saints of the Church. In England the name miracle 
has been applied almost invariably to both kinds of plays. 
The Morality play is of a later growth than either. It sub- 
stituted personifications for the characters of the Bible story. 
In one of the Coventry plays, for example, there is a con- 
ference in heaven between Truth, Mercy, Justice and Peace. 
Whilst the object of the Miracle play is to awaken interest 
in Bible narrative, the Morality play aims at inculcating 
definite dogmatic teaching. 
Mr. Crump then gave descriptions of and extracts from 
some of the plays which had been named and in concluding 
his most able and instructive paper, said he trusted that he had 
made it clear to those of his audience to whom that literature 
might be termed untrodden ground, that Miracle plays, 
Mysteries and Moralities had in themselves much that was 
of interest ; that in an age to which the Bible was practically 
a sealed book, those plays did much to awaken and keep alive 
religious knowledge and doctrine ; and also that, though not 
in themselves generally speaking of a high order of merit, 
they did foster a desire for genuine dramatic literature, and 
thus opened the way for that dramatic outburst which was 
the glory, not only of Elizabeth’s reign, but of England in 
all ages. 
