Wann—The Influence of French Farce 
357 
already referred to. These classes are: the religious sources, 
the York sources, and the secular sources. The religious sources 
comprise the following: liturgical plays, whose influence in the 
formation of the cycle was of course very important^; the 
liturgy itself, whose influence in this cycle is slight;® the Vul¬ 
gate ^ the most important of all the religious sources, since its 
influence is strongly felt in all but four plays and parts of five 
others the Apocrypha, whose influence in Towneley is very 
slight;® and, finally, other religious literature, including the 
Cursor Mundi, the Pricke of Conscience, the Northern Passion, 
the Speculum Christiani, and numerous Middle English prayers 
and lyrics.® Of the religious sources the Vulgate and liturgical 
drama are by far the most important and considerable in their 
influence upon the formation of the cycle. 
The second class of sources, the York plays, form for the most 
part a fairly clear-cut group. There is no doubt as to the direct 
borrowing of five plays from the York cycle, namely the plays 
of Pharaoh, The Doctors, The Harroiving of Hell, The Resur¬ 
rection, and The Judgment (from the corresponding five plays 
in York, numbered 11, 20, 37, 38, 48). Furthermore, it is quite 
certain that parts of four others. The Offering of the Magi, The 
Flight into Egypt, The Conspiracy, and The Scourging, are de¬ 
rived from various parts of the York cyele.'^ Finally, there 
are parts of eight other plays which show slight resemblance to 
York but upon which scholars are not agreed as to the influence 
of York upon Towneley.® The York influence, then, is con- 
sierable and within limits beyond any question. It remains 
true, however, that except for one or two plays York did not 
add to Towneley much of distinct power or importance. 
2 Liturgical plays influenced parts of or the whole of plays 1-8, 10-16, 
20-23, 25-32. Play 4 may he in part from the Mystere du Viel Testament. 
See Hugienin, Julian, An Interpolation in the Towneley Abraham Play, MLN, 
XIV, 255. 
2 The liturgy contributed in a very scattered manner to plays 1, 3 7 11-14 
17-18, 23, 25-26. 
^The Vulgate contributed strongly to all but plays 7, 25, 30 and 32, and 
parts of plays 2, 3, 9, 12 and 13. Flay 7 (probably a liturgical play) has 
not yet been traced to its source in the Vulgate. 
®The Apocryphal sources were influential only in plays 10, 23 and 25. 
®The Cursor Mundi influenced plays 7 and 32; The Pricke of Concience, 
play 30 (beginning) ; The Northern Passion, plays 20, 22, 23, 26 ; the Specu¬ 
lum Christiani, play 18 ; Middle Eng. Prayers and Lyrics, plays 12, 17-19, 
26-28, 30-31. On this last influence see Taylor, G. C., Mod. Phil. V, 1-38. 
^ Compare the conclusion of Hohlfeld, Bunzen, Pollard and Gayley on this 
class as well as on the liturgical class of sources. 
® Towneley plays 10, 16, 17, 23, 26, 27, 29, 32. 
