Wann—The Influence of French Farce 
365 
6 are good parallels. Number 3 is good except that Guille- 
mette really questions Pathelin longer than Gyll does Mak. 
Number 4 affords a parallel, except that Pathelin proposes the 
plan in the one case and Gyll in the other, thus interchanging 
the roles. Following number 5 is another interchange of 
roles, Mak and Guillemette respectively receiving the victims. 
Numbers 7 and 9 indicate parallels, though in number 7 Pathelin 
carries the business much farther, and in number 9 it takes 
Pathelin longer to convince the draper than it does Gyll. In 
number 8 there is no indication that the shepherds are con¬ 
vinced of the facts as is the draper, though there is some parallel. 
Finally, in number 1 Mak complains not so much of family cares 
as of his wife. Furthermore, he wants food, whereas Pathelin 
and his wife want clothes especially. These differences are too 
significant to be passed by, especially (1) the comparative 
meagerness of development in Secunda Pastorum, where one 
would expect fuller development if Pathelin were the original, 
and (2) the interchange of roles. Furthermore, the absence 
on any extended scale of the capital delirium scenes, the ab¬ 
sence of any hint whatever of the second part of Pathelin, which 
would afford the very best of ‘‘shepherd” material for a play, 
and the complete reversal of the conclusion (the draper failing 
where the shepherds succeed)—these and numerous minor dif¬ 
ferences in characterization argue against any close relation be¬ 
tween the two. 
(2) The late date of Pathelin is, so far as our knowledge now 
goes, an insurmountable obstacle. According to the consensus 
of opinion,^® Pathelin can hardly be earlier than 1450. Present- 
day conservative opinion is perhaps best represented in the fol¬ 
lowing words of Petit de Julleville: “La date de ce chef- 
d’oeuvre est—facile a fixer. Pathelin dut voir le jour vers 
1470. Avant cette epoque, il n’en est pas question et le nom 
est inconnue; a partir de cette date, Pathelin est nomme partout 
et il est fait sans cesse allusion.”"® On the other hand, no one 
- has ventured to place Secunda Pastorum later than about 1420. 
Around 1400 would be a more conservative estimate. And until 
See, for summary of opinion on this question, Schumacher, Joseph, 
Studien zur Farce Pathelin^, pp. 21-28. 
Le Thedtre en France (1893), p. 48. 
20 See, especially, an article by Traver, Hope, on The Relation of musical 
terms in the WoodkirJc Shepherds Plays to the dates of their composition in 
MLN 20, 1-4. This writer places Sec. Past, at about 1400 “or a little later”. 
