Beatty—The St. Georg o } or Mummers', Plays. 283 
the body of Christ. The Mercator praises his wares and holds 
out for a high price: 
“Quo si corpus possetis unguere, 
Non amplius posset putre score, 
Neque vermes possent eommedere,” 
he proclaims; and at last consents to accept* “unum auri 
talentum.” 1 
Another.case is in a French play, f( Les Trois Maries pre¬ 
served in a MS. of the end of the thirteenth century at Paris. 
The merchant asks five gold besants for his ointment and ac¬ 
cepts two. 2 In a German play of the twelfth century 3 almost 
the same words are used, and the medicine dealer says that his 
salves will bring the dead to life again. The Doctor also ap¬ 
pears in another German play and haggles over the price of his 
wonderful wares. 4 In the most thorough examination of this 
scene, its sources are traced to Provengal and Italian plays; and 
in its earliest form it seems, always to occur in connection with 
the three Marys. Those plays which have the Doctor dis¬ 
sociated from the Marys seem to be later. 5 Nevertheless, it 
1 E. de Coussemaker, “Drames Liturgiques” (1861), pp. 38-39. 
no. 3. 
2 Coussemaker, 1. c., pp. 272-273. 
3 C. W. M. Grein, "Alsfel'der Passionspiel,” 1874. 
4 F. J. Mone, “Altdeutsche Schauspiele,” 1841; R. C. Prutz, “Geschich- 
te des 1 deutschen Theaters,” 1847, p. 123. The play is given in 
W. Wackernagel, “Altdeutsches Lesebuch,” 1880, cols. 501-510. 
The Benediktbeuer Passion Play is printed in Schmeller, “Carmina 
Burana” (1847), and in R. Froning, “Das Drama des Mittelalters,” 
vol. 1, pp. 284 ff. 
The scene occurs also in “The Play of the Sacrament,” Transactions 
of the Philological Society, 1860-61. This play dates from about 1461, 
according to its editor, “W. S.” 
s Richard Heinzel, “Abhandlungen zum altdeutschen Drama,” Wien, 
1896. For references and sources see the whole chapter, “Ueber das 
Medicusspiel und die lustige Person in dem altdeutschen Drama.” 
chap. 6. 
Wilhelm Wundt, “Volkerpsychologie,” 2 Band, 1 Teil, pp. 486-495, 
has a searching discussion of the Doctor and his’ allies. Wundt notes 
that embryonic forms of the clown, or mimus, occur among savages 
(p. 491). 
The most exhaustive treatment of the mimus is Hermann Reich, “Der 
