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JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
si placet, " Lucifer shall strut about if he pleases." Before the 
final judgment by Pilate, a council of devils in hell is represented, 
in which it is determined that, to prevent the death of Christ, 
which they foresee will shake their empire over man, a dream shall 
be presented to the mind of the governor's wife. 
The comic element is omitted in the Ammergau play. The 
nearest approach to it is in the character of J udas, especially when 
he counts the money he receives. In the Cornish play the jailers, 
soldiers, and others, make a great deal of fun, and so spoil the 
devotional character of the drama. When nails are wanted for 
the crucifixion, soldiers go to the smith in Market Street, and ask 
for great spikes to crucify the false prophet Jesus. He says, "In 
truth I cannot make them ; my hands are too sore to handle a 
tool." Here his wife interrupts him: " Thou liest ; they were 
all right when thou got up in the morning, — take them from 
under thy cloak, and show them." On showing them in a shock- 
ing state, she calls him a false knave, says he has on some occasion 
worshipped Christ, and magic has been at work; "but," says she, 
" you shall not be disappointed. I will make some. Come and 
blow," she says to a soldier. "I will blow," says he, "like a good 
fellow — no smith in all Cornwall 7 can blow better." "You 
villain," says she, "strike athirt, now this side; if the iron gets 
cold it won't expand, and if they be rough they will be all the 
worse for the toad Jesus." 
There is a long legend connected with the tree from which the 
cross is made. In the Old Testament mysteries, Adam is repre- 
sented, when on the point of death, as sending Seth to the gate of 
Paradise to ask for the oil of mercy, which had been promised. 
Seth is there shown, by the angel guard, a new-born babe in a 
maiden's arms, which babe he is told is the Son of God, and the 
oil of mercy. He has also given to him three pips of the apple 
which Adam ate (says the " Origin "), which he is directed to put 
into the mouth of his father as soon as he dies. The " Creation," 
however, says these pips were from the tree of life, and were to be 
put, one in Adam's mouth, and the other two in his nostrils. 8 
7 This although the scene is acted in Palestine. Thus, also, in the 
" Origin," Solomon makes a donation to some of his courtiers of " Boswen, 
Lostwithiel, and Lanerchy," well-known places in Cornwall. 
8 There is a representation of Seth doing this in the ancient painted glass 
window of S. Neots, Cornwall. 
