and bear a son ?" This is perhaps the most significant parallel to the dialogues in the Church Fathers; see note on C. II, 25 ff.

72-73. In the Cursor Mundi Joseph makes a long lament, similar to the one here, and then also determines to 'stele awaye' without seeing Mary.

76. Puella. See note on C. II, 3.

81. A charming anachronism, and a favorite representation of the Virgin in mediæval art. Cf. Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch.

92 ff. See note on C. II, 25 ff.

136-137. See note on C. II, 71 ff.

200-201. Joseph is in danger of punishment for breaking his vow to keep Mary a virgin. Cf. note on 11. 49–50. 231-236. See 11. 202-208, and cf. C. II, 127-136. 294-298. Cf. C. II, 184-188.

YORK NATIVITY (III).

1. Beginning in mediis rebus; no introductory description of the edict from Augustus and the trip to Bethlehem, as in the other plays. The effect is not satisfactory, however, for no connection with what has gone before is implied, and the spectators' knowledge of the story is relied upon to fill in the gaps.

14. Again following Luke and the liturgical drama, instead of the Apocryphal Gospels, which make the stable only a cave by the roadside.

18. The roof is ruined by rain.
43-44. Mist. d. 1. Nat. p. 60:

Nostre-Dame: Joseph, se Diex vous puist secourir.
Alez bien tost du feu quérir.

Joseph: Volontiers j'yray du feu prendre

En l'hostel de ce marichal.

57 ff. Cf. C. V, 90 ff., note.

71. Cf. in T. IV, 1 this idea of English Christmas weather.

78. The light appears in both Apocryphal Gospels and in C. IV, 172. Notice here the extraordinary absence of the midwives, showing not only the author's independence of the Apocryphal Gospels, but also of the liturgical Christmas plays. It is more probable that this author was working directly on the Scriptural account than that any of the others

were.

84 ff. Notice the naturalness and simple beauty of this scene, and its great superiority to the Nativity-scenes in the other cycles, where we have philosophical reasoning about the virgin birth, and the long description of Salome's doubt, punishment, and forgiveness. This scene is the Y. dramatist's high-water mark.

เ

99-105. The prophecy of Balaam is in Numbers 24. 17: There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel.' There is no reference to a child born of a maiden, as our text would imply. This prophecy plays a most important part in the development of the religious drama. It was first introduced in the Rouen Prophet Play (see note on Y. I, 15), the Festum Asinorum. The ass, lending a comic element to the play, became very popular, and many Balaam plays developed in the liturgical as well as in the vernacular drama. An English example is the fifth play of the Chester Cycle (cf. C. V, 26-29; Y. IV, 14 ff.). Ch. 5, 289-304:

Balaam: Now one thing will I tell you all hereafter what shall befall:

a starre of Jacob springe shall,

a man of Israel.

He shall overcome and have in band
all kinges, dukes of strang land,
and all the world have in his hand
as lord to dight and deale.

Esayas I saye a mayden meeke and mylde shall conceave and bear a childe, cleane without workes wilde,

to wyn mankinde to wele.

These two prophecies are confused and both attributed to Balaam in this play, probably because they were often quoted together, as in Ch. Isaiah's prophecy is in Isa. 7.

14 ff. Cf. Y. I, 61-68.

136-140. A misreading of Habakkuk 3. 2, in the Alexandrine version, quoted in Pseudo-Matt. 13 as 'in medio animalium' instead of in medio annorum.' The misreading is also quoted in the Augustinian Sermo contra Judæos. The ox and the ass became known as the animals referred to because of Isa. 1. 3: 'The ox doth know his owner and the ass his master's crib.' This is also quoted in Pseudo-Matt. 13. The widespread popularity of this version, probably due to its being included in Pseudo-Matt., is attested by the countless number of ancient and modern paintings of the scene in the stable in which the ox and ass appear.

YORK SHEPHERDS (IV).

The first part of this play lacks all the charm that the last part, ll. 86-130, possesses. The author seems to ramble on for a long time before he strikes his gait.

5-12. Why these two prophets are chosen to represent the rest is not clear. There is no such prophecy in Hosea. Cf. note on Y. I, 85–91.

14 ff. The prophecy of Balaam, appearing again in the Shepherd Play. Cf. C. V, 26-29; Y. III, 99–195, and note. 34. flitte. An appropriate word; one meaning being to shift a tethered animal, or to move a sheepcote.

60-64. Cf. Ch. II, 358-435, and note.

81. Cf. Ch. II, 300, note.

82-85. Cf. Ch. II, 442-447, and note.

86. From here on the style, structure, and spirit of the play seem to improve. The presentation of gifts is very good in its homely realism, and affords a good contrast with the more dignified scene in the Coventry Shepherd Play. 94. Cf. Y. III, 136-140, and note.

103. Cf. Ch. II, 559, and note. The meaning of this line has caused much discussion, and given rise to many unnecessary emendations; see Variants. I see no reason against reading it as it stands, its meaning being 'A poor (or mere) brooch with (or and) a tin bell.'

105-107. Cf. Ch. II, 560, and note. 114-118. Cf. Ch. II, 560, and note. 124. Cf. Ch. II, 571–572.

TOWNELEY ANNUNCIATION (I).

1-52. Another introductory passage on the reason for the Incarnation: man has lain years in the pains of hell because of Adam's sin; to save him God must send his Son to earth to suffer for man, so that the redemption may be 'wyth reson and wyth right,' as well as 'through mercy and through might' (ll. 19-20), thus suggesting at least the fundamental element of the Coventry Mercy and Peace, Righteousness and Truth prologue; cf. C. I.

In 11. 40-52 the prophet element is introduced, and combined with the other. This prologue is therefore typical of two of the popular elements in the Christmas plays.

9-15. Cf. in C. M. Gayley's Plays of our Forefathers the chapter on 'Oil of Mercy.'

The ultimate source of this idea is in the Gospel of Nicodemus 19: Seth dixit: ... "Ego, Seth, cum essem orans dominum ad portas paradisi, ecce angelus domini Michael apparuit mihi dicens 'Ego missus sum ad te a domino. . . . Tibi dico enim, Seth, noli laborari lacrimis orando et deprecando propter oleum ligni misericordiae, ut perungas patrem tuum Adam pro dolore corporis sui, quia nullo modo poteris ex eo accipere nisi in novissimis diebus et temporibus, nisi quando completi fuerint quinque milia et quingenti anni; tunc veniet super terram amantissimus Dei filius ad resuscitandum corpus Adæ et corpora mortuorum, et ipse veniens in Jordane baptizabitur. Cum autem egressus fuerit de aqua Jordanis, tunc de oleo misericordiæ suæ unget omnes cre

S

dentes in se, et erit oleum illud misericordiæ in generationem eorum qui nascendi sunt ex aqua et spiritu sancto in vitam eternam. Tunc descendens in terras amantissimus Dei filius Christus Jesus introducet patrem nostrum Adam in paradisum ad arborem misericordiæ.'

Cf. for similar versions of this legend Cursor Mundi and the South English Legendary (EETS. 87), part 10, l. 131 ff. Several of the later plays are taken from the Gospel of Nicodemus.

12. Cf. preceding note. Evidently from the figures in the Gospel of Nicodemus, rather than from any of the countless mediæval computations; see note on C. I, 1.

32-34. St. Chrysostom (Migne, Patr. Gr. 52. 768): 'Pro Eva Maria, pro ligno scientiæ boni et mali lignum crucis, pro morte Adami mors Domini.' The idea of Christ as a second Adam goes back to St. Paul, I Corinthians 15. 45; for the idea of Mary as a second Eve, see note on C. I, 217; the tree for tree' comes from the Gospel of Nicodemus 24, where Christ, in harrowing hell, says: 'Come with me all ye who have died through the tree which Adam touched. For behold, I raise you up through the tree of the cross.' This does not appear in the MS. which is the basis of the Tischendorf edition of the Gospel of Nicodemus, but is given in the variants. I quote from Cowper's translation. Cf. the Middle English translation of the Gospel of Nicodemus, II. 1471-1476 (EETS. Ex. Ser. 100).

41-51. The patriarchs and prophets, at least through Jeremiah, seem to follow in some recognized regular order, or at least in the same order in which they appear in the Old Testament plays and Plays of the Prophets in the English cycles. In the Coventry Plays we have a Play of Abraham, followed by a Play of Moses and the Ten Commandments, followed by a Prophet Play, in which the first three prophets are Isaiah, David, Jeremiah; cf. C. 5, 6, 7. In the Chester Plays, Abraham and Moses come in order, then the Balaam Play is introduced, followed by prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and David. In this cycle, T., the order is Abraham, Moses, David, and the Sibyl.