A seemly man he was and curious; Another shepherd answers Trowle: Nay, it was glory, glory, with a glo! And much of celsis was thereto : As ever I have rest or roo, It may parenthetically be observed that the painters and glaziers of Chester presented this pageant. Therefore the allusion in the last line to their trade may have been meant to move mirth. After bandying their conjectures to and fro, the shepherds rise and wend their way to the stable in Bethlehem, where they find Christ newborn, and worship Him with various simple prayers and offerings: When it comes to the turn of Trowle, that incorrigible wife's jester, he has no gift to make but a pair of my old hose.' But this crude note, no sooner than struck, is resolved in a really charming quartett of boys, who approach the infant, each with a gift suitable to his own poor estate: The First Boy. Now, Lord, for to give Thee have I nothing; PASTORAL INTERLUDES. Nor no rich robes meet for a king, For it will hold a good pottle : In faith I can give Thee no more. The Third Boy. O noble child of Thee! Alas, what have I for Thee Save only my pipe? Else truely nothing. Were I in the rocks or in . . I could make this pipe, That all the woods should ring And quiver, as it were. The Fourth Boy. Now, Child, although Thou be comen from God, Yet I know that in Thy childhood Thou wilt for sweet meat look ; To pull down apples, pears, and plums ; 137 X. Passages of realistic delineation may be culled pretty copiously from all the Miracles. The eldest, those of Widkirk, for example, introduce a dialogue between Cain and his Garçon, curiously illustrative of vulgar boorish life. An episode of dicers in the Crucifixion of the same series forms a short interlude detached from the chief action. In the Chester Plays the dishonest alewife, who abides with the Devils, after Hell has been harrowed and Michael has sung Te Deum, and who is welcomed with effusion by Satan and his crew, supplies the motive of what is practically a brief comic farce. A more distinct satiric aim is traceable in some parts of the Coventry Plays—for instance, in the monologue of the Great Duke of Hell,' who comes upon the stage in the fashionable costume of a Court gallant, and reads a homily upon the modern modes of sinning;1 also in the curious interpolated pageant of the Assumption, which abounds in allusions to reformers and heretics, and is written in a harsh, coarse, controversial style, combined with much vulgarity of abuse. The introduction to the 14th Pageant of the Coventry series is a satire, the point of which has, I think, been missed by both Halliwell in his edition of these plays and Collier in his commentary on them. The Bishop's Court is about to be opened for the trial of Mary accused of incontinence. An usher enters, and makes proclamation: Avoid, sirs, and let my lord the Bishop come, And sit in the court the laws for to do; And I shall go in this place them for to summon ; He then reads out a list of names, obviously meant to indicate parishioners over whom the Bishop's Court had jurisdiction for sins of the flesh. They run in pairs mostly, men and women, as thus : Cook Crane and Davy Drydust, Lucy Liar and Lettice Littletrust, Miles the Miller and Colle Crakecrust, Both Bett the Baker and Robin Reed. Lastly, having summoned these evil livers, he bids them put money in their purse, lest their cause fare ill 1 Pageant 25. in the Bishop's Court-a warning similar to that we find in Mapes's rhymes upon the Roman Curia: And look ye ring well in your purse, For else your cause may speed the worse. Both Halliwell and Collier interpret this passage to mean that entrance fees were paid at exhibitions of the pageants. This, however, is inconsistent with the whole tenor of the proclamation, and is quite in contradiction with the last words of the usher : Though that ye sling God's curse Even at mine head, fast come away : where it is clear that the fellow is not inviting spectators to a show, but making believe to summon unwilling folk before the justice. I shall close these remarks with yet another scene of dramatic realism, chosen from the Coventry Plays. It occurs in the Pageant of the Woman taken in Adultery. A Scribe and a Pharisee are consulting how they may entrap Christ, and bring Him to confusion. A third person, who is styled Accusator, suggests that they should present Him with the puzzling case of a woman detected in the act of sin : A fair young quean here by doth dwell, Both fresh and gay upon to look ; And a tall man with her doth mell: The way into her chamber right even he took. Let us there now go straight thither; The way full even I shall you lead ; And we shall take them both together, While that they do that sinful deed. The Pharisee and Scribe assent. The Accuser leads them to the house. They break open the door, and the tall man comes rushing out, pursued by the three witnesses. The stage direction runs as follows: [Hic juvenis quidam extra currit in diploide, caligis non ligatis, et braccas in manu tenens, et dicit ACCUSATOR.] Accusator. Stow that harlot, some earthly wight! That in advowtry here is found! Fuvenis. If any man stow me this night, Or we depart dead shall I be ; Pharisee. Great God his curse may go with thee! Fuvenis. That same blessing I give you three, And queath you all to the devil of hell. [Turning to the audience, and showing them in what a plight he stands.] In faith I was so sore afraid Of yon three shrews, the sooth to say, Adieu, adieu! a twenty devils' way! And God his curse have ye everyone! What follows, when the Scribe, the Pharisee, and the Accuser drag the woman forth, is too foul-mouthed for quotation. It proves that the monkish author of the text shrank from nothing which could make his point clear, or could furnish sport to the spectators. The scene |
