'Fayre fadyr, ye go ryght stylle :

I pray you, fadyr, speke unto me.'

JACOB AND ESAU-PROPHECIES OF THE MESSIAH-PLAGUES OF EGYPT-MOSES-BALAK AND BALAAM-THE TEN

TABLES.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh Pageants of the Widkirk series Widkirk may be dismissed briefly, and they conclude that porPlays. tion which is devoted to the Old Testament. The fifth is occupied by the story of Jacob and Esau, and is imperfect: the sixth is called Processus Prophetarum, in which Moses, David, Daniel, Sybilla, etc., announce the coming of the Saviour. The seventh is a play peculiar to this collection, and relates to the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. After a long conference between the Deity and Moses, the latter works the miracle before Pharaoh of the conversion of his rod into a serpent. Pharaoh exclaims,

'A, ha, dog, the devyll thee drowne !'

and Moses takes the serpent by the tail, saying,

'Lo, Sir, behold.'

Pharao. With ylahayl.

Certes, this is a sotell swayn."

It is followed by the departure of Moses and 'his meyney'; and hic pertransient mare is the stage direction. Pharaoh and his host 'pursuing them' are supposed to be drowned in the Red Sea, the last words of the King being:

1

'Heyf up your hertes unto Mahownde,

He will be nere us in our nede.--
Help! the raggyd devyll! we drowne!
Now mon we pay for all our dede.'

1 Evil, or ill hail. Certainly this is a cunning fellow.

Moses concludes the play in the following lines :—

'Heven, thou attend, I say, in syght,

And erth, my wordys here what I tell.
As rayn or dew on erth doys lyght,
And waters herbys and trees full well,
Gyf lovyng to godds majeste.

Hys dedys ar done, hys ways are trew :
Honowred be he in trynyte,

To hym be honoure and vertew.'

In the course of this piece, the seven plagues are represented falling upon the Egyptians, and when the people express their sufferings, Pharaoh answers them,

'What raggyd, the devyll of hell, alys you so to cry?'

In the Chester Play relating to Balaam and his Ass we meet with the following very noticeable stage-directions; how the transformation was contrived we have no means of knowing: Tunc percutiet Balaham asinam suam, et nota quod hic oportet aliquis transformari in speciem asinæ, et quando Balaham percutit dicat asina,

'Maister, thou dost eville, sickerly,

So good an asse as me to nye :

Now hast thou beaten me heare thrye

That bare thee thus aboute.'

In the Chester series, the fifth is the last play which relates to the Old Testament; and it is headed De Mose, et Chester Rege Balaak, et Balaam. In the course of it King Plays. Balak swears by Mars:

'Therefore my god, and godes all,

O mighty Marse, on thee I call,
With all the powers infernall,
Rise now, and helpe at neede !'

At the termination are the following lines, proving that the five pageants of the Old Testament occupied the first day's exhibition at Chester.

'Nowe, worthy sires, bouth greate and small,

You have we shewed this storye before ;
And yf yt be pleasinge to you all,

To morrowe nexte you shall have more.'

In the Ludus Coventria, the last piece strictly belonging to Coventry the Old Testament is the sixth; but perhaps the Plays. seventh, which is merely a deduction of the genealogy of Christ from David, may be included. The sixth is occupied by the delivery of the ten Tables to Moses, who explains and enforces all the commandments in succession, and ends with these two lines:

'Fare well, gode frendys, for hens wyll I wende:

My tale I have taught yow, my wey now I goo.'

Thus we see, that seven pageants of the Widkirk collection, five of the Chester series, and seven of the volume called Ludus Coventriæ, apply to events of the Old Testament.

THE SALUTATION.-CONCEPTION, AND BIRTH OF CHRIST. Augustus Cæsar opens the eighth Widkirk pageant with a Widkirk long speech, commanding silence, and swearing 'by Plays. Mahownde', that he will kill on the spot every one who makes the least noise. He then imposes what is called the 'head-penny', and in the course of the action a messenger goes to and returns from Judea. The annunciatio follows, forming the ninth play, and the Deity declares the reasons why his son 'takes manhood'.-Gabriel salutes the Virgin with, 'Hayll, Mary, graciouse,

Hayll, madyn, and god's spouse,
Unto the I lowte.1

1i.e., Bow: a lowt is a bowing clown.

Of all vyrgyns thou art qwene,
That ever was or shall be seyn,
Withouten dowte.

Hayll, Mary! and well thow be,
My lord of heven is wyth the.'

Joseph, arriving soon afterwards, finds Mary pregnant, and laments that ever I wed so young a wife'. The following lines are part of his speech to Elizabeth :

'Alas! alas! and woe's me!

Who hath made her with childe?

Well I wiste an oulde man and a maye

Might not accorde by no waye :

Nor manye wynters might I not plaie,
Nor worke no workes wylde.

Three monthes she has bene from me;
Nowe has she gotten here, as I see,
A great bellye, like to thee,

Since shee went awaie :

And mine it is not, be thou bolde,

For I am both oulde and coulde.'

Mary asserts that 'the God of Heaven' is father of her child: Joseph utterly disbelieves her, and declares, that he 'will not father it'; but the Angel descends, and convinces him at once of the Virgin's innocence and purity. Joseph then humbly apologises for his unjust suspicions :—

'But I wote well, my leman fre,

I have trespast to god and the :
Forgyf me, I the pray.'

She immediately consents to pardon him for his doubts. In this pageant the Angel has informed the Virgin that Elizabeth also is pregnant, and in the next, which is very short, Mary and Joseph pay a visit to Elizabeth. This brings us to the Pagina Pastorum, which is the tenth of the Widkirk series.

VOL. II,

H

The sixth pageant of the Chester Miracle-plays is entitled Chester De Salutatione et nativitate Salvatoris, and here we Plays. meet with the subsequent stanzas in French, as a part of a speech by Augustus Cæsar, here called Octavianus.

'Seigneurs tous si assembles,
Ames proles estates,

Jey posse faire larment et leez,
Et metten en languore:
Vous toutes si prest ne sortes
De fayre intentes mavolentes,
Car Ihesu soveraigne bene sages
Et demaund Emperour.

'Jay si personne mille si able,
Jey su tent faire et beable
En tresarois ne tresagait
Mes de toile plerunt,

Destret et sage su en counsell
A mi on dame et on prsel,
Declare sake et mater frail

Un teel nest pas unmaine.'1

It is not easy, after the corruptions of, perhaps, between three and four centuries, during which this passage had been handed down from transcript to transcript, to make much sense out of it; but it seems to be a declaration on the part of Augustus, of his power, wealth, and personal perfections, which quite falls in with the usual course on such occasions. We take it to have been a portion of the French original of this performance. Augustus sends a boy into Judea, to obtain a penny each from the inhabitants, telling him to take 'the highe horse beside Boughton' for his journey. Boughton,

1 These lines are taken from Harl. MS. No. 2124, which is not that usually followed in the extracts already made. In Harl. MS. No. 2013, only the first stanza is inserted, and that as prose.