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THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 FROM THE POINT OF VIEW 
 
 OF ALLEGORY 
 
 
 W' ROY MACKENZIE 
 
 ^ 
 
 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 
 
 BOSTON AND LONDON 
 
 GINN AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 
 
 1914 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY GINN AND COMPANY 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 ■MtM3 
 
 HTfte iStfitnamm jgrt<< 
 
 GINN AND COMI'ANY • PRO- 
 PRIETORS ■ BOSTON • U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In beginning this work my aim was to throw some light on 
 the allegorical methods employed in the Moralities, l^ut I had 
 not proceeded far on this quest before it became apparent that 
 a proper presentation of the allegorical methods employed would 
 necessarily include a thorough clearing away of the cobwebs of 
 misapprehension which cling to most treatments of this species 
 of drama, and a complete classification of the Moralities on the 
 basis of allegorical structure. In my discussion of existing treat- 
 ments of the Morality I have taken high ground, and I shall, 
 without doubt, be most heartily criticized for assuming, from the 
 start, the complacent attitude that I am right and ever)-body else 
 is wrong. I plead, in my defence, that at the beginning of m)- 
 study I used all these treatments, not as interesting bits of read- 
 ing in themselves, but as prospective guides to a detailed in- 
 vestigation of the Moralities. The result was that each new 
 guide led me into a new morass, and I soon reached the conclu- 
 sion that I could do no worse, at least, by starting out to explore 
 the country alone. The excuse for bringing in the results of my 
 expedition I can state with a good deal of confidence. It is that 
 the Moralities are, not a series of plays which have for the most 
 part adopted allegory as a method of presentation, but a series 
 of allegories presented in dramatic form. If this is granted it 
 follows that the Moralities, before being considered as dramas 
 or as chronological factors in a history of the drama, must be 
 interpreted and classified as allegories. 
 
 There are a few points of obvious and general interest which 
 the most casual student of the Moralities should have in mind at 
 the beginning, and which are not out of place even in a preface. 
 
vm THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 First, and most important, is the reminder that the Morahty, 
 though usually exhibiting a most disgusting freedom of language 
 in its scenes of vice, coupled often with a purely animal and 
 sensual joy in the luxury of sin, had as its constant purpose a 
 desire to edify. It was "a game wherein Vices fyght with 
 Vertues," and it would hardly be consistent to demand that the 
 Vices in this game should deport themselves like prigs, or dis- 
 play themselves as benevolent and clean-minded personifications 
 of vile and abhorrent sins. The average Vice of the Morality 
 has no such virtuous desire in mind. He shows himself in his 
 true colors, and if these colors are often suggestive of mud 
 and filth, we must at least admit that consistency is a jewel, and 
 refrain from a desire to see our friend the Vice clothed in white 
 and gold. Personally, I must confess to a base-born partiality 
 for this rollicking incarnation of sin who skips merrily through 
 so many scenes of the Moralities and interrupts so many dole- 
 ful homilies. I am quite conscious now that I have shown this 
 partiality — unconscious at the time — in the pages that follow, 
 and the excuse that I must present is that I have not written 
 this work primarily to inculcate morality. 
 
 The point, then, that we have almost lost sight of is that the 
 Morality aims at being edifying on the whole, though it is not 
 always so in details. At the close of the action virtue is trium- 
 phant, the representatives of vice are discomfited and driven 
 from the stage, and Man, except in one or two cases, has ob- 
 tained pardon and has attained strength to persist in a useful 
 and moral life. This leads to the second point. 
 
 The question might arise, and as a matter of fact often does 
 arise. What is this useful lesson that the Morality presents for 
 the guidance of life ? In the best-known class of Moralities, that 
 in which the human hero is striven for by Virtues and Vices, 
 Man regularly falls from grace, persists in sin during a great 
 part of his life, and is usually reclaimed to virtue at the close of 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 the action, when, in many cases, he has neared the end of his 
 days. Do the Morahties, then, teach us to give free rein to our 
 lusts and our dishonest desires through the prime of hfe and 
 then to embrace virtue with a shrewd eye to the hereafter ? Not 
 so. In studying these plays we must never forget that Man is 
 not presented as stalking in lordly fashion among Virtues and 
 Vices and selecting from them companions at will, but that 
 Virtues and Vices are presented as striving for the possession 
 of Man. The latter is regarded as inclining to good rather than 
 to evil ; consequently, in nearly every case, the Vices have to 
 resort to subterfuge in order to win his temporary companion- 
 ship. The trick which they almost invariably practise is to in- 
 troduce themselves by assumed names as Virtues ; and, having 
 once gained the favor of Man, they spur him on to vice and 
 crime while deceiving him into the belief that he is leading the 
 best possible kind of life. At last Man encounters the true Vir- 
 tues and is reclaimed by them. Thus the spectator of these 
 plays was put on his guard against the sins which have a spe- 
 cious and pleasing aspect, and was taught to recognize the true 
 virtues to be practised in the world. 
 
 It would be idle, however, to deny the probability of a purely 
 dramatic reason for making the bulk of the action, in a great 
 many Moralities, a picture of life in sin, since their only chance 
 to provide amusement was through the representatives of vice. 
 Consequently these vulgar and fun-provoking persons often oc- 
 cupy the centre of the stage during the greater part of the play. 
 One cannot but wonder at the constant employment of the 
 phrase " bloodless abstractions," used sweepingly to designate 
 the Morality actors, as if they were a set of sermonizing autom- 
 atons. The Virtues, to be sure, may usually be thus described ; 
 but the Vices, on the contrary, are a troop of as virile, resource- 
 ful, red-blooded scoundrels as one could wish to meet — or to 
 avoid. The chief objection to be made in their case is that. 
 
X THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 from the point of view of allegory, they are often rendered en- 
 tirely too many-sided and human to stand accurately for the 
 abstractions which they are intended to personify. And, in con- 
 sequence of this tendency to humanize the Vices, we frequently 
 find that they are differentiated as actors on the stage rather 
 than in accordance with the names that specify their characters. 
 This, however, applies to scenes where the Vices foregather to 
 cominre sinful experiences, and scarcely ever to scenes where 
 they appear as the tempters of Man. 
 
 I should like also to oppose the usual criticism that it is be- 
 cause of their allegorical structure that the Moralities are often 
 insufferably dull. It is, on the contrary, when the allegory is 
 temporarily neglected in favor of an uncalled-for literal expla- 
 nation of events, or, as happens more frequently, for a lengthy 
 homily, that the modern student must fight his desire to close 
 the book. And even here one should regard the matter sympa- 
 thetically, and with the realization that the persons for whom 
 the plays were produced listened with patience and even with 
 pleasure to sermons which inspire us only with impious and re- 
 vengeful desires. We may admit, then, that these breaks in the 
 allegory are displeasing to the person who turns nowadays to the 
 Moralities in the hope of being amused, but what person with a 
 sense for that which is true and appealing in literature can fail 
 to recognize the beauty of the two Moralities, Everyutati and 
 The Play of Wjt mid Scicjice ? And these are two of the most 
 finished and consistent allegories in existence. 
 
 Lastly, I wish merely to reiterate a point which I have men- 
 tioned in different parts of this work; that is, the admirable 
 fitness of allegory for the presentation of a moral lesson by means 
 of drama. Indeed, when one considers that a play, to merit the 
 name, cannot be merely a sermon or a set of directions, one is 
 forced to admit that, in drama, the allegorical structure is the 
 most direct means by which a single and connected lesson can 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 be taught for the guidance of life. There is no opportunity for 
 the display of disturbing human passions and interests such as 
 must enter into the play concerned with the fortunes of indi- 
 vidual human beings. In the Morality, every character has his 
 course of action decided by his name, so that, once given the 
 proper set of characters, the lesson works itself out inevitably. 
 In the pages that follow, and in more direct connection with 
 the plays, this point has, I hope, been made clear. 
 
 This investigation in its first form was presented as a par- \^ 
 tial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of 
 Philosophy at Harvard University. It was begun, and has been 
 carried on, with the advice of Professor Neilson, from whom I 
 have received, from first to last, the most sympathetic and help- 
 ful criticism. To Professor Kittredge, also, I owe the warmest 
 thanks. His practical suggestions were of the greatest use to 
 me in formulating those chapters in which my main conclusions 
 are presented. Professors Neilson and Greenough have read 
 the manuscript and proof throughout, and have given me many 
 useful hints for revising and emending. And, finally, in the 
 preparation of the entire work I have had the cooperation of 
 my wife, and many of the conclusions that follow we have 
 reached together by the way of discussion. 
 
 W. R. M. 
 
 Washington University, St. Louis 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. THE SUBJECT DEFINED . . . . i 
 
 Inconsistency of present definitions. God and the Devil as actors in 
 the Moralities. Ward's definition ; its defects. ColHer's definition ; its 
 defects. Everyman as a typical Morality ; its characters not in accord 
 with the above definitions. Creizenach's definition ; its defects. A new 
 definition proposed. The definition as a basis of distinction between 
 actual and apparent Moralities: Appius and Virginia; The Conflict of 
 Conscience ; The iVice Wanton ; The Disobedient Child; Like Willto Like, 
 Quoth the Devil to the Collier. 
 
 CHAPTER II. THE MORALITIES CLASSIFIED . . i8 
 
 Allegorical structure the only satisfactory basis for a classification. 
 Dangers in the chronological method. Collier's classification ; its defects. 
 Professor Bates's classification ; its defects. Gayley's classification ; its 
 defects. A new classification presented on the basis of allegorical 
 structure. 
 
 CHAPTER III. ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN THE 
 
 MIRACLE PLAYS 24 
 
 The Coventry cycle : appearance of Contemplacio in Plays VIII, XI, 
 
 XIII, and XXIX ; allegorical action and speech in Plays IX, XI, 
 
 XIV, XIX, XXV, and XLI. The Chester cycle: deliberate avoidance 
 of allegory in Play XII, as in Play XLII of the Coventry cycle. The 
 Towneley cycle : allegorical dialogue in Play XXXII. The problem of 
 the Coventry cycle, and its bearing on the question of relationship be- 
 tween the Miracles and the Moralities. Allegorical elements in the 
 Digby plays : St. Paul and Mary Magdalene ; importance of allegory in 
 the latter. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. MORALITIES DEALING WITH THE 
 CONFLICT BETWEEN VIRTUES AND VICES FOR 
 SUPREMACY 39 
 
 Comparative smallness of the class. Its departure from the older 
 form as in the Psychomachia. Hyckescomer. The Three Laws. New 
 Custom. The Three Ladies of London. 
 
 xili 
 
THE ENGLISH MORALITIES xiv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER V. MORALITIES DEALING WITH THE CON- 
 FLICT BETWEEN VIRTUES AND VICES FOR THE 
 POSSESSION OF MAN S7 
 
 Size and importance of the class. Necessity of making three sub- 
 divisions : I. Man Spiritual. 2. Man Intellectual. 3. Man represented 
 merely by one or more personified attributes. The broad distinguish- 
 ing features of the three classes. Similarity and dissimilarity between 
 this class and that presenting the Conflict for Supremacy- i. Man 
 Spiritual: The Castle 0/ Perseverance ; Mankind; A'aturc ; Magnyfy- 
 ceftce ; Mttndus et Infans ; The Thrie Estaites, Part I; Lnsty Juventus ; 
 Youth; Impatient Poverty; Marie Magdalene; Albion, A'night; The 
 Trial of Treasure; The Longer Thou Livest the More Foole Thou AH; 
 The Conjlict of Conscience. — 2. Man Intellectual. Points in common 
 with the third subdivision, htterhide of the Four Elements. — 3. Man 
 represented merely by one or more personified attributes : H'isdoM, 
 Who is Christ ; Wyt and Science ; Wealth a>id Health ; The Marriage of 
 Wit and Science ; The Marriage of Wit and IVisdom. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. MORALITIES ILLUSTRATING A SPE- 
 CIAL TEXT 180 
 
 Relation of the text to the play. Like Will to Like, Quoth the Devil to 
 the Collier. The Tyde Taryeth A'o Man. All For Money. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. MORALITIES DEALING WITH THE 
 
 SUMMONS OF DEATH 202 
 
 Appearance of the same motive in The Castle of Pcrseverajicc and 
 in the Coventry Slatighter of the Ltnoccnts. Some reasons for the 
 very small number in this class. The P?yde of Lyfe. Every nun. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. MORALITIES DEALING WITH RE- 
 LIGIOUS AND POLITICAL CONTROVERSY . .211 
 
 Controversial tendencies common in the Moralities that follow other 
 schemes. Distinguishing features of the plays now to be considered. 
 The Satyre of the Thrie Estaites, Y^x^ \\. Kynge fohan. KeipiibUca. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. CONTEMPORARY PLAYS WITH MO- 
 RALITY FEATURES 235 
 
 Brief summary of the essentials of a Morality. The Alee Wanton. The 
 Disobedient Child. Queen Hester, fohan the J^vangelist. A'yng Daryus. 
 Horestes. Cambyses. Appius and Virginia. The Three Lords and Three 
 Ladies of London. 
 
XV CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER X. THE MORALITIES CONSIDERED IN 
 
 RELATION TO THEIR ORIGINAL AUDIENCE . 257 
 
 Present attitude toward the Moralities due partly to the generic term 
 itself, partly to the employment of allegory and homily. Allegory as 
 viewed by the present-day reader ; manner in which it should be em- 
 ployed ; its effect in the Moralities when acted. The dramatis personae 
 of the Moralities as allegorical figures; considered as "bloodless ab- 
 stractions." Possibilities of human interest in the spectacle, which are 
 not so apparent in the plays when they are read. Everyman as an act- 
 ing performance. Dramatic possibilities of the Conflict scheme ; its 
 popularity due to inherent dramatic situations, humor, etc. Compati- 
 bility of humor with the avowed moral purpose. Homily in the Morali- 
 ties ; its prevalence, and apparent attractiveness to the audience. 
 Homiletic moraUzing the chief function of the Virtues. Prevalence of 
 homily in preceding and contemporary literature. Conclusion. 
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND EDITIONS . . .271 
 INDEX 275 
 
THE ENGLISH MORALITIES FROM 
 
 THE POINT OF VIEW OF 
 
 ALLEGORY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SUBJECT DEFINED 
 
 The first impression that one receives in reading the existing 
 treatments of the MoraHty is that of a curious discrepancy be- 
 tween the definitions presented and the plays which are grouped 
 under the definitions. The chief criticism to be made — and it 
 is a sufficiently damning one — is that many of these treatments 
 restrict the type to such narrow limits that at best only two or 
 three plays could be legitimately admitted ; but the constructors 
 of these limits, having thus appeased their desire for conserva- 
 tism, proceed to admit many plays that could not be included 
 under any definition that would not be too broad to warrant us 
 in considering the Moralities as a separate class. It is of the 
 first importance, then, that we should have some reasonable 
 definition, applicable to the facts, and based upon the evidence 
 of the plays themselves. If some of the present definitions were 
 accepted literally we should have to consign the Morality, as a 
 type, to the realm of hypothesis, and this might be a satisfactory 
 solution of the problem if it were possible ; but that Moralities 
 do exist is attested by the very writers who, while they make 
 the type theoretically non-existent, continue to discuss it as a 
 real section of dramatic literature. 
 
2 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 One of the prime causes of confusion is the attitude of some 
 writers toward God and the Devil as actors in the Morahty. 
 Mr, Chambers, for instance, in his Mediaeval Stage, says : "The 
 process of introducing abstractions into the Miracle plays does 
 not seem to have gone very far. On the other hand the Morali- 
 ties, if God and the Devil may be regarded as abstractions, 
 admit of nothing else." ^ 
 
 I shall revert presently to the last part of this second state- 
 ment. Just now I am concerned with the clause italicized. It 
 seems that Mr. Chambers is suggesting that we regard super- 
 natural powers as abstractions in order that the Morality may 
 be defined with one sweep of the arm. Evidently he admits 
 it without question himself. But would his admission, or ours, 
 have anything to do with the case ,? It would seem that the 
 necessary admission here should be from the author of the play 
 and the people who saw it acted : and, to whatever realms of 
 abstraction God and the Devil may have been consigned by 
 modern metaphysics, we may be sure that to the people most 
 concerned in the production of the Moralities they were real 
 and living personages. 
 
 Professor Courthope, in his History of Ejiglish Poetry, takes 
 the same view of these supernatural figures. While discussing 
 the Miracle Play, he says: "As its main object was to set 
 before the people the scheme of redemption, the dramatist did 
 not hesitate to place upon the stage impersonations of the most 
 abstract conceptions of the mind. God, the nine orders of 
 angels, the Devil and his rebel host, were all introduced in the 
 pageants," ^ etc. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to argue that the theology of the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries did not present Jehovah and 
 his great adversary as abstractions conceived by the human 
 
 1 E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, II, 153. (The italics are mine.) 
 !* W. J. Courthope, A History 0/ English Poetry, I, 398. 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED 3 
 
 mind. To the persons who composed the MoraUties, and to 
 those who beheld them upon the stage, God was without doubt 
 the mighty sovereign of Scriptural story ; and the Devil was, 
 just as truly, an actual personality who, '" as a roaring lion, 
 walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 
 
 The matter is, after all, a very simple one. The playwright 
 who believes in the actual existence of supernatural beings, or 
 who accepts for dramatic purposes a belief in their actual exist- 
 ence, presents them exactly as he would present Achilles or 
 Julius Caesar or King Henry the Fifth ; and he knows also 
 that, if his contemporaries are capable of a like belief, they will 
 regard them in the same light. The skeptic may argue that 
 these people are entertaining mistaken beliefs, but that does 
 not affect the situation. He may discuss, as he frequently does, 
 the reality of supernatural visitations in the days when people 
 had certain well-defined theories of demonology ; but if, for 
 instance, the Elizabethans believed that a ghost could exist in- 
 dependently of a diseased mind, and if Shakespeare understood 
 and shared this belief, it is entirely beside the point for the 
 person who does not believe in ghosts to argue that the spirit 
 of Hamlet's father was purely subjective — a conception of 
 Hamlet's unsound imagination. 
 
 Instead, then, of admitting that God and the Devil are ab- 
 stractions in the Moralities, I assume that they were, on the 
 contrary, as real to the people who saw them on the stage as 
 were Hamlet and his father's ghost to a later audience. If this 
 is true, plainly the dramatis persojiac of the Morality must 
 be capable of including more than personifications of abstract 
 qualities. 
 
 But let us turn again to Mr. Chambers's statement that " the 
 Moralities, if God and the Devil may be regarded as abstractions, 
 admit of nothing else." I propose to show that the Moralities 
 will admit of much else, but first I should like to refer to a 
 
4 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 few other treatments of the subject which avow, or take for 
 granted, the same theory, and exclude all but abstractions. 
 
 Ward is quite clear upon the subject. In making his distinc- 
 tions between Mysteries, Miracles, and Moralities, he says : 
 " Lastly, Morals teach and illustrate the same religious truths, 
 not by direct representation of scriptural or legendary events 
 and personages, but by allegorical means, abstract figures of 
 virtues or qualities being personified in the characters appearing 
 in this species of play." ^ 
 
 This seems, at least, unambiguous ; but apparently Ward is 
 troubled by doubts of its finality, for he presently adds a formal 
 definition : "A Morality may be defined as a play enforcing a 
 moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of 
 characters which are personified abstractions — figures repre- 
 senting virtues and vices, qualities of the human mind, or 
 abstract conceptions in general." ^ 
 
 This definition, as well as its precursor quoted above, evi- 
 dently points to the same conclusion as does Chambers's state- 
 ment, the only loophole for escape in Ward's case being the 
 fact that he does not explicitly state that all the characters are 
 personified abstractions. But if not stated, this is at least implied. 
 And in contradistinction to this definition, the treatment of the 
 Morality that follows is based almost entirely upon plays that 
 contain important type figures, — as, indeed, it would have to 
 be if it were based upon actual plays at all. 
 
 A more elusive definition is that presented by Collier : "A 
 Moral, or Moral play, is a drama, the characters of which are 
 allegorical, abstract, or symbolical, and the story of which is in- 
 tended to convey a lesson for the better conduct of human life."^ 
 
 The special characteristic of this definition is extreme vague- 
 ness. " Allegorical, abstract, or symbolical " : what steps can 
 
 1 A. W. Ward, A History of English Dramatic Literature, I, 42. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 100. 8 J. P. Collier, History of English Dramatic Poetry, II, 183. 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED 5 
 
 one take to reduce this compound to its elements ? Perhaps the 
 author had a shrewd suspicion of the truth, and intended these 
 terms to include characters, like the familiar human hero, that 
 represent neither vices nor virtues ; but one is tempted to sup- 
 pose that he grouped the words simply as three synonyms, 
 more inclusive than one term by itself. The word "symbolical" 
 is especially troublesome. It means, in general, much the same 
 as "allegorical," though possibly it is used here to indicate the 
 type figures that embody the qualities by which they are dom- 
 inated. On the whole, however, it is hard to avoid the conclusion 
 that the three terms are grouped together for common protection. 
 And undoubtedly the purpose is served, since it is impossible 
 to characterize the statement as wrong. Still, as a definition 
 it is vague and inadequate. 
 
 In order to show the kinds of characters that constantly 
 appear in the Moralities, let us take as a specific instance the 
 Morality of Everymaji} since it is better known than any other 
 play of its class, and will serve as well as any other for an 
 example. The following is a list of the dramatis personac : 
 
 Messenger 
 
 Kyndrede 
 
 Strengthe 
 
 God 
 
 Goodes 
 
 Dyscrecyon 
 
 Dethe 
 
 Good Dedes 
 
 Fyve Wyttes 
 
 Everyman 
 
 Knowledge 
 
 Aungel 
 
 Felawship 
 
 Confessyon 
 
 Doctour 
 
 Cosyn 
 
 Beaute 
 
 
 Two of the characters, the Messenger and the Doctor, we 
 may dismiss from the discussion, since they have no direct con- 
 nection with the plot, but merely comment from the outside. All 
 the other persons in the list are directly associated with the plot. 
 
 Everyman himself, the hero of the play, is identical with 
 Mankind, Man, or Humanum Genus ; that is, he is the repre- 
 sentative of the human race, who appears under different names 
 
 1 Dodsley, Old English Plays (ed. Hazlitt), Vol. III. 
 
6 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 in many of the Moralities. We may regard Everyman as a 
 representative man without any decided bent in the direction 
 of either virtue or vice, but rendered as far as possible color- 
 less in order to personate men in general ; or we may regard 
 him as inclusive, that is, standing for all men with their pos- 
 sibilities for good and evil. The distinction, however, is very 
 hazy and, on the whole, is not worth striving for. The point 
 of importance is that Everyman is to be regarded, not as an 
 individual man, or as the representative of one class, but as 
 a highly universalized type, the representative of the whole 
 human race. 
 
 Let me make clear the signification of these terms. The in- 
 dividual man is, of course, easily understood. He is Tom Jones, 
 or William Robinson, or any person with a name applying 
 strictly to himself, though he may be broadened arbitrarily into 
 the representative of a class of men. The specialized type, or 
 representative of a class, is such a character as the lawyer, the 
 priest, or Jack Tar the sailor ; that is, a human being confined 
 to some particular walk of life, or characterized by some idiosyn- 
 crasy. Then we pass, without crossing any distinct boundary, 
 to the universalized type, representing persons with more or less 
 universal tendencies. In this class are Mr. Worldly Wiseman 
 of the Pilgrim s Progress, and Greediness, in the Morality All 
 for Money, who stands for greedy men. The most highly uni- 
 versalized type of all is the Morality hero who represents the 
 entire human family. 
 
 The hero of Everyman is thus not the personification of an 
 abstract quality, but a type, and he does not in this respect 
 stand alone in the play. After being summoned to his pil- 
 grimage by Death, he repairs to Fellowship and beseeches the 
 latter to accompany him. Fellowship refuses, and Everyman 
 has to leave him behind. What, pray, is Fellowship now ? 
 Fickleness, possibly, but certainly no longer the abstract quality 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED 7 
 
 of fellowship or friendship. The lament of Everyman himself 
 at this point indicates the exact nature of the figure Fellowship : 
 
 It is said, in prosperity ra&n friends may find 
 Which in adversity be full unkind. 
 Now whither for succour shall I flee 
 Sith Fellowship hath forsaken me ? ^ 
 
 That is, Fellowship does not personify an abstract quality, as 
 his name strictly interpreted would indicate, but represents 
 worldly friends with their capacities for fidelity or fickleness. 
 He also is a type — less highly universalized than Everyman — 
 of a kind very common in allegory. The Red Cross Knight, 
 for instance, in Spenser's Faerie Qneene, is not the quality of 
 holiness, or, if so, why should he enter into intimate relations 
 with Duessa ? He is rather the man striving for holiness, who 
 may at times, consistently with his character as a man, exhibit 
 tendencies in the opposite direction. Mercy, in Banyan's Pil- 
 grim's Progress, is not the quality of mercy personified, but 
 the woman of merciful disposition. It is entirely to misunder- 
 stand and over-simplify the methods of allegory to suppose that 
 its characters may not be designated by abstract names and at 
 the same time be types. 
 
 If we now permit Everyman to resume his speech he will 
 presently introduce two other type figures : 
 
 To my kinsmen I will truly, 
 Praying them to help me in my necessity : 
 
 I believe that they will do so : 
 For kind will creep where it may not go. 
 I will go say : for yonder I see them go : 
 Where be ye now, my friends and kinsmen [lo] ? '^ 
 
 This appeal brings Kindred and Cousin to his side. After the 
 lines just quoted it is unnecessary to argue for their identity. 
 They are types — also less highly universalized than Everyman 
 — representing kinsfolk. 
 
 iDodsley, III, 113. « Ibid. 
 
8 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Thus we have, out of fifteen characters taking part in the 
 action, one individual character — God; and five more or less 
 universalized types, — Everyman, Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, 
 and the angel. The rest are personified abstractions. 
 
 I have selected this play as exemplifying the sort of treatment 
 one may expect to find in practically all of the Moralities. The 
 Play of Wit and Science, and its later working over as The 
 Marria^^c of Wit and Science, exhibit only personified abstrac- 
 tions ; but every other existing English Morality (with the 
 possible exceptions of Hyckcscorncr and New Qistoni ^) contains 
 also types, or individuals, or both ; and a special warning is 
 necessary against the conclusion that all abstract names appear- 
 ing in the lists of dramatis pcrsonae must necessarily refer to 
 personified abstractions in the plays. 
 
 Creizenach's definition of the Morality, though it fails to 
 mention some of the chief points of the type, will now be seen 
 to come nearer suiting the facts about the dramatis personae 
 than any of the definitions already considered : " Mit dem 
 Ausdruck Moralitaten bezeichnen die Literar-historiker diejeni- 
 gen Dramen des ausgehenden Mittelalters und der Reforma- 
 tionszeit, in welchen die Trager der Handlung ausschiesslich 
 oder vorwiegend personificierte Abstracta sind." ^ 
 
 The chief advantage of this definition is that it leaves the 
 door ajar for the entry of the clamorous characters who recog- 
 nize their eligibility, but who realize that they cannot consistently 
 pose as "' personificierte Abstracta." Its chief disadvantage is 
 that it makes no mention of the prime object of the Morality, 
 the presentation of some lesson for the guidance of life. Re- 
 move this from the Morality and you strip it of its essential 
 quality, its reason for being. Creizenach, also, like every one 
 else who has attempted to define the Morality, neglects to 
 
 ^ See the treatments of these two plays in Chapter IV. 
 
 ^ Wilhelm Creizenach, Geschichte des neneren Dramas, I, 458. 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED 9 
 
 mention the important element of allegorical structure. Any sort 
 of play may introduce allegory as an accidental embellishment, 
 but these plays, written primarily to teach a moral lesson, involve 
 the allegorical plot as their basis, since any other kind of plot 
 is liable to produce a merely human interest in the spectacle of 
 living characters in action, instead of centering the attention on 
 a moral lesson. Any definition of this species, furthermore, 
 which attempts to characterize the chief actors, should make 
 explicit mention of the class of figures, exemplified by Every- 
 man, who are the natural heroes of the plays. Such figures as 
 God, Satan, and individual men and women need not be alluded 
 to, since they rarely have any prominent part in the action. 
 My definition, then, may take the following shape : 
 
 A Morality is a play, allegorical in stmctnrc, zuhich has for 
 its main object the teacJiijig of some lesson for the guidance of 
 life, and in which the prijicipal characters arc personified ab- 
 stractions or highly tmiversalized types. 
 
 Before we proceed to a detailed examination of the Moralities 
 I should like to show by a brief examination of some of the 
 plays that approach the border-line from opposite sides, how the 
 above definition is to be applied throughout this discussion. 
 During the second half of the sixteenth century the Morality 
 made noticeable advances toward the drama of real life, and, in 
 addition to this, various experiments were being made in the 
 dramatic field ; so that we find the materials of Comedy, History 
 Play, and Tragedy combined in varying proportions with the 
 older Morality. As a consequence of this mingling of forms a 
 special confusion has arisen in denominating the plays of the 
 period, and no two works on the subject can be found that 
 follow the same method — or, indeed, any consistent method — 
 in consigning plays to one group or another.^ If my definition 
 
 ^ In the following chapter I illustrate the methods employed for the purpose 
 by the different writers who have attempted a division. 
 
lO THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 is to contribute anything to the discussion, it must set up a 
 standard, on technical grounds, by which to separate plays that 
 are primarily Moralities from plays that are primarily Comedies, 
 Histories, or Tragedies. 
 
 As an example of the historical play with distinct Morality 
 features which is not a true Morality I shall take Appiiis and 
 Virginia} That the play contains an abundance of characters 
 that make for allegorical action may be seen from the list of 
 dramatis personae : 
 
 Virginius 
 
 Haphazard 
 
 Subservus 
 
 Justice 
 
 Mater 
 
 Mansipulus 
 
 Appius 
 
 Claudius 
 
 Virginia 
 
 Mansipula 
 
 Conscience 
 
 Rumour 
 
 Comfort 
 
 Reward 
 
 Doctrina 
 
 Memory 
 
 Some of the allegorical personages, especially Haphazard, on 
 the side of vice, and Conscience, on the side of virtue, play inti- 
 mate parts in the plot, and are not without effect on the action 
 of the play. Haphazard, in fact, is the originator of the scheme 
 by which Appius attempts the ruin of Virginia, and Conscience 
 repeatedly warns Appius against the villainous action which the 
 latter meditates. 
 
 But is this allegorical action vital to the play ,? The slightest 
 outline will show that it is not. Appius at the very beginning is 
 mad with love for Virginia. He simply makes use of Hap- 
 hazard's clever scheme to serve his own preconceived ends, and 
 refuses to listen to Conscience and Justice when they warn him 
 against the act which he meditates. The play, in fact, is a pic- 
 ture of supposedly historical human beings, with varied human 
 interests, acting with relation to each other, but in no sense 
 dominated by the Vices and Virtues from whom they receive 
 suggestions. The Morality, on the contrary, permits of no 
 human action which is not the direct result of an attempt by 
 Vices or Virtues to dominate the heart. 
 
 1 Dodsley, Vol. IV. 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED ii 
 
 It will now be seen that Appius and Virginia falls far short 
 of the standard set up by the above definition. In the first place, 
 it is not structurally allegorical ; in the second, it fails to teach 
 a specific lesson for the guidance of life, though there are here, 
 as in most plays, abundant opportunities to deduce morals ; and 
 in the third, it has real persons for its chief actors, while its 
 allegorical characters are subsidiary and might be omitted with- 
 out affecting the main plot. The play, then, does not fulfil any 
 one of the three conditions, and must be classed as an historical 
 play with Morality features. 
 
 It might be objected that the example I have chosen is, on 
 the face of it, an historical play, and thus outside the realm of 
 this discussion. The play, however, which I present in contrast, 
 as a real Morality, is also based on an historical incident. 
 
 The Conflict of Conscience -^ by Nathaniell Woodes, is founded 
 on the story of Francis Spira, or Spiera, an Italian lawyer who 
 abandoned the Protestant for the Catholic faith, and in remorse 
 and despair committed suicide.^ The author, however, has sub- 
 ordinated the personal element almost to the point of obliteration. 
 The action is dominated by personifications of abstract qualities ; 
 and Philologus, the hero, though reminiscent of the Italian 
 lawyer, is carefully broadened by the author into a universalized 
 type. The Prologue gives two reasons for this, the second of 
 which is extremely significant : first, comedy will not permit us 
 to touch on the vices of one private man, and, second, if the 
 play were written about an individual man the audience would 
 fail to apply the moral to themselves. The Prologue goes on to 
 explain the significance of the hero : 
 
 But sith Philologus is nought else but one that loves to talk, 
 And common of the word of God, but hath no further care, 
 According as it teacheth them in God's fear for to walk, 
 
 1 Dodsley, Vol. II. 
 
 2 See Sleidan, Vingt-netif Livrcs iV Histoire, Geneva, 1563, Liv. xxi. 
 
12 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 If that we practise this indeed, Philologi we are. 
 And so by his deserved fault we may in time beware : 
 Novv if, as author first it meant, you hear it with this gain, 
 In good behalf we will esteem that he bestowed his pain.^ 
 
 I add a list of the dramatis pcrsonac in order that it may be 
 compared with that of Appiiis and Virginia : 
 
 Prologue 
 
 Tyranny 
 
 Suggestion 
 
 Cardinal 
 
 Mathetes 
 
 Spirit 
 
 Gisbertus 
 
 Cacon 
 
 Conscience 
 
 Horror 
 
 Nuntius 
 
 Philologus 
 
 Paphinitius 
 
 Eusebius 
 
 Hypocrisy 
 
 
 Satan 
 
 Avarice 
 
 Theologus 
 
 
 Here, as in Appius and Virginia, appears the puzzHng mix- 
 ture of personified abstraction, type figure, and real person. 
 Manifestly one must not be content with a reading of the list of 
 dramatis personae. An examination of the play itself shows 
 that the downfall of Philologus is accomplished by the direct 
 persuasion of Vices, that is, personifications of evil qualities 
 working in or upon the heart ; and after his fall his state is so 
 desperate that nothing but the direct intervention of God can 
 save him. I shall elsewhere give a fuller interpretation of the 
 allegory in the play, and for the present it will be sufficient to 
 indicate its signification very briefly : The Christian who is 
 readier to discuss God's word than to walk consistently in the 
 fear of God may for a time resist the evil desires of his heart, 
 but eventually he yields to the temptations of the world and to 
 his own ambition for worldly prosperity. He stills the voice of 
 conscience at first, but finally becomes convicted of sin ; and 
 then his remorse is so extreme that the comforts of religion 
 make no impression upon him, until finally God intervenes 
 directly to save his soul. 
 
 Let us sum up, then, the essential differences between the 
 two plays. Appius and Virginia may be called a " tendenz " 
 
 ^ Dodsley, VI, 33. 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED 1 3 
 
 play. There are abundant opportunities to draw morals from it, 
 and, oddly enough, the moral which the author selects from 
 the pack and presses upon his audience is, Let all true virgins 
 take pattern from Virginia and lose their heads rather than 
 their purity.^ The play has a great deal of allegorical action at 
 different parts, but this is incidental and forms no essential ele- 
 ment of the plot. The Co7iflict of Conscience^ on the other 
 hand, though based on an historical tale, is allegorical in structure 
 and teaches one direct and unequivocal moral lesson. 
 
 Other plays, however, that I shall have to reject, come nearer 
 meeting the requirements and, indeed, have so much the ap- 
 pearance of Moralities that they are nearly always classed as 
 such. Two important plays of this category are The Nice Wan- 
 ton and The Disobedient Child. Each of them has the earnest- 
 ness of purpose and the careful insistence upon a moral truth of 
 the regular Morality. Each, in fact, would be a Morality if 
 didacticism were the one requirement. They both, however, ex- 
 hibit individuals and specialized types in their principal parts, 
 and thus differ in a very essential point from the plays exhibit- 
 ing personified abstractions and universalized types. Most of 
 the action in both plays can be taken literally instead of allegor- 
 ically, though the action is always for the enforcing of the moral, 
 never for its own sake. 
 
 The play of The Nice Wanton'^ has the following list of 
 dramatis personae : 
 
 The Messenger 
 
 Eulalia 
 
 Worldly Shame 
 
 Barnabas 
 
 Iniquitie 
 
 Daniel, the Judge 
 
 Ismael 
 
 Baily Errand 
 
 
 Dalilah 
 
 Xantippe 
 
 
 There are only two strictly allegorical names in the play, In- 
 iquitie and Worldly Shame, and the latter takes scarcely any 
 
 1 See the Prologue to the play. 
 
 2 J. M. Manly, Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama, Vol. I. 
 
14 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 part in the action. Iniquitie, who plays a fairly prominent part, 
 is a specific character in all but name. He is a typical gallant, 
 a man about town, who joins Ismael and Dalilah at one period 
 of their downfall and becomes their boon companion. The 
 characters that dominate the action are Barnabas, Ismael, and 
 Dalilah, " three braunches of an yll tree." Barnabas is the 
 good boy who goes to school, learns his lessons, and never fails 
 to become edifying for the benefit of anyone who is unfortunate 
 enough to come within hearing. At the end of the play he is a 
 grown man, prosperous, and rejoicing in the prospect of many 
 years to come in which to instruct his erring fellow-mortals. 
 Herein consists half the moral. His brother and sister, Ismael 
 and Dalilah, throw away their school-books, break away from 
 the virtuous Barnabas, and presently take to throwing dice with 
 their friend Iniquitie. By the end of the play Dalilah is '" dead 
 of the pockes, taken at the stews," and Ismael is " hanged in 
 chaynes." The moral is complete. 
 
 Even such a slight outline as the foregoing cannot leave 
 much doubt as to the purpose of the play. Indeed, the moral 
 is insisted upon more steadily and more earnestly than in many 
 of the full-fledged Moralities, but while the play lacks allegori- 
 cal structure no amount of moral earnestness can retain it in 
 the class. 
 
 A shorter account of The Disobedient Child'^ will suffice. The 
 actors are these : 
 
 Prologue The Woman Cook The Devil 
 
 The Rich Man The Young Woman The Perorator 
 
 The Rich Man's Son The Servingman 
 
 The Man Cook The Priest 
 
 We are here still farther away from the sort of actors proper 
 to the Moralities. The author evidently refrained from giving 
 proper names to his characters in the fear that they might 
 
 1 Dodsley, Vol. II. 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED 1 5 
 
 become interesting in their own persons, and thus cause us to 
 lose sight of the moral. If so, his object is only partly attained. 
 The characters are to some extent dehumanized by their type 
 names, but they are still actual people, influencing each other 
 in various ways. Some interest is aroused in their fortunes, and 
 some curiosity stimulated as to their ultimate fates. There is 
 none of the inevitableness of Morality action, where all or most 
 of the characters stand for, or are actuated by, some particular 
 quality, in accordance with which they are bound to act. Here 
 all the characters, except the Devil, may develop in any way the 
 author chooses. Consequently the main interest is concentrated 
 around these possibilities ; and the moral expressed at the end 
 of the play seems to be entirely arbitrary, — a mere suggestion 
 given by certain aspects of the story, instead of the inevitable 
 lesson worked out when allegorical characters accompany each 
 other throughout an allegorical plot. The Perorator, however, 
 gives us his solemn assurance that 
 
 By this little play the father is taught 
 
 After what manner his child to use, 
 
 Lest that through cockering he at length be brought 
 
 His fathers commandment to refuse.^ 
 
 In The Nice Wanton there was some semblance of allegorical 
 action in the parts played by Iniquitie and Worldly Shame, but 
 here there is no trace of it. The son is treated too indulgently 
 by his father, acts badly, and suffers for it. It might have been 
 more just to punish the father, but fortunately there is no need 
 to go into that question here. The moral purpose is at least pro- 
 claimed. But the allegorical structure is lacking, and the play, 
 though avowedly a moral play, is not technically a Morality. 
 
 At a later point in this work will be found a more careful 
 discussion of the plays which, though possessed of Morality 
 features, fall outside of the general class. For the present it is 
 
 1 Dodsley, II, 316. 
 
l6 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 sufficient to explain the absence from my list of several plays 
 usually classed as Moralities, but properly belonging elsewhere. 
 
 Finally, let us glance for a moment at one of the Moralities 
 with a decided leaning towards the drama of real life, in order 
 to show how far a play may go in that direction and still remain 
 essentially a Morality. The important point here, as elsewhere 
 in this introductory chapter, is to prove that the matter of 
 division can be and ought to be arranged on technical grounds. 
 
 Like Will to Like, Quoth the Devil to the Collier'^ is the 
 mouth-filling title of one of the later Moralities. The author's 
 delight in full-sounding names did not stop short at the title- 
 page, as the following list of characters will show : 
 
 The Prologue Lucifer 
 
 Tom Tosspot Ralph Roister 
 
 Hankin Hangman Good Fame 
 
 Tom Collier Severity 
 
 Hance Philip Fleming 
 
 Virtuous Living Pierce Pickpurse 
 
 God's Promise Honour 
 
 Cuthbert Cutpurse Nichol Newfangle, the Vice 
 
 The list hardly looks promising from the point of view of 
 one arguing for the play as a Morality. But an examination of 
 the plot and characters will show that it is mainly the author's 
 genius for alliteration — with a suggestion of onomatopoeia — 
 that has led him, for the moment, into disguising some of the 
 characters in a play conforming closely to the requirements of 
 the Morality. Nichol Newfangle is the traditional Vice of the 
 Moralities, the personification of " all sins generally." He is 
 the godson of the Devil, and his only business on earth is to 
 obtain victims for his godfather. The alliterative characters are 
 a collection of types of the people who fall readily into the 
 snares of sin, or, to speak allegorically, who obey the instructions 
 
 1 Dodsley, Vol. III. The author is Ulpian Fulwel. 
 
THE SUBJECT DEFINED 1 7 
 
 of Nichol Newfangle and come to grief thereby. Virtuous 
 Living, on the other hand, resists the entreaties of Nichol, is 
 commended by God's Promise, and is presently joined by Good 
 Fame and Honour. 
 
 The play teaches that good living is commended by God and 
 also leads to earthly happiness and honor, while evil living — 
 of the various kinds illustrated by the dupes of Nichol — leads 
 to earthly punishment and a future residence with the Devil. It 
 is of the same type as The Nice Wanton in the lesson it teaches, 
 though The Nice Wanton is a far more serious and — in the 
 ordinary sense of the word — more moral play, holding faith- 
 fully to the didactic attitude, while the play under discussion is 
 taken up largely with humorous scenes showing the vicious 
 side of life in London. The essential difference is that in the 
 one play the lesson is taught by means of a concrete illustration, 
 in the other by means of allegorical action. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE MORALITIES CLASSIFIED 
 
 Although several classifications of the Moralities have already 
 been attempted, none of these has been made on any consistent 
 basis. The only point of view from which it is possible to make 
 a clear and complete division is, I am convinced, that of alle- 
 gorical method ; and with the exception of a partial classifica- 
 tion, applied to a few of the Moralities, by Mr. R. L. Ramsay,^ 
 no such division seems even to have been thought of as yet. 
 The plays have been treated either entirely on a basis of chro- 
 nology, or else the treatments have been influenced mainly by 
 chronological considerations. Dr. Ward's opinion indicates the 
 general attitude towards the subject: "In the English Moralities 
 it is not easy to draw a distinction between particular groups ; 
 and such signs of advance as they show would best be gathered 
 from an attempt to survey them chronologically." "^ Professor 
 Courthope in his treatment of the Moralities refers to Dr. Ward's 
 statement, adding, " I am quite of this opinion";^ and, in gen- 
 eral, this attitude is frankly or tacitly assumed. 
 
 There is no objection to a chronological treatment of the 
 Moralities, except when it is made the basis for a general and 
 purely arbitrary classification. Mr. Pollard, for instance, makes 
 two main divisions : ( i ) the earlier plays like T/ie Castle of 
 Perseverance, having to do broadly with human nature and 
 human life ; and (2) their later and inferior successors, shorter 
 
 ^ Robert Lee Ramsay, Skelion^s ^^ Magttyfycence" Introduction. 
 2 Ward, I, 108. 3 Courthope, II, 337. 
 
 iS 
 
THE MORALITIES CLASSIFIED 19 
 
 and more specialized, usually referred to as Interludes, and ex- 
 emplified by Hyckescorjicr} It is almost unnecessary to com- 
 ment on the misleading tendencies of this division. Such broad 
 and sweeping generalities reduce the chronological method to 
 absurdity ; and Mr. Pollard goes on to heap up all sorts of 
 general statements on the strength of this purely arbitrary 
 distinction. 
 
 This, of course, is an extreme instance of the confusion that 
 may arise from an attempt to classify the Moralities on a purely 
 chronological basis, and I have encountered no other treatment 
 of the subject so open to criticism. Collier's division should be 
 mentioned in passing, though it is a good deal confused by the 
 fact that he makes a separate class for the Macro Moralities,^ 
 which had not been published when he wrote, but were known 
 to exist in manuscript. His classes are : 
 
 1. Macro Moralities. 
 
 2. Printed Morals, the lesson enforced by which relates to 
 the vices and regeneration of mankind at large. 
 
 3. Such as convey instructions for human conduct of a more 
 varied character. 
 
 4. Pieces belonging to the class of Morals, but making ap- 
 proaches to the representation of real life and manners. 
 
 5. Interludes chiefly without allegory, and particularly those 
 of John Heywood.3 
 
 The classification is a fairly sound one as far as it goes, but 
 it indicates general tendencies in the plays without establishing 
 a basis for anything like an exact division. Furthermore, a close 
 study of Collier's treatment reveals the fact that he, too, was 
 influenced mainly by the chronological element in making his 
 distinctions. A much more detailed classification is attempted 
 
 ^ A. W. Pollard, English I\firacle Plays, Moralities, and Interludes, pp. lii-liii. 
 ^ The Castle of Perseverance ; Wisdom, or Mind, Will, and Understanding; 
 and Mankind. ^ Collier, II, 199. 
 
20 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 by Professor K. L. Bates, who divides the Morahties and 
 semi-MoraHties according to the following scheme : 
 I. Full scope Moralities (15th century) 
 IL Limited Moralities 
 
 a. Dealing with temptations of youth 
 d. Written in praise of learning 
 in. Transitional Moralities 
 
 a. Written by professional poets 
 d. Appeared in Shakespeare's boyhood 
 c. Belated 
 IV. Early Comedies with Morality features 
 V. Early Tragedies with Morality features^ 
 The weakness of such a division is at once apparent. It is 
 not made from any particular point of view, but it is influenced 
 partly by chronology, partly by the general character of the plays, 
 partly by authorship, and partly by purely accidental circum- 
 stances ; and these different influences come in arbitrarily at 
 various points of the classification. 
 
 A method of division that, at a first glance, seems saner and 
 more helpful is that of Professor Gayley, who treats the subject 
 in his English Representative Comedies, and also, with more 
 detail, in his Plays of our Forefathers. His classes, which he 
 explains at some length in the latter work, I shall here indicate 
 in the smallest possible compass : 
 
 I. Older Morals (produced before 1520) 
 
 1 . Plays interpretative of ideals in life, and relying on 
 
 the fundamentally allegorical 
 
 2. Plays that deal with the actual 
 
 II. Less-known survivals of the Moral Interlude 
 
 1. School plays 
 
 2. Controversial plays 
 
 ^ Katharine Lee Bates, English Religiotis Drama, Appendix. See Miss 
 Bates's division for full lists of plays grouped under the different headings. 
 
THE MORALITIES CLASSIFIED 2i 
 
 in. Artistic variations of the stock 
 
 1. A few that show a decided advance in quality, 
 
 even if not in kind 
 
 2. A few Moral tragedies that might also be con- 
 
 sidered 1 
 
 But the classification, despite its plausible appearance, fails 
 when it is applied to the plays which Professor Gayley himself 
 groups under the different divisions, and would continue to fail 
 with equal certainty no matter what grouping might be made. 
 Professor Gayley gives no precise definition of the Morality, but 
 before proceeding with his own classification criticizes Pollard 
 for attempting to make arbitrary distinctions " between plays as 
 earlier and later, longer and shorter, which in essential method 
 were alike: that is, were allegorical." Thus he implies that 
 allegorical method is the sine qua non of the Morality, and the 
 main consideration in making a division. Then, as my summary 
 shows, he makes his own first division include " Older Morals, 
 produced before 1 520," which indicates at the start that he, also, 
 is not entirely free from the tendency to group the plays as 
 " earlier and later." 
 
 Gayley's whole method of classification is of little use, 
 since it does not treat the subject in any consistent fashion ; 
 but it is likely to become positively misleading, since it 
 throws the main emphasis upon characteristics which ought 
 not to count in a general classification, no matter how im- 
 portant these characteristics may be in a detailed study of 
 the plays. 
 
 The classification which follows is made purely on the tech- 
 nical basis of allegorical structure. According to it, every English 
 Morality from the beginning down to the close of the sixteenth 
 
 1 Charles Mills Gayley, Plays of our Forefathers, pp. 283 ff. See Professor 
 Gayley's work for a detailed discussion and lists of plays. The classification 
 given above is abridged from his work. 
 
22 
 
 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 century 1 will be found to follow in its main plot some one of the 
 following schemes : 
 
 L Conflict between Virtues and Vices 
 a. For Supremacy : 
 Hyckescorner. 
 
 Three Laws. By John Bale. 
 New Custom. 
 The Three Ladies of London. 
 
 (1497-15 12) 
 (1538) 
 (Printed 1573) 
 By R. W[ilson]. 
 
 (1584) 
 
 b. For the Possession of Man 
 
 Ma7t Spirittial : 
 
 The Castle of Perseverance. {circ. 1400) 
 
 Mankind. (1461-1485) 
 
 Nature. By Henry Medwall. (1486-1500) 
 
 Magnyfycence. By John Skelton. (i 5 1 5-1 5 1 8) 
 Mundus et Infans. (Printed 1522) 
 
 The Thrie Estaites, Part \. By Sir David 
 
 Lyndsay. (Played 1540, and perhaps earlier) 
 
 Lusty Juventus. 
 Youth. 
 
 Impatient Poverty. 
 Marie Magdalene. 
 
 Albion, Knight. 
 
 (1547-1553) 
 (1553-1558) 
 (Printed 1560) 
 By Lewis Wager. 
 
 (S. R. 1566. circ. 1560) 
 (1560-1565) 
 
 The Trial of Treasure. (Printed 1 567) 
 
 The Longer Thou Livest the More Foole Thou 
 
 Art. By W. Wager. (i 571-1576) 
 
 The Conflict of Conscience. By Nathaniell 
 
 Woodes. (Printed 1581) 
 
 Man Intellectual : 
 Interlude of the Four Elements. (Printed 15 19) 
 
 1 A few Moralities that appeared in the seventeenth century were mere 
 scholastic revivals of the old stock. 
 
THE MORALITIES CLASSIFIED 23 
 
 3. Man Represented merely by 0?te or More Personified 
 AtUibutes : 
 Wisdom, or Mind, Will, and Understanding. 
 
 (1480-1490) 
 Wyt and Science. By John Redford. («n:. 1545) 
 Wealth and Health. (S. R. 1557) 
 
 The Marriage of \yit and Science. 
 
 (S. R. 1569-1570) 
 The Marriage of Wit and Wisdom (i579) 
 
 II. Illustration of a Special Text: 
 
 Like Will to Like, Quoth the Devil to the 
 
 Collier. By Ulpian Fulwel. (Printed 1568) 
 
 The Tyde Taryeth No Man. By George Wapull. 
 
 (Printed 1576) 
 All for Money. By T. Lupton. (Printed 1578) 
 
 III. The Siminions of Death: 
 
 The Pryde of Lyfe. {circ. 1400) 
 
 Everyman. (Printed before 1 5 3 1) 
 
 IV. Religions or Political Controversy : 
 
 The Three Estaites, Part II. 
 
 Kyng Johan. By John Bale. (Printed circ. 1 548) 
 
 Respublica. (i5S3) 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN THE MIRACLE PLAYS 
 
 The most important of the Miracle cycles, from the point of 
 view of the student of Moralities, is that of Coventry .^ Two of 
 the important motives used in the early Moralities, the Summons 
 of Death ^ and the so-called Debate of the Four Daughters of 
 God,^ are found here ; and, in addition to this, there is a general 
 tendency throughout to introduce allegorical figures. The most 
 noticeable of these figures is Contemplacio, the " exposytour in 
 doctorys wede," who appears from time to time as a kind of 
 Prologue to introduce the action, or to accompany it as chorus. 
 I shall indicate the different appearances of this figure, and then 
 go on to discuss the allegorical action more directly connected 
 with the plays. 
 
 Contemplacio first appears to introduce Play VIII {The Bar- 
 renness of Anna). '^ Here he simply performs the part of Pro- 
 logue, as he does at his next appearance in Play IX {Mary in 
 the Temple). At the conclusion of the same play he comes out 
 again to beseech the audience for patience and to announce the 
 next performance. 
 
 1 Usually referred to as " the so-called Coventry Plays," or " Ludus Coven- 
 
 triae." Gayley (pp. 205 ff.) uses the term " N Town plays." Manly prefers 
 
 the term " Hegge plays," and explains, " I have chosen to call the plays by the 
 earliest known owner^f the MS., for I see no reason to connect them with 
 Coventry, and 'so-called Coventry plays' is a clumsy expression." — Speci- 
 mens of Pre-Shaksperean Drama, I, 31. 
 
 2 Cf. the Moralities Pride of Life and Everyman. 
 ' Cf. Castell of Perseveraunce and Respublica. 
 
 ♦ The text used here is that edited for the Shakespeare Society by 
 J. O. Halliwell. 
 
 24 
 
ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN MIRACLE PLAYS 25 
 
 As the introducer of Play XI {The Salutation and Conception), 
 Contemplacio takes on more allegorical significance. He throws 
 off the technical character of Prologue, laments the fallen state 
 of man, and ends with a prayer to God for compassion. 
 
 In Play XIII {The Visit to Elizabeth), Contemplacio com- 
 bines the duties of Chorus, Epilogue, and spiritual adviser. After 
 Elizabeth and Zachariah go up to the temple to worship, he ap- 
 pears and instructs the audience as to "" how the Ave was mad," 
 
 adding : 
 
 Who seyeth oure ladyes sawtere dayly for a ^er thus, 
 He hath pardon ten thousand and eyte hundryd 3er. 
 
 He then proceeds to comment on the action behind the scenes, 
 and brings the play to an end. 
 
 His next and last appearance is in the middle of Play XXIX 
 {King Herod), where he fills up a gap in the performance, while 
 the processions are moving into place. He greets the audience : 
 " Sofreynes and frendys, 3e must alle be gret with gode," and 
 then explains what has gone before and what is to follow. 
 
 In all these appearances Contemplacio makes his address 
 directly to the audience, and has no connection with any other 
 character in the plays. He is, therefore, of no special allegorical 
 significance. 
 
 As the other allegorical touches in the cycle are sporadic and 
 have no connection with each other, I shall simply take them 
 up in the order of the plays in which they occur. 
 
 In Play IX {Mary in the Temple), after the three-year-old 
 Mary has nimbly ascended the "fiftene grees," the bishop gives 
 her careful directions for the ruling of her life, and then bestows 
 upon her an allegorical assemblage of maidens and priests to at- 
 tend her : 
 
 Our abydynge xal be with our maydenys ff)rve, 
 Whyche tyme as ^e wole have consolacion. 
 Maria. This lyffe me lyketh as my lyve, 
 Of her namys I beseche 30U to have informacion. 
 
26 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Episcopus. There is the fyrst Meditacion, 
 Contryssyon, Compassyon, and Clennes, 
 And that holy mayde Fruyssyon : 
 With these blyssyd maydenes xal be 3our besynes. 
 
 Maria. Here is an holy ffelachepp, I fele 
 I am not wurthy amonge hem to be : 
 Swete systeres, to 30U alle I knele, 
 To recyue, I beseche, jour charyte. 
 
 Episcopus. They xal, dowtere, and on the tothere syde se, 
 Ther ben sevne prestys indede, 
 To schryve, to teche, and to mynystryn to the, 
 To lerne the Goddys lawys and Scrypture to rede. 
 
 Maria, ffadyr, knew I here namys, wele were I. 
 
 Episcopus. Ther is Dyscressyon, Devocion, Dylexcion, 
 and Deliberacion, — 
 They xal tende upon 30U besyly ; 
 With Declaracion, Determynacion, Dyvynacion; 
 Now go 3e, maydenys, to jour occupacion. 
 And loke je tende this childe tendyrly ; 
 And je, serys, knelyth, and I xal gyve 30W Goddys benyson, 
 In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti ! 
 
 Then follows the stage direction : " Et recedent cum ministris 
 suis omnes virgines, dicentes ' Amen.' " 
 
 The next allegorical scene, which occurs in Play XI {The 
 Salutation and Conceptioii), is of uncommon significance. It is 
 based on the tenth verse of the 85th Psalm, " Mercy and Truth 
 are met together ; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each 
 other," a text which has been the basis for allegorical treatment 
 from the tenth century down.^ In the present instance the 
 debate of the four sisters before the Trinity, and the consequent 
 annunciation by the angel Gabriel, occupy a full play. 
 
 Play XI is opened by Contemplacio,^ and then the four sisters 
 argue before the Trinity on the proposed redemption of Man. 
 Truth maintains that when Adam sinned God had said that 
 Man should die and go to hell, and now he f"?mnot be restored, 
 
 ^ For a discussion of this allegory, in all its phases, see Hope Traver, The 
 Four Daughters of God, Philadelphia, 1907. ^ See p. 24, above. 
 
ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN MIRACLE PLAYS 27 
 
 since " twey contraryes mow not togedyr dwelle." If God breaks 
 his word now, she, Truth, will be lost to him, Mercy answers 
 that Man grieves greatly for his transgression and is pleading 
 for mercy, and reminds God that he has said that he will have 
 mercy on Man. Then Righteousness breaks in with : 
 
 Mercy, me mervelyth what 30W movyth, 
 
 3e know wel I am 3our syster Ryghtwysnes, 
 
 God is ryghtfful and ryghtffulnes lovyth, 
 
 Man offendyd hym that is endles, 
 
 Therefore his endles punchement may nevyr sees ; 
 
 Also he forsoke his makere that made hym of clay. 
 
 And the devyl to his mayster he ches, 
 
 Xulde he be savyd ? nay ! nay ! nay ! 
 
 Mercy rebukes Righteousness for her revengeful spirit, pleads 
 the frailty of man, and again appeals to the endless mercy of 
 God. Peace then interposes, reminding her sister that 
 
 It is not onest in vertuys to ben dyscension. 
 
 She admits that Righteousness and Truth have spoken reason- 
 ably, but still she is inclined to side with Mercy, 
 
 ffor if mannys sowle xulde abyde in helle, 
 Between God and man evyr xulde be dyvysyon, 
 And than myght not I Pes dwelle. 
 
 Her advice is that the whole matter be referred to Christ, who 
 will judge in wisdom. They agree to this, and lay the case be- 
 fore "wysdam," or Christ, who is inclined to favor Man, but is 
 unwilling to lose Righteousness and Truth. He proposes, there- 
 fore, that heaven and earth shall be sought for one who is will- 
 ing to die for the redemption of Man. This person, however, 
 must be without sin, so that hell will have no power to hold him. 
 
 Truth answers that she has sought through the earth, but 
 can find no man that is without sin from the day of his birth, 
 and Mercy adds that she has sought heaven and has found 
 none that has charity to suffer the deadly wound for Man. Then 
 
28 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Christ summons a council of the Trinity to see which of them 
 shall restore mankind, and in this council he offers himself, 
 since in his wisdom Man was created. When the matter is 
 settled Mercy breaks out joyously, 
 
 Now is the loveday mad of us fowre fynially, 
 Now may we leve in pes as we were wonte : 
 Misericordia et Veritas obviaverunt sibi 
 Justicia et Pax osculatae sunt. 
 
 Then the sisters kiss each other, and Gabriel is sent to make 
 the announcement to the Virgin Mary.^ 
 
 The next appearance of allegorical characters is in Play XIV 
 {The Trial of Joseph and Mary), where the two chief accusers 
 of Joseph and Mary are Backbiter and Raise-Slander. They 
 have no object in making their accusations, but are actuated by 
 innate viciousness ; and their language and deportment are so 
 exactly like those of the regular Vices in the Moralities that it 
 
 1 Hone suggests as the immediate source for this scene the " Council of the 
 Trinity " in the EngHsh Speculum Vitae Christi {^Ancient Mysteries Described, 
 1823, pp. 73-76). Courthope {History of English Poetry, 1895, I> 4^5) states 
 that it was borrowed from Grossteste's Chateau d'' Amour. Hope Traver {The 
 Four Daughters of God, pp. 126, etc.) compares the scene with a version 
 of the allegory found in the 14th century prose treatise, The Charter of the 
 Abbey of the Holy Ghost (C. Horstmann, Richard Rolle of Hampole, 1896. It 
 is doubtful whether Rolle is the author) which offers some special resemblances. 
 Miss Traver makes extended use of parallel passages to show these resem- 
 blances. She concludes that both these versions of the allegory ultimately 
 belong to the group going back to the Meditationes Vitae Christi, by Cardinal 
 Bonaventura of Padua (Sancti Bonaventurae . . . Opera, London, 1668, VI, 
 335-336) and that either the Salutation scene must derive directly from the 
 Charter, or both the Charter and the Salutation scene must be using a common 
 source which is itself in turn derived from Bonaventura. In the Charter the 
 allegory of the Four Daughters has been thrust into another allegory, and in 
 the process somewhat disarranged, whereas in the Salutation scene the events 
 follow the regular order; also, the Charter ^ot.% not introduce the annunciation 
 of Gabriel, which appears in Bonaventura, and also in the Salutation scene. 
 Miss Traver concludes : " In spite, therefore, of the resemblances between 
 these two versions at many points, it is difficult to believe that the Salutation 
 was derived from the Charter." 
 
ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN MIRACLE PLAYS 29 
 
 will be worth while to quote a considerable part of their speech. 
 Raise- Slander, the primus detractor, comes out first and intro- 
 duces himself to the audience : 
 
 A ! A ! serys, God save 30W alle. 
 Here is a fayr pepyl in good ffay ; 
 Good seres, telle me what men me calle, 
 I trowe yt kannot, be this day ; 
 3itt I walke wide and many way, 
 But ^et ther I come I do no good. 
 To reyse slawndyr is al my lay, 
 Bakbytere is my brother of blood. 
 
 Dede he ought come hedyr in al this day, 
 Now wolde God that he were here ! 
 And be my trewthe I dare wel say, 
 That if we tweyn togedyr apere, 
 More slawndyr we to xal arere. 
 Within an howre thorweouth this town. 
 Than evyr ther was this thousand 3ere, 
 And ellys I shrewe 30W both up and downe. 
 
 Now by my trewthe I have a syght 
 Evyn of my brother, lo ! where he is : 
 Welcom, dere brother, my trowthe I plyght, 
 3owre jentyl mowth let me now kys. 
 
 Secundus detractor. Grammercy, brother so have I blys, 
 I am ful glad we met this day. 
 
 Primus detractor. Ryght so am I, brothyr, i-wys, 
 meche gladder than I kan say. 
 But 3itt, good brother I 30W pray. 
 Telle alle these pepyl what is 3our name ; 
 ffor if thei knew it, my lyf I lay. 
 They wole 30U wurchep and speke gret fame. 
 
 Secundus detractor. I am Bakbytere that spyllyth alle game, 
 Bothe kyd and knowyn in many a place. 
 
 Primus detractor. Be my trowthe I seyd the same 
 And 3et sum seyden thou xulde have evyl grace. 
 
 Secundus detractor. Herk, Reyse-sclaundyr, canst thou owth telle 
 Of any newe thynge that wrought was late ? 
 
30 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Primus detractor. Within a shorte whyle a thynge befelle, 
 I trowe thou wylt lawh3 ryght wel therate, 
 ffor be trowth, ryght mekyl hate, 
 If it be wyst, therof wyl growe. 
 
 Secundus detractor. If I may reyse therwith debate, 
 I xal not spare the seyd to sowe. 
 
 Then Raise-Slander tells his brother of the impending trial, 
 and the pair plan to make it as hard as possible for Joseph and 
 Mary. Through the ensuing scene they endeavor to prove Mary 
 guilty, and scoff openly when she is proved innocent by the drink 
 of purgation. Then the bishop presiding at the trial compels 
 Raise-Slander to test the drink himself. This second test is at- 
 tended with dire results to Raise-Slander, who feels as if his head 
 were on fire, and who gets no relief until he begs Mary's pardon. 
 
 The quotation given above will show how closely these two 
 characters are related to the traditional Morality Vices, especially 
 in their manner of introducing and explaining themselves to the 
 audience. Also, like the usual Vices, they are "brothers of blood" 
 and have no settled abode, but simply appear in the places where 
 they can do most harm. They are the natural enemies of good- 
 ness, here embodied in the earthly father and mother of Christ. 
 
 No other allegorical elements appear before Play XIX {The 
 Slaitghter of the Innocents), where occurs the well-known Sum- 
 mons of Death motive.^ After the slaughter of the children 
 Herod seats himself at a feast with his knights and soldiers, ex- 
 ulting in the belief that his rival is slain. " I was never merrier 
 since I was born ! " he exclaims. " In joy I begin to glide! " 
 
 At this moment Death enters, looking for the king whom he 
 has heard " make preysying of pride." He announces : 
 
 I am Dethe, Goddys masangere ! 
 Allemyghty God hath sent me here, 
 3on lordeyn to sle, withouten dwere, 
 ffor his wykkyd workynge. 
 
 1 See Creizenach, I, 461-462, and Chambers, II, 153. 
 
ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN MIRACLE PLAYS 31 
 
 While Death, in the background, is boasting of his power and 
 exulting over his intended victim, the unconscious Herod con- 
 tinues to exhort his knights to be merry and glad. He assures 
 them repeatedly that his rival must be dead, and, in a burst of 
 gaiety, orders the minstrel to " blowe up a mery fytt," when 
 suddenly Death approaches and strikes him down : "Hie dum 
 buccinant mors interficiat Herodem et duos milites subito, et 
 diabolus recipiat eos." When the Devil has borne his victim 
 off. Death delays, exhorts his hearers to be warned by the death 
 of Herod, and moralizes on his own omnipotence. 
 
 This ends the allegorical action in the Coventry Plays ; but 
 there are a few other passages to which attention should be called. 
 
 In Play XXV {The Coitncil of the Jews), Lucifer makes a 
 long speech in the course of which he renames the Deadly 
 
 I have browth 30W newe namys, and wyl je se why 
 ffor synne is so plesaunt to eche mannys intent, 
 je xal kalle pride oneste, and nateralle kend lechory, 
 And covetyse wysdam there tresure is present ; 
 
 Wreth manhod, and envye callyd chastement ; 
 
 Seyse nere sessyon, lete perjery be chef ; 
 
 Glotonye rest, let abstynawnce beyn absent ; 
 
 And he that wole exorte the to vertu, put hem to repreff. 
 
 To rehers al my servauntes my matere is to breff, 
 But alle these xal everyth the dyvicion eternal ; 
 In evyrlastynge peyne with me dwellyn thei xal. 
 
 This trick of changing names is practised by the Vices in 
 almost all of the Moralities where they attempt to delude man 
 and lead him into a life of sin. The allegorical interpretation 
 of all these changes is neatly summed up by Lucifer in this 
 speech, — " ffor synne is so plesaunt to eche mannys intent." 
 
 It is of very little allegorical significance that in Play XLI 
 ij^he Assumption of the Virgin) Christ speaks under the name 
 of Sapientia. Christ is frequently referred to as Wisdom or 
 
32 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Sapientia, as in the Salutation scene already discussed, and in 
 the Morality of Wisdom, Who is Christ. 
 
 In the final play of the cycle {The Doomsday), specific men- 
 tion is again made of the Seven Deadly Sins, when the devils 
 are claiming the souls of the damned because of their adherence 
 to the Sins. I shall transcribe the passage, since I shall have 
 occasion to refer to it again : 
 
 Secundus diabolus. I fynde here wretyn in thin fforhed, 
 Thou were so stowte and sett in pryde, 
 Thou woldyst nott 3eve a pore man breed, 
 But ffrom thi dore thou woldyst hym chyde. 
 
 Tertius diabolus. And in thi face here do I rede, 
 That if a thryfty man com any tyde, 
 Drynk from hym thou woldyst evyr hyde ; 
 On covetyse was alle thy thought. 
 
 Primus diabolus. In wratthe thy neybore to bakbyte, 
 Them for to hangere was thi delyte, 
 Thou were evyr redy them to endyte ; 
 On the seke man rewyst thou nought. 
 
 Secundus diabolus. Evyr more on envye was alle thi mende, 
 Thou woldyst nevyr vesyte no presoner ; 
 To alle thi neybores thou were unkende, 
 Thou woldyst nevyr helpe man in daunger. 
 
 Tertius diabolus. The synne of slauthe thi soul xal shende, 
 Masse nore mateynes woldyst thou non here, 
 To bery the deed, man, thou woldyst not wende, 
 Therfore thou xalt to endles ffere : 
 To slowthe thou were ful prest. 
 
 Primus diabolus. Thou haddyst rejoyse in glotonye. 
 In dronkesheppe and in rebawdye, 
 Unherborwyd with velonye 
 Thou puttyst from here rest. 
 
 Secundus diabolus. Sybile Sclutte, thou ssalte sewe, 
 Alle 30ur lyff was leccherous lay ; 
 To alle jour neybores je wore a shrewe, 
 Alle 3our plesauns was leccherous play, etc. 
 
 The only one of the Sins not mentioned by name is lechery. 
 But lechery is not forgotten, as the last accusation will testify. 
 
ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN MIRACLE PLAYS 33 
 
 The other cycles may be passed over with scarcely more than 
 a word. There is one short passage from the Chester cycle ^ 
 which I should like to quote, as showing, not a disposition 
 toward allegory, but on the contrary a deliberate avoiding of 
 it when allegory might easily have been indulged in. 
 
 In Play XII (The Temptation), the expositor explains how 
 
 Christ overcame the devil : 
 
 Loe ! Lordinges, God's righteousness, 
 as St. Gregorie makes mynde expresse, 
 since our forefather overcomen was 
 by three thinges to doe will. 
 
 Gluttony, vayne glorye there be twooe, 
 Covetousness of highnes alsoe, 
 by these three thinges, without moe, 
 Christ hath overcome the devill. 
 
 The expositor goes on to contrast with this the experience of 
 Adam, who was tempted in gluttony, in vainglory, and in avarice. 
 His object is to show that Adam and Christ were tempted in 
 the same ways, but while Adam fell Christ was victorious. 
 The vices which might have been represented as assailing them 
 allegorically are carefully described as " these three thinges." 
 
 In ihQ Jtiditium, the concluding play of the Townley Mys- 
 teries,^ there is a conversation among the demons where four 
 virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins are personified. The demons 
 are reckoning up their rolls for Doomsday : 
 
 Secundus daemon. Thise rolles 
 
 Ar of bakbytars, 
 
 And fals quest-dytars 
 
 I had no help of writars 
 
 But thise two dalles : 
 Faithe and trowthe, maffay, have no fete to stande, 
 The poore pepylle must pay if oght be in hande, 
 The drede of God is away and lawe out of lande. 
 
 ^ The text used is that of the New Shakspere Society, ed. T. Wright, 1843. 
 2 The text used is that published by the Surtees Society, 1836. 
 
34 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Later on Tutivillus makes his contribution, and presently comes 
 
 to the Deadly Sins : 
 
 Yit of the synnes seven som thyng specialle, 
 Now nately to neven, that ronnys over alle, 
 Thise laddes thai leven as lordes rialle, 
 At ee to be even picturde yn palle 
 As kynges. 
 
 Of ire and of envy fynde I herto 
 Of covetyse and glotony and many other mo, 
 Thai calle and thai cry " go we now, go, 
 I dy nere for dry," and ther syt thai so 
 
 All nyghte 
 With hawvelle and jawvelle, 
 Synging of lawvelle, 
 Thise ar howndes of helle, 
 
 That is thare right. 
 
 This is the only allegorical passage in the cycle, and it is 
 interesting to compare it with the Coventry Doomsday} where 
 there is no attempt to personify the Sins, 
 
 There remain the two Digby plays, St. Pmd and Mary 
 Magdalene? The Co7iversion of St. Pajil^ does not contain 
 allegorical action, but in the speeches of Belial and in the ser- 
 mon of the converted Saul the Seven Deadly Sins are personi- 
 fied, and also, on the side of vice. Sin and Folly, — regarded 
 as synonymous with Pride, the chief of the Sins, — and Vanity, 
 Vainglory, and False Idleness. On the side of virtue are Humility 
 and Pity. These personifications are treated with a considerable 
 amount of detail, but the general method of handling is much 
 the same as that illustrated in the foregoing paragraphs. 
 
 In Mary Magdalene^ the allegorical element is more impor- 
 tant, — so much so, indeed, that the play has been sometimes 
 
 1 See p. 32, above. 
 
 2 The Digby MS. is assigned to the last decade of the fifteenth century. 
 ^ Ed. Furnivall, for the New Shakspere Society. In Manly, Vol. I. 
 
 * The text used is that in Furnivall's edition. 
 
ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN MIRACLE PLAYS 35 
 
 classed as a Morality. It is usually, however, referred to as a 
 Morality-Mystery, which is a much safer classification. The 
 main interest of the play is in the conversion of Mary and in 
 her subsequent journey to convert the heathen King of Marcylle ; 
 so, with Dr. Ward's convenient distinction ^ in mind, I prefer 
 to call it a Miracle play with Morality features. 
 
 After some introductory scenes dealing with the family of 
 Mary and the death of her father, the Morality element begins 
 with a council of the three kings, — the World, the Flesh, 
 and the Devil .^ First appears the World, vaunting his power, 
 and attended by Pride and Covetousness ; then Flesh and his 
 spouse Lechery, his knight Gluttony, and his friend Sloth ; and, 
 lastly, Satan with his attendants Wrath and Envy, Satan tells 
 his followers of his desire to bring " mannes soule to obeysauns." 
 Wrath answers : 
 
 With wrath or wyhylles we xal hyrre wynne. 
 
 The three unite to plot the downfall of some woman, without 
 mentioning any name, — a singularly abrupt way of introducing 
 Mary as the intended victim. Satan summons his brother kings 
 to a council, and they lay their plans for Mary's ruin.^ Lechery 
 is selected to seduce her, and sets out to perform her task. 
 
 ^ Ward, I, 41, makes the distinction that Mysteries deal with gospel events 
 only, while Miracles are concerned with incidents derived from the legends of 
 the Saints of the Church. The distinction is a convenient one, though there is 
 no evidence that it was actually used. 
 
 2 These three characters are referred to also as the King of the World, the 
 King of the Flesh, and the Prince of Devils. 
 
 8 The three kings, as they come out, proclaim their power over the world 
 and man in general ; and the Devil expresses his desire to corrupt man. After 
 this the sudden introduction of a particular person to strive for is exceedingly 
 abrupt. The author evidently feels it to be so ; and later, at the council, Mun- 
 dus gives a good reason for directing their combined efforts at Mary : 
 
 Sertenly serys, I yow telle, 
 
 yf she in vertu stylle may dwelle 
 
 she xall byn abyll to dystroye helle 
 
 but yf your counsyll may othyrwyse devyse. 
 
36 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 At the beginning of the next scene is the stage direction : 
 " Her xalle pe VII dedly synnes bi-sege ]>e castell tyll they 
 a-gre to go to Jerusalem.^ Lechery xall entyr ]>e castell with 
 ]>e bad angyl," etc. Within the castle, Lechery finds Mary 
 lamenting the death of her father. She begins by artfully prais- 
 ing Mary's beauty, and Mary, accepting the bait at once, gives 
 her a warm welcome. Lechery comforts her, and advises her 
 to forget her grief by amusing herself. This advice pleases 
 Mary, and she prepares to accompany Lechery on a journey. 
 Lazarus bids her an affectionate farewell, and the pair set out 
 for Jerusalem. 
 
 After the arrival at Jerusalem, Lechery takes her companion 
 to a tavern and orders the taverner to bring out the best wine. 
 Curiosity, a gallant, enters, exulting in his fine clothes and long- 
 ing for some pretty girl to amuse himself with. Lechery whispers 
 to Mary that this is the man for her, and Mary asks the taverner 
 to call him in. Curiosity ^ comes and begins at once to make 
 love to Mary, who is soon persuaded to return his affection and 
 protests that she will go to the end of the world for his sake. 
 He invites her to go and dance, and they retire together. 
 
 In the next scene the Bad Angel reports to the three kings 
 that Mary has been seduced by Curiosity. The Devil bids 
 Lecher)' (who has come back in the meantime) to return to 
 Mary and keep her in sin ; then the three kings, having accom- 
 plished their object, take their leave and depart with their 
 respective trains. 
 
 1 Nothing more is made of this siege of the Castle of Maudleyn. It would, 
 of course, be represented in acting, but has no place in the dialogue. 
 
 2 It is possible, of course, to read allegorical significance into the figure 
 Curiosity.. He seems to be the personification of fastidiousness or nicety, espe- 
 cially in matters of personal adornment, — a common mediaeval application of 
 the word. In that case the play teaches that Mary's downfall began in an in- 
 ordinate desire for finery. This view, it is to be noticed, is taken in the later 
 play presenting Mary as its heroine. See pp. 1 1 1 ff., below. 
 
ALLEGORICAL ELEMENTS IN MIRACLE PLAYS 37 
 
 Then follow three short scenes. The first shows Mary in an 
 arbor, waiting for her lover ; in the second Simon the Leper 
 announces that he has ordered a grand dinner and wishes that 
 he could get the great Prophet to come ; in the third the Good 
 Angel rebukes Mary for her sin, and Mary at once repents and 
 resolves to seek Christ. 
 
 After this Jesus appears with his disciples and enters the 
 house of Simon the Leper. Mary follows with a box of oint- 
 ment, washes the feet of Christ, and dries them with her hair. 
 Then Christ forgives Mary her sins and bids her depart in 
 peace. Seven devils (regarded, of course, as the Seven Deadly 
 Sins) leave her, the Bad Angel enters into Hell with noise of 
 thunder, and the Good Angel rejoices. 
 
 In the next scene the Devil howls with rage at losing Mary, 
 and orders the Bad Angel and the Seven Deadly Sins to be 
 beaten for their carelessness.^ 
 
 This ends the allegorical portion of the play. The remaining 
 scenes, to which the part discussed is really preliminary, are 
 taken up with the miracles performed by Mary on her mission 
 to convert the heathen King of Marcylle.^ 
 
 It will now be seen that, outside of the Coventry cycle and 
 Mary Magdalene, the allegorical elements in the Miracle plays 
 are practically negligible. As to the question of the relationship 
 between these plays and the Moralities, much light might be 
 looked for from the solution of the problem of the origin of the 
 plays now commonly associated with Coventry. The theory that 
 allegorical elements were taken from the Miracles and developed 
 into the Morality has been made the basis for much unwarranted 
 
 ^ This punishment also takes place in the Castle of Perseverance, with which 
 play this portion of Mary Magdalene has a good many points in common. 
 
 2 The present play follows pretty closely the version of the story in the 
 Legenda Aurea of Jacobus a Voragine (c. 1275). The latter work was pub- 
 lished by Caxton in 1483, under the title of The Golden Legend, in a free English 
 translation made with the help of an older French version. 
 
38 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 generalization.^ Whatever influence the Mysteries exerted upon 
 the Moralities — and with two types of drama so closely allied 
 in the dissemination of religious instruction it would be unrea- 
 sonable to deny the older form some influence on the younger 
 — it seems much more probable that, as far as allegorical treat- 
 ment is concerned, the Moralities influenced the Mysteries. The 
 only certain relationship here, then, is in the general purpose 
 of disseminating religious and moral instruction through the 
 medium of drama, and the actual sources from which the Moral- 
 ities drew their distinctive methods of presenting this instruction 
 must be sought elsewhere. In the non-dramatic literature of 
 mediaeval and early modern times there is a large body of alle- 
 gorical work written with the same didactic purpose, and recent 
 research is making it more and more apparent that this was the 
 source from which the Moralities drew not only their general 
 method but also many of the specific details of their presentation. 
 
 1 See, for instance, Collier, II, 184, and Symonds, Shakspere's Predecessors 
 in the English Drama, pp. 145 ff. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MORALITIES DEALING WITH THE CONFLICT BETWEEN 
 VIRTUES AND VICES FOR SUPREMACY 
 
 The conflict between Vices and Virtues is the theme of the 
 greater number of Morahties, and in most of the plays of this 
 class the struggle is for the soul of Man. An older form of the 
 conflict, however, is still represented by a few plays coming 
 under my division I, a.^ But even in these plays, which preserve 
 the general formula of " Conflict for supremacy," the manner 
 of carrying on the conflict is very different from that in the 
 oldest known treatment of the theme, the Psychomachia of 
 Prudentius ^ (about 400 a.d.), where the struggle took the form 
 of a series of Homeric single combats. It is quite possible that 
 this primitive mode of battle may have been used in the two 
 lost English plays of the Paternoster and the Creed,^ but in 
 the extant Moralities the Virtues and Vices combat each other 
 by means of argument; or, more properly, the Virtues argue 
 while the Vices abuse and revile them. 
 
 The first play of this class is Hyckescorner,^ which, like the 
 earlier Morality Mankind, was written to amuse as well as to 
 chasten. The stage is held during a great part of the play by 
 Imagynacyon, Frewyl, and Hyckescorner, of whom the first two, 
 at least, are personifications of human characteristics. But when 
 
 1 See p. 22, above. 2 gge Creizenach, I, 463. 
 
 2 Ibid., Ill, 495; also Ward, I, 97 ; Pollard, p. xlii ; and Ramsay, Skelton's 
 ^^ Magnyfycence" pp. cli-clii. 
 
 * Manly, Vol. I. The play was printed about 1530. Gayley (p. 283) dates 
 the composition between 1497 and 1512. 
 
 39 
 
40 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 they are not in actual contact with their enemies, the Virtues 
 of the play, Imagynacyon and Frewyl are a pair of light-hearted 
 rascals fresh from the streets of London. 
 
 Yet these lighter scenes are no more essential to the plot 
 than are the humorous scenes in a tragedy. The moral is the 
 thing. Here, as in most of the Moralities, the allegory refers 
 to a struggle within the heart of man. This general statement 
 about the Moralities as a whole will not, however, apply to the 
 remainder of the subclass now under consideration ; since of 
 the four plays forming the group all except Hyckescortier deal 
 with forces — good and evil — operating at large in the land, 
 and not confined within the compass of the heart of man. In 
 Hyckescomier all the personifications represent characteristics 
 of men, and the play is separated from Class I, b only by the 
 fact that Man himself is not presented in the action. 
 
 The play opens with a lengthy discussion on the subject of 
 the Redemption, by Pyte, Contemplacyon, and Perseveraunce, 
 who proceed to a hearty condemnation of the social and religious 
 evils of the day, and retire somewhat dispirited. But the atmos- 
 phere is soon brightened by the appearance of Frewyl, who 
 enters in high glee, and is reduced to soberness only when he 
 discovers that his pocket-money has disappeared. He calls 
 impatiently for Imagynacyon, who presently enters in a state of 
 momentary dejection because he too has been robbed of his 
 pocket-money, and has received, into the bargain, a " payre of 
 sore buttockes." But these two irrepressibles cannot remain 
 downcast very long, and they soon fall to recounting gleefully 
 their adventures about town and their plans for stealing more 
 money in order to continue their patronage of the taverns 
 and stews. 
 
 Suddenly Frewyl bethinks him of their friend Hyckescomer, 
 who ought to be in this merry company. The pair set up a 
 shout, and in a moment Hyckescomer is heard outside, yelling 
 
HYCKESCORNER 41 
 
 nautical directions. He apparently gets his ship satisfactorily 
 moored, and then joins his friends, who listen open-mouthed 
 to his tales of strange lands and adventures. The three finally 
 decide to stroll out and enjoy the pleasures of the town ; but as 
 they are departing Frewyl and Imagynacyon get into a quarrel, 
 and Hyckescorner, interfering in the interests of peace, gets a 
 sound drubbing from Imagynacyon. Just at this moment, how- 
 ever, Pyte enters, and the three rascals at once make common 
 cause against him. Frewyl runs for a "payre of gyves," the other 
 two pick a quarrel with Pyte, and, Frew)'l appearing again at the 
 proper moment with his "medycyne for a payre of sore shynnes," 
 they clap Pyte into the stocks and proceed on their errand. 
 
 Pyte now compels the audience to share in his misery by 
 forcing them to listen to a long and lugubrious sermon on 
 
 the text, 
 
 We all may say weleaway 
 
 For synne that is now-adaye ; 
 
 Loo, vertue is vanysshed for ever and aye : 
 
 Worse was hyt never ! 
 
 But at last Contemplacyon and Perseveraunce enter and put 
 an end to the sermon by setting Pyte free. Pyte rushes out in 
 a fury of zeal to convert his persecutors, and his two companions 
 are presently joined by Frewyl, who stumbles upon them by 
 mistake. He attempts to retreat, but is seized and borne down 
 by a torrent of arguments from Contemplacyon and Persever- 
 aunce, finally convinced of his wickedness, and brought to 
 repentance. 
 
 At this juncture Imagynacyon enters in a state of lively 
 satisfaction over the fact that he has been made " controller 
 of all the houses of lechery." Announcing the glad news to 
 Frewyl, he is almost struck dumb by the latter's rejoinder, 
 
 God graunte the waye to heven I maye fynde, 
 For I forsake thy company. 
 
42 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Recovering himself, however, he turns furiously upon the two 
 responsible for Frewyl's disaffection ; but they, reinforced by 
 Frewyl, beat down his arguments, and finally convict him of sin 
 also. The converted sinners are given new coats to symbolize 
 their change of character, and Imagynacyon's name is changed 
 to Good Remembraunce. Perseveraunce gives them instructions 
 for the guidance of their new life, and so the play ends. 
 
 The interpretation of the play is rendered somewhat more 
 difficult by the presence of Hyckescorner himself, who is ob- 
 viously the chief Vice, and whose name would indicate that he 
 is, as usually interpreted, a type character rather than a personi- 
 fied abstraction. It is impossible to prove conclusively that he 
 is either the one or the other, but the only bit of direct evidence 
 that the play affords would seem to give him the latter char- 
 acter. Frewyl and Imagynacyon are waiting for him to join 
 them, and Frewyl asks, " Ye, but where is Hyckescorner now,?" 
 *' Some of these yonge men," answers Imagynacyon, alluding 
 to the audience, " hath hydde hym in theyr bosomes, I warraunt 
 you." ^ This may be a mere joke at the expense of the audience, 
 but if it is taken at its face value it would indicate that Hycke- 
 scorner is stupid scoffing rather than the stupid scoffer ; and 
 though there is no other direct evidence of this in the play, 
 neither is there any evidence to the contrary. Therefore it is 
 better to exonerate the author from the blame of creating such 
 an unnecessary confusion in a play of this allegorical structure 
 as to introduce one type figure along with his abstractions,^ and 
 
 1 P. 396- 
 
 2 It is, of course, not necessary that type figures should be barred from a 
 play of this class. In such a play as The Three Ladies o/Lofidon, with its more 
 pretentious list of dratnatis personae, types are introduced easily and naturally 
 on both sides, good and evil. But in Ilyckescorne)- the list is simplified as much 
 as possible, and to introduce a type figure to assist the Vices in their war against 
 the Virtues would seem to be a complication out of harmony with this evident 
 desire to simplify. 
 
THE THREE LAWS 43 
 
 to regard Hyckescorner as standing for stupid scoffing against 
 God's word and piety of life. The other characters are unequiv- 
 ocal. They are all personifications of abstract qualities ; Pyte, 
 Contemplacyon, and Perseveraunce on the side of virtue, and 
 Imagynacyon and Frewyl on the side of vice.^ 
 
 Leaving out of account the realistic embellishments, which 
 have nothing to do with the main plot, we can interpret the 
 allegory thus : The will, which is free, arrays itself in opposition 
 to the sense of divine goodness ("pity" is here used in the 
 wider signification of mercy or goodness) which struggles for 
 recognition in the heart. The heart is further seduced by 
 evil imaginings and by stupid jeers at piety of life, and the 
 knowledge of divine goodness is rendered inoperative. But, by 
 the contemplation of God's mercy and perseverance therein, the 
 heart is relieved from the domination of vicious thoughts. The 
 worship of divine goodness again operates, the will is brought 
 into harmony with the will of God and travels only in the paths 
 of religion, while the evil imaginings of the heart are changed 
 to grateful recollections of God's goodness.^ 
 
 The Comedy Concerning TJiree Laivs^ written by Bishop Bale 
 (1538), is placed in this class by its allegorical plot; but in 
 purpose it is first and foremost a vicious attack on the Roman 
 Catholic Church such as only the " bilious Bishop " was capable 
 of. Most of the late Moralities were written by Protestant sym- 
 pathizers,^ but none of the other authors was carried so far by 
 his sympathies as was Bishop Bale. 
 
 1 See note i, p. 50, below. 
 
 2 It will readily be seen that Imagynacyon and Frewyl are not out-and-out 
 Vices, though they are virtually that throughout most of the action. They are 
 neither essentially good nor essentially bad. Thus, the logical result of their 
 defeat by the Virtues is a conversion in their characters. 
 
 3 In The Dramatic Writings of John Bale, ed. by John S. Farmer, 1907. 
 
 * Cf. Creizenach, III, 35 fif., 515. This statement means only that most of 
 the plays were Protestant in their sympathies, not necessarily that they were 
 controversial plays. 
 
44 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 For the present we may turn, with thankful hearts, from the 
 bitter and revolting invective against Catholicism. Though it 
 is most evident that the grim Bishop considered this the first 
 reason for the existence of the play, yet from our present point 
 of view we can ignore it completely and concern ourselves only 
 with the allegorical plot, which he was careful to preserve. Here 
 the struggle goes on in the land at large, and, allegorically, is 
 not to be interpreted as raging within the heart of man. 
 
 The play is almost devoid of action, and is taken up chiefly 
 with gleeful speeches on the part of the different Vices, to show 
 their popularity in the Catholic Church. The Prolocutor indi- 
 cates the general course of the play ; then, in the first scene, 
 Deus Pater addresses the three laws, Naturae Lex, Moseh Lex, 
 and Christi Lex, and gives each his commission with regard 
 to men : 
 
 Thou, law of Nature, teach thou him, first of all, 
 His Lord God to know, and that is right to do : 
 Charge and enforce him, in the ways of us to go. 
 Thou, law of Moses, and Christ's law finally. 
 Raise him and save him, to our perpetual glory. 
 
 The three laws profess their loyalty to God, then leave to carry 
 out the divine commands. 
 
 The next scene is headed Naturae Lex Comipta. Naturae 
 Lex appears on earth and proclaims his intention to act accord- 
 ing to God's will. Then Infidelitas, the chief Vice of the play, 
 enters and engages him in a long argument, throughout which 
 Infidelitas employs the regular abusive and scurrilous language 
 of the Vice, while Naturae Lex responds, as the Virtues always 
 do, with dignity and high disdain. Finally Naturae Lex leaves 
 in disgust, and Infidelitas summons two of his followers, Sodo- 
 mismus and Adolotria, and instructs them to corrupt men in 
 order to overcome Naturae Lex. After a long conversation, in 
 which the unsavory doings of the Catholic clergy are recounted 
 
THE THREE LAWS 45 
 
 with great zest, the two minor Vices go out to perform their 
 work. Infidelitas tells the audience what they are doing, and 
 retires. Then Naturae Lex comes in lamenting, and disfigured 
 by leprosy. He himself has not sinned ; but men have become 
 corrupted, and that has brought the disease upon him. 
 
 The next scene — Moseh Lex Cornipta — follows the same 
 scheme. Moseh Lex encounters Infidelitas just as his predeces- 
 sor has done, and then goes about his work. This time Infi- 
 delitas summons Avaritia and Ambitio, and sends them out to 
 undermine the labors of Moseh Lex, who finally arrives on the 
 scene " stark blind." 
 
 The last encounter — Christi Lex Comipta — is slightly 
 varied. After the argument and separation between Christi 
 Lex and Infidelitas, the latter summons Hypocrisis and Pseudo- 
 doctrina to perform his work ; and while the three are smack- 
 ing their lips over the scandals of the Romish Church, Christi 
 Lex comes on them. The three Vices at once overcome him, 
 and Infidelitas sends him out under the guard of his two 
 henchmen to be burned at the stake. 
 
 In the last scene Deus Pater interferes to save his laws. He 
 rebukes Infidelitas sternly, then strikes him with fire. Infidelitas 
 disappears in a blaze, screaming that he is doomed to hell. 
 Then Deus comforts his three laws, and restores them to their 
 original state. 
 
 The interpretation runs as follows : God has framed three laws 
 for the guidance of man, — the law of nature to lead him in the 
 paths of virtue, and the laws of Moses and of Christ to instruct 
 him in true religion and to bring him at last into heaven. These 
 laws are proclaimed among men so that all may understand them. 
 But the people are unfaithful to these laws. They practise un- 
 natural vices and give themselves over to idolatry, thus pervert- 
 ing the law of nature ; they are greedy and ambitious, and render 
 the law of Moses of no avail ; and by their hypocrisy and their 
 
46 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 leaning toward false beliefs they are led to forget the teachings 
 of Christ. But eventually God will appear in his wrath and 
 will sweep away this unbelief which corrupts the hearts of men ; 
 and then his beneficent laws will be used for the guidance of 
 the people. 
 
 Of the three leading personifications that dominate scenes ii, 
 iii, and iv, Naturae Lex is infected with leprosy in the first; 
 in the second Moseh Lex is made " stark blind " ; and in the 
 third Christi Lex is sent out to be burned. But it is important 
 to notice that none of these personifications is cornipted in the 
 sense of giving himself over to a life in sin. In that case the 
 allegory would break down, since it is impossible for a virtue or 
 a conception essentially good to be anything but good. It may 
 be rendered inoperative — as the laws are — by the prevalence 
 of vice, but must always retain its essential quality. In the play 
 last considered, two personifications, Frewyl and Imagynacyon, 
 are Vices at their first appearance and are finally converted into 
 Virtues ; but that is because the powers of free will and imagi- 
 nation are neither essentially good nor essentially bad, but are 
 good or bad according as they are directed, and this is carefully 
 explained in the play. 
 
 New Custom ^ is more avowedly a controversial play than The 
 Three Laws, though it lacks the bitterness of the latter. The 
 purpose behind the allegorical teaching is plainly advertised in 
 the list of dramatis personae, where each abstraction is made to 
 stand also for a type, as " Perverse Doctrine (an old popish 
 
 1 Dodsley, Vol. III. The play was printed in 1 573, but was probably written 
 some years earlier. Fleay [History of the Stage, p. 64) conjectures that it was 
 " probably altered from one {i.e., a Morality] of Edward VI's time as the con- 
 troversy about square caps is alluded to in it as contemporary. This question 
 was raised by John Rogers and Richard Hooper in 1550. In its present state 
 the Morality is of the time of Elizabeth, but as the revival of old Moralities is 
 mostly met with very early in her reign, and very few actors — four — are re- 
 quired in this one, I would date it 1562-1563, near King Darius, which is so 
 like it in its anti-papistry." 
 
NEW CUSTOM 47 
 
 priest)," and so on. The play, consequently, falls in the present 
 class on account of the nature of its plot, but has affiliations 
 with Class IV on account of its pronounced controversial spirit. 
 
 Though the characters here, as in the play preceding and the 
 play following, all represent forces operating in the land rather 
 than in the heart of man, they cannot be said to exclude the 
 latter idea, since all so-called national virtues are in reality virtues 
 practised by the people of the nation. The distinction is, of 
 course, a rather hazy one, but it is worth insisting upon, as it 
 seems to have been felt in that age of literary abstractions, and 
 as it was responsible for two very different attitudes in the 
 Moralities. 
 
 After the Prologue explains the purpose of the play, and 
 deprecates any displeasure that may arise in the audience. 
 Perverse Doctrine and Ignorance enter with bitter complaints 
 that "the world was never in so evil a state." The young 
 people, instead of " playing at quoits or nine-holes, or shooting 
 at butts," are busying their immature brains with theology, the 
 proper concern of older and wiser heads. Perverse Doctrine is 
 particularly aroused over the case of a young fellow who has 
 lately been preaching in London. " But," he exclaims irascibly. 
 
 If I had had the boy in a convenient place, 
 With a good rod or twain, not past one hour's space, 
 I would so have scourged my merchant that his breech should ache. 
 
 Ignorance is in full accord with the sentiments of Perverse 
 Doctrine, and — rather paradoxically, since he is supposed to 
 be "an old Popish priest " — states that he is "' the mother of 
 true devotion." The pair vow vengeance on New Custom, the 
 young minister who is undermining their power, and, for the 
 better accomplishing of their purpose, change their names, — 
 Ignorance to Simplicity, and Perverse Doctrine to Sound Doc- 
 trine. With this precaution they feel secure in the belief that 
 they " may go in any place and never be blamed." 
 
48 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 At this point the object of their hatred appears, giving utter- 
 ance to a soliloquy on the ignorance and wickedness of the 
 Catholic Church. The choleric Perverse Doctrine, after stand- 
 ing this as long as he can, bursts in upon the speaker in a 
 towering rage. New Custom retorts with that superior placidity 
 always assumed by a Virtue in conversation with a Vice, and 
 informs Perverse Doctrine that he is the elder of the two, and 
 has a perfect right to his opinions. "What," exclaims Perverse 
 
 Doctrine, 
 
 Older than I ! 
 The young knave, by the mass, not fully thirty, 
 Would be elder than I, that am above sixty ! 
 
 New Custom assures him, with unabated suavity, that he is 
 " a thousand and a half " years old.^ After a protracted argu- 
 ment the disputants separate, and in the next scene New Custom 
 enters conversing with his friend Light of the Gospel, who 
 addresses him as Primitive Constitution. 
 
 Ignorance, Perverse Doctrine, and his sister Hypocrisy then 
 lay their heads together to plan the downfall of their two ene- 
 mies. Cruelty and Avaride enter opportunely while they are at 
 their counsels, and are engaged as confederates. In order to 
 " delude the people in every place " Cruelty's name is changed 
 to Justice-with-Severity, and Avarice's to Frugality.^ After a 
 song to celebrate their compact the Vices depart on their mission. 
 
 1 This is a natural confusion resulting from the double aspect of the play, 
 — a contest between Virtues and Vices for supremacy, and a controversy be- 
 tween Catholic priests and Protestant clergymen. Perverse Doctrine as the 
 priest is " above sixty," but as the Vice is as old as the Catholic faith. New 
 Custom as the clergyman is " not fully thirty," but as the Virtue representing 
 the Protestant religion is — or maintains that he is — fifteen hundred years old. 
 
 * It is to be noticed, always, that the constant changing of names on the 
 part of the Vices is to delude the people, who, in this case, are behind the 
 scenes, but on whose preference the victory depends. The Virtues, except in 
 one or two cases, which may be regarded as irregular, are not deceived, and 
 it is not intended that they should be. 
 
NEW CUSTOM 49 
 
 But Perverse Doctrine, the most fiery of the conspirators, is 
 soon to be coerced into an utter revolution of character. He 
 stumbles accidentally upon a conference between New Custom 
 and Light of the Gospel, and tarries a little too long to gloat 
 over the destruction that he has prepared for them. They seize 
 and compel him to listen while they heap argument after argu- 
 ment upon him. Perverse Doctrine is at first rebellious and 
 abusive, then becomes passive, and finally is won over to the 
 other side. His name is changed to Sincere Doctrine, and he 
 is reassured and instructed successively by Edification, Assur- 
 ance, and God's Felicity. Then the play ends with a prayer for 
 Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 In interpreting this Morality one must remember that the so- 
 called New Custom is not New Custom at all, but Primitive 
 Constitution. He is known by the former name to his enemies 
 and to strangers, but his friend Light of the Gospel addresses 
 him as Primitive Constitution throughout, and he himself ex- 
 plains this toward the end of the play, while addressing the 
 vanquished Perverse Doctrine. The interpretation should run 
 as follows : The original constitution of God's church has been 
 forgotten, and men, owing to their ignorance, have taken up 
 with false doctrines. When, after many years, the old faith is 
 introduced again, the believers in these false doctrines refuse to 
 recognize the original doctrines of their religion, and denounce 
 them as innovations. They have become hypocritical and ava- 
 ricious, and, animated by the cruelty which is a natural result of 
 their false worship, they prepare to destroy the followers of this 
 new faith. But this supposed new doctrine is the one counte- 
 nanced by God's word. When the adherents of the false belief 
 have proof of this thrust upon them in the written word of the 
 Bible, and understand that the religion they had supposed to 
 be an innovation is really the original faith of their church, they 
 are no longer able to combat the true belief, but are converted. 
 
50 'I'liK i:\(;lisii moralitiks 
 
 With this interpretation in mind it will be seen that the action 
 of the [)hiy is not so haphazard as it at first appears. The con- 
 version of Terversc Doctrine, which seems at first to happen 
 quite by chance, and to be not only unneccssaiy, but e\en unde- 
 sirable (from an allegorical point of view), is really necessary to 
 sij^nalize the complete victory of New Custom, or Primitive 
 Constitution. That is, the only complete victory that one can 
 gain over one's religious oi)ponents is to succeed in converting 
 them. I am not arguing for this scene as a merit in the play as 
 a play. It is rendered necessary only by the controversial nature 
 of the allegor)-. h'rom an artistic point of view the con\ersion 
 of I'erverse Doctrine is a blemish in the allegory, since, tech- 
 nically, a Vice should always remain a \'ice.^ The clianging of 
 Tcrverse Doctrine to Sincere Doctrine is the deliberate convert- 
 ing of a Vice to a Virtue, and is \ery different from the chang- 
 ing of Imagynacyon (in llyckcscoriicT) to Good Remembraunce. 
 In the present play the author sacrifices technical consistency 
 to religious zeal, and both the drama and the allegory suffer in 
 consequence. 
 
 'Jlic 'Ilnrc Ladies of Lo)idon^\)^ R. Wilson, is a much more 
 pretentious allegory than any we have yet considered. It repre- 
 sents the gradual spread of evils, religious, political, and social, 
 
 1 Ncilson has noted that in allegory a personification easily retains his 
 essential character as loiii; as he is aclnc. I'ut as soon as he becomes passive 
 hcis likely to be persuaded, cajoled, or bullied into a complete revolution of 
 character. ;is if he were a type figure instead of the personification of an ab- 
 stract quality. In the conversion scene Perverse Doctrine is regarded as the 
 typical adherent of a false faith (or. in the controversial aspect of the play, as 
 a typical Catholic) and not as that false faiih itself (or Catholicism). 
 
 - 1 )()dsley, \'ol. VI. The play is dated i 5S.}. but ]'"lcay [llistoy vf tlic Sliv^c. 
 PP- 39-40) suggests an earlier date of composition: "' 'J'hc Ji"ic\ representing 
 the greediness of worldly chusers and bloody minds of usurers' {School of 
 Abuse) was acted before 1 ^-y (in the Jiull Theatre). .Surely this was the play 
 of the 'Jhiw f.iidits of f.oihloii, in which Cerontus, a Jew of Venice, is the chief 
 human char.ictcr; the others are mostly allegorical personifications. It is de- 
 voted to the subject of the greed of the folK)\vers of l.ady l.uc-e, and in it 
 
TlIJi TJIRKK J.ADJliS OF J.OSDOA' 51 
 
 and the gradual loss of virtue. In the last scene of tlic TJircc 
 Ladies, Lucre, the leader of the Vices, and Love and Conscience, 
 the chief representatives of goodness — who have been overcome 
 and corrupted by Lucre and her band — are indiscriminately 
 sentenced to punishment. This is an obviously unsatisfactory 
 conclusion. The author himself felt that the play was unfmished 
 as it stood, and about ten years later he came out with a sequel, 
 TItc Three Lords and Tliree LMdies of Londo}i, in which the 
 three ladies, good and bad, are indiscriminately restored to hap- 
 piness. This later play was, partly at least, inspired by the recent 
 victory over the Spanish Armada,^ as the chief scene is a mimic 
 battle between the three Lords of London and the three Lords 
 of Spain. It has got s<j far away from the traditional Morality 
 scheme, and is so late in the period, that it must be regarded 
 as merely an artificial revi\al. It is allegorical throughout, but 
 lacks the moral element and singleness of purpose which char- 
 acterize- the orthodox Morality. We can detect, in fact, three 
 distinct purposes : first, to reestablish the three Ladies of Lon- 
 don in a condition of prosperity ; second, to celebrate the luiglish 
 victory over the Spaniards; and third, to show the superiority of 
 London over other parts of l^ngland. Obviousl)- the play cannot 
 be regarded as a Morality, in spite of the fact that the pla)- to 
 which it is a sccjuel is one. 
 
 Usury murders Hospitality. T.ut this play was written by R. \V(ilson). and if 
 its identity with 'J'/ic Jr<j be admitted, must have been acted by Leicester's 
 men." I'leay goes on to conjecture that i5S-i, or the twenty-seventh year of 
 IClizabcth's reign, given on the play as the date, was the date of publication, 
 not of performance. 
 
 The evidence Un this identification seems to me quite insufficient. Mcay's 
 statement that Gerontus, the Jew, "is the chief human character" is misleading. 
 The part played by Ocrontus is almost negligible. All he does is to dun 
 Mercatore (an Italian merchant who /j "the chief human character") for an 
 unpaid bill, and then generously forgive him the debt rather than have Merca- 
 tore resign his faith and "become a Mahomet." 
 
 ^ The play, which is to bo found in Dodsley, Vol. \'I, was printed in 1592, 
 but, as the editor suggests, it may have been written about two years earlier. 
 
52 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The Three Ladies of London itself comes so late in the period 
 that it has decided leanings toward the drama of real life. Not 
 only are a great many type figures introduced, — of a kind 
 familiar in London, and not very highly universalized, — but 
 the abstractions themselves who carry the burden of the action 
 are all dressed on the stage to represent familiar types. Further- 
 more, the play has constant reference to conditions in London. 
 These attributes all raise the question of the eligibility of the 
 play to appear as a Morality, but it emerges from the test with 
 the three main requisites uppermost : it has the allegorical 
 structure, it represents the sort of actors proper to a Morality, 
 and it teaches a lesson for the guidance of life. This last may 
 be expressed in one statement, — When love and conscience are 
 subordinated to greed for gain the land suffers in consequence. 
 
 The play opens with the complaints of Love and Conscience 
 that all men are now attached to Lady Lucre, and that her fol- 
 lowers have little liking for Love and Conscience, Fame exhorts 
 them to stand firm, and promises them a '" triple crown " if they 
 establish their supremacy over Lucre. The two ladies, however, 
 continue to suffer from low spirits, and Fame leads them out to 
 provide chaste amusement for their recreation. 
 
 Dissimulation comes upon the scene, '" having on a farmer's 
 long coat and a cap, and his poll and beard painted motley." 
 He is not willing, however, to run any risk of being mistaken 
 for a mere farmer, and explains himself to the audience : 
 
 My name is Dissimulation, and no base mind I bear, 
 
 For my outward effects my inward zeal do declare ; 
 
 For men do dissemble with their wives, and their wives with them again, 
 
 So that in the hearts of them I always remain. 
 
 He is soon followed by Simplicity attired like a miller, and by 
 Fraud in the guise of a ruffian. Simplicity ventures to give 
 Fraud some good advice and narrowly escapes a sound thrash- 
 ing in consequence. Then Simony and Usury come in, hand 
 
THE THREE LADIES OF LONDON 53 
 
 in hand, and a grand reunion takes place, in which, for some 
 reason, the luckless Simplicity is not included. 
 
 Love and Conscience reenter, and the four rogues, Fraud, 
 Dissimulation, Usury, and Simony, at once ask to be admitted 
 to their service, but are rejected. Then Simplicity takes heart 
 of grace, applies, and is accepted ; whereat he waxes bolder 
 and expresses a wish to be Love's " good-man." But this is too 
 much. He is informed that " Love may not marry in any case 
 with Simplicity," and he is fain to content himself with the 
 humbler role of servant. Love and Conscience depart, taking 
 their new follower with them. 
 
 The rejected petitioners see Lady Lucre coming toward 
 them, and at once greet her with an application for favor and 
 service. Usury says he has come from the service of old Lady 
 Lucre in Venice on purpose to enter that of young Lady Lucre, 
 and is assured that he may live even more pleasantly in England 
 than in Venice. Lucre accepts them all, making Dissimulation 
 her steward, Fraud her rent-gatherer. Usury her secretary, and 
 reserving Simony for " such matters as are ecclesiastical." 
 
 Mercatore, dressed like an Italian merchant, comes looking 
 for Lady Lucre. Dissimulation agrees to present him for a con- 
 sideration. Mercatore pays his fee, is introduced, and is well 
 received by Lucre, who tells him that he must not be over- 
 squeamish about his business affairs if he wishes to win her. 
 
 Artifex comes and pleads with Dissimulation and Fraud to 
 introduce him to Lucre, but since he neglects to pay his fee 
 the promised introduction never comes. He is followed by a 
 lawyer who is on the same errand. The latter shows himself 
 much more apt to win the good offices of Fraud and Dissimu- 
 lation, and he is presently led inside to where Lucre has retired. 
 
 Simplicity has a cousin Sincerity, who has studied in both 
 Oxford and Cambridge, but lacks a benefice. He comes to his 
 cousin, who refers him to Conscience for help. Conscience 
 
54 THP: ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 recognizes his qualifications and wishes to help him, but her 
 power in such matters has of late become very slight. He then 
 presents his credentials to Lucre, who looks them over, but says 
 that her servant Simony has charge of all such matters. Dis- 
 simulation here joins in to inform her that there is one living 
 which she may bestow without Simony's consent, the parsonage 
 of St. Nihil, This is accordingly presented to Sincerity, and 
 Simplicity is highly elated over his cousin's good fortune until 
 the latter informs him that Nihil means nothing. 
 
 Meanwhile Love and Conscience have been sinking deeper 
 and deeper in poverty, owing to the machinations of Lucre and 
 her followers. Usury now tells Conscience that she may have 
 her house for another quarter for forty pounds (the old rent 
 was ten pounds a year), and then will have to leave. I'resently 
 Simplicity appears with the gowns of Love and Conscience, 
 which are all they have left to send for the quarter's rent. He 
 meets Dissimulation, and the latter shows that he has a new 
 plan for overpowering Love, since he sends her gown back 
 to her with some gold in addition. Conscience's gown, he says, 
 may go to Usury, and her skin with it. 
 
 Hospitality, who has appeared once before to invite Con- 
 science to a simple dinner on " bread and beer, one joint of 
 meat, and welcome," now comes in, closely followed by Usur)', 
 who sets on him to murder him. Conscience runs in and tries 
 to prevent the crime, but she is helpless, and poor Hospitality 
 is dragged out to his death, crying dolefully, '" Farewell, Lady 
 Conscience ; you shall have Hospitality in London nor England 
 no more." 
 
 Conscience is finally reduced to selling brooms for a living. 
 While she is engaged in this business Lucre comes along, buys 
 the brooms, and makes Conscience an offer, to the acceptance 
 of which C'onscience is driven by her poverty. According to 
 the terms of the offer Conscience must keep a cottage to which 
 
THE THREE LADIES OE LONDON 55 
 
 Lucre may resort when she wislies " with familiar friends to 
 play," since her own house is watched by constables and spite- 
 ful neighbors. Lucre sends Usury for her "box of all abomi- 
 nation," and, dipping her fingers in the box, spots Conscience's 
 face over. Then Conscience goes to her new position. 
 
 Dissimulation now takes advantage of the poverty of Love 
 to seduce her into a marriage with him. Soon her head swells 
 monstrously, and she is compelled to wear a " vizard." The 
 Virtues are now completely overcome. 
 
 The final scene depicts the trial of Love, Conscience, and 
 Lucre before Judge Nemo, Lucre is convicted of adultery and 
 of conniving at the murder of Hospitality. She is condemned 
 to a place of darkness, to be burned forever in a lake of fire 
 and brimstone. Love is sent along with her, to pine in endless 
 pain, because she has sold herself to Lucre ; and Conscience is 
 sent to prison till the day of general session. 
 
 The characters, in the main, are easily interpreted. The per- 
 sonifications all represent forces operating in the land at large 
 
 — with a more specific application to London. On the side of 
 virtue, Love and Conscience are forces for good, and Fame is 
 the reward accompanying them. Sincerity and Hospitality are 
 Virtues. On the side of vice. Lucre is money with an evil con- 
 notation. Dissimulation, I'raud, Simony, Usury, and Cogging 
 are vices practised throughout the land. Nemo is an Agent of 
 Retribution, and Diligence, or Serviceable Diligence, appearing 
 simply as a constable — as he does in many of the Moralities 
 
 — is a negligible figure. Simplicity is not a vicious character, 
 neither is he uncompromisingly good. His virtue is of a nega- 
 tive kind, and he occupies a position much like that of the clown 
 in the drama of real life. 
 
 Several type figures are introduced to point the moral. 
 These are Mercatore, the merchant ; Artifcx, the artificer ; 
 Peter Pleaseman, the parson ; Wily Will ; Tom Beggar ; and 
 
S6 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 the Lawyer. Gerontus the Jew and the Judge of Turkey are 
 individuals. These figures, as the outline has shown, bear only 
 a slight part of the action. 
 
 To go carefully into the interpretation of the allegory would 
 be to do very little more than repeat the outline of the play. 
 In order to present the underlying significance a very general 
 interpretation will be clearer and more useful : When love and 
 conscience are subordinated to greed for money, all sorts of 
 evils result. This greed becomes manifest not only in business 
 and professional activities, but also in religion. As easy methods 
 of accumulating money rapidly, fraud and usury are practised, 
 and simony becomes a regular practice in the Church. The old 
 spirit of hospitality cannot exist while each man is seeking to 
 rob his neighbor. At length the better feelings of men — 
 love and the promptings of conscience — are completely over- 
 come and cease to have any part in the dealings of life. Then 
 comes retribution. 1 The constant struggle for money at all costs 
 has driven out the tendencies which make for general peace 
 and happiness, and the land is plunged in misery and remorse.^ 
 
 1 The play is not clear, at this point, as to the source of vengeance. We 
 should expect the arrival of some such figure as Despair. 
 
 2 The punishment, also, is very indefinite. It may represent national 
 calamity, or simply general remorse for evil deeds. The play, as I have 
 shown, does not come to a logical conclusion, and we must conjecture either 
 that it was hurriedly finished, or that it was deliberately left in an unfinished 
 condition in order to leave opportunity for a sequel. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 MORALITIES DEALING WITH THE CONFLICT BE- 
 TWEEN VIRTUES AND VICES FOR THE POSSESSION 
 
 OF MAN 
 
 The bulk of the English Moralities depict a struggle between 
 personified virtues and vices to win the favor of Man. This, 
 when translated into literal terms, refers to the eternal struggle 
 in the human soul between evil passions and impulses for good. 
 I have made three subdivisions of this motive : i . Man Spiritual 
 (where the struggle is for the human soul). 2. Man Intellectual 
 (where the struggle is for the human mind). 3. Man repre- 
 sented merely by one or more personified attributes. 
 
 The demands for condensed expression in a table of classifica- 
 tion may have left some obscurity in the phrasing of the first 
 two subdivisions. In both of them Man appears in person, and 
 the struggle takes the form of repeated attempts on the part of 
 the personified virtues and vices to obtain his favor and compan- 
 ionship. In the first he is approached, on the one hand, by Vices 
 who tempt him to renounce piety and live in sin, and, on the 
 other, by Virtues who urge him to live in the fear of God. In 
 the second the Vices tempt him to an existence of idleness and 
 ignorance, as against the Virtues, who strive to win him over 
 to a life of study. In the third subdivision the distinction lies 
 in the fact that Man himself does not appear as the object of 
 strife, but, instead, some attribute or attributes of Man personi- 
 fied, occupying the same position with relation to the Virtues and 
 Vices as does Man himself in the first two subdivisions. 
 
 57 
 
58 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 In the last analysis this plot is the same as that in the class 
 considered in the previous chapter, since all struggles between 
 good and evil may be said to have their battle-ground in the na- 
 ture of Man. But the difference, technically, between the alle- 
 gory where Man is present in the body to be won or lost, and the 
 allegory where he is dimly understood but not specified as the 
 prize, is an essential one. In the former, Man, or a personifica- 
 tion representing Man, is the central figure on the stage, and 
 victory falls to that side which ultimately proves more attractive 
 to him ; in the latter, we are interested in the fortunes of abstract 
 good and evil, and the more interested we become in the strife the 
 less likely are we to remember that Man is the spoil of the victor. 
 
 I. Conflict for the Possession of Man Spiritual 
 
 This subdivision is the most important section of the English 
 Moralities. In the main, it is taken up with the struggles of 
 Virtues and Vices to obtain the favor of Man. But another 
 aspect of this strife, which is not so apparent, must also be 
 taken into consideration here. This is the enmity of the three 
 great powers — the World, the Flesh, and the Devil — towards 
 Man, an aspect of the allegory influenced by Paul's exhortation 
 to the Ephesians to " put on the whole armor of God " against 
 the attacks of the devil. ^ This motive appears with the more 
 important one in The Castle of Perseverajice, which, with the 
 possible exception of the Pryde of Lyfe, is the earliest existing 
 English Morality. 
 
 The Castle of Perseverance ^ is not only one of the earliest 
 of the existing Moralities ; it is one of the finest of its class. 
 While most of the Moralities are disfigured, from an artistic 
 
 ^ Cf. Creizenach, I, 464. 
 
 2 Edited by F. J. Furnivall and Alfred W. Pollard for the Early English 
 Text Society, London, 1904. The play is usually dated about 1400, but Pollard 
 here places it about 1425. 
 
THE CASTLE OF PERSEVERANCE 59 
 
 point of view, by constant attempts to appeal to the vulgar class 
 of spectators, this play holds itself sternly, from beginning to 
 end, to the allegorical struggle in the soul. This gives it a 
 solemnity and an earnestness of purpose not attained by any 
 other Morality except Everyman. 
 
 The two Vexillatores give a full account of the play that is 
 to follow ; and a part of this explanation, which I shall quote, 
 shows how closely the two motives are mingled here, the old 
 combat of the Seven Deadly Sins against the Seven Cardinal 
 Virtues, — first presented in the Psychomachia, and presented 
 here as there in a series of single combats, — and the rivalry 
 of the Virtues and the Vices for the favor of Man : 
 
 The Castel of Perseverans, wanne Mankynde hath tan 
 
 Wei armyd with vertus, & overcome all vycys, 
 
 There the Good aungyl makyth ful mery thanne 
 
 That Mankynde hath overcome his gostly enmys. 
 
 The Badde Aungyl mornyth that he hath myssyd man : 
 
 He callyth the Werld, the Fende, & the foule Flesch, I-wys, 
 
 & all the sevene synnys to do that they canne 
 
 to brynge Mankynd a-geyn to bale out of blys, 
 
 With wronge. 
 Pride a-saylyth Meknesse with all his myth : 
 Ire, a-geyns Paciensse, ful fast ganne he fyth : 
 Envye, a-geyn Charyte strywth ful ryth : 
 but Covetyse a-geyns Largyte fytyth over longe. 
 Coveytyse, Mankind euere covytyth for to qwell : 
 he gaderith to hym Glotony, a-^eyns Sobymesse : 
 Lecherye, with Chastyte ffytith ful fell, 
 & Slawthe in Goddys seruyse, a-geyns Besynesse. 
 Thus vycys a-geyns vertues fytyn ful snelle ; 
 every buskith to brynge man to dystresse : 
 but Penaunce & Confescion, with Mankynd wyl melle ; 
 The vycys am ful lyckely the vertues to oppresse : 
 
 sann dowte ; 
 Thus in the Castel of good Perseverance 
 Mankynd is maskeryd with mekyl varyaunce ; 
 The Goode Aungyl & the Badde be euere at dystaunce : 
 The Goode holdith hym Inne : the Badde wolde brynge hym owte. 
 
6o THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Before the appearance of Humanum Genus, or Mankind 
 (I shall use the English names, which are those employed in 
 the dialogue)^ the three kings, the World, the Flesh, and the 
 Devil, speak from their respective scaffolds. The Worfd boasts 
 of his power over the nations, procured for him by his "tresorer, 
 Syr Coveytyse." The Devil tells of his anxiety to have Man- 
 kind destroyed, and proclaims his intention of staying to effect 
 this destruction. Lastly, the Flesh glories in the power of his 
 followers, Glotony, Lechery, and Slawth, who are able to trick 
 Mankind, 
 
 Then Mankind enters, newly bom and naked, attended by 
 his Good Angel and his Bad Angel. He laments his poverty 
 and proneness to sorrow, and prays to Christ that he may follow 
 his Good Angel. The two attendants, realizing that Mankind 
 must now choose his way of life, present their respective argu- 
 ments to him ; and, lured by promises of wealth and ease, he 
 decides to follow his Bad Angel. 
 
 The World, on his scaffold, addresses his followers. Lust, 
 Lyking, and Foly. They all agree that the only real happiness 
 obtainable on earth is in their service. Then the Bad Angel 
 enters with Mankind, introduces him, and instructs the Vices 
 how to look after him so that he may go at last to Hell with 
 them. The Vices gladly take Mankind into their fellowship, 
 and tell him of the riches and pleasures they have in store for 
 him. The World extends a hearty welcome and gives Mankind 
 a place on his scaffold. 
 
 Bacbytere enters with a lengthy explanation of his character. 
 The World and his followers go on with their plans for Man- 
 kind, whom they will not abandon till he hangs high in Hell. 
 The Good Angel makes an attempt to warn Mankind of his 
 danger, but is abused and driven away by the Bad Angel. On 
 the advice of the World, Mankind takes Bacbytere with him 
 and goes to Coveytyse to receive the riches that have been 
 
THE CASTLE OF PERSEVERANCE 6 1 
 
 promised him. Bacbytere (or Bacbytynge) introduces Mankind 
 to Coveytyse, who receives him lovingly, gives him a seat on his 
 scaffold, and proceeds to offer careful instructions about the way 
 he is to act toward his fellow-men. Mankind is an apt pupil, 
 and readily promises his instructor, 
 
 where-so that I fare, be fenne or flod, 
 I make a-vow, be Goddys blod, 
 of Mankynde, getyth no man no good, 
 but if he synge " si dedero." 
 
 Then Coveytyse calls the attendants of the Flesh and the 
 Devil and presents them to Mankind, and the Devil himself 
 appears and instructs his followers, Pryde, Wrathe, and Envy, 
 to stick by Mankind so that he may be bound fast in Hell when 
 he dies. Mankind is now thoroughly under the influence of the 
 World, the Flesh, the Devil, and the Seven Deadly Sins, and 
 is ready to follow their advice implicitly. The Good Angel 
 mourns and is again ridiculed by the Bad Angel. 
 
 Schryfte appears and asks the Good Angel why he weeps, 
 and the latter says it is on account of the disaffection of 
 Mankind. Schryfte goes to try his powers of persuasion, but 
 Mankind puts him off with 
 
 thou art com al to sone ; 
 therfore, Schryfte, be thi fay, 
 goo forthe tyl on Good Fryday ! 
 tente to thee thanne, wel I may ; 
 I have now ellys to done. 
 
 But Penance joins forces with Schryfte, and their arguments 
 reduce Mankind to sorrow for his misdeeds. He calls on God 
 for mercy and renounces his sins. Schryfte tells him he must 
 avoid Foly and confess all his sins, which he does, receiving 
 absolution from Schryfte. 
 
 Feeling his weakness in the presence of temptation. Mankind 
 wishes to be sheltered from the attacks of the Seven Deadly 
 
62 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Sins, and Schryfte sends him to the Castle of Perseverance, 
 where the Seven Cardinal Virtues are waiting to receive him. 
 Each gives her counsel in turn, and Mankind solemnly promises 
 to abide by his instructions. 
 
 The Bad Angel sends Bacbytynge to warn the World, the 
 Flesh, and the Devil of Mankind's desertion, and to summon 
 them to the Castle. Bacbytynge delivers his message to each 
 of the kings, and each has his attendants soundly flogged for 
 their carelessness, to the intense joy of Bacbytynge, who takes 
 a strictly impartial delight in misery, wherever he can find it. 
 Then the powers of evil make ready to storm the Castle. Man- 
 kind, in his stronghold, hears of the coming attack and prays 
 to Christ for strength. Then his Good Angel summons the 
 Virtues to defend him. 
 
 The Seven Deadly Sins, under the leadership of their cap- 
 tains, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, approach the Castle 
 and order the Virtues to surrender Mankind. The demand is 
 refused, and after several threats and arguments the assault 
 begins. The Virtues shower down roses (the emblems of Christ's 
 passion) upon the assailants, and repulse them in a series of 
 single combats. The followers of the Devil advance first, and 
 Pryde is beaten back by Meknesse, Envye by Charyte, and 
 Wrathe by Paciensse. After the last-mentioned encounter Wrathe 
 
 emerges crying, 
 
 hyr rosys fel on me so scharpe 
 
 that myn hed hangyth as an harpe : 
 
 I dar neyther crye nor carpe, 
 
 sche is so pacyent, 
 
 — a sufficiently striking example of the effort to make allegorical 
 action intelligible by the addition of literal comment. 
 
 Flesh then urges on his followers, Glotony, Lecherye, and 
 Slawthe ; but they are in turn repulsed, Glotony by Sobyrnesse 
 (or Abstinence), Lecherye by Chastyte, and Slawthe by Besy- 
 nesse (or Industry). 
 
THE CASTLE OF PERSEVERANCE 63 
 
 As a last resort the World calls on his attendant Coveytyse 
 to bear his banner to the front. Coveytyse advances and invites 
 Mankind to leave the Castle and come with him. Largyte (Gen- 
 erosity) curses Coveytyse and orders him off ; but he bids her 
 hold her tongue, and renews his invitations to Mankind, who 
 says that he is growing old, and finally agrees to leave the Castle 
 and go with Coveytyse. As he departs, Meknesse, speaking for 
 the Virtues, explains that Mankind has a free will and that it is 
 no fault of theirs if he leaves them. Then the Virtues all lament 
 Mankind's unfortunate choice. 
 
 Coveytyse now instructs Mankind, promising him land and 
 riches if he will guard them carefully and give nothing to the 
 poor. Mankind readily agrees to all the conditions of Coveytyse. 
 But presently Dethe enters, explains his mission, then goes and 
 lays his stroke upon Mankind : 
 
 now I kylle thee with myn knappe ! 
 I reche to thee, Mankynde, a rappe 
 to thyne herte rote. 
 
 Mankind appeals to the World for help, but the World calls to 
 a boy and turns Mankind's property over to him. Mankind re- 
 proaches the World and Covej^yse, laments bitterly that he must 
 go and leave all his riches to this boy whom he does not know, 
 and dies. 
 
 The Soul appears from under the bed where Mankind has 
 breathed his last, and reproaches the Body. He then appeals 
 to the Good Angel, who says that he must go to Hell unless 
 Mercy will save him ; but the Bad Angel insists that the Soul 
 must go to Hell with him. 
 
 Finally the Four Daughters of God, Mercy, Rytwysnes, Pes, 
 and Trewthe, enter and contend for the Soul. Mercy and Pes 
 are eager to rescue him from the clutches of the Devil, but 
 Rytwysnes and Trewthe argue sternly and logically that Man- 
 kind has damned the Soul by his own free will. The sisters 
 
64 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 carry their debate before the throne of God, who at last decides 
 in favor of Mercy and Pes, and sends his daughters to take 
 Mankind from the Devil. They conduct Mankind before the 
 throne, and he is given a seat on the right hand of God. 
 
 The allegory, which is a picture of Man's progress through 
 life, is simple and easily interpreted. Man is born into the world 
 naked, defenceless, and innocent. Early in life he has to decide 
 between good and evil courses, and, lured by the prospect of 
 pleasure and worldly profit, he chooses the latter. Then he 
 gives free rein to his lusts and appetites, and indulges in every 
 kind of folly. But while engaged in this evil life he comes under 
 the influence of religion. At first he hardens his heart, but the 
 truths of religion are so impressed on him that he becomes filled 
 with remorse for his past wickedness and cries to God for mercy. 
 Then he confesses his sins, gets absolution, and resolves upon 
 a better life. For many years he lives up to his purpose. His 
 evil desires never leave him ; but, strong in the practice of virtue, 
 he is empowered to resist them. At length he grows old, and 
 while the lusts of his flesh have steadily grown weaker, he is 
 becoming more prone to avarice, the peculiar vice of old age. 
 His love for money finally becomes too strong to be resisted, 
 and in his last years he indulges to the full his pleasure in 
 hoarding riches. Death overtakes him while he is thus en- 
 gaged ; and he has the bitter experience of realizing, in his 
 last moments, that a stranger is to enjoy his wealth, while he 
 must appear before God with only the record of his deeds upon 
 earth. His soul appears before the judgment seat. In strict jus- 
 tice God cannot pardon him ; but God's mercy is greater than 
 his desire for justice, and the soul is received into heaven. 
 
 The Castle of Perseverance is one of the few Moralities that 
 depict the whole life of Man from infancy to old age or death ; ^ 
 
 1 Cf. Brandl, Quellen des weltlichen Dramas in England vor Shakespeare, 
 p. xl. 
 
MANKIND 65 
 
 and as a natural consequence of this wider view of the hero's 
 career it presents more stages than are usually found in plays 
 of this class. The normal scheme of the Morality with a human 
 hero may be said to include the following stages : State of Good- 
 ness — Fall from Grace — Life in Sin — Repentance and Pardon. 
 The Castle of Pcrsevc7'ancc, in effect, doubles this scheme, pre- 
 senting the stages, State of Goodness — Fall from Grace — 
 Life in Sin — Repentance and Pardon — Life of Goodness — 
 Second Fall from Grace — Life in Sin — Final Repentance 
 and Pardon. These stages, in different Moralities, are shifted 
 and repeated in various ways, though on the whole the simple 
 scheme of four stages is usually adhered to. Most of the Morali- 
 ties in which Man is the hero depict, not the whole life as in The 
 Castle of Perseverance, but one crucial period of temptation and 
 struggle. Of the latter type is the play next to be considered. 
 
 Mankhid^ belongs to the same allegorical class as The Castle 
 of Perseverance, but otherwise it has almost nothing in common 
 with the latter play. The Castle of Perseverance is pure in tone, 
 with almost the sternness and severity of Greek tragedy, Maii- 
 kind is remarkable mainly for the coarse jokes and vulgar antics 
 of four rascals, like the Imagynacyon and Frewyl of Hycke- 
 scomer, thinly veiled as personifications. The author is quite con- 
 scious of the fact that he is writing a Morality, and takes care to 
 preserve the traditional form and to insist on his moral ; but the 
 religious teaching of the play is stilted and unnatural to the last 
 degree, while the mad pranks of Mischeff and his crew are pic- 
 tured with a zest and unction which must have gone far toward 
 making the play a favorite with those who loved a joke more 
 than a sermon. 
 
 1 Between 1461-1485. In Manly, Vol. I. For a discussion of possible sources 
 for the play see Mabel M. Keiller, " The Influence of Piers Plowman on the 
 Macro Play of Mankind," Publications of the Mod. Lang. Assoc, Vol. XXVI, 
 No. 2, and W. R. Mackenzie, "A New Source for Mankind," ibid., Vol. XXVII, 
 No. I. 
 
66 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Mankind begins with a very stilted speech from Mercy on 
 the Redemption, Presently relief appears in the person of 
 Mischeff, who mocks and teases Mercy most unmercifully. The 
 dignified soliloquizer expostulates, 
 
 A-voyde, goode brother ! ye ben culpable 
 To interupte thus my talkynge delectable. 
 
 But Mischeff is unabashed by this stately rebuff, and soon he is 
 reinforced by the arrival of his three friends. New Gyse, Now-a- 
 days, and Nought. Mercy is subjected to a rattling fire of chaff; 
 but finally the four Vices retire and leave him to continue his 
 moralizing, which he does not fail to do, with the added point 
 that their lewd conversation has given him : 
 
 The goode new gyse now-a-days I will not dysalow ; 
 
 I dyscomende the vycyouse gyse, I prey have me excusyde. 
 
 Mankynde appears, soliloquizing on the goodness of God ; 
 when, catching sight of Mercy, he greets him with reverence. 
 They converse on spiritual topics ; then Mercy gives Mankynde 
 careful directions for the guidance of his life and leaves him. 
 New Gyse, Now-a-days, and Nought come in, but Mankynde 
 pretends not to see them, and delves busily in the earth with 
 his spade " to eschew ydullnes." The three Vices tantalize him, 
 make certain coarse suggestions as to the best methods of cul- 
 tivating his land, and finally he loses his temper and beats them 
 with his spade till they are glad to get out of his way. After a 
 virtuous soliloquy, and a solemn promise to the audience "ryght 
 sone " to "reverte," Mankynde leaves the stage. 
 
 Mischeff appears and is soon followed by New Gyse, Now-a- 
 days, and Nought. They consult together, then call the devil, 
 or Tityvullus, who enters roaring, "I com with my legges under 
 me ! " .and tries to borrow a penny among the Vices, They 
 have nothing to give him, however, so he sends them all out to 
 steal and remains to formulate a plan for corrupting Mankynde. 
 
MANKIND 67 
 
 The latter presently fulfills his promise to the audience and "re- 
 vertes " to his labor with the spade ; but at last he grows tired, 
 lies down, and goes to sleep. Tityvullus approaches the sleeper 
 and whispers that Mercy has been hanged for stealing a mare, 
 and that now he is to put his trust in New Gyse, Now-a-days, and 
 Nought. 
 
 After Tityvullus retires, Mischeff and his three companions 
 return from their foraging expedition. Mankynde awakes and 
 approaches them in friendly and apologetic fashion. Then Mis- 
 cheff presides at a council over Mankynde and makes him 
 repeat a solemn promise to go out and perform murders and 
 other wicked deeds. The whole company is departing when 
 Mercy appears and tries to stop Mankynde, but he is put aside 
 and left to mourn the desertion of his pupil. 
 
 After some time Mankynde returns, smitten with remorse 
 for his sins, and calling for a rope to hang himself. The Vices 
 have one ready for him, and New Gyse explains how one is 
 hanged according to the new guise, almost hanging himself 
 during the lesson. Then the Vices take to their heels and leave 
 Mankynde grovelling in terror on the ground. Before he can 
 destroy himself, however, Mercy returns and restores him to 
 confidence and a state of grace. 
 
 The allegorical teaching is rendered more general and less 
 effective by the elusive nature of the vicious characters. Mis- 
 cheff is the chief Vice and stands for "all sins generally" ; but 
 his followers, New Gyse, Now-a-days, and Nought, do not stand 
 for any specific vices, as we should expect them to do. They 
 represent only, in a general way, the current vices of the day ; 
 and this is explained to Mankynde when, after his regeneration, 
 he tells Mercy how he has been deceived : 
 
 Tityvilly, that goth invisibele, hynge hys nett be-fore my eye, 
 And, by hys fantasticall visionys sedulously sowght, 
 He Newgyse, Now-a-days, Nought causyd me to obey. 
 
68 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Mercy, in return, gives him a lecture upon the origin of temp- 
 tation and evil, which are symbolized by his late companions : 
 
 Ye haue iij adversarys, — he is master of them all, — 
 
 That ys to sey, the dewell, the world, the flesh : & I the tell 
 
 That Newgyse, Now-a-days & Nought, the world we may them call; 
 
 And propyrlly Titiuilly syngnyfieth the fend of hell : 
 
 The flesh, — that ys the vnclene concupisens of your body ; 
 
 These be your iij gostly enmys in whom ye have put your confidens : 
 
 Thei browt yow to Myscheffe to conclude your temperull glory. 
 
 As yt hath be schewyd this worschypfyll audiens.^ 
 
 That is, New Gyse, Now-a-days, and Nought stand in a general 
 way for the temptations of the world and the flesh, which assail 
 the heart of Man and lure him away from virtue. The third of 
 the trio of " gostly enmys " is represented less vaguely. The 
 devil, or Tityvullus, here occupies an unusually important role, 
 and does a great deal of the work usually assigned to the chief 
 Vice, — one of the two cases where this happens in the Mo- 
 ralities.^ His regular role is to look on and approve when Man 
 falls into sin, or to give directions to the Vices, who are his 
 servants ; but here he appears as the actual tempter of Man, 
 
 Mercy is the only representative of goodness in the play, but 
 he is a figure of sufficient importance to carry the day against 
 the combined forces of evil without occasioning any suspicion 
 of inconsistency in the outcome. The most potent of the Four 
 Daughters of God, who were introduced repeatedly in mediaeval 
 allegory, was Mercy. The Four Daughters symbolized the four 
 attributes of God ; that is, righteousness, peace, mercy, and 
 truth, which hitherto it had been the convention to represent 
 as women. In the present play, however, there are obvious 
 reasons why the divine quality of mercy, if it was to be repre- 
 sented here at all, should be personified as a man rather than 
 as a woman. But with this slight discrepancy Mercy is here the 
 
 1 Lines 869-872, 876-884. 
 
 2 The other case is in the Morality Wisdom, Who is Christ. 
 
MANKIND 69 
 
 figure that had become familiar to mediaeval readers in many a 
 debate concerning the fate of man. That he has this precise 
 significance he himself indicates in his conversation with Man- 
 kynde toward the close of the play, 
 
 Mank. The egall lustyse of God wyll not permytte sych a synfuU wrech 
 To be reuyuyd & restoryd a-geyn ; yt were impossibyll. 
 
 Mercy. The Justice of God wyll as I wyll, as hym-sylfe doth pre-cyse : 
 Nolo mortem peccatoris, inquit, yff he wyll be reducyble. 
 
 Matik. Than, mercy, good Mercy ! What ys a man wythowt Mercy ? 
 Lytyll ys our parte of paradyse where Mercy ne were. 
 Good Mercy, excuse the inevetabyll obieccion of my gostly enmy : 
 The prowerbe seyth, the trewth tryith the sylfe. Alas, I have mech care. 
 
 Mercy. God wyll not make 30U preuy on-to his last iugement : 
 lustyce & Equite xall be fortyfyid, I wyll not denye ; 
 Trowthe may not so cruelly precede in hys streyt argument 
 But that Mercy schall rewle the mater with-owte controuersaye.^ 
 
 The significance of the play, then, is this : Man, trying to 
 lead a clean and virtuous life, is constantly tempted by the 
 fashionable vices of the day and is hampered, as well, by the 
 original sin in his own nature. He succeeds for a time in over- 
 coming temptation, but when the devil puts false and evil 
 thoughts in his heart he becomes confused and unable to dis- 
 criminate between right and wrong. Then he falls into vicious 
 ways and persists therein, refusing to avail himself of God's 
 mercy, which is extended to all men. But eventually he comes 
 to himself. Remorse for his sins takes hold on him, and in 
 despair he meditates suicide. He is preserved, however, from 
 this fate by a realization that God's mercy is infinite, and is 
 extended even to the sinner who, in strict justice, should be 
 sentenced to eternal punishment. With a grateful knowledge 
 of his indebtedness to God he now resolves on a life of piety 
 for the future, and definitely renounces the sins in which he has 
 wasted so many years of his life. 
 
 1 Lines 824-836. 
 
70 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Nature} " a goodly interlude " by Henry Medwall, is like 
 The Castle of Perseverance in that it presents a picture of life 
 as a whole rather than of one period. It is not, however, so 
 careful on this point as is the latter play. The Castle of Per- 
 severance presents Man immediately after his birth, conducts 
 him through life, and after his death accompanies him to the 
 judgment seat of God. It is a complete biography within a 
 limited scope. Nature presents Man first as an infant, or so 
 we are led to suppose by the fact that he is naked and is ac- 
 companied by Innocence ; there is no specific mention of infancy. 
 At the close of the play Man has reached old age, but not the 
 end of his days. This point is connected with another marked 
 difference between the two plays. Natitre is noticeable for an 
 almost complete lack of religious instruction, while in The Castle of 
 Perseverance a high religious tone is sustained throughout. The 
 teaching in Nature is directed entirely toward the guidance of 
 life in this world ; and to end the play with the death of Man 
 — which would necessitate a great deal of moralizing on the 
 next life — would be noticeably inconsistent. The Moralities 
 are not always remarkable for dramatic consistency, and when 
 one encounters a real exhibition of this quality one is tempted 
 to make the most of it. 
 
 The play might seem, at first, to belong more properly to 
 the following subclass, where the conflict is for the mind of 
 Man. But in spite of an almost complete lack of religious 
 teaching there can be no question that the allegorical struggle 
 is waged over the soul of the hero. This aspect is decided by 
 the very nature of the abstractions taking part in the conflict. 
 The temptations assailing Man are from the Seven Deadly Sins 
 and other Vices of the same general character, and the attempt 
 
 1 Between 1486-1500. In ^' Lost" Tttdor Plays, ed. by J. S. Farmer. On the 
 probable source of this play in Lydgate's Reason and Sensuality, see a forth- 
 coming article by the present author. 
 
NATURE 71 
 
 is to lead him from a life of uprightness and virtue, not from a 
 life of study. The representative of goodness, to be sure, is 
 Reason, who in other plays figures as a guardian of the mind, 
 not of the soul. But Reason pitted against Ignorance and Tedi- 
 ousness has a prize in view which, allegorically, is very different 
 from the prize to be won when Reason is pitted against the 
 Seven Deadly Sins. Obviously, in the former case the prize is 
 the mind, in the latter the soul. 
 
 Lady Nature, at the beginning of the play, makes a long 
 speech to Man, and ends by sending him on his way with 
 Reason and Sensuality to guide him, and Innocency, his nurse, 
 to wean him from the appetite for vice. Sensuality urges Nature 
 not to send Reason with Man, and to allow him to be the only 
 guide, but Nature insists on her original scheme and leaves them 
 to get along as best they can. Reason and Sensuality then fall to 
 disputing, and Reason stoutly maintains his superiority, though 
 he has more lately come to Man's service. " Lo," he says, 
 
 this is it that doth him (Man) dignify, 
 And causeth him to be reputed so excellent. 
 And of all this the chief doer am I, 
 Which from Heaven into earth by God am sent, 
 Only for that cause and final intent 
 That I should this, his creature, demean and guide 
 For the season that he doth in this world abide. 
 Now compare thy virtues and mine together, 
 And say which is the worthier of them two. 
 
 But Sensuality is impervious to any sharply drawn distinctions 
 between virtue and vice, and exclaims. 
 
 Which is the worthier ? forsooth ! I trow neither : 
 We be good fellows. 
 
 Man, with an indulgent eye to the needs of thick skulls among 
 the audience, cries 
 
 O, blessed Lord ! what manner strife is this 
 Atwixt my reason and sensuality ! 
 
72 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 He finally puts an end to the argument by bidding Sensuality 
 be tongue-tied till Reason has done speaking. Then they all 
 proceed on their journey and come at last to the World, who 
 gives them a hearty welcome and offers Man some clothing. 
 Man, who is naked, says that the garment of innocence is 
 enough for him, and in this Innocency supports him. But the 
 World insists, and Man finally accepts the clothing and puts 
 it on. The World then brings forward Worldly Affection, 
 whom he recommends to Man as a good person to have in his 
 service, along with Sensuality. On the advice of all these friends 
 Man dismisses Innocency,^ and places himself chiefly under the 
 guidance of Sensuality. 
 
 Worldly Affection goes out to look after Man's affairs, leaving 
 his master with Sensuality. Soon they are joined by Pride, who 
 confides to Sensuality that he is very anxious to enter Man's 
 service ; then, when Man comes forward, he flatters him adroitly, 
 says that his name is Worship, and is accepted as a servant. 
 He shows his anxiety for his master's welfare by warning him 
 earnestly against Reason — the same device that was used in 
 Mankind to lure Man away from virtue : 
 
 Marry, fie on him, knave ! 
 It were better the hangman were in his grave 
 Than ever the lewd fool should have 
 The governance of you. 
 
 Sensuality then takes Man out to a tavern to enjoy himself, 
 and presently returns joyfully to announce to Pride and Worldly 
 Affection that his master has taken up with Margery, a harlot, 
 and has employed the six kinsmen of Pride, who have all 
 changed their names " for to blear his eye." Covetise has 
 
 * The sex of Innocency remains a matter of some doubt. She is spoken of 
 at first as a woman (p. 59), and later, when Man at the World's request decides 
 to dismiss her, as a man (p. 63) ; and, to round out this information, Sensuality 
 adds, " He is but a boy " (p. 64). 
 
NATURE 73 
 
 become Worldly Policy ; Wrath, Manhood ; Envy, Disdain ; 
 Gluttony, Good Fellowship ; Sloth, Ease ; and Lechery, Lust. 
 
 Lo ! these be fair names, parde ! 
 Both good and honest, as seemeth me : 
 As for their conditions, what they be, 
 Ye know well. 
 
 "Very just," answers Worldly Affection, 
 
 I know their conditions on the best wise 
 If they still keep their old guise. 
 
 " Yes," answers Sensuality, " that they do, on warrantise." 
 Worldly Affection marvels that Covetousness should be accepted, 
 and Sensuality explains that, though Man has no inclination to 
 Covetousness now, he will follow him " when his head waxeth 
 hoar." 1 
 
 On Man's return from the tavern he is seized with misgivings 
 as to what Reason will think when he sees him in this condition. 
 Finally he concludes that he has followed Sensuality and Worldly 
 Affection too long, and decides to seek Shamefacedness.^ The 
 latter at once puts in an appearance and promises to come to 
 Man whenever he wants him. At this point Reason re-appears, 
 Man confesses how much he needs his help, and Reason advises 
 him to call on God for grace. 
 
 This ends the first part of the play. The second part, while 
 a direct continuation of the foregoing, is so arranged that it 
 could be produced as a sequel. This part of the play has not 
 very much point. It consists largely of meetings and conversa- 
 tions between different pairs of Vices, while the hero himself 
 plays only a small part. The tame presentation of the return to 
 sin and final conversion should be compared with the stirring 
 depiction of these stages in The Castle of Perseverance. 
 
 ^ See p. 64, above. 
 
 2 This play is exceptional in that the human hero decides to change his 
 mode of life without the intervention of abstract advisers. 
 
74 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Reason and Man converse, then Reason goes out, promising 
 to return whenever Man needs him.^ Next, SensuaHty comes 
 in, corrtplains of Man's neglect, and weeps. Man begins to feel 
 now that he has been having rather a dull time of it with Reason, 
 and is easily persuaded to call back his old servants. In the 
 company of Worldly Affection and Bodily Lust he goes out to 
 enjoy himself with Margery. On his return he retires with 
 Pride to inspect the new apparel which the latter has procured 
 for him. Coming in again he encounters Gluttony, who fails to 
 recognize him, he is so fallen away from living on Reason's diet. 
 To amend this condition he retires with Gluttony and Wrath. 
 
 Then comes a bit of by-play to show the impartiality of Envy 
 in creating trouble. Pride enters and encounters Envy ; the 
 latter warns him that Man has tired of his services and is about 
 to dismiss him. Pride, in alarm, takes to his heels, to the im- 
 mense delight of Envy, who recounts the exploit to Sensuality, 
 admitting that he had no cause to injure Pride. It is simply 
 his nature to destroy anyone in power. 
 
 But Sensuality has sad news to give in return. Age, he says, 
 has come, bringing Reason with him ; and, seeing this. Glut- 
 tony and Bodily Lust have left the service of Man. The speak- 
 ers, alarmed for their own positions, rush out to hold a council 
 with their friends ; then Man, in a very penitent state of mind, 
 enters conversing with Reason. He has definitely resigned his 
 evil courses, and is presently joined by Charity, Patience, Good 
 
 1 Great pains are taken in this play to show that Man may be under the 
 influence of a personified quality, even though not constantly attended by 
 that abstraction. Reason, as he leaves, says to Man (p. 91) : 
 
 Now, fare ye well ! for I must be absent 
 As for a season : and for your comfort 
 whensoever ye call me I shall to you resort. 
 
 And, later on, when Man falls from grace Bodily Lust assures him (p. 94) : 
 
 Sir, ye know well that ye and I 
 Be never much asunder 
 Albeit I be from you among. 
 
MA GNYFYCENCE J 5 
 
 Occupation, Liberality, Abstinence, and Chastity. With this 
 imposing bodyguard of Virtues he is left to complete his life 
 on earth. 
 
 The allegory may be interpreted thus : Man from his birth 
 is endowed with reason on the one hand, and on the other with 
 the natural desires of sense, which are necessary, and are useful 
 so long as they are subordinated to reason. He is at first per- 
 fectly innocent, but his innocence disappears as soon as he 
 begins to wear clothes, in accordance with the fashions of the 
 world. This is the first step. Having begun to conform to 
 worldly usages, he finds it easy and natural to follow them up, 
 and ends by giving full sway to all his lusts and his desires for 
 pleasure, and ceasing to follow the dictates of his reason. But 
 he has not become completely depraved, and in the midst of 
 his carousing a sense of shame comes to him. He decides to 
 abandon his evil habits and to act as reason dictates. For some 
 time he perseveres in his good resolves, but his bad habits have 
 such a hold upon him that he finds a life of virtue decidedly 
 dull and pines for his old pleasures. This is the beginning of 
 his second downfall. He slides again into his vicious habits, and 
 is not reclaimed until, with advancing years, he loses his desire 
 for worldly pleasure. He then decides, finally, to spend his last 
 years in virtue and uprightness. The allurements of the world 
 and the flesh have ceased to attract him, and the impulse to avarice 
 is quelled by the constant practice of charity and liberality. 
 
 In Magnyfycence} by John Skelton, we have, as the human 
 hero to be striven for by Virtues and Vices, not Mankind in 
 general, but a special type of man, — the prince characterized 
 by munificence. The hero goes by the abstract name of Mag- 
 nyfycence, but from the beginning of the play he is shown to 
 
 1 Ramsay [Skelton^s ^^ Mac^jiyfycence" pp. xxi-xxv) shows that this play was 
 probably written between Sept. 14, 1515 and Aug. 13, 1516, or certainly 
 between the former date and October, 1518. 
 
76 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 be a great king of the earth, ^ not an abstraction ; and, but for 
 the presence of some Vices whom I shall specify further on, 
 he would be the regular highly universalized type figure repre- 
 senting mankind. 
 
 The fact that the play is supposed to have been written as a 
 political satire would seem at first to indicate that it should be 
 placed among the Political Moralities of Class IV. But this 
 political element is the underlying current of the play, not its 
 avowed purpose. In technical structure it attaches itself to the 
 plays of the present class, and the political meaning which the 
 author probably intended must be supplied by the readers or 
 spectators. The same is true of the Satyre of the Thrie Estaites, 
 Part I, which also falls in this division. 
 
 The play opens with a monologue by Felicite, or Welthfull 
 
 Felicite, as he calls himself, that is, happiness resulting from 
 
 wealth. He tells what care must be practised in order to obtain 
 
 happiness from wealth. Liberte joins him, and the two fall into 
 
 a formal debate as to whether they can co-exist. Felicite thinks 
 
 that Liberte should be restrained by the "chayne of Continence," 
 
 but Liberte himself is of the opinion that he should be without 
 
 restraint. Measure comes in, and is chosen by both as arbiter. 
 
 His view of the question is that 
 
 Welthe without Measure wolde here himselfe to bolde : 
 Lyberte without Measure prove a thynge of nought ; 
 
 1 It has never been questioned that Skelton intended the play as a poUti- 
 cal satire, but opinion has varied as to the direct object of the satire. Ten 
 Brink {Gesch. des engl. Lit., II, 480) simply asserts that Magnyfycence, the 
 hero, is an allegorical portrait of Henry VIII in his early years of lavish 
 expenditure. Hooper (" Skelton's Magnyfycence and Cardinal Wolsey," 
 Modem Language Notes, XVI, 213) identifies Magnyfycence with Wolsey. 
 Koelbing (Zur Characteristik John Skeltons, Stuttgart, 1904, pp. 32, 151) 
 thinks that the play had a mildly satirical bearing on Henry, but he admits 
 nothing more than a very general application. Ramsay (Skelton's " Magnyfy- 
 cence," pp. cvii-cxxviii) goes into details to show that Magnyfycence is Henry, 
 and to identify the Vices who plot the ruin of Henry with Wolsey and his 
 followers. 
 
MAGNYFYCENCE 77 
 
 ergo, Measure is the one that should rule. Felicite assents to 
 this, but Lyberte has decided objections and is brought to a 
 very reluctant assent only by the superior arguments of Measure. 
 
 Magnyfycence now appears. Measure offers himself as chief 
 counsellor to Magnyfycence, and his two companions for subor- 
 dinate positions under him. Magnyfycence places himself under 
 the control of Measure, who now considers his future assured, 
 and makes plans to guide his master with the assistance of 
 Felicite and Lyberte. Lyberte makes a last insistent plea for a 
 free hand, and finally Magnyfycence becomes angry and sends 
 him away to be placed in the school of Measure. 
 
 Fansy breaks in rudely, introducing himself as Largesse. He 
 is so impudent that Magnyfycence becomes angry with him ; 
 but he escapes dismissal by producing a letter, purporting to be 
 from Sad Cyrcumspeccyon, Magnyfycence is at once mollified, 
 reads the letter, then falls into friendly conversation with Fansy, 
 and concludes by taking him into his service. Before they depart 
 from the palace, Fansy drops a sly hint that, though Measure 
 may do very well for merchants, he is not the sort of companion 
 for a king. 
 
 Counterfet Countenaunce comes in to wait for his friend 
 
 Fansy, and in the meantime explains his place in the scheme 
 
 of things : 
 
 For Counterfet Countenaunce knowen am I ; 
 This world is full of my Foly. 
 I set not by him a fly 
 That can not counterfet a lye, 
 Swere, and stare, and byde therby, 
 And countenaunce it clenly, 
 And defend it manerly. 
 
 His long explanation is brought to an end by the reappearance 
 of Fansy with Crafty Conveyaunce, who, having given out his 
 name as Sure Surveyaunce, has been received by the king. 
 Fansy tells of his luck at court, where he is known as Largesse, 
 
78 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 and has been made a knight. In the course of the conversation 
 he lets drop the fact that the letter by which he has won his 
 way to court was forged by Counterfet Countenaunce. The three 
 rogues then attempt to hatch some good plan by which to over- 
 throw Measure at court, and are almost in despair until Coun- 
 terfet Countenaunce remembers his friend Cloked Colusyon, 
 who will be able to help them. The wished-for friend at this 
 moment puts in a convenient appearance, disguised as a priest ; 
 and a plan is quickly made for all four to get into the king's 
 favor, ruin Measure, and set Lyberte free. In order to be well 
 received it is, of course, necessary that they shall all assume at- 
 tractive names ; so Counterfet Countenaunce and Cloked Colu- 
 syon, who have not yet taken that precaution, change their 
 names respectively to Good Demeynaunce and Sober Sadnesse. 
 Cloked Colusyon is left to wait while the other three go to 
 secure a position for him at court, and this interval he employs 
 in giving a not uncalled-for explanation of his character and 
 
 habits : 
 
 Double Delynge and I be one ; 
 
 Craftynge and haftynge contryued is by me ; 
 
 I can dyssemble, I can bothe laughe and grone ; 
 
 Playne Delynge and I can never agre ; 
 
 But Dyvysyon, Dyssencyon, Dyrysyon, — these thre 
 
 And I am counterfet of one mynde and thought. 
 
 By the menys of Myschyef to bryng all thynges to nought. 
 
 These frank confessions are rudely interrupted by Courtly 
 Abusyon, a merry rascal who comes in singing, and attired 
 " after the cowrtly maner." He has all the latest styles in 
 clothing and manners ; and, when Fansy returns to announce 
 complete success at court, and the freedom of Lyberte, he tells 
 Courtly Abusyon that there is a place for him also, if he will 
 change his name to Lusty Pleasure. To complete the list of 
 office-seekers, Foly, Fansy's brother, appears, leading a mangy 
 cur, which he presently trades off for a fine hawk that Fansy is 
 
MAGNYFYCENCE 79 
 
 carrying on his wrist, and at the same time exchanges his purse 
 with an old buckle in it for his brother's purse containing twenty 
 marks. Foly, in fact, is no fool, as he is quite ready to admit : 
 
 Nay, it is I that foles can make ; 
 For be he cayser or be he kynge. 
 To felowshyp with Foly I can hym brynge. 
 
 He arranges for a position at court, and, because he " hathe a 
 full dry soule," insists on getting charge of the cellar. 
 
 Finally Magnyfycence himself appears with Felicite and 
 Lyberte, who renew their old argument about personal superi- 
 ority. This time the king settles the dispute differently by 
 handing Felicite over to Fansy and Lyberte to be controlled. 
 He has now reached the height of his power, and loudly pro- 
 claims that Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and all the other 
 great rulers were as nothing compared to him. 
 
 This is the turning point in his career. He has dismissed 
 Measure with insults, and has elevated to power all the advisers 
 who are opposed to Measure. Now, as he amuses himself by 
 listening to the senseless jargon of Foly, suddenly Fansy bursts 
 in with a scared face to report that the king's favorites have 
 made away with Felicite and have brought Adversity to court. 
 He has hardly delivered his news when Adversity comes in. 
 Fansy and Foly take to their heels ; and Adversity, after re- 
 proaching the king bitterly, beats him down, strips him, and 
 hands him over to Poverte, a diseased wretch, who rebukes him 
 further, then lays him on a couch and hobbles away to beg. 
 Lyberte, Crafty Conveyaunce, and Cloked Colusyon come and 
 exult over the prostrate Magnyfycende, tell him of the wealth 
 they have gained by despoiling him, then depart. 
 
 At last Dyspare approaches the king and recommends suicide. 
 Myschefe follows with a knife and halter, and seconds Dyspare. 
 But when the king is about to slay himself they run off, and 
 Good Hope comes in just in time to snatch away the knife. 
 
8o THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 He comforts the king, and is joined by Redresse, who sends 
 for Circumspeccyon, in the meantime putting fresh garments 
 on the naked monarch. When Circumspeccyon appears he is 
 anxious to know the cause of the late misfortune, and is told by 
 Magnyfycence that it was a letter from him that caused all the 
 trouble. Then the truth comes out about Fansy's forgery at the 
 beginning of his career. Magnyfycence is now well lectured on 
 the foolishness of trusting himself in the hands of dishonest 
 advisers ; and, finally. Perseverance comes in and completes 
 his change of heart. 
 
 The Vices accomplishing the downfall of the hero are here 
 more varied than usual. They represent not only the impulses 
 toward evil in man's nature, but also malignant forces from 
 without ; that is, the machinations of selfish and scheming com- 
 panions. This is demanded, of course, for the political applica- 
 tion of the lesson. We may divide the Vices, then, into two 
 classes : Lyberte, Fansy, Foly, and Myschefe, representing de- 
 structive forces within the mind of the hero ; and Counterfet 
 Countenaunce, Crafty Conveyance, Cloked Colusyon,and Courtly 
 Abusyon as malignant forces from without. The Virtues, also, 
 are of two kinds : Measure, Good Hope, Circumspeccyon, and 
 Perseverance, representing forces for good in man's nature ; 
 and Felicite (wealth wisely used) and Redresse representing 
 beneficent forces from without. Adversyte, Dyspare, and Pov- 
 erte are neither Vices nor Virtues, but represent trials sent by 
 God for the schooling of man. They may be called Agents of 
 Retribution. 
 
 The allegory, then, must be interpreted thus : A king begins 
 his reign in prosperity. He has abundance of wealth, which he 
 determines to use wisely and in moderation, restraining the 
 extravagant impulses of his nature. But his imagination dwells 
 on the pleasures that his wealth can obtain for him, and soon 
 he persuades himself that these fancies are the dictates of reason, 
 
MAGNYFYCENCE 8i 
 
 and that restraint in expenditure is to be practised by tradesmen 
 and not by kings. In this he is encouraged by his flattering 
 courtiers, 1 who count on the generous and confiding nature of 
 their king to assist them in pocketing most of his wealth. They 
 deceive him systematically, and lead him from one foolish ex- 
 travagance to another, .until they have obtained all his wealth. 
 Then they desert him suddenly, and the king is left alone in 
 abject poverty. He is in despair and meditates suicide. But 
 hope is not quite dead in his heart. He gets new courage and 
 decides to make a fresh start, profiting by his recent lesson. ^ 
 Discovering that the flatterers of his court have deceived him 
 and have been the cause of much of his extravagance, he is 
 confirmed in the determination to guide his affairs moderately 
 and carefully in the future. 
 
 The special satirical application of this Morality to an earthly 
 king suffering from dishonest courtiers is made by the presence 
 of the Vices Counterfet Countenaunce, Crafty Conveyaunce, 
 Cloked Colusyon, and Courtly Abusyon. If these were removed, 
 Magnyfycence would become simply the representative of man- 
 kind, striven for by the remaining personifications of the play. 
 But it should be noted that, as in the later Morality by Lyndsay, 
 these special Vices are the ones chiefly responsible for the down- 
 fall of the hero, while the regular Vices merely pave the way 
 for their operations. 
 
 ^ In the case of such characters as Counterfet Countenaunce and his com- 
 panions, representing human forces from without acting upon the hero, it is 
 hard to avoid the confusion of personified abstraction and type figure. These 
 figures stand here at first for flattery, dishonest practices, etc., at court ; but 
 toward the end of the play, when they abscond after robbing the king, they 
 are nothing but type figures, representing self-seeking and dishonest courtiers. 
 The same sort of characters figures prominently in Lyndsay's Satyre of the 
 TTirie Estaites. 
 
 ^ In this picture of downfall and despair, followed by redress, the author 
 reverts from his specialized treatment of a king to the common type of Morality 
 where Man is the subject. 
 
82 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Mundus et Infans ^ belongs to the group of biographical plays 
 which conduct the hero from childhood to old age. Like Nature, 
 it refrains from specifying that the hero has just been born at 
 the beginning of the play, and concludes before his death. The 
 play has only five characters and is exceedingly simple in con- 
 struction, — so simple that the audience is called upon to im- 
 agine the hero as passing through fourteen years of his life 
 while he makes two short speeches explaining his growth and 
 character. The lesson is of the most elementary and general 
 kind. It instructs mankind to shun the seven deadly sins, follow 
 the dictates of conscience, and persevere in a life of piety. 
 
 The play opens with the World seated on his throne, address- 
 ing the audience. He explains himself : 
 
 For all the Worlde wyde, I wote well, is my name ; 
 All rychesse, redely, it renneth in me, 
 All pleasure worldely, both myrthe and game. 
 My-selfe semely in sale I send with you to be, 
 
 and commands them all to follow him. The Chylde^ enters, 
 
 1 Printed 1522. In Manly, Vol. I. See the Ptiblications of the Modem Lan- 
 guage Association of America, Sept. 1908 (Vol. XXIII, No. 3; New Series, 
 Vol. XVI, No. 3) for an article by H. N. MacCracken, showing by a presenta- 
 tion of direct parallels the relation between Mundus et Infans and the earlier 
 poem, The Mirror of the Periods of Mattes Life, or Bids of the Virtues and Vices for 
 the Soul of Man (placed by Dr. Furnivall at 1430, and by others at a later date). 
 
 2 There is some confusion as to the age of the] Chylde at his first appear- 
 ance. From his opening speech one would surmise that he had just been born : 
 
 Fourty wekes I was frely fedde 
 Within my moders wombe ; 
 Full oft of dethe she was adred 
 Whan that I sholde parte her from. 
 
 Now into the Worlde she hatha me sent, 
 Poore and naked as ye may se ; 
 I am not worthely wrapped nor went, 
 But powerly prycked in poverte (p. 355). 
 
 But a minute later when he joins the Worlde and is asked his name, he 
 answers . j ^^^.^ ^^^^ ^^^ withouten blame ; 
 
 But ofte tyme my moder, in her game, 
 Called me Dalyaunce (p. 355), 
 
MUNDUS ET INFANS 83 
 
 " poore and naked." He prays to Christ for grace and laments 
 that he was conceived and born in sin. Then he approaches 
 the Worlde, who performs the characteristic act of clothing him, 
 to rob him of innocence, gives him a suitable name, or rather 
 list of names — Love, Lust, and Lykynge — and sends him off to 
 enjoy himself for seven years. When he returns to the Worlde, 
 the latter changes his name to Manhode, dubs him knight, and 
 charges him to worship above all things the seven kings, Pryde, 
 Envy, Wrathe, Couvetous, Stouthe, Glotony, and Lechery. 
 
 The World now retires, leaving Manhode to make short work 
 of the next seven years. The newly dubbed knight rants about 
 the stage and actually succeeds in out- H eroding Herod : 
 
 Every man is a-ferde whan I do on hym stare, 
 For all mery medell-erthe maketh mencyon of me ; 
 
 Yet all is my hande-werke, both by downe and by dale. 
 Bothe the see and the lande and foules that fly ; 
 And I were ones moved, I tell you in tale, 
 There durst no sterre stere, that stondeth in the sky. 
 
 which indicates that he has been born some time before. Later the Worlde 
 gives him a new name, and tells him : 
 
 And also I gyve to the a name 
 And clepe the Wanton, in every game, 
 Tyl xiij ycrc be come and gone, — 
 And then come agajme to me (p. 356). 
 
 When the Chylde is next approaching the Worlde he explains to the 
 
 ■ But, syrs, whan I was seven yere of age, 
 
 I was sent to the Worlde to take wage, 
 And this seven yei-e I have ben his page 
 And kept his commaundment (p. 357). 
 
 Then as he approaches the Worlde : 
 
 Hayle, lorde of grete honour ! 
 
 This vii yere I have served you in hall and boure 
 
 With all my trewe entent (p. 357). 
 
 The obvious conclusion, then, is that the Chylde is seven years old at the 
 beginning of the play. The first seven years of his life are evidently regarded 
 as a negligible period of infancy, or as the commonly specified period of 
 innocence. 
 
84 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 These powers, and many others, he has attained by the friend- 
 ship of the seven kings, the Seven Deadly Sins. 
 
 To this mighty personage appears Conscyence, ruminating on 
 his unpopularity with mankind. The doughty Manhode is at 
 first inclined to take a high hand with Conscyence, but the 
 latter's mysterious utterances arouse his curiosity. When he is 
 accused of not knowing Conscyence he exclaims, " Conscyence! 
 what the devyll, man, is he ? " 
 
 " A techer of the spyrytualete," answers Conscyence. 
 
 " Spyrytualyte ! " shouts the astounded Manhode. " What 
 the devyll may that he?" 
 
 Conscyence proceeds, gently but firmly, to argue Manhode 
 from his allegiance to the seven kings. Manhode is stubborn, 
 but he is slowly forced to resign one king after another, till they 
 come to the seventh, Covetous. Here Manhode puts his foot 
 down for good and all. He has, under compulsion, resigned six 
 of his kings, but when it comes to forcing him from Covetous 
 his teacher is going a bit too far. Conscyence, however, proves 
 equal to any emergency. He permits Manhode to retain Cove- 
 tous, and then outlines the duties which yet remain : 
 
 Coveyte ye to sle no man ; 
 
 Ne do no lechery with no woman ; 
 
 Your neyboures good take not be no waye ; 
 
 And all false-wytnesse ye must denaye ; 
 
 Neyther ye must not covete no mannes wyfe, 
 Nor no good that hym be-lythe, — 
 This covetys shall kepe you out of stryfe : 
 These ben the commaundments ten. 
 
 Conscyence gives him special and repeated warnings against 
 " folye," which, he says, includes the seven deadly sins. Then, 
 having brought his pupil to a chastened and submissive frame 
 of mind, he leaves him to his growth in grace, 
 
 Manhode has barely time to give utterance to the virtuous 
 
MUNDUS ET INFANS 85 
 
 resolution to hold Conscyence for his king in future when 
 Folye joins him in a jocund frame of mind. Manhode chal- 
 lenges him in rather arrogant style, and Folye insinuates that, 
 among his other accomplishments, he is a " coryous buckler- 
 player." " Wyll thou assaye .? " he adds. Manhode reflects that 
 Conscyence would not approve of a brawl, but Folye's taunt that 
 he has a " false herte " overcomes his virtue, and they go at 
 each other. After a stiff bout, in which Manhode seems to have 
 the upper hand, the two sit down to friendly conversation.^ When 
 Manhode learns Folye's name he suddenly realizes that this 
 must be the person that Conscyence warned him against. But 
 Folye is a plausible rogue and has many tempting schemes on 
 hand, so that Manhode is soon induced to accept him for a 
 servant. He still has some lingering fear of Conscyence ; so 
 Folye removes the last traces of this by dubbing him Shame. 
 After the addition of this name Manhode is ready to accompany 
 Folye to his haunts, and the two march off, while Folye explains 
 the significance of this act to the audience : 
 
 Manh. Folye, go before and teche me the waye. 
 
 Folye. Come after, Shame, I the praye, 
 And Conscyence clere ye cast awaye. 
 {Aside) Lo, syrs, this Folye techeth aye. 
 For where Conscyence cometh with his cunn)nige, 
 Yet Folye full f etely shall make hym blynde : 
 Folye before and Shame behynde, — 
 Lo, syrs, thus fareth the worlde alwaye. 
 
 As they are leaving they encounter Conscyence, but the 
 newly christened Shame brushes him aside impatiently and 
 proceeds on his way. Conscyence laments, and goes to seek 
 Perseveraunce. 
 
 . 1 This victory has no allegorical significance, since Manhode, after getting 
 the better of Folye, immediately becomes reconciled to him. Contrast with this 
 the allegorical duel between Just and Lust in the Trial of Treasure (see p. 122, 
 below). Here Just defeats Lust and drives him out; then the allegorical sig- 
 nificance of the fight is commented on. 
 
86 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 At last Manhode appears, old and broken by vicious living, 
 and going by the name of Age. He bitterly repents his follies, 
 and longs for Death to take him away from his sickness and 
 despair. But Perseveraunce comes to his relief, hails him by 
 his former name of Manhode, and brings him to a state of true 
 contrition for his sins. Then he gives him the last of a long 
 and varied list of names, and as Repentance our human hero 
 concludes the play in hopeful conversation with Perseveraunce. 
 
 The characters are all easily placed in relation to Infans, who 
 represents mankind. Mundus, as has already been explained, is 
 one of the three great inimical forces seeking to lure mankind 
 to eternal punishment. Folye is the embodiment of tendencies 
 toward sin in the heart of man. He represents, for the sake of 
 economy in the play, the seven deadly sins.^ Conscyence and 
 Perseveraunce are internal forces for good. 
 
 The interpretation follows easily : Man is born in sin. In 
 early childhood he comes in contact with the world, and practises 
 all the follies regularly indulged in by worldlings. During his 
 youth he sins chiefly by yielding to his lusts and desires for light 
 pleasures ; but when he comes to manhood his vices are of a 
 sterner quality and comprise the seven deadly sins. His con- 
 science, however, begins to trouble him. He fights persistently 
 against these misgivings and tries hard to persuade himself that 
 he may retain some of his pet vices and still lead a godly life. 
 But his conscience is inexorable, and he feels impelled to resign 
 all his vices, one by one. He has not yet cultivated the strength 
 of will, however, to persevere in a good life ; and when tempta- 
 tion comes to him he yields to it, stills the voice of conscience, 
 and returns to his old sins. After many years, when he is old and 
 broken, he is able again to withdraw from his life of wickedness, 
 and this time with the strength to persevere in virtue to the end. 
 
 1 On p. 358, Manhode (Infans grown up) asks Conscyence what he means 
 by "folye." Conscyence, in reply, enumerates the seven deadly sins, and 
 concludes " These seven synnes I call folye." 
 
SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESTAITES 8/ 
 
 Of all the Moralities which we shall have to consider Sir 
 David Lyndsay's Satyre of the Thrie Estaites'^ is the most 
 intricate and the most difficult to interpret allegorically. This 
 is due to the wide political and national significance of the play. 
 Lyndsay was not content merely to present an allegory to in- 
 struct kings in private virtues. The King, or Rex Humanitas, 
 is the hero ; but the play, as it goes on, broadens out to a 
 merciless satire on the vices, religious and political, of Scotland, 
 and finally presents a detailed and constructive scheme of reform. 
 Leaving out of account the interludes, which have scarcely any 
 allegorical action, we must consider the two parts of the play as 
 two separate allegories, the first falling in the present class, the 
 second to be considered with the plays of political and religious 
 controversy under Class IV. 
 
 Diligence speaks the prologue, giving a general account of 
 the play to follow. Then the hero. Rex Humanitas, appears and 
 humbly announces his good intentions regarding the realm. He 
 is joined presently by the three brothers. Wantonness, Placebo, 
 and Solace, or Sandy Solace, who is drunk. These three good- 
 natured rascals, whom the King addresses familiarly as his serv- 
 ants, are imbued with a common desire to see the King provide 
 himself with a " lustie concubein," according to the approved 
 fashion of the " Romane Kirk." This strikes the King as not 
 being quite in accord with his virtuous resolutions of a moment 
 before, but the three servants argue convincingly that lechery is 
 no sin. A stronger argument is now presented in the appearance 
 of the beautiful Dame Sensualitie, who enters with her two 
 attendants, Hamelines (Familiarity) and Danger (Assumed Coy- 
 ness). The King sees them, and on the advice of his servants 
 
 ^ Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaites in Co7n?nendation of Vei-tew and 
 Vituperatioun of Vyce, in The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay, ed. 
 David Laing, Edinburgh, 1879. The date of the play is uncertain. It was per- 
 formed before James V at Linlithgow in 1540, and it may have been performed 
 elsewhere at an earlier date. 
 
88 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 summons them to his presence. Wantonness leads Sensualitie 
 before the King, who at once falls in love with her beauty and 
 leads her to a private chamber, while his servants retire with 
 Hamelines and Danger. 
 
 While they are gone Gude Counsall enters and laments the 
 King's fall from grace. He realizes that disgrace and confusion 
 are in store for anyone who rejects him. 
 
 Finallie, for conclusioun 
 Quha haldis me at delusioun 
 Sail be brocht to confusioun 
 
 And this I understand 
 For I have made my residence 
 With Princes of greit puissance, 
 In Ingland, Italic, and France, 
 
 And monie other land. 
 But, out of Scotland, wa, alace ! 
 I haf bene fleimit lang tyme space 
 That garris our gyders all want grace, 
 
 And die befoir thair day. 
 
 Gude Counsall steps back, and Flatterie enters, " new landit 
 out of France." After an appropriate address to the audience 
 he calls for Falset, who enters and greets him as a brother. 
 They lie down to wait for Dissait, " counsallour to the Mer- 
 chandmen," and presently he joins them.^ 
 
 Now that their number is complete the three rogues lay their 
 plans to deceive the King and enrich themselves at his expense. 
 The first step necessary for this scheme is that they should 
 change their names, as the King would never receive them with 
 their real titles disclosed. Flatterie dubs himself Devotioun, 
 Falset becomes Sapience, and Dissait takes the name Dis- 
 cretioun. Thus disguised they have no doubts of their ability 
 
 1 This trio, Flatterie, Falset, and Dissait are the real Vices of the play. 
 Through Wantonness, Placebo, and Solace the King commits some indiscre- 
 tions ; but they merely wish the King to enjoy himself, and have no desire to 
 compass his destruction, as is the case with the second trio. 
 
SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESTAITES 89 
 
 to hoodwink the King. Their only fear is that they may be 
 discovered by Correctioun, who can penetrate all disguises. 
 
 At this point the King returns from his conference with Sen- 
 sualitie, summons his servants, who have been disporting them- 
 selves with Hamelines and Danger, and they all compare lewd 
 notes on their recent experiences. The three Vices now approach 
 and introduce themselves under their assumed names. The King 
 welcomes them and takes them into his service. Gude Counsall 
 appears, but is driven out by the newly appointed courtiers. 
 The three ladies sing a song, and the King lies down among 
 them. 
 
 Dame Veritie now comes in with a New Testament in her 
 hand. The three Vices, not liking her appearance, hurry to 
 inform Spiritualitie.* Then Chastitie enters, looking for a lodg- 
 ing, and complains that everywhere in the land she has been 
 denied a home, and even a night's entertainment. She has 
 applied at the nunneries, but the Ladies of Religioun would 
 have nothing to do with her. Now she makes her plea to the 
 three Lords of Spiritualitie, Spiritualitie, Abbot, and Persone, 
 but they advise her to pass on. In despair she applies to Tem- 
 poralitie,^ but is again repulsed. 
 
 The play is now suspended for the performance of the first 
 interlude, which is a burlesque continuance of the play. Chastitie, 
 still seeking for lodgings, encounters the Sowtar and the 
 Taylour, by whom she is welcomed. They all sit down to 
 drink ; but Jennie, the tailor's daughter, spies them and runs 
 to tell her mother. Then the two wives come together, complain 
 bitterly of the matrimonial abstinence of their husbands, and 
 finally drive Chastitie away. After this victory they beat their 
 husbands, start off to prepare a feast for themselves, and then 
 the play is resumed. 
 
 1 Spiritualitie represents the spiritual lords. 
 ^ Temporalitie represents the temporal lords. 
 
90 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Diligence befriends Chastitie by sending Solace to tell the 
 King that a " Ladie fair of face " is seeking entertainment. 
 Solace delivers his message, but the King is at once a'dvised by 
 Sensualitie to banish Chastitie. The King, ready to agree to 
 anything that his mistress shall propose, issues the order for 
 banishment, and poor Chastitie resigns her fruitless quest and 
 suffers herself to be placed in the stocks beside her sister Veritie. 
 The latter comforts her with the news that Divyne Correctioun 
 has just landed in the country and is hastening to relieve their 
 distress. 
 
 Correctioun's varlet enters and proclaims the approach of his 
 master ; and at the news Flatterie, Falset, and Dissait are filled 
 with alarm and make plans for escape. Falset steals the King's 
 money box, but gets into a quarrel with Dissait, who beats him 
 and then gets away from his companions with the treasure. 
 
 The long-expected advent now takes place. Divyne Correc- 
 tioun enters and makes a speech on his relations with kings and 
 realms. He is eagerly welcomed by Gude Counsall, who has 
 been lying idle waiting for him ever since the King's fall from 
 grace. They remove Chastitie and Veritie from the stocks, and 
 the four go to the King, who is still sleeping among his minions. 
 Correctioun awakes him, rebukes him sharply, and orders Sen- 
 sualitie away. But Sensualitie still has friends to shelter her in 
 time of need. She takes Hamelines and Danger with her and 
 repairs to the Lords of the Spirituall Stait, where they are 
 all lovingly received. 
 
 The King is now ordered by Correctioun to receive Gude 
 Counsall, Veritie, and Chastitie, and to make " ane perpetuall 
 band " with them, which command he very humbly obeys. He 
 is then instructed to proclaim a parliament, and sends Diligence 
 out on this errand. The stern reformed" now censures Wanton- 
 ness, Placebo, and Solace, but they humbly sue for pardon and 
 crave permission to remain with the King in order to furnish 
 
SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESTA/TES 91 
 
 him with innocent amusements, such as music, reading, and 
 dancing. Correctioun admits that " Princes may sumtyme seik 
 solace," and permits the three attendants to remain, with a 
 solemn warning to " do na uther cryme." 
 
 The King inquires for his three friends Sapience, Discretioun, 
 and Devotioun ; but Veritie and Chastitie tell him that these are 
 only assumed names, that the real names are Falset, Dissait, 
 and Flatterie, and that their owners have robbed him and fled 
 from the country. The action of this first part of the play ends 
 now with a summons to Parliament by Diligence. 
 
 The "Interlude of the Puir Man and the Pardoner" is played 
 in the interval between the first and the second parts of the play. 
 Pauper comes in, meets Diligence, and tells him of his troubles. 
 These consist mainly of robberies on the part of churchmen, 
 who have taken everything he had. Diligence listens to the 
 tale, but goes out without evincing much interest, and Pauper 
 lies down and goes to sleep. The Pardoner — otherwise known 
 as Robert Rome- Raker — enters, followed by the Sowtar and 
 his wife, who are actively engaged in a quarrel. They are 
 anxious for a separation, which the Pardoner grants them on 
 condition that they salute each other in the somewhat undignified 
 fashion specified by him. Then Pauper awakes and breaks into 
 fresh laments over the loss of his cow. The Pardoner offers to 
 repair this loss on receipt of what ready money Pauper may 
 have about him. Pauper pays over his last groat, but when the 
 Pardoner's incantations fail to produce a cow, he grows angry 
 with his deceiver, fights with him, and throws his relics in the 
 water. 
 
 This first part, with Rex Humanitas as the human hero to 
 be striven for, presents the normal scheme of the Morality : 
 State of Goodness — Fall from Grace — Life in Sin — Repent- 
 ance and Pardon. The abstractions are not easy to classify, 
 since many of them are related, not only to the King, but to 
 
92 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 the land at large.^ According to the internal evidence of the 
 play, however, they must be divided as follows. 
 
 Wantonness, Placebo, and Solace represent desires for pleas- 
 ure in the heart of the King. They are not essentially Vices, 
 though they at first appear to be so. Toward the close of the 
 action Divyne Correctioun censures them, but they plead for 
 pardon, which is granted them : 
 
 Solace. Sir, wee sail mend our conditioun, 
 Sa ye give us remissioun, 
 Bot, give us leave to sing ; 
 To dance, to play at chesse, and tabills. 
 To reid stories, and mirrie fabils, 
 For pleasure of our King. 
 
 Correctioun. Sa that ye do na uther cryme. 
 Ye sail be pardonit, at this tyme, 
 For quhy ? as I suppois, 
 Princes may sumtyme seik solace, 
 With mirth, and lawful! mirrines 
 Thair spirits to rejoyis. 
 
 These three personifications, then, like Frewyll and Imagy- 
 nacyon in Hyckescorner, represent human qualities neither good 
 nor evil essentially, but good or evil according as they are 
 directed. Sensualitie, on the other hand, is an uncompromising 
 Vice. In the play she is introduced to the King by Wantonness, 
 and represents a vicious quality in human nature (or, more 
 specifically, in the nature of the King) which grows out of a 
 comparatively innocent but unguided desire for pleasure. Hame- 
 lines and Danger occupy positions nowhere paralleled in the 
 whole range of English Moralities. They are not to be con- 
 sidered as relating directly to the hero, but only indirectly, as 
 being the attendants of Sensualitie, who has direct relations 
 with the hero. They are the personifications of familiarity and 
 
 ^ In this respect the play differs materially from Maptyfycence, where all 
 the personifications, whether representing human qualities or outer forces, are 
 related directly, and only, to the hero. 
 
SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESTAITES 93 
 
 of assumed diffidence or coyness, the two accompaniments of 
 sensuality.^ Allegorically, they are quite superfluous here. 
 
 The Vices who work the most harm are Flatterie, Falset, and 
 Dissait. They correspond to the Vices, Counterfet Counte- 
 naunce. Crafty Conveyaunce, Cloked Colusyon, and Courtly 
 Abusyon in Skelton's Magiiyfyccnce, and represent evil forces 
 directed from without upon the hero — the counsels of wicked 
 advisers. 
 
 Of the Virtues none can be regarded exclusively as a force 
 operating within the heart of the hero. Gude Counsall, Veritie, 
 and Chastitie may be so regarded in one aspect of their char- 
 acters. When the Vices, Sensualitie, Hamelines, and Danger, 
 are driven away, Correctioun orders the King to make " ane 
 perpetuall band " with them, and the King humbly complies. 
 But in the main they are presented as forces for good operating 
 in society at large.'^ 
 
 Veritie and Chastitie not only apply for the favor of the King, 
 but come into direct relations with other type figures. The 
 Lords of the Spirituall Stait order Veritie to be put in the 
 stocks ; and Chastitie, after applying for lodgings all over 
 the country, suffers the same fate. 
 
 The other characters are easily disposed of. Divyne Correc- 
 tioun belongs to the side of the Virtues. He represents the 
 power of God directed upon human affairs. The Spiritual 
 Lords, or Spiritualitie, Abbot, and Persone, are type figures, 
 representing the rulers of the Catholic church, and Temporalitie 
 is a type figure representing the lords of the realm. (These 
 type figures are of very litde importance in the first part of the 
 play.) Diligence is simply the prologue and messenger. 
 
 1 Even these three characters are not confined, in their operations, to the 
 hero. Toward the close of the action, when the King repents, they are ordered 
 away, and go to the Lords of the Spirituall Stait, where they are received 
 lovingly. 
 
 ^ See quotation on p. 88, above. 
 
94 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 After this elaborate division of the characters it will be nec- 
 essary to give only a very general interpretation of the allegory 
 (and here, of course, the special application to Scotland must 
 be ignored), A king of the earth begins his reign with the 
 honest desire to rule wisely, but his love of enjoyment leads 
 him to partake unwisely of pleasures which soon degenerate 
 into habitual sensual indulgence. Then he loses his ambition 
 to rule wisely, and refuses to listen to good counsel. This gives 
 an opportunity to flattering and dishonest courtiers to enter into 
 his service for their own gain ; and, having once been received 
 at court, they find it easy to persuade the king to turn a deaf 
 ear to honest advice. This example of dishonesty and sensuality 
 at court is followed by the influential people of the country, both 
 temporal and spiritual, and truth and chastity are nowhere prac- 
 tised. But God will not permit this state of things to last long. 
 He makes himself felt in the heart of the king, who comes to 
 himself, realizes the wickedness of his life, and determines to 
 abandon his vices and turn to a life of truth and chastity, re- 
 taining only those pleasures which are not sinful. He learns, 
 finally, that the flatterers in whom he has placed so much con- 
 fidence are a set of rascals who have robbed him, and, at signs 
 of his reformation, have fled from the court.^ 
 
 It will be seen that my interpretation of Rex Humanitas as a 
 king of the earth is, at most points, an unnecessary narrowing 
 of the character. Except in a few situations he could be regarded 
 as the typical human hero, like Everyman or Humanum Genus; 
 but these situations — where, for instance. Rex Humanitas is 
 the model of viciousness for the rest of the nation to copy from 
 — make it necessary, for a consistent interpretation of the whole 
 action, to regard him as a king. In thus departing from the tradi- 
 tional form Lyndsay, like Skelton, simply modified the orthodox 
 Morality in order to present a daring satire on Court conditions. 
 
 1 Cf. p. Si, note i, of this work. 
 
L USTY JUVENTUS 9 5 
 
 Liisty Jtivcntiis} like the half-play just discussed, is a Refor- 
 mation Morality, without being primarily a controversial play.^ 
 Here the resemblance ceases abruptly. Lyndsay's Satyrc, in 
 spite of its plainly avowed and strictly maintained moral pur- 
 pose, is an interesting play, full of eloquent passages and 
 abounding in action ; Lusty Jiiventiis is remarkable chiefly for 
 its astonishingly dull exposition of Scripture and its heaping 
 up of Scriptural quotations, with careful reference to book and 
 chapter. 
 
 The Prologue announces that the play has been written to 
 show the necessity of controlling the child with a firm hand : 
 
 Give him no liberty in youth, nor his folly excuse, 
 
 Bow down his neck, and help him in good awe, 
 
 Lest he be stubborn : no labor refuse 
 
 To train him in wisdom and teach him God's law, 
 
 For youth is frail and easy to draw 
 
 By grace to goodness, by nature to ill : 
 
 That nature hath engrafted, is hard to kill. 
 
 Then Lusty Juventus, or Youth, enters and almost redeems 
 
 a very tiresome play by singing the beautiful lyric, '* In youth 
 
 is pleasure." He is in high spirits, and is much disappointed 
 
 at not finding a merry company. In his joyous frame of mind 
 
 it does not suit him to be alone, and he is just starting off to 
 
 look up some jovial companions when Good Counsel comes 
 
 upon him. Youth inquires if he has seen any minstrels. "' Sir," 
 
 says Good Counsel, " I will ask you a question by your favor : 
 
 what would you with a minstrel do ? " Youth innocently rises 
 
 to the fly with 
 
 Nothing but have a dance or two, 
 
 To pass the time away in pleasure. 
 
 Whereat Good Counsel, having hooked his victim, proceeds to 
 play him with the rod of the Holy Scriptures until the exhausted 
 
 1 Written between 1 547 and 1 553. The text used is that in Dodsley, Vol. II. 
 
 2 Cf. p. 43, above. 
 
96 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Youth at length comes to the surface with, " Now, in faith, I 
 cry you mercy." Good Counsel instructs him how to live " chris- 
 tianly," and Youth kneels and receives his blessing. Knowledge, 
 or as he prefers to be called, True Knowledge of God's Verity, 
 joins Good Counsel in putting Youth through a complete course 
 of Scriptural erudition, and they retire at last with Youth utter- 
 ing a solemn promise never to leave his teachers while he lives 
 in the world. 
 
 The Devil comes in howling his grief for the loss of Youth, 
 and lamenting that the young people are no longer content to 
 live " in old traditions." ^ He is not prepared, however, to re- 
 sign Youth without a struggle, and calls in his son Hypocrisy 
 as being the most likely person to help him in this crisis. 
 
 Hypocrisy joins his father, proclaiming loudly that he is by 
 occupation a butcher. The Devil greets him almost tearfully. 
 He is in a very downcast frame of mind, and his pessimism 
 contrasts strongly with the sturdiness and cheerful self-reliance 
 of Hypocrisy, who is full of plans to seduce Youth again by 
 means of his old weapons, " holy cardinals, holy popes," and 
 all the other " holy " appliances of his own pet institution. 
 The Devil's cheerfulness is restored. He gives his son a more 
 attractive name. Friendship, and leaves him to carry out his 
 plans. 
 
 The disguised Hypocrisy discloses his scheme of seduction 
 in a soliloquy. He will introduce his wicked friend Fellowship 
 to Youth, and present to him, in due course of time, the harlot 
 Abominable Living, whom he will first take the precaution of 
 renaming Unknowen Honesty. By these means he is confident 
 of his power to plunge Youth into a course of carnal living, 
 and thus to bind him securely to his father the Devil. 
 
 Youth reappears, and Hypocrisy introduces himself as Friend- 
 ship. The gullible Youth is glad to see him, but shies at his 
 
 1 A fling at the Catholic Church. 
 
LUSTY JUVENTUS 97 
 
 companion's first inducements to the life of pleasure. " My in- 
 tention," he asserts modestly, " is to go hear a preaching." But 
 the wily Hypocrisy beats down his objections one by one, and 
 soon brings him to the point of admitting that he would fain 
 enjoy himself but for the fear of being detected by his teachers. 
 Hypocrisy now throws in his most telling inducement. They 
 will go out, he says, to a feast, and have a pudding. " By the 
 mass," cries the delighted Youth, 
 
 that meat I love above all thing ; 
 You may draw me about the town with a pudding. 
 
 They are joined by P^ellowship, a merry rascal who falls in 
 enthusiastically with all their plans. There is just one thing 
 lacking to Youth's felicity, so his companions assure him. He 
 must have a mistress. This appears reasonable enough to 
 Youth ; and when they are presently joined by Abominable 
 Living, who is introduced as Unknowen Honesty, he greets 
 her with transports of joy. His affection is returned to such 
 an extent that Plypocrisy and Fellowship become a bit jealous. 
 However, after a little bickering, the whole party sallies forth 
 singing a merry song.^ 
 
 They are no sooner gone than Good Counsel returns in 
 great tribulation, and grieving for the downfall of Youth. While 
 he voices his sorrow Youth reappears, looking for some one to 
 play at dice with him. Good Counsel heaps reproaches upon 
 him, and is at first answered with blustering and defiance. But 
 by a judicious combination of Scriptural quotations Good Coun- 
 sel finally convicts his erring pupil of sin. Youth lies down 
 
 ^ If the songs here are original, the author had, at least, a decided lyrical 
 talent. The song at the beginning of the play has been already referred to. 
 The one at this point is only inferior to it in beauty : 
 
 Do not the flowers spring fresh and gny, 
 Pleasant and sweet in the month of May ? 
 And when their time comcth they fade away. 
 Report me to you, report me to you. 
 
98 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 in utter despair for his sins, but now Good Counsel takes a 
 different tack, and assures him kindly, '" God's mercy doth 
 exceed thy sin." Youth refuses to be comforted until God's 
 Merciful Promises comes in and assures him that God will 
 pardon him, not through his own deserts, but purely through 
 divine mercy. Youth is overcome with gratitude, renounces his 
 evil courses forever, and plans to complete his life in humble 
 service to God. 
 
 The least that one could ask in compensation for the dullness 
 of the play is that the allegory should be unequivocal, but the 
 author has made no concessions. Hypocrisy and Fellowship, the 
 two hardest characters to analyze, may stand for evil forces 
 either within or without the nature of Youth, and Fellowship 
 may be either an abstraction or a type figure representing boon 
 ^companions. I do not feel inclined, on the whole, to regard them 
 as forces within the hero's nature. Hypocrisy, for instance, is 
 summoned by the Devil and sent to corrupt Juventus, and he 
 accomplishes his mission by introducing Juventus to a harlot. 
 Abominable Living. Thus far it would be easy enough to ex- 
 plain the action by saying that the young man, after his con- 
 version, becomes hypocritical and lives a vile life in secret. 
 But Hypocrisy introduces Abominable Living to Juventus under 
 the assumed name of Unknown Honesty, and it would be ob- 
 viously ridiculous to say that a young man, becoming imbued 
 with hypocrisy, falls into vile habits in the mistaken belief that 
 they are honorable. Hypocrisy, then, is best interpreted as 
 representing a vice practised by other people, through which the 
 young man is deceived and led into a life of sin. Fellowship 
 can be brought down to two possibilities : he is either the 
 friendliness in youth's nature, or the representative of youth's 
 boon companions. Since he is the companion of Hypocrisy, 
 and aids in the deception by which Juventus is led to take up 
 with Abominable Living, he is best regarded as representing 
 
THE INTERLUDE OF YOUTH 99 
 
 boon companions. These two Vices, then, I take to represent 
 the hypocritical and roystering companions of Juventus.^ 
 
 Good Counsel, on the side of the Virtues, is the same sort 
 of character as Hypocrisy the Vice ; that is, he represents 
 either religious advice, or the people giving religious advice to 
 Juventus. Knowledge, who blesses Juventus after Good Coun- 
 sel has given his advice, represents a virtue within the mind of 
 the hero. The other characters are sufficiently obvious to pass 
 without explanation. 
 
 The interpretation is as follows : The young man, living a 
 happy and thoughtless life, comes under the influence of reli- 
 gious teaching. He listens to this, acquires a knowledge of God's 
 truth, and begins to lead a better life. But through the false rep- 
 resentations of his hypocritical friends and boon companions he is 
 soon decoyed back into a life of sin. After a period he once more 
 encounters the teaching of God's word, but he has now become 
 so hardened that at first he refuses to listen. In the end, how- 
 ever, he is convicted of sin and is plunged in remorse until there 
 comes to him a realization of God's promises of mercy toward 
 repentant sinners, when he is imbued with a fresh determination 
 to persist in a life of virtue. 
 
 The Interlude of Youth ^ is one of the few Moralities leaning 
 toward Catholicism. It contains no avowed controversy, but its 
 
 1 Here again it will be seen that, as soon as we interpret characters with 
 abstract names as forces working from without upon the hero, we are compelled 
 to regard them sometimes as type figures. See p. 81, note i, above. 
 
 - Dated usually between 1553 and 1558. The text used here is that in 
 Dodsley, Vol. II. The term "Interlude," which is applied to this and many other 
 Moralities, has caused a great deal of discussion ; but I am convinced that, in 
 its application to Moralities, it has no special significance whatever, except in 
 such cases as the interludes in the intervals of Lyndsay's Satyre ol the Thrie 
 Estaites. The New English Dictionary defines the Interlude as " a dramatic 
 or mimic representation, usually of a light or humourous character, such as was 
 commonly introduced between the acts of the long mystery plays or moralities, 
 or exhibited as part of an elaborate entertainment." Ward, I, 108, says : " It 
 \i.e., the term " Interlude "] seems to have been applied to plays performed by 
 
lOO THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 attitude and sympathies are on the Cathohc side. It is, on the 
 whole, remarkably well constructed for a Morality. The speeches 
 are short and vivid, and no time is wasted on long-winded mor- 
 alizings. Youth himself is far in advance of the ordinary puppet 
 hero. He has a real sense of humor, and this combines with 
 his breezy vigor and self-assertion to make him a very attrac- 
 tive and really human figure. In situation this play has a good 
 deal in common with Lusty Juvcjitiis. The hero — the typical 
 young man — is the same in both, and in both cases he comes 
 on the stage exulting in the gaiety and freedom of youth. 
 
 There is no prologue to this play. Charity appears first and 
 simply gives an explanation of his character, laying heavy stress 
 on his importance to Man. Then Youth enters with a rush, 
 rejoicing in his strength and happiness : 
 
 Aback, fellows, and give mo room, 
 Or I shall make you to avoid soon ! 
 I am goodly of person ; 
 I am peerless wherever I come. 
 My name is Youth, I tell thee, 
 I flourish as the vine tree : 
 Who may be likened unto me. 
 In my youth and jollity ? 
 
 professional actors from the time of Edward IV onwards. Its origin is doubt- 
 less to be found in the fact that such plays were occasionally performed in the 
 intervals of banquets and entertainments, which of course would have been out 
 of the question in the case of religious plays proper." Chambers, II, i8i ff., 
 recognizing the wide application of the term to almost every species of play 
 from the fourteenth century on, is not satisfied with the existing definitions. He 
 says (p. 1S3) : " I am inclined myself to think that the force of i7iier in the 
 combination has been misunderstood, and that an iiitcrludium is not a ludtis 
 in the intervals of something else, but a liuliis carried on between [inter) two 
 or more performers ; in fact, a liidns: in dialogue. The term would then apply 
 primarily to any kind of dramatic performance whatever." 
 
 This last definition has the appearance of being rather far-fetched. It seems 
 to me more reasonable to suppose that the term was first used in the ordinary 
 signification of entertainment in the intervals of something else, but came to 
 be applied loosely and indiscriminately to any kind of dramatic performance. 
 
THE INTERLUDE OF YOUTH lOl 
 
 My hair is royal and brushed thick ; 
 My body pliant as a hazel-stick ; 
 Mine arms be both big and strong, 
 My fingers be both fair and long ; 
 My chest big as a tun, 
 My legs be full light for to run, 
 To hop and dance, and make merry. 
 By the mass, I reck not a cherry, 
 
 Whatsoever I do ! 
 I am the heir of all my father's land, 
 And it is come into my hand : 
 
 I care for no more. 
 
 Charity at once realizes that here is a fitting object for his 
 arguments, and approaches Youth with the suggestion that he 
 would be better occupied asking God's mercy than praising his 
 body. Youth flies into a rage at this interference with his natural 
 rights, and requests Charity in unequivocal terms to attend to 
 his own affairs. But Charity is not an easy person to get rid of. 
 He appeals to Youth with every argument at his command, 
 reminds him of the approach of old age and the loss of his 
 strength, holds forth the hope of heavenly bliss, and quotes 
 Scripture, but all in vain. Youth repels every advance with 
 insults and threats, and at last Charity is brought to realize that 
 he can never gain his point without the aid of his brother 
 Humility, So he starts off to seek his brother, and is sped on 
 his way by the incorrigible Youth with : 
 
 Yea, marry, sir, I pray you of that ; 
 Methink it were a good sight of your back ; 
 I would see your heels hither. 
 And your brother and you together 
 
 Fettered fine fast ! 
 I-wis, and I had the key. 
 Ye should sing well-away 
 Ere I let you loose ! 
 
 Riot now appears and is accorded a very different reception. 
 He and Youth are evidently on terms of intimate friendship, and 
 
I02 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 their conversation is that of a pair of boon companions, not at 
 all like the usual contact of Vice with human figure, where the 
 latter is the innocent and confiding dupe of his clever tempter. 
 Youth here is quite a match for Riot in repartee and needs no 
 urging toward the life of sin ; so, instead of the usual tempta- 
 tion scene, we get a recital of Riot's madcap adventures in the 
 city, with expressions of curiosity mingled with chaffing on the 
 part of Youth. Riot tells how he was put in Newgate for 
 pocketing a man's purse, and then how the Mayor of London 
 sent for him "for to preach at Tyburn." "By our Lady!" says 
 
 Youth, 
 
 he did promote thee, 
 To make thee preach at the gallow-tree ! 
 But, sir, how didst thou 'scape ? 
 
 Riot. Verily, sir, the rope brake, 
 And so I fell to the ground, 
 And ran away, safe and sound : 
 By the way I met with a courtier's lad. 
 And twenty nobles of gold in his purse he had : 
 I took the lad on the ear, 
 Beside his horse I felled him there : 
 I took his purse in my hand, 
 And twenty nobles therein I fand. 
 
 Lord, how I was merry ! 
 
 And so the conversation goes on, as if a pair of Vices had come 
 together to compare notes ; for it is almost unnecessary to add 
 that when two Vices meet they nearly always assume the tone of a 
 couple of dishonest rascals fresh from the performance of crime. 
 Riot at last suggests that they go along to the tavern for a 
 surfeit of wine and a kiss from a pretty wench ; but there is 
 some business to be settled first. Youth, full of importance 
 from the acquisition of his father's estate, wishes a servant to 
 be in constant attendance upon him, and Riot assures him that 
 he can procure "a servant of price," Master Pride. Pride, ac- 
 cordingly, is brought in and welcomed by Youth, whom he at 
 
THE INTERLUDE OF YOUTH 103 
 
 once proceeds to instruct in the proper manner of deportment. 
 He is to consider himself better than anyone else, be arrogant 
 to the poor, and wear gay clothes. Youth, for the first time, 
 adopts a tone of grateful humility : 
 
 Sir, I thank thee, by the rood, 
 For thy counsel that is so good ; 
 And I commit me even now 
 Under the teaching of Riot and you. 
 
 Pride, thus encouraged, advises Youth to get a wife, but here 
 Riot breaks in with violent objections. Let Youth have a mistress 
 by all means, he says, but under no condition a wife : 
 
 The devil said he had liever burn all his life 
 Than once for to take a wife. 
 
 But Pride has a sister. Lechery, and Riot suggests that she 
 would be a suitable leman for Youth, Pride is agreed and de- 
 parts for his sister, with whom he presently returns. Youth is 
 delighted with his new acquisition, and is now impatient to de- 
 part for the tavern for fear Charity may return and make things 
 unpleasant for them. Just as the company is leaving. Youth's 
 fears are realized. Charity does appear and requests a word with 
 Youth, but the others turn upon him violently in spite of Youth's 
 
 indecisive ,, . , 
 
 Yet, sirs, let this cease, 
 
 And let us talk of goodness.^ 
 
 Riot hurries out, returns with an appliance which is referred 
 to once as " a pair of rings " and again as '" a good chain," and 
 they tie Charity up 2 and sally forth on their long-deferred trip 
 to the tavern. 
 
 1 This apparent wavering on the part of Youth is very curious. It is only 
 momentary, no notice is taken of it, and the next time Youth speaks he is in 
 full sympathy with Charity's tormentors. 
 
 ^ Compare the scene in Hyckescomer, where the Vices put Pity in the stocks. 
 See page 41, above. 
 
I04 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Charity, considering the provocation, shows great self-restraint 
 in the short speech in which he laments the foolishness of Man 
 to turn from good to evil. Humility soon appears and frees him 
 from his bonds. The two brothers have barely time to exchange 
 assurances of loyalty in the fight for Youth when the object of 
 their solicitude returns, more arrogant than ever, and still ac- 
 companied by Riot and Pride. The teachings of the latter have 
 fallen upon fertile soil, for Youth now loudly asserts : 
 
 By right I am king eternal ; 
 
 Neither duke ne lord, baron ne knight, 
 
 That may be likened unto me. 
 
 They be subdued to me by right, 
 
 As servants to their masters should be. 
 
 Charity and Humility, nothing daunted, settle down to the 
 apparently hopeless task of converting him. Youth at first an- 
 swers them with high disdain, and reiterates his determination 
 to continue with Riot and Pride, who back him up stoutly, abuse 
 their opponents, and hold out to Youth the prospect of some 
 day becoming emperor if he retains them in his service. At 
 last Charity happens on an argument that interests Youth. He 
 tells him that God set him free when he was " bond." Youth 
 is at once curious to know how that may be, since he " was 
 never bond unto none in England." Then Charity explains the 
 Redemption, and Youth immediately offers to change his ways 
 and be ruled by Charity and Humility if they will tell him how 
 to save his soul. They tell him that he must ask God's mercy 
 and forsake Pride and Riot. These directions Youth proceeds 
 to follow, and his old attendants leave him in sorrow and anger. 
 He is instructed in his new way of life, and, after a short prayer 
 by Humility, the play ends. 
 
 The scheme here is the simplest to be found in the whole 
 range of English Moralities. It presents only two stages, State 
 of Wickedness and Final Conversion.' The plot is much less 
 
IMPATIENT POVERTY 1 05 
 
 complicated than that of Lusty Juvenilis . All the characters, 
 both virtuous and vicious, are to be interpreted solely as forces 
 struggling for supremacy in the heart of the hero. On the one 
 side are pride, lust, and all the riotous feelings of youth ; on 
 the other, the leanings of youth — at first almost imperceptible, 
 but steadily growing in intensity — toward meekness and charity. 
 The interpretation may be thus outlined : The young man exults 
 in his health and strength, and scorns the idea of practising 
 virtue. To enjoy the pleasures of the world and to satisfy the 
 lusts of his flesh are for him the great objects of life. His soul 
 will have to be chastened by humility before he can leave off 
 his riotous pleasures and practise Christian charity. At times, 
 in the midst of his pleasures, he feels the faint stirring of virtue 
 in his heart, but refuses to give it expression. When he becomes 
 older, however, and more thoughtful, his heart is humbled. He 
 turns away from his worldly pleasures and devotes himself to a 
 life of charity. 
 
 Impatient Poverty} the next play on the list, differs from any 
 play hitherto discussed in having a subplot. Impatient Poverty 
 himself is the hero of the main action, and Abundance is the 
 chief figure in the subplot. The experiment — if it were one — 
 cannot be regarded as successful. In this particular class of 
 Moralities the success depends largely on having the attention 
 fastened from beginning to end upon one central figure who is 
 steadily and earnestly striven for by two opposing factions, the 
 good and the evil. 
 
 Peace does the work of a prologue, explaining that Man, to be 
 prosperous and happy, must befriend him and avoid that false 
 wretch. Envy. He is suddenly joined by Envy, who has caught 
 the drift of his remarks, and who now challenges him fiercely 
 to prove that peace is better than war. What would the armorers 
 
 1 Printed in 1560. The text used is that in ^^Lost" Tudor Plays, edited by 
 John S. Farmer. 
 
io6 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 and soldiers do without war ? he demands. And the surgeons, 
 who make their hving by mending broken pates ? 
 
 And what sayest thou by men of law ? 
 Their living were not worth a straw 
 And every man should live in peace ! 
 
 Peace, having a complacent realization that he is right any- 
 how, does not trouble himself much with refuting Envy's argu- 
 ments, but contents himself with assuring him that he is wrong, 
 and a lewd fellow into the bargain. However, he is capable of 
 defending his position when real need comes, as he proves when 
 Envy complicates the argument with the question, 
 
 If your wife made you cuckold, you being present, 
 What would you do ? 
 
 Peace seems to fall readily into the trap. " Give her such pun- 
 ishment," he replies calmly, "" as longeth thereto." 
 
 Envy. A false, flattering whoreson, lo ! 
 Now thou sayest against thine own declaration : 
 If thou fight where is then peace become.'' 
 
 Peace. I break not peace with doing due correction ; 
 For correction should be done charitably — 
 
 Irascemini et nolite peccare. 
 
 The couple then take leave of each other, breathing threatenings 
 and slaughter. 
 
 Peace remains and is soon joined by Impatient Poverty, who 
 enters in a great fume because " a knave would have rested " 
 him. '" I owe him but forty pence," he adds irascibly. "He shall 
 abide, by God's dear blest ! " Peace rebukes him for his dis- 
 honest attitude, and is answered with curses and ridicule ; but 
 his arguments in favor of peace and charity of conduct gradually 
 awaken the interest of Impatient Poverty, who ends by placing 
 himself under the instruction of Peace, with a solemn promise 
 to live a sober Christian life. Thereupon Peace gives him new 
 
IMF A TIE NT PO VER TV 107 
 
 vesture to symbolize his change of heart, changes his name to 
 Prosperity, and gives him a final warning against the temptations 
 that will come to him, bidding him in particular beware of Envy. 
 Then the two go out together. 
 
 Abundance and Conscience come in conversing. Abundance 
 boasts loudly of his wealth and explains his methods of gaining 
 it, which are dishonest in the extreme. Conscience rebukes him 
 severely for his dishonesty, to his great surprise. He is inclined 
 at first to regard Conscience as a fool for bringing up such far- 
 fetched objections to what he regards as regular methods of 
 business, but at length is brought to see the error of his ways. 
 " What remedy ? " he inquires. 
 
 Cons. To make restitution. 
 
 Abun. What call ye restitution ? 
 
 Cons. Restore such goods as ye have gotten 
 Wrongfully, by oppression. 
 
 Abun. Then shall I have little in my possession: 
 I will make God amends another way. 
 I will fast and I will pray, 
 And I will give alms every day. 
 That I have done amiss, I am sorry, therefore. 
 
 But this will not satisfy Conscience ; and Abundance, after re- 
 ceiving a solemn warning to profit by the example of King 
 Ahab, leaves unconverted. 
 
 Envy comes running in laughing, and out of breath with 
 haste to deliver himself of a merry and ribald tale. He finds a 
 rather cold audience in Conscience, whose sole response to these 
 efforts to entertain him is, 
 
 Good fellow, thou art to blame 
 
 Such words to have : no good thou can. 
 
 Envy at once sees that he has made a mistake and skillfully 
 changes his tack. He only thought to make things pleasant for 
 Conscience, he explains. His name is Charity. He is much 
 
Io8 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 neglected by both Spirituality and Temporality, and is in con- 
 stant danger of becoming an outcast. " This is to me a strange 
 case," says Conscience. "What hear ye by Conscience.?" 
 Then the pinchbeck Charity admits that things are looking 
 very black for Conscience. The wisest course for him would 
 be to flee from the country and thus avoid being burned at 
 Tyburn. Then Conscience hurries out with great haste, and in 
 much distress. Envy dances about in high glee at the success 
 of his trick. 
 
 Prosperity enters with a prayer on his lips and is welcomed 
 as Impatient Poverty by Envy, who is again thrown suddenly 
 on his resources when he is piously assured that Impatient 
 Poverty is a discarded name. He begs Prosperity's pardon, and 
 explains that he used the old name merely for the convenience 
 of the audience, who are used to it. But Prosperity is in a very 
 self-sufficient mood now. He shakes Envy off in spite of the 
 latter's protestations that his name is Charity, and starts to go 
 out, when the resourceful Envy requests him, as a parting favor, 
 to keep his bag containing "' three hundred pound " of gold 
 while he journeys to Jerusalem. Prosperity now recognizes him 
 as his "' cousin Charity," and begs his pardon. Envy follows up 
 this advantage by telling Prosperity that he must have a greater 
 retinue of servants, and go in more for pleasure. Prosperity 
 agrees, and retires to act upon this advice. 
 
 Envy is in high feather at his success, and confides to the 
 audience that his chief purpose is to bring Prosperity to evil 
 condition. Then his friend Misrule joins him, fresh from the 
 stews, and trolling out a macaronic song. The two rogues plan 
 to combine against Prosperity. 
 
 Their dupe returns at this point, and Envy introduces Mis- 
 rule, under the name of Mirth, as a fitting man for a servant to 
 Prosperity. The latter accepts him gladly ; and, thus encouraged, 
 the two tempters advise him to provide himself with a wench 
 
IMP A TIENT PO VERTY 1 09 
 
 and other appurtenances of a jovial life. Prosperity remembers 
 that Peace has forbidden this, but when his two friends abuse 
 Peace he gives in. "By my troth ! " he admits, 
 
 I may say to thee 
 Sith I to him did assent 
 Had I never merry day ; 
 But lived in fear and dread alway, 
 Nothing to mine intent. 
 Another while I will me sport,' 
 Sing and dance, to my comfort. 
 
 The Vices then remove from him the vestures of Peace, and 
 they all prepare to go out and enjoy themselves. As they are 
 leaving, Peace encounters Prosperity and rebukes him, but the 
 latter orders him away, and the Vices finally drive him out. 
 Then they tell Prosperity of one Colhazard, a great dice-player, 
 and Prosperity boasts that he will play with him " as long as an 
 hundred pound will last." 
 
 In the next scene Misrule . enters exulting in the ruin of 
 Prosperity. Envy joins him, and the two exchange congratula- 
 tions. Then Colhazard follows with the money which he has 
 fleeced from Prosperity, but refuses to share it with his confed- 
 erates. The upshot of this difference in point of view is that 
 the three leave the stage fighting savagely over the bag of coin. 
 
 Prosperity returns, poorly clad, and sorely lamenting his folly. 
 His name has been changed to Poverty to suit his new condition. 
 Envy and Misrule come in for a few minutes to exult over him ; 
 then retire, in spite of Poverty's earnest entreaties to them to 
 stay. Poverty urges the audience to learn a lesson by his 
 blunders ; then the Sumner comes in and arrests him for debt. 
 
 A short scene follows in which Abundance is boasting that 
 he keeps a wench in his chamber. The Sumner arrives to 
 arrest him for this offense, but is at once mollified by a bribe, 
 and instructs Abundance how to buy himself off from justice. 
 
no THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Finally, as Poverty is in the depths of misfortune and despair, 
 and is doing " penance " for his debt, Peace again joins him 
 and learns of his downfall. Poverty tells him how Abundance 
 has sinned and yet has gone scot-free in consideration of a bribe, 
 whereat the Sumner is rebuked and sent out by Peace, Poverty 
 is deeply humbled and begs for comfort ; and Peace, who con- 
 siders him well punished, reclothes him in his own vesture, 
 gives him careful instructions and warnings for his future life, 
 and changes his name back to Prosperity. The two end the 
 play with prayers for the Queen and her realm. 
 
 The hero of the main action, variously entitled Impatient 
 Poverty, Prosperity, and Poverty, is, like Magnyfycence and 
 several other Morality heroes, a type figure called by an abstract 
 name. He does not typify a class, but mankind in general ; 
 and, as his names clearly indicate, he is treated entirely from 
 the point of view of worldly prosperity. Peace on the one hand, 
 and Envy and Misrule on the other, represent qualities within 
 the heart of man, warring against each other. Colhazard is an 
 unimportant character, and it is immaterial whether we regard 
 him as a gambler or as the vice of gambling. On the whole I 
 prefer to take the latter view. In the subplot Abundance is also 
 a type figure — the unscrupulous man of wealth, who refuses to 
 listen to the voice of Conscience, 
 
 As to the moral, Peace gives us a not uncalled-for explanation 
 
 (P-313): 
 
 The devil, the world, and the flesh, these three in special, 
 Which setteth division between the soul and the body ; 
 In like wise envy setteth debate between party and party. 
 I speak for the cause ; daily ye may see 
 How that by envy and malice many be destroyed, 
 Which if they had lived in peace with patient humility, 
 Riches and prosperity with them had been employed. 
 
 So much for the moral animating the action. A step-by-step 
 interpretation is still necessary. Man, living in a state of poverty, 
 
MARIE MAGDALENE III 
 
 is much irritated at his condition until he learns that the surest 
 way to prosperity is to lead a peaceful Christian life. This change 
 in his nature is followed by worldly comfort and happiness. But 
 he is not long satisfied with the good that he has, and becomes 
 envious of the riches of other people. Thus he is led to enter 
 into strife with his fellow-men and finally attempts to increase 
 his wealth easily by gambling. He is properly rewarded for this 
 by being fleeced of all his riches and is reduced to abject poverty, 
 when he realizes that his prosperity is dependent on his living 
 quietly and at peace with everybody. Acting upon this discovery 
 he soon repairs his broken fortunes, and, profiting by his late 
 experience, he determines to keep out of strife in the future. 
 
 The Life and Repenta7ice of Marie Magdalene} by Lewis 
 Wager, is, strictly speaking, a Miracle-Morality. The Miracle ele- 
 ment, to be sure, is kept pretty consistently in the background ; 
 but, even so, the play, from the allegorical point of view, is 
 considerably hampered by its presence. In the first place, the 
 human hero (or, in this case, heroine) to be striven for is a 
 specific character derived from Scripture and saint's legend,^ 
 and in the present play there is no attempt to broaden her 
 significance ; whereas in the earlier play on the same subject it 
 is explicitly stated that " she xall byn abyll to dystroye helle " ^ 
 unless she is corrupted to a life of sin. In the second place, 
 since the conversion of Marie is accomplished mainly by a mira- 
 cle on the part of Christ, there is a complete absence of Virtues 
 from the main action of the play. This in itself would hardly 
 constitute a fault in the eyes of a carnal-minded audience ; but 
 the author, if compelled by the exigencies of his subject to 
 banish Virtues from the main action, was not minded to let 
 
 ^ Edited by Frederic Ives Carpenter, Chicago, 1904. Carpenter conjectures 
 {Introduction, p. xv) that the play was probably printed about 1550, though 
 not entered in the Stationers' Register till 1556. 
 
 * See p. 37, note 2, above. 
 
 ' See p. 35, note 3, above. 
 
112 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 his audience suffer for any lack of virtuous admonishment. The 
 Vices grow almost virtuous in their anxiety to have the audience 
 see through their perfidy. Infidelitie, the chief Vice, on his 
 first appearance issues an earnest warning to the audience : 
 
 Beware of me, Infidelity ! 
 Like as Faith is the root of all goodnesse, 
 So am I the head of all iniquitie, 
 The well and spryng of all wickednesse ! ^ 
 
 This serious tone is so often adopted by Infidelitie that he 
 almost seems, at times, to occupy the paradoxical position of a 
 personified vice striving to overthrow wickedness ; whereas the 
 fact is that the author is constitutionally unable to refrain from 
 moral didacticism, and if there is no personified virtue on the 
 stage to be made the vehicle of this moralizing he will use any 
 character that does happen to be there, even if that character is 
 the chief Vice of the play. 
 
 The prologue takes at first the form of a sermon on the text, 
 
 Nulla tam modesta felicitas est 
 
 Quae malignantis dentes vitare possit, 
 
 then announces the subject to be treated in the play, and con- 
 cludes with this curious apology for employing the allegorical 
 method : 
 
 We desire no man in this poynt to be offended, 
 In that vertues with vice we shall here introduce ; 
 For in men and women they have depended : 
 And therefore figuratively to speak, it is the use. 
 I trust that all wise men will accept our excuse. 
 
 Next Infidelitie, the chief Vice, appears and gives a prolonged 
 account of himself to the audience. He announces his deter- 
 mination to overthrow the plans of Christ, who, he hears, has 
 
 1 P. 7 (11. 31-35). See the whole of this speech ; also, for further examples 
 of this virtuous tone on the part of a Vice, see p. 10 (11. 120, etc.) and p. 12 
 (11. 174, etc.). 
 
MARIE MAGDALENE 113 
 
 lately come to the land. He hopes to accomplish his work easily 
 by the aid of his seven helpers, the Seven Deadly Sins : 
 
 Mary, syr, yet I convey my matters cleane ! 
 
 Like as I have a visour of vertue, 
 
 So my impes, whiche vnto my person do leane, 
 
 The visour of honestie doth endue ; 
 
 As these : Pride I vsed to call cleanlynesse ; 
 
 Enuie I colour with the face of prudence ; 
 
 Wrathe putteth on the coate of manlynesse ; 
 
 Couetise is profite in every man's sentence ; 
 
 Slouthe or idlenesse I painte out with quiete ; 
 
 Gluttonie or excesse I name honest chere ; 
 
 Lechery, vsed for many men's diete, 
 
 I set on with the face of love, both farre and nere.^ 
 
 As Infidelitie ceases speaking Marie Magdalene enters, 
 "triflyng with her garmentes " and beshrewing the tailors for 
 the " bungarly " work they have done on her new clothes. 
 Infidelity is all sympathy at once, but his condolences are 
 received with scorn : 
 
 What haue you to do ? Holde your bablyng tong. 
 Haue you any thyng to doe with the same ? 
 
 But when Infidelitie makes up his mind to be sympathetic he 
 is not lightly to be turned from his purpose. He returns bravely 
 to the charge, flatters Mary in unmeasured terms, and soon 
 worms himself into her confidence to such an extent that she 
 requests him to be her chief adviser in all matters pertaining to 
 the guidance of her life. 
 
 He tells her that, since she has inherited riches from her 
 parents, and has the castle of Magdalene at her command,^ she 
 
 1 These changes of name indicate, when interpreted, that man does not 
 embrace sins as sins, but under the delusion that they are virtues or legitimate 
 pleasures. 
 
 2 The author, for the most part, confines himself strictly to the biblical 
 story, and it is only in one or two references to Marie's parental training and 
 riches, at the beginning of the play, that we find any influence from the saint's 
 legend. See Carpenter, Introduction, p. xxxii. 
 
114 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 must "make good chere." This advice accords with Mary's 
 desires, and she goes out to array herself in finer garments. 
 
 Infidelitie is now joined by Pride of Lyfe, Cupiditie, and 
 Carnall Concupiscence, After the greetings InfideHtie tells 
 them of his success with Mary. They all remember her, and 
 boast of the desires they have already kindled in her heart. 
 Her fall has not yet been accomplished, but her feelings are 
 already tending downward. As usual the Vices decide to change 
 their names in order to be admitted to the friendship of their 
 intended victim. Pride is to be called Nobilitie or Honour, 
 Cupiditie is given the name Utilitie, and Carnall Concupiscence 
 becomes Pleasure. Infidelitie has several names available for use 
 at different times, but he selects Prudence as the one most likely 
 to appeal to Mary and accomplish her downfall. 
 
 Mary returns complaining about the inattention of her servants. 
 Infidelitie, alias Prudence, tells her his name, which he has 
 omitted to mention before, and introduces his friends. Mary is 
 greatly attracted to them all, and shows her pleasure at the 
 meeting by kissing the company all round several times. This 
 friendly intercourse Infidelitie is willing to prolong indefinitely, 
 but Pride breaks in impatiently, " Leve kissyng, and treate we 
 of matters more ernest." So they settle down to business, and 
 Mary is carefully instructed by her friends in the best methods 
 of setting off her personal beauty in order to win the love of 
 men. Finally, after a song, the three minor Vices depart, and 
 Mary with Infidelitie sets off for Jerusalem, where a banquet is 
 to be prepared for her. 
 
 Simon the Pharisee comes in with Malicious Judgement. The 
 two are making plans to compass the ruin of Christ, and finally 
 Simon agrees to invite their intended victim to a feast at his 
 house, where he hopes to entrap him into saying something 
 contrary to the laws. He sets out to look for Christ, and In- 
 fidelitie enters with the joyous news that Mary's downfall has 
 
MARIE MAGDALENE 115 
 
 been accomplished. But Malicious Judgement has other inter- 
 ests at stake, and cannot take much interest in this matter for the 
 present. After inviting Infidelitie to join them at Simon's feast 
 he goes about his business, "seekyng for the same Christ both 
 farre and nere." 
 
 Mary reappears and talks in a matter-of-fact way to Infidelitie 
 about her amours. Suddenly they espy some one coming toward 
 them with tables of stone in his hand. They stand aside to 
 listen, and the newcomer approaches and proclaims himself to 
 be the Lawe of God. He explains how the curse of God must 
 follow sin ; and Mary, listening, is seized with remorse. She 
 cries out, lamenting her past sin, but the Lawe has little con- 
 solation to offer. " Thy heart," he tells her, 
 
 hath great occasion to blede, 
 For many lustes and dedes hath defiled thy conscience. 
 
 Then, to crown Mary's remorse, Knowledge of Sinne follows 
 to assure her : 
 
 I am evermore before the conscience sight, 
 Shewyng before hym his condemnation, 
 So that by the dedes of the law, or by his own might, 
 He cannot attaine vnto saluation. 
 
 Infidelitie makes frantic efforts to draw Mary away, but she 
 is so filled with horror at her abasement that she can take no 
 notice of him. The two worthies, however, are so unyielding in 
 their condemnation that Mary cries out against the severity 
 of God's justice ; and Infidelitie, commending her heartily for 
 this view of the situation, again bids her to follow him and make 
 merry while she may, since she sees " no remedy but utter dam- 
 nation." Mary would like to follow this advice, but she realizes 
 that she can never forget the horrible appearance of Knowledge 
 of Sinne. At this Lawe relents somewhat and tells her that if 
 she can believe in Christ he will forgive her. 
 
n6 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Mary is again left alone with Infidelitie, who urges her to 
 forget her late experience and enjoy life again. But she has 
 entirely lost her zest for pleasure, and is in a very irresolute 
 state of mind, when Christ enters announcing that his mission 
 is not to judge the world but to preach forgiveness and pardon. 
 Infidelitie starts to heap abuse on him, but is sternly ordered to 
 " avoide out of this woman . . . with the vii divels which have 
 her possessed." As Infidelitie disappears Mary falls to the earth, 
 there is a loud roaring of devils behind the scenes, and then 
 Christ bids her arise. Faith and Repentance enter, and Christ 
 presents them to Mary. She is given directions for her new life, 
 and then departs with Faith and Repentance, whom Christ sends 
 to bear her company. 
 
 The play, to all intents and purposes, ends here ; but there 
 are several scenes coming after, which continue the Scriptural 
 narrative. Simon the Pharisee and Malicious Judgement come 
 and bid Christ to dinner. Malicious Judgement takes Infidelitie 
 along to help in their plans. Then the dinner takes place, Mary 
 comes in, washes the feet of Christ, and is forgiven her sins. 
 During the dinner a long conversation is carried on, in which 
 Simon, Malicious Judgement, and Infidelitie attempt to entrap 
 Christ into a statement that will lay him open to the law. And, 
 finally, in a brief closing scene Justification and Love bestow 
 their comfort and advice upon the repentant Mary. 
 
 The action presents the usual scheme of State of Innocence 
 — Fall from Grace — Life in Sin — Repentance and Conver- 
 sion. At first glance it seems that Mary is a sinful person at the 
 beginning of the play ; but this is not so. She merely exhib- 
 its possibilities; and though the Vices ultimately find her an 
 easy victim, they have as yet entered into no friendly relations 
 with her. 
 
 There is no difficulty in assigning the characters to their 
 places. Mary, the person to be striven for, is, of course, an 
 
MARIE MAGDALENE WJ 
 
 individual, and there is no attempt to enlarge her into a type of 
 the human race. The play, therefore, is not a pure Morality, 
 but a compound of Miracle and Morality, and the reason for 
 discussing it here is that it is not a play with allegorical features, 
 but primarily a Morality, though added to, and hampered by, 
 the slight thread of Scriptural narrative. The Vices, Infidelitie, 
 Pride of Life, Cupiditie, and Carnall Concupiscence, when suc- 
 cessful have their abode within the heart of the heroine, as we 
 are carefully informed when Pride of Life outlines to Infidelitie 
 the campaign of vice : 
 
 If thou be once rooted within' the hart, 
 
 Then maist thou make an entrance by thy craft and art, 
 
 So that we may come into hir at pleasure, 
 
 Filling hir with wickednesse beyond all measure ! ^ 
 
 Malicious Judgement, also belonging to the Vice faction, is 
 an outside force, operating in society at large. Among the Vir- 
 tues, Faith, Repentance, and Love are forces operating within 
 the heart, and Justification is a power from without. They have 
 scarcely any part in the action, merely coming to the relief of 
 Mary after she has been pardoned by Christ. The Lawe and 
 Knowledge of Sinne are, strictly speaking, neither Virtues nor 
 Vices, but Agents of Retribution, though the Lawe comes near 
 taking the part of a Virtue. The latter represents a power acting 
 from without, while Knowledge represents a force springing up 
 in the heart. Christ and Simon are, of course, individuals. 
 
 In the interpretation I shall leave the Bible story out of account 
 and confine myself to the allegorical aspect of the play. Infi- 
 delity, having sprung up in the heart, spon gives rise to the 
 most wicked feelings and desires, — pride, greed, and lust. 
 
 1 P. i6 (11. 287-291). Such language as this, referring to a literal occupation 
 of the heart by vice, is, of course, a serious flaw in the allegory. There is, how- 
 ever, an excuse for it here in the fact that later Christ literally casts the seven 
 devils out of Mary. It is another example of the way in which the allegory is 
 hampered by the Miracle element. 
 
Ii8 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The sinner continues his life of wickedness until he hears or 
 reads the commandments of God, when a full knowledge comes 
 to him of the hideousness of his past sin. He is in despair 
 until he turns to Christ, who alone has power to relieve and 
 forgive him. Then, with his repentance, his heart is imbued 
 with faith and love, and he is justified in the sight of God. 
 
 In the Morality of Albion, Knight'^ we are forced to make 
 conjectures as to a great deal of the action, since the beginning 
 and the end of the manuscript have disappeared. Fortunately, 
 the remaining fragment gives enough to warrant us in making 
 pretty confident generalizations on the play as a whole. That 
 a rigid economy of actors was practised the following list of 
 dramatis personae will show : 
 
 Albion, Knight"] Principality 
 
 Justice actually Peace 
 
 Injury appear Maintenance 
 
 Division J Rest 
 
 Old Debate 
 Double Device 
 Dame Plenty 
 
 That is, the author could not introduce all the figures that his 
 scheme called for, but was compelled to limit his list of dramatis 
 personae to the powers of a small company of four actors. 
 
 When our fragment takes up the play. Injury and Justice are 
 engaged in an argument. Injury is exerting himself to make 
 Justice and Albion believe that he is Manhood, and Justice is 
 rather suspicious of his honesty. But Albion, who is apparently 
 of a trustful disposition, shows great anxiety that they should 
 all be friends ; so Justice, still a little doubtful, consents at last 
 to join hands with the supposed Manhood. After the recon- 
 ciliation Albion and Justice go out, and Injury then explains his 
 true character to the audience. 
 
 1 Six Anonymous Plays, edited by John Fanner. The play was acted between 
 1560 and 1565. 
 
 are mentioned 
 in text 
 
ALBION, KNIGHT 1 19 
 
 Division appears and greets his friend and co-worker Injury. 
 They exchange a few passes of coarse wit, in the usual manner 
 of Vices, then fall to making plans for corrupting Albion. 
 
 Injury. This Justice is a fellow of a far cast, 
 And driveth such drifts to rule at the last : 
 And Peace is his brother, of one degree, 
 Which hath a fair daughter that is called Plenty : 
 And Albion as long as Rest him treats. 
 He loveth fair flesh of all meats : 
 And it is a common saying that Justice, Peace and he 
 Will conclude a marriage with fair Dame Plenty. 
 And then will Albion, that old sot, 
 With Rest and Peace, so on her dote 
 That then she, by her and her friends, 
 Shall sail in storms at all winds. 
 
 It is the object of Injury and Division to prevent this union 
 
 from taking place, and Injury makes the last speech of the 
 
 fragment : 
 
 Thou shalt teach him a wrong cross row : 
 
 And tell him best it is, after thine advice. 
 
 With mirth and prodigality him to exercise : 
 
 And take of his own good while he may. 
 
 Lest all at last be bribed away. 
 
 Thus, though but a small part of the play is left, we can form 
 fairly safe conjectures as to what the completed action is likely 
 to have been, from the careful and elaborate plans laid down by 
 the Vices for their campaign. We can feel quite certain that 
 Albion was deceived and corrupted by the Vices, and almost 
 equally sure that he was finally brought to his senses by Justice 
 and led to a triumphant and permanent union with the " fair 
 Dame Plenty." 
 
 It may easily be seen that the play has strong political tend- 
 encies.^ For this reason it is usually referred to as a controversial 
 
 ^ It \t.e., Albion, Knight^ turns chiefly on the want of concord between the 
 lords spiritual and the lords temporal, and must date, I think, soon after Eliza- 
 beth's accession. — Fleay, p. 66. 
 
I20 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Morality ; but the real basis for classification — technical struc- 
 ture — decides its place as being in the present class. 
 
 The only characters that can safely be discussed are the four 
 that appear in person as actors, Albion, Knight, in the con- 
 troversial aspect of the play, probably represents England,' 
 but this is reading a secondary signification between the lines. 
 As the play stands he is the regular highly universalized type 
 of hero, the representative of mankind to be striven for. He 
 has evidently begun in a state of goodness, since at the begin- 
 ning of the fragment (which is manifestly almost the beginning 
 of the action) he is on friendly terms with Justice, the Virtue 
 or representative of goodness in the play. Justice is to be re- 
 garded here solely as an internal force, — the sense of justice 
 in the heart of man. Injury, the chief Vice, also represents a 
 power within the heart. When he is striving to win the favor 
 of Albion he poses as Manhood, which is the regular device of 
 the Deadly Sin, Wrath ; so Injury is simply another name for 
 Wrath. Division is practically the same sort of character, but 
 he may be slightly differentiated as representing a tendency in 
 the heart of Man to create division or discord. 
 
 The fragment, then, being interpreted, presents to us Man at 
 peace, with a desire to act justly toward his fellow-men.^ His 
 sense of justice, however, becomes subordinated to the violent 
 elements in his nature. In the mistaken belief that he is merely 
 
 ^ In this and the other plays with controversial tendencies outside of 
 Class IV, the controversial element is merely incidental to the play. It may 
 be expressed in the dialogue or, as in the present case, it may be a mere 
 underlying element. But never except in the plays grouped in Class IV is it 
 made the basis of the play ; and, except in the latter plays, it might be removed 
 without seriously affecting the action. 
 
 2 The fact that the human hero in these plays is universalized into a Type 
 of the whole human race does not preclude the idea of fellow-mortals, though 
 this idea is usually kept in the background. In the Castle of Perseverance, 
 Humanum Genus is instructed how to act toward his fellow-men, and the same 
 idea is introduced in several of the Moralities. 
 
THE TRIAL OF TREASURE 12 1 
 
 asserting his manhood he allows himself to inflict injuries upon 
 his neighbors. The fragment carries us no further, but we can 
 readily forecast the degradation of man into a creature of dis- 
 cords and strife, and his final awakening to a real sense of 
 justice, with a determination to live forever in peace. Though 
 this last is pure conjecture, we have abundant warrant for it 
 from our knowledge of other plays of the same type. 
 
 TJie Trial of Treasure ^ differs in one important respect from 
 any other play of its class. The human hero, Just {i.e., the just 
 man), leads an upright life from beginning to end. Though he 
 is repeatedly assailed by Vices, he never once swerves from the 
 paths of righteousness. This may add to our respect for the 
 good Just, but it certainly contributes nothing to the interest of 
 the play. The life in sin is what gives the touch of human inter- 
 est to the Moralities. The author of the present play, wishing 
 to picture a man consistently just or good, seeks a substitute for 
 this by taking one of his personified vices. Lust, and depicting 
 him from time to time as a vicious human character, surrounded 
 by a set of. merry and wide-awake Vices. 
 
 The play thus presents two motives, rather confusingly min- 
 gled, — the allegorical soul-struggle, with a human hero, which 
 forms the regular plot of the class under consideration, and an 
 additional motive of the contrast of two lives, one good and the 
 other evil, with poetic justice meted out at the end. This second 
 motive occurs again in a Morality to be considered later. Like 
 Will to Like, Quoth the Devil to the Collier, and also in the 
 moral tragedy. The Nice Wanton. It is almost certainly due to 
 French influence .^ 
 
 1 Printed in 1567. The text used is in Dodsley, Vol. III. 
 
 2 The earhest French MoraUty remaining is Bien AvisS, Mai Avisi, which 
 was performed at Rennes in 1439. This play represents side by side the careers 
 of Bien Avise and Mai Avise, two highly universalized type figures. Bien 
 Avise is under the influence of Virtues through his whole life, he dies in the 
 arms of Bonne Fin, and his soul is taken to heaven. Mai Avise consorts 
 
122 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The first, or English, motive is the more important and is 
 the one that, on the whole, dominates the play. But the two 
 motives are so closely connected that sometimes a single scene 
 will jump rapidly from one to the other. In order to explain 
 this effectively I shall have to present part of a scene between 
 Just and Lust, which begins with an argument between two 
 widely different types of mankind and ends with the successful 
 attempt of the just man to throw off the lusts of the flesh : 
 
 Enter Lust, like a gallatit, singing this song 
 
 Heigho, care away, let the world pass, 
 For I am as lusty as ever I was ; 
 In flowers I flourish as blossoms in May, 
 Heigho, care away ; heigho, care away ! 
 
 Lust. What the devil ailed me to sing thus? 
 I cry you mercy, by my faith, for ent'ring : 
 Most like I have ridden on the flying Pegasus, 
 Or in Cock Lord's barge I have been a vent'ring. 
 Sing? why, I would sing if I were to do again. 
 With Orpheus and Amphion I went to school : 
 What ! lads must be lively attending on the train 
 Of Lady Delectation, which is no small fool. 
 Hey rouse, fill all the pots in the house ; 
 Tush, man, in good fellowship let us be merry. 
 Look up like a man, or it is not worth a louse ; 
 Heigho, troly ; hey, dery, dery, 
 Ha, pleasant youth and lusty juventus. 
 In faith it is good to be merry this May : 
 
 throughout with Vices, and he is finally strangled and handed over to the 
 Devil. Another play, V Homme Juste et V Homme Mondain (presented in 1476) 
 has the same motive. In this play the good man is called Juste, or le Juste, so 
 the evidence for direct influence here is very strong. The French play repre- 
 sents scenes in Hell, in Purgatory, and in Heaven after the death of the two 
 heroes ; but The Trial of Treasicre, like the rest of the later English Moralities, 
 is interested only in representing the present life. Cf. Petit de Julleville, His- 
 toire du Theatre en France, IV, 39, 69, and Creizenach, I, 470. Creizenach 
 states here that the motive of Bien Avise, Mai Avise is not represented in the 
 English Moralities. 
 
THE TRIAL OF TREASURE 123 
 
 For of man's living here there is no point endentus, 
 Therefore a little mirth is worth much sorrow some say.^ 
 
 Enter Just 
 
 Just. But remember ye not the wise man's sentence ? 
 It is better in the house of mourning to be 
 Than in the house of laughter, where folly hath residence. 
 For lightness with wisdom cannot agree ; 
 Though many have pleasure in foolish fantasy^. 
 Ensuing their inclination and lust, 
 Yet much better is the life of one who is just. 
 
 Lust. Sir, in this you seem against me to inveigh. 
 
 Just. Nothing but reason, I think, I do say. 
 
 Ltist. Marry, you shall have a nightcap for making the reason. 
 Friend, have you not a piece of stock-fish to sell .'' 
 I would you had a dish of buttered peason. 
 By my faith, your communication likes me well. 
 But, I beseech you, tell me, is not your name Just? 
 
 Just. Yes, forsooth. 
 
 Lust. And my name, thou shalt understand is Lust, 
 And according thereto I am lusty indeed ; 
 But I think thou hast drunk of Morpheus seed. 
 Thou goest like a dromedary, dreamy and drowsy ; 
 I hold twenty pound the knave is lousy ! 
 
 Just. Mine apparel is not like unto thine. 
 Disguised and jagged, of sundry fashion ; 
 Howbeit, it is not gold always that doth shine, 
 But corrupting copper of small valuation ; 
 Too horrible besides is thy operation, 
 Nothing more odious unto the just 
 Than the beastly desires of inordinate lust.^ 
 
 Lust. It is a shameful thing, as Cicero doth say, 
 That a man his own acts should praise and commend ; 
 Hypocrites accustom the like, day by day. 
 Checking other men, when they do offend. 
 
 1 Compare this entrance with that of the young man in Youth and in Lusty 
 Juventus. 
 
 2 It is possible to suppose — though I do not take this view — from the last 
 three lines that Just for the moment regards his adversary as the quality of 
 lust ; but, if so, Lust swings back to his previous character in his next speech. 
 
124 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Just. Yea, but it is an hard thing, saith the philosopher, 
 For a foolish man to have his manners reprehended ; 
 And even at this day it is come so far, 
 God grant, for his mercy, it may be amended ! 
 For tell a man now friendly of his fault. 
 Being blasphemy, pride, or vile fornication. 
 He will be as presumptuous as Haman the halt, 
 And repay with revenge or else defamation : 
 Thus few men a friendly monition will bear, 
 But stoutly persist and maintain their ill ; 
 And in noblemen's houses truly I do fear. 
 There are too many have such forward will. 
 
 Lust. Wounds and hearts, who can abide this? 
 Nay, ye vile villain, I will dress you therefore ; 
 Your lazy bones I pretend ^ so to bless, 
 That you shall have small lust to prate any more. 
 
 Just. Behold the image of incipient fools ! 
 There ['re] not a few even now of thy property ; 
 Until you be put into poverty's schools 
 Ye will not forsake this foolish insolency. 
 
 Lust, Nay, soft, with thee I have not made an end. 
 
 {Draw out his sword) 
 
 Just. The just against lust must always contend, ^ 
 Therefore I propose to wrestle with thee, {put it tip) 
 Who shall have the victory, straightway we shall see. 
 
 Lust. When thou wilt, by his flesh, I shall hold the wag. 
 
 ( Wrestle., and let Lust seem to have the better at the first) 
 
 Just. I know that Lust useth not little to brag. 
 
 Lust. Thou shalt find me as mighty as Samson the strong. 
 
 Just. Yea, the battle of lust endureth long. 
 
 Lust. Wounds and flesh ! I was almost down on my back ; 
 But yet I will wrestle till my bones crack. {Stay, and then speak) 
 
 Just. The end of thy presumption now doth appear. 
 
 Lust. Yet do what thou canst, I will not lie here ; 
 No, by his wounds, you old doting knave ! 
 
 {Cast him, and let hifn arise again) 
 
 1 Intend. 
 
 2 Up to this point the scene has presented Lust in the main, if not entirely, 
 as the man actuated by lust, opposed to the just man. But from this speech 
 on through the action following, the combat is that of the just man against the 
 lusts of his flesh. 
 
THE TRIAL OF TREASURE 125 
 
 Thinkest thou that Lust will be made a slave ? 
 I shall meet you in Smithfield or else other-where, 
 By his flesh and blood, I will thee not forbear ! 
 
 Just. Not of my power I do thee expel, 
 But by the might of his spirit that dwelleth in me : 
 Inordinate lust with the just may not dwell, 
 And therefore may not I accompany thee. 
 
 Lust. Well, goodman Just, it is no matter, 
 But, in faith, I pretend not with thee to flatter ; 
 Though from thy company depart I must 
 I shall live as much in wealthiness, I trust. 
 
 Ifio out. He must drive him out) 
 
 So ends the first struggle of the just, or good, man to conquer 
 his base appetites. The proof that the fight just depicted has 
 this allegorical significance is clinched by the soliloquy of Just 
 after his victory : 
 
 Where most wealth is, and most delectation, 
 There Lust is commonly of most estimation ; 
 For whereas wealth wanteth, idleness doth slake, 
 For where idleness is. Lust parteth the stake. {Pause) 
 Thus have you seen the conflict of the just, 
 Which all good men ought to use and frequent ; 
 For horrible are the fruits of inordinate lust. 
 Which in some case resembleth Hydra the serpent, 
 Whose head being cut off, another riseth incontinent. 
 So, one of Lust's cogitations being cut away, 
 There riseth up another, yea, many, we may say.^ 
 It is requisite therefore that every degree 
 Against this his lust both strive and contend ; 
 And though, at the first, he seem sturdy to be, 
 The Lord will convince ^ him for you in the end. 
 Your cause unto him therefore wholly commend, 
 Labouring to. avoid all inordinate lust. 
 And to practice in life to live after the Just. 
 
 In the next scene Lust appears with a group of Vices, and not 
 as a patron of the Vices, but as one of their number. And so the 
 
 1 This is, of course, to explain Lust's repeated returns to the fight just con- 
 cluded, after repeated repulses from Just. ^ Conquer. 
 
126 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 play goes on presenting him in one aspect, then in another, 
 until at last he is condemned by God's Visitation in these words : 
 Thou incipient fool, thou hast followed thy lust, 
 Disdaining the doctrine declared by Sapience. 
 
 So it is in the character of " I'homme mondain " that Lust 
 disappears from sight. 
 
 This lengthy presentation of the two chief characters has 
 been absolutely necessary for a clear understanding of the play ; 
 but now, having cleared away the only real obstacles, we can 
 proceed with an outline of the action. 
 
 The prologue is delivered on the appropriate text, — which 
 might be widened to a general text for all Moralities, — " Do 
 all things to edify the congregation." Then enters Lust, attired 
 like a gallant and singing a song suggestive of his entire free- 
 dom from the cares of this world. After a rousing soliloquy, to 
 which the foregoing song furnishes the keynote, he is interrupted 
 by the stately Just, who puts an entirely new face on the situa- 
 tion. Just feels more drawn to the " house of mourning " than 
 to the " house of laughter," and he naturally enough concludes 
 that any wise man would agree with him. Ergo, Lust, who has 
 given indubitable proofs of his residence in the " house of 
 laughter," must be a fool. Lust is not prepared to accept this 
 conclusion tamely, and he attacks his censor vigorously, first 
 with his tongue, and then with his sword. At the beginning of 
 the latter encounter he seems to get the better of his opponent, 
 but the upshot of the encounter is that Just conquers Lust and 
 drives him off the stage. After commenting on the significance 
 of his victory Just retires and Inclination comes in. 
 
 Inclination has had a long and triumphant career, the impor- 
 tance of which is not minimized in his narrative. When pres- 
 ently he is joined by Lust and Sturdiness he shows a disposition 
 to take a high hand with them ; but, after a bit of swordplay, 
 they convince him that, although he may be competent to subdue 
 
THE TRIAL OF TREASURE 12/ 
 
 " the mighty on the earth," yet he is not supreme in the realm 
 of vice. But Lust generously reassures him, and the three 
 friends are soon joined by Elation and Greedy-gut, who have 
 come to swell the ranks of Lust. These companions of Lust 
 swear to serve him in all his desires and sing a song expressive 
 of their relations to him : 
 
 Lust shall be led by me Inclination 
 
 To Carnal Cogitation ; 
 Where Lust is wholly led by me, 
 
 He must fall to cupidity ; 
 For carnal cares shall him assail, 
 
 And speedily they shall prevail ; 
 I, Sturdiness, will face it out 
 In his cause, sturdy, stiff, and stout. 
 Then Greedy-gut shall make him eat 
 Both house and land like bread and meat ; 
 
 Elation shall puff him high 
 
 For to aspire above the sky ; 
 Then natural and lordly Lust 
 Shall with his power despise the Just.^ 
 
 1 This whole scene is another good example of the combination of two 
 motives, centering in the double character of Lust as, first, the Vice and, 
 second, the man actuated by lust. At the beginning of the scene he is the 
 Vice, surrounded by personifications of kindred vices ; at the close he is the 
 lustful or worldly-minded man, accompanied by figures representing his in- 
 clinations and desires. The speech of Sturdiness, which closes the scene, 
 corroborates this latter part of the interpretation (p. 275): 
 
 This Lust is the image of all wicked men, 
 
 Which in seeking the world have all delectation ; 
 
 They regard not God, nor his commandments ten, 
 
 But are wholly led by their own inclination. 
 
 First to inculcate with Carnal Cogitation 
 
 And after to the desire of all worldly treasure, 
 
 Which alone they esteem the fulness of pleasure. 
 
 With Elation or Pride he is also associate, 
 
 Which puffeth up his senses with presumption pestilent ; 
 
 Then Gfeedy-gut maketh them continually to grate 
 
 On the mock of this world, which he thinketh permanent. 
 
 I, Sturdiness, to hear out all things am bent : 
 
 Thus see you how men that are led by their lust, 
 
 Dissent from the virtuous, goodly, and just. 
 
128 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 As this ungodly crew retires Just and Sapience enter. Sapience 
 exhorts Just to be circumspect in the guidance of his Ufe, and 
 Just in his virtuous and learned answers shows that he has no 
 intention of doing anything else. They are interrupted by In- 
 clination, who comes in to announce gleefully that Lust and 
 Carnal Cogitation "in one bed doth lie," and then starts to 
 retire hastily when he sees Just, whom he knows to be proof 
 against his influence. But he is too late. Just and Sapience 
 catch sight of him and intercept him. He attempts to conceal 
 his identity by talking French, and the astute Sapience remarks, 
 
 To deceive us now himself he doth prepare. 
 
 Then he tries German, and finally makes a despairing appeal 
 in his own person. But the inexorable pair seize him, put the 
 bridle ""called Restraint" on him, and go out leaving him 
 securely tied. 
 
 Soon Greedy-gut comes tumbling in, and mistakes Inclination 
 for a colt. After receiving a few vigorous kicks, however, his 
 eyesight becomes bright enough to discern his old friend under 
 the disguise. Inclination persuades him to hurry out for Lust, 
 who alone is able to remove the bridle, and in a few moments 
 Lust comes running in and sets him free. Lust then confides 
 to his friend that his heart is on fire with love for the lady 
 Treasure, and Inclination readily consents to lead him to the 
 object of his desires. 
 
 When they retire. Just, Trust, and Contentation appear. Just 
 is in a very self-congratulatory mood, and is encouraged by his 
 companions. Then they all cite examples from classical history 
 and from the Bible to prove that worldly-minded men, who bend 
 their energies toward the procuring of wealth and pleasure on 
 earth, come to grief at the last, while 
 
 God doth so guide the hearts of the just, 
 That they respect chiefly the celestial treasure. 
 
THE TRIAL OF TREASURE 1 29 
 
 Finally they pledge themselves to a continuance of friendship,^ 
 and go out singing, " The man is blest that feareth God." 
 
 Then Inclination comes back with the happy news of a match 
 between Lust and Lady Treasure. Suddenly he breaks off with 
 
 Hark, I hear Lust and my Lady Treasure. 
 They are given to solace, singing, and pleasure. 
 
 The happy lovers appear, assuring each other of ardent affec- 
 tion and fidelity, while Inclination, by his asides, shows that he 
 is quite conscious of the ephemeral nature of such a union. Lust 
 reminds his lady that she has mentioned a brother of hers, named 
 Pleasure, with whom he is very anxious to become acquainted. 
 Treasure assures him that her brother will join them shortly, 
 and in a few moments Pleasure appears singing. He greets 
 Lust in friendly fashion and assures him that he will remain 
 true to him as long as Lust retains Treasure. Lust is now 
 in a state of ecstatic happiness and breaks into song in honor 
 of his lady, when suddenly he is interrupted by the ominous 
 entrance of God's Visitation. 
 
 A stern rebuke is now imposed on the unfortunate Lust ; 
 and, as God's Visitation talks on. Lust becomes more and more 
 tortured in mind and in body. Then Pleasure is taken away to 
 wait on Just, and Visitation, as he goes out, warns Lust that 
 this is a foretaste of worse things in store for him. Lust has 
 
 ^ There is a good example here of what is fairly common in the Moralities, 
 — the mingling of allegorical with literal speech. Just makes a statement of 
 the allegorical relationship between himself and his companions (p. 386) : 
 
 As I, being properly nominate Just, 
 Am here associate with Contentation, 
 So have I my whole felicity in Trust, 
 Who illumineth my eyes to see salvation, 
 
 and Trust replies ; 
 
 Fear ye not, shortly you shall have consolation, 
 
 If I were once grown in yoi-t to perfection. 
 
 Even thus goeth it always with the children of election. 
 
I30 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 begun to take heart again, however, when Time enters and 
 summons him away with Treasure : 
 
 Botli Lust and Treasure come forth with speed 
 Into the shop of the most miglity (iod. 
 There shall you be l^catcn to powder indeed. 
 And for your abusion feci his scouri^^e and rod. 
 
 Then Just leads forward Inchnation, who is once more securely 
 bridled. He is joined by Trust and Consolation ; and Trust, 
 who is very fond of interpreting allegorical action, remarks : 
 
 Most blessed and happy, I say, arc the just, 
 Even because they restrain their own inclination. 
 
 Consolation is presented to Just, who receives him lovingly, 
 then goes out to put Inclination in prison. Time enters to re- 
 port that Lust " is converted into dust," " and Treasure in like 
 case is turned to rust." Then the triumphant Just reappears 
 and complacently receives the congratulations and commenda- 
 tions of Time, and the j^lay ends with an apology to the audience 
 by Consolation, " sith somewhat tedious to you wc have been." 
 
 Just and Lust, the two chief characters in the play, have 
 already been explained. Of the other characters little need 
 be said. They all represent abstractions, and all, excepting 
 God's Visitation, Time, and Treasure, represent forces within 
 the nature of Man. 
 
 The action contains so much allegorical by-play that it would 
 be hopeless to attempt to go into all the details of the interpre- 
 tation. The main outline is this : The just man determines to 
 lead a virtuous life. He has at first a hard struggle to subdue 
 the desires of his flesh, but having gained one victory he finds 
 it easier afterwards to persist in virtue. He attains wisdom by 
 his sober and studious life, and rigorously practises self-restraint 
 to stifle his inclinations. By this life he acquires a contented 
 mind and a firm trust in the mercy of God with assurance of 
 
THE L ONGER THO U LI VEST 1 3 1 
 
 his future salvation. On the other hand, the man who yields 
 himself to his lusts obtains worldly pleasures and riches for a 
 short time ; but soon his wealth is destroyed and he himself is 
 sentenced by God to an eternity of punishment. 
 
 TJie Longer Thou Lives t the Mo7'e Foole Thoic Art^ is the 
 thought-compelling title of the next Morality on the list. From 
 the fortunate circumstance of its being next to The Trial of 
 Treasure, through the chronological arrangement of the list, it 
 can be compared directly with that play in plot. In The Trial 
 of Treasure the hero remained virtuous throughout the action. 
 In the present play the hero, Moros ("a foole by interpretacion ") 
 is depraved from start to finish, in spite of the frequent and vio- 
 lent efforts of the Virtues to convert him. In every other Morality 
 of this class we find the fluctuation between virtue and sin. 
 
 The Prologue, in a long speech, indicates the purpose of the 
 play, — to illustrate the evil results of bad rearing of children, 
 and of youthful idleness. 
 
 Holsom lessons now and than we shall enterlace, 
 Good for the ignorant, not hurtfull to the wise ; 
 Honest mirth shall com in, and appeare in place. 
 Not to thaduancement, but to the shame of vice ; 
 To extoU Vertue, without faile, is our devise. 
 
 Thus the author, who, on the whole, has produced a very bright 
 and readable play, takes care to notify the audience that, in spite 
 of the apparently contradictory evidence of some details, his con- 
 stant purpose is to be edifying. A good deal of " mirth" does 
 come in, and nowadays we are too prudish to consider it all 
 as strictly " honest." But these aspects of the Morality, even 
 though we need not regard them as reformatory in the strict 
 sense of the word, undoubtedly widened the appeal of the play 
 
 1 Written by W. Wager. Edited by Brandl in the Jahrbiich der dentscken 
 Shakespea7-e-Gesellschaft, Vol. XXXVI. Brandl dates the play 1559-1560, and 
 Gayley, p. 310, agreeing with Fleay, 1 571-1576. 
 
132 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 in those days, and enabled the author to present his general 
 commendation of virtue to many people who were human enough 
 to wish to have their laugh out first ; and it is easy to imagine 
 that the morality-loving English audience, after being comfortably 
 assured that the coming " mirth " would be " not to thaduance- 
 ment, but to the shame of vice," settled down to enjoy the mad 
 pranks and questionable jokes without troubling much to enquire 
 into their individual " honesty," 
 
 After the prologue Moros enters, singing a foolish parody 
 beginning, Brome, Brome on hill, 
 
 The gentle Brome on hill hill. 
 
 For this wanton waste of time he is sternly rebuked by Discipline, 
 who quotes Latin proverbs to show him the foolishness of his 
 conduct. Discipline is soon reinforced by Pietie and Exercita- 
 tion, and the three labor hard to convert Moros to a useful and 
 religious life, but without result. Moros is willing to listen to 
 what they have to say, and is even cheerful over the situation. 
 " I may tell you," he confides to them, 
 
 my father did like me well, 
 I am the wisest child that ever he had. 
 Often times I haue herd him say or tell, 
 My boy Moros will proue a wise Lad, 
 
 and Exercitation responds despairingly : 
 
 If you can remember your father's saying, 
 
 Why can you not remember good lessons as well ? 
 
 Finally the would-be instructors recite a lesson for Moros to 
 repeat after them ; but the buoyant spirits of Moros get the 
 better of him, and he wilfully confuses the lesson. At this the 
 teachers lose their last shred of patience and fall to beating him, 
 whereat he howls dolefully and promises to do better. Then he 
 is committed to Pietie for schooling in religion and is given a 
 Testament to study. Discipline throws out dark hints that a 
 
THE LONGER THOU LI VEST 133 
 
 thrashing is the natural result of carelessness or backsliding, 
 then Moros retires with Pietie. Exercitation and Discipline dis- 
 cuss the possibility of a conversion. Discipline states hopefully : 
 
 Vnto labour, vertue, and veritie 
 
 I will hope him easely to winne ; 
 
 but Exercitation is pessimistic. His conclusion is : 
 
 For if he to any vertue be bente, 
 
 I am much deceaued, truly, in my minde. 
 
 The only remedy Discipline can suggest is to watch Moros and 
 give him a sound thrashing if he falters by the way ; so the two 
 worthies go out to spy on his actions. 
 
 Idlenesse, " the parent of all vice," comes in to fulfill an 
 engagement with Moros, and is joined by Incontinence and 
 Wrath. They have all heard of the attempt to make a wise and 
 good man of Moros, and are determined to offset this by their 
 influence. Wrath is inclined to regard him as a confirmed fool 
 already, but Idlenesse, who is shrewder, realizes that Moros has 
 a small amount of wit which may be nourished into growth if 
 he really comes under the influence of Discipline and his friends. 
 
 But he shalbe a more foole yet 
 
 When all we three be vnto him annexed. 
 
 Therefore Idlenesse holds it advisable that all their names shall 
 be changed. He is already known to Moros as Pastime, and he 
 suggests that Incontinence be called Pleasure, whereat Inconti- 
 nence in turn reminds Wrath of his usual disguise behind the 
 name Manhode. "' In good faith," bursts out the irate Wrath, 
 
 little needeth this devise, 
 To be called by our names is as good : 
 Doth he know what Idlenesse doth meane."* 
 Knoweth he Incontinencie to be leacherie.'' 
 He discerneth not cleane from uncleane. 
 His minde is all set on foolerie. 
 
 But Idlenesse carries the day. 
 
134 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 At this juncture Moros comes in, pretending to read a book, 
 but in reality translating its contents into an unintelligible jargon, 
 and at the same time keeping a shrewd weather-eye open for 
 Discipline. He gladly joins the three Vices, who introduce 
 themselves to him by their assumed names, and give him 
 thorough instruction in various forms of sin. Idlenesse per- 
 suades him to throw his book away, and gives him a pack of 
 cards instead. Wrath presents him with a sword, with instruc- 
 tions on the proper way to avenge an insult with it, and Moros 
 is brandishing his new weapon with a lively appearance of man- 
 liness when Discipline suddenly appears. Then his new-found 
 courage quickly deserts him, and he throws away the sword and 
 hides. His friends urge him to attack Discipline, but he is in a 
 pitiful state of terror, and they finally go out, taking him with 
 them, and leaving Discipline to comment on the evident results 
 of lax training on the part of parents. 
 
 After Discipline has made his mournful exit Fortune appears, 
 proclaiming her power. Incontinencie joins her, and she tells 
 him of her intention to raise Moros to a position of honor and 
 
 wealth. 
 
 Seeing that vulgares will me not prayse 
 For exalting good men and sapient, 
 I will get me a name an other wayes, 
 That is, by erecting fooles insipient. 
 
 When Moros next appears he is a man in the prime of life, 
 a greater fool than ever, and enjoying the wealth which Fortune 
 has sent him. His chief confidant and friend now is Ignorance, 
 a very sage person, of the same general type as Folly in Mag- 
 nyfycencc (who explains that he is no fool himself though he 
 makes fools of others). With Ignorance, who introduces him- 
 self as Antiquitie, are associated Impietie, alias Philosophic, and 
 Crueltie, alias Prudence, Moros receives them unquestioningly 
 and follows all their precepts. 
 
2 'HE L UJS GER THO U LI VEST 1 3 5 
 
 But the Virtues have not yet given over the struggle. While 
 Moros is conversing with his friend Ignorance he is interrupted 
 by Discipline, who enters with the oft-repeated denunciation, 
 "The longer thou livest the more fool thou art." The much 
 befooled Moros goes up to his censor with a great show of 
 bravery, and answers his rebukes with railing and curses ; but 
 he has not yet imbibed sufficient courage to draw his sword, as 
 Ignorance urges him to do. The two friends make their escape 
 from the merciless tongue of Discipline, who takes care to 
 impress his moral upon the audience before he retires. 
 
 There is now a lull in the action. During this time Moros is 
 
 supposed to be advancing toward old age, and to abridge the 
 
 period People comes in with the nai've explanation : 
 
 My name is People, for I represent 
 All the people where Moros doth dwell, 
 
 then proceeds to explain the wicked and useless life that Moros 
 is spending among his villainous friends. 
 
 At last Moros appears again, an old man, and looking furi- 
 ously for someone to punish. While he is raging about search- 
 ing for a victim, suddenly God's Judgement approaches and 
 strikes him down. Then Confusion comes in and is ordered by 
 God's Judgement to complete the punishment. 
 
 Confusion, spoil him of his aray, 
 Geue him his fooles coate for him due : 
 His chayne and his staffe take thou away, 
 In sorow and care for euer let him rue. 
 
 Moros, still unrepentant, is led away by Confusion, and God's 
 Judgement advises the audience to take warning by the example 
 of this foolish man. He becomes warmed up to his subject, and 
 then generously concludes that his audience may have had 
 enough moralizing for one day. 
 
 Many thinges moe of fooles we could talke, 
 But we have detained long our audience. 
 
136 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Exercitation, Pietie, and the inexorable Discipline are of 
 another mind. They feel that the audience can stand, or should 
 be made to stand, a good deal more of virtuous teaching ; and 
 in consequence they occupy the final scene with much good 
 advice on the text of Moros's downfall, and conclude with 
 prayers for the Queen. 
 
 The play, in the absence of the usual stages of wickedness, 
 conversion, and so on, divides itself according to another scheme, 
 into the three stages of youth, manhood, and old age. The 
 allegory is unusually clear and easy to follow, and there is no 
 difficulty in explaining the nature and office of every character. 
 Fortune and God's Judgement are external powers brought to 
 bear upon the hero, and all the other figures — except People, 
 who appears but once in the office of chorus — represent abstract 
 qualities struggling for the soul of Moros. The Prologue, as 
 usual, makes plain the moral (II, 52-58) : 
 
 By him ^ we shall declare the unthrifty abuse 
 Of such as had lever to Folly and Idlenes fall, 
 Then to hearken to Sapience when he doth call : 
 Their processe, how their whole life they do spende, 
 And what shame they come to at the last ende. 
 Wherefore this our matter we entitle and name : 
 The longer thou livest the more Foole thou arte. 
 
 So much for the text. Now for the sermon. The boy who is 
 foolishly brought up by his parents is likely to remain foolish 
 and vicious to the end. When he becomes old enough to under- 
 stand the danger of idleness he still remains true to the teach- 
 ings of his childhood, smothers all the better impulses toward 
 an active life of piety and self-restraint that spring up in his 
 heart, and steadily adds to his vicious habits. He is ignorant, 
 because he refuses to study ; and, as he advances in life, the 
 irresponsible idleness of boyhood gives place to cruelty, lust, 
 
 1 /.^., Mores. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF CONSCIENCE 137 
 
 and impiety. The accession of wealth only gives him better 
 opportunities to gratify his evil desires. But in his dishonest 
 old age he is stricken down by the judgment of God, His 
 wealth disappears, and he spends his last days in sorrow and 
 poverty, though unrepentant to the end. 
 
 The play, though belonging to the present class, has also affili- 
 ations with Class II, as illustrating the special text indicated in 
 the title. 
 
 The Conflict of Conscience ^ is the last Morality of this par- 
 ticular type. It is bitterly anti-Catholic in sentiment, without 
 being avowedly controversial ; and this bitterness is expressed 
 mainly by placing all the Vices of the play in the common 
 service of the Devil and the Pope. 
 
 As I have explained in a previous chapter,^ the Morality is 
 based upon a tale of the apostasy of Francis Spira, or Spiera, an 
 Italian lawyer ; but this tale is used by the author merely as a 
 starting point, — a suggestion for the motive of the play, — and 
 it can be practically neglected here. The hero, Philologus, is no 
 longer the Italian lawyer, but a type — to all intents and purposes 
 a highly universalized type. The author, however, still somewhat 
 restrained by the consciousness of the actual case of apostasy 
 that he started from, explains his hero as a type of the men 
 who are always ready to talk about the word of God, but are 
 prone to lapses in conduct — after all, a sufficiently common 
 type. The same restraint — speaking always from the point of 
 view of the Morality — is felt in the introduction of friends 
 and family for the hero ; but these persons are so much subordi- 
 nated as to be almost negligible, and the Morality atmosphere 
 predominates throughout. 
 
 1 Dodsley, Vol. VI. The play is by Nathaniell Woodes, and was printed in 
 1581, though Collier, in a preface to the present edition, conjectures that it was 
 written about 1 570. For a preliminary discussion of the play and its sources 
 see pp. 11-13, above. 
 
 * See p. II, above. 
 
138 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The Prologue explains, at some length, the motives of ** our 
 Author " in writing the play, and in planning it just as he did. 
 The plot, as the audience is informed, has been drawn from an 
 historical event, but the play is universalized in its treatment 
 because comedy is not permitted to discuss the vices of one 
 private man, and because, if the play were written about one 
 individual, the audience might fail to apply the moral to them- 
 selves. Some '" honest mirth " is to be mixed in, but not of a 
 kind to exceed the bounds of decorum. Having thus paved the 
 way for an intelligent enjoyment of the play, the Prologue retires. 
 
 He is followed by Satan, who in a long speech tells the 
 audience of his power in the world and of his methods of cor- 
 rupting men. He is loud in praise of the Pope, who is his 
 "darling dear," his "eldest boy," and who is upheld by two 
 stout champions. Avarice and Tyranny. But as people of late 
 have been plotting to overthrow the Pope, Satan decides to send 
 Hypocrisy to his aid. 
 
 When Satan retires, the two friends, Mathetes and Philologus, 
 come forward discussing the relations between God and his 
 people. Mathetes is much puzzled by the afflictions which are 
 constantly undergone by the sincere followers of God. History, 
 he says, is full of instances of suffering and martyrdom in the 
 cause of Christianity, and these seem naturally to indicate that 
 God is angry with his people. What he chiefly wishes to obtain 
 is some method of discerning the difference between God's 
 wrath and his love. 
 
 Philologus, who is laboring under no such doubts, readily 
 undertakes to explain away the mystery for his friend, 
 
 for because it is most chiefly pertinent 
 Unto mine office to instruct and teach each christian wight 
 True godliness, and show to them the path that leadeth right 
 Unto God's kingdom, where we shall inherit our salvation, 
 Given unto us from God by Christ our true propitiation. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF CONSCIENCE 139 
 
 He not only admits what Mathetes says about the sufferings of 
 God's elect, but goes farther and piles up instances from Scrip- 
 ture and history to show that Christians in all ages of the world 
 endured bitter trials for the faith. But the explanation is quite 
 easy to omniscient Philologus, and from the mass of his learned 
 argument Mathetes extracts the following correct conclusion : 
 
 This is the sum of all your talk, if that I guess aright, 
 That God doth punish his elect to keep their faith in ure, 
 
 Or lest that, if continual ease and rest enjoy they might, 
 
 God to forget through haughtiness frail nature should procure : 
 
 Or else by feeling punishment our sins for to abjure ; 
 Or else to prove our constancy ; or lastly, that we may 
 Be instruments, in whom his might God may abroad display. 
 
 Having gleaned the desired instruction on this point, Mathetes 
 becomes conscious of a more practical yearning. " It is now high 
 dinner-time," he suggests. "My stomach meat doth crave." So 
 the two depart amicably on this new quest. 
 
 Hypocrisy now arrives on the scene and treats the audience 
 to a disquisition on his nature and properties. Avarice and 
 Tyranny soon join him. The three Vices are all in the service 
 of the Devil, but each is ambitious to be leader, and they fall 
 into a long and tiresome wrangle on the question of supremacy. 
 But they are unable to come to any conclusion, for the simple 
 reason that no one of the three will admit himself to be in any 
 way inferior to either of the others, so they finally give the prob- 
 lem up and join forces in the common service of the Pope. The 
 duty that now lies nearest them is to furnish all possible assist- 
 ance to the Pope's Legate, who has just come to the country. 
 Hypocrisy sees that his friends' names will mar all if they are 
 openly proclaimed, so, for the nonce, he dubs Tyranny Zeal, and 
 calls Avarice Careful Provision. 
 
 Philologus again appears for a short scene, during which he 
 soliloquizes on the danger that he and his family are likely to 
 
I40 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 incur from the arrival of the Pope's Legate. Realizing that if 
 he once comes into the power of the Legate he must either 
 give up his faith or suffer ruin and torture, he takes his leave 
 in considerable trepidation of spirit. 
 
 The Vices return in high feather to announce their favorable 
 reception by the Pope's Legate. They have all been placed in 
 high positions and are making their power felt throughout the 
 country. While they are exulting in their good fortune, Cacon, 
 a priest with a broad Scotch accent, joins them. He is in 
 thorough sympathy with the work they are doing ; and after a 
 friendly conversation over the affairs of the church, he informs 
 them that one Philologus, a learned man, has been making him- 
 self unduly busy in his zeal against the Pope and the time- 
 honored customs of the Catholic Church. Tyranny and Avarice 
 are at once anxious to get their clutches on the offender ; so 
 Cacon undertakes to lead them to his house, while Hypocrisy 
 goes out to fulfill an engagement with his friend the Legate. 
 
 In the next scene the Legate, who is accompanied by 
 Hypocrisy and Avarice, issues an order to bring forth the 
 heretic whom they have captured, and Tyranny appears, 
 leading Philologus. The Cardinal orders Philologus to abjure 
 his faith, and a long debate follows, in which Philologus holds 
 stoutly to his religion. The united efforts of the Cardinal and 
 his three followers are not enough to shake him, and at last 
 Hypocrisy sends Tyranny for Sensual Suggestion to add the 
 weight of his arguments. Sensual Suggestion, on his arrival, 
 tries to appeal to Philologus by telling him of his weeping wife 
 and children. Philologus is visibly moved, and his tempter 
 goes on heaping one argument upon another, finally making 
 him an offer of worldly joys and riches, and giving him a 
 mirror in which to behold the pleasures that are in store for 
 him if he will but give up his stubborn adherence to his 
 religion. Upon looking into the mirror Philologus breaks into 
 
THE CONFLICT OF CONSCIENCE 141 
 
 transports of joy at the bliss there revealed. His virtue is 
 overcome, and he willingly resigns his faith for the promised 
 delights of the mirror. Then he departs, with Sensual Sugges- 
 tion for a companion, to enjoy his new life. 
 
 The next scene shows the hero still in the company of his 
 new-found friend. But Spirit appears and gives him a solemn 
 warning of the danger he is in. 
 
 Let not suggestion of thy flesh thy conscience thee betray, 
 Who doth conduct thee in the path that leadeth to all woe. 
 Weigh well this warning given from God, before thou further go. 
 And sell not everlasting joy for pleasures temporal, 
 From which thou soon shalt go, or they from thee bereaved shall. 
 
 Philologus is troubled, but Sensual Suggestion at once presents 
 his glass, and Philologus, seeing " nought else but pleasure, 
 pomp, and wealth " within, is reassured. Then appears a more 
 serious troubler, Conscience, who denounces him roundly and 
 seeks in every way to draw him from his worldly life. At this 
 attack Philologus is deeply moved, and for a time almost gives 
 way to despair ; but Sensual Suggestion is still able to prevail, 
 though it takes his most artful reasonings to induce his com- 
 panion to leave Conscience. 
 
 But a more powerful influence is soon to appear and wreck 
 this life of sensual delights. Philologus is enjoying himself 
 with his two sons when Horror makes his entrance and pro- 
 nounces his curse upon him : 
 
 My name is called Confusion and Horror of the mind, 
 
 And to correct impenitents of God I am assigned, 
 
 And for thou dost despise God's mercy and his grace, 
 
 And wouldst no admonition take by them that did thee warn, 
 
 Neither when Conscience counselled thee thou wouldst his words embrace, 
 
 Who would have had thee unto God obedience true to learn ; 
 
 Nor couldst between Suggestion's craft and Conscience' truth discern : 
 
 Behold, therefore, thou shalt of me another lesson hear, 
 
 Which (will thou, nill thou) with torment of Conscience thou shalt bear. 
 
142 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Then the mirror furnished by Sensual Suggestion is trans- 
 formed into the "glass of deadly desperation." 
 
 From now on Philologus is plunged in gloom. Theologus 
 and Eusebius visit him and try to re-convert him, but in vain. 
 Philologus pronounces a prayer dictated by them, but even while 
 he repeats the forms of devotion, his heart is filled with hatred 
 and blasphemy, and at last he retires in the blackest despair. 
 
 In a final scene Nuntius appears and explains to the audience 
 that Philologus, after suffering for thirty weeks, during which 
 time he has refused all food and has attempted to hang himself, 
 " is now converted unto God with many bitter tears." 
 
 The nature of the hero, Philologus, has already been dis- 
 cussed. Of the other characters only seven are strictly neces- 
 sary, or even desirable, for the play as a Morality ; that is, — 
 Conscience, Spirit, Hypocrisy, Tyranny, Avarice, Suggestion, 
 and Horror. The others (with the exception of Satan, who 
 appears only once, at the beginning of the play) are introduced 
 in memory of the story behind the play. From the point of 
 view of the unbiased student of the drama, The Conflict of 
 Conscience presents a decided advance from the old-fashioned 
 Morality toward the drama of real life ; but from the biased 
 point of view of the student of Moralities, who through long 
 familiarity has learned by successive stages to endure, to pity, 
 and to embrace, the present play is a good Morality sadly 
 encumbered by the too solid flesh of many individuals. 
 
 Of the strictly Morality characters. Hypocrisy, Tyranny, and 
 Avarice are the most active. They are, needless to say. Vices ; 
 and since after a prolonged argument they themselves are 
 unable to settle the question of preeminence, it would be a 
 difficult matter for us to decide it for them. But as Hypocrisy 
 is the first to appear and address the audience the presumption 
 is in favor of Hypocrisy as chief Vice. These three cannot be 
 regarded as representing vices in the heart of the hero. They 
 
THE CONFLICT OF CONSCIENCE 143 
 
 do not sue for his favor, which is the allegorical method of 
 representing qualities, vicious or virtuous, as springing up in 
 the heart. They are instrumental in persuading and coercing 
 Philologus to renounce his faith, and thus represent forces 
 abroad in the land.^ Suggestion, or Sensual Suggestion, on 
 the other hand, represents a vice of the heart, and he becomes 
 the follower and confidant of the apostate Philologus. 
 
 Spirit and Conscience are the two Virtues, and they, of 
 course, represent internal forces for good.^ Horror is an 
 Agent of Retribution. 
 
 The interpretation of the allegory — ignoring the elements 
 that make for the drama of real life — is this : The religion of 
 man is too likely to take the form of zeal for discussion of the 
 word of God, and to lack the element of constancy which up- 
 holds the possessor in the face of worldly persecution and the 
 temptations of worldly prosperity. These may be resisted for 
 a time, but as a result of repeated attacks and repeated tempta- 
 tions the unstable Christian becomes wickedly desirous of tem- 
 poral ease and pleasures, and at last resigns his piety to obtain 
 them. His conscience and his inner knowledge of what is 
 right cause him considerable disquiet at times, but he is now 
 so enamored of the pleasures of sense that he persists in them 
 in spite of his inner promptings. Retribution comes at last, 
 however, when his eyes are opened to the real wickedness of 
 his life. He is overcome by horror of his sin, and can derive 
 no comfort from earthly assurances of God's mercy. His only 
 chance now for salvation is in the direct intervention of God. 
 
 1 The fact that they are in the service of the Pope is of no significance here. 
 
 "^ It is interesting to notice the consistency with which the author makes 
 Sensual Suggestion the only one of the Vices to come into contact with Spirit 
 and Conscience. 
 
144 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 2. Conflict for the Possession of Man Intellectual 
 
 The Interlude of the Four Elements ^ is the only surviving 
 example of a class of plays which one might easily suppose to 
 have been popular in that age of didacticism. As the case 
 stands now, this is the only existing English Morality where 
 Virtues strive to win man over to a life of study in the face of 
 constant opposition on the part of Vices. It must not be for- 
 gotten, however, that it is a technical distinction that makes 
 this play stand alone. The three " Wit " plays of the following 
 subdivision exhibit exactly the same attitude, that is, a desire 
 to induce study rather than virtue in the strict sense of the 
 term, the difference being that in the " Wit " plays the per- 
 sonified intelligence of Man is the hero instead of the type 
 figure Man, 
 
 To the twentieth-century mind the Four Elements sounds 
 the base string of dullness ; but we must attempt to realize that 
 an elementary lesson in physical geography may have been no 
 less replete with interest to the early sixteenth-century listener 
 than the long-deferred account of the North Pole is to us. 
 
 The play is introduced in a long speech by the Messenger, 
 who complains of the ignorance and frivolity of the times. The 
 Greeks and Romans, as well as learned clerks of other nations, 
 he declares, wrote many works useful for edification. But in 
 England there are many persons, of noble as well as of mean 
 birth, who can understand no language but English ; therefore 
 the useful works of other nations should be translated into 
 English so that all can have the benefit of them. As to the 
 subject of this play, continues the Messenger, there are many 
 men nowadays who can barely read and write, and yet they 
 think it no shame to spend their time in composing ballads, or 
 books on love, " or other matter not worth a mite," and 
 
 1 Printed 1519. Reprinted in Dodsley, Vol. I. 
 
INTERLUDE OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS 145 
 
 Why should not then the author of this interlude 
 Utter his own fantasy and conceit also, 
 As well as divers other nowadays do ? 
 
 The " fantasy " of the author, as his Messenger explains, is to 
 instruct the audience in some plain matters of God's creation, 
 so that those who presume to discuss the mysteries of God may 
 not remain ignorant of " these visible things inferial." Having 
 thus eased his mind, the melancholy Messenger departs. 
 
 Then Nature, Studious Desire, and Humanity appear, and 
 Nature delivers a speech upon his own functions ^ and on the 
 character of the four elements. Humanity's curiosity is much 
 stimulated, and he begs to be taken under Nature's guidance. 
 Thus encouraged. Nature proceeds with a lesson on physical 
 geography, which so delights Humanity that he thinks he can 
 never have enough of this pleasant learning ; so Nature pre- 
 sents him with Studious Desire for an attendant, and departs 
 with a promise to return and instruct Humanity in more "' high 
 points of cunning." Studious Desire continues the physical 
 geography lesson for the delectation of the eager Humanity. 
 But when the teacher insists on the roundness of the earth 
 he is forcing a pill on Humanity which the latter will hardly 
 swallow. Studious Desire is unable to convince him, and has to 
 fall back at last on the authority of " a man called Experience," 
 who is able to prove the matter beyond a doubt. Humanity is 
 at once aflame with desire to meet Experience, but at this point 
 they are interrupted by the entrance of Sensual Appetite. 
 
 1 As Nature defines himself here he is not quite the same as Nature in the 
 Morality of that name. The latter figure really represents human nature ; the 
 former, the active principle of external nature. This is the explanation : 
 
 So, He by His goodness hath ordained and created 
 
 Me here his minister, called Nature Naturate 
 
 Wherefore I am the very naturate nature, 
 
 The immediate minister for the preservation 
 
 Of everything in his kind to endure, 
 
 And cause of generation, and corruption 
 
 Of that thing that is brought to destruction (p. lo). 
 
146 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 This merry Vice at once falls to reviling Studious Desire, 
 and warns Humanity that he is in very bad company, — 
 
 For if ye knew him as well as I, 
 Ye would not use his company 
 Nor love him in no wise. 
 
 Studious Desire remonstrates indignantly, but he is no match 
 in wits for his tormentor. Humanity is soon persuaded that his 
 health and happiness demand that he should take an outing 
 with Sensual Appetite, and he dismisses his teacher with an 
 apologetic promise to return to him. 
 
 Sir, I pray you be content, 
 It is not utterly mine intent 
 Your company to exile ; 
 But only to have communication, 
 And a pastime of recreation 
 With this man for a while. 
 
 Studious Desire goes out very meekly, and Sensual Appetite 
 calls loudly for the Taverner. This worthy appears and is 
 ordered to prepare a feast ; but as he is in too jocular a mood 
 to regard the order seriously, a war of wits follows, mainly be- 
 tween him and Sensual Appetite. Finally, however, the jovial 
 Taverner is induced to recognize the real need for viands, and 
 he hurries out to prepare his feast, with Humanity and Sensual 
 Appetite following at a more leisurely pace. Then, lest the 
 audience should become demoralized along with Humanity, 
 Experience comes in with Studious Desire and gives him a 
 long lesson on geography, from the map. 
 
 While the good pair are thus engaged. Humanity, with his 
 friend, happens upon them. Sensual Appetite begins, as usual, 
 to ridicule and revile his opponents. But Humanity is glad to 
 make the acquaintance of Experience ; and, when the latter 
 says that he cannot remain while Sensual Appetite is there. 
 Humanity requests the Vice to retire for a season. Then 
 
INTERLUDE OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS 147 
 
 Experience begins the long-promised exposition on the round- 
 ness of the earth. 
 
 But before Humanity is convinced, we come, unfortunately, to 
 a gap of eight leaves in the manuscript of the play. Crossing 
 this gap, we reach a conversation between Sensual Appetite 
 and Ignorance. Ignorance is proclaiming that he is " a lord of 
 greater puissance than the king of England or France," and 
 Sensual Appetite breaks in with a bragging tale of the number 
 of people he has killed in a " shrewd fray." Then they begin 
 to wonder what has become of Humanity, and finally discover 
 him sleeping in a corner, presumably wearied with study. 
 Ignorance is for cutting off his head at once, but Sensual 
 Appetite thinks it would not be worth while to take such 
 violent action ; 
 
 For he is but an innocent, lo ! 
 In manner of a fool. 
 
 For as soon as I speak to him again, 
 I shall turn his mind clean, 
 
 And make him follow my school.^ 
 
 They awake Humanity, and he arises in a state of great will- 
 ingness to enjoy their society. Sensual Appetite goes out and 
 fetches a company of dancers. After the song and dance 
 Ignorance takes the floor and sings a foolish, incoherent song 
 about Robin Hood. 
 
 In the midst of this revelry Nature comes back and sternly 
 rebukes Humanity. But at this point the manuscript is again 
 mutilated, and ends imperfectly ; so we miss the conclusion of 
 what was probably the Final Conversion scene. 
 
 The motive, it will be seen, is very simple. It represents 
 the battle of conflicting feelings in the mind of man. The 
 
 1 This open contempt of the Vices for their human quarry is very unusual. 
 They usually preserve the outward appearance, at least, of great respect towards 
 Man, and show a constant desire, both before him and behind his back, to 
 prove attractive in his eyes. 
 
148 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 characters are easily assigned their places, since all the Virtues 
 and Vices, when reduced to literal terms, have their dwelling 
 exclusively within the mind. The Messenger, of course, may be 
 neglected, as acting merely the part of Prologue, and the Tav- 
 erner, as being the representative of a class, who is here intro- 
 duced for the sake of his humor, but without significance in the 
 plot. Humanity is the gemis homo, the human hero who is the 
 object of strife. Nature Naturata is simply what his name indi- 
 cates.^ Studious Desire and Experience, the representatives of 
 goodness, are pitted against Sensual Appetite and Ignorance, 
 the representatives of evil, from the intellectual point of view. 
 All four stand for internal forces. 
 
 The lesson that the audience would gather from this play 
 can now be read into the following interpretation with prob- 
 ably about the same amount of ease with which the audience 
 of the time read it into the allegorical representation. Man 
 gets his first knowledge of the world by simple observation 
 of nature. By this he is stimulated to go deeper into useful 
 studies, and all would be well but for his lack of experience, 
 which makes him rather unstable and inclined to scepticism. 
 While in this state he weakly resigns his studies, obeys the 
 dictates of his sensual appetites, and for a time leads an igno- 
 rant and vicious life. But his former taste of study has not 
 been in vain, and in the midst of his idleness and dissipation 
 he decides to return to the work which was formerly so inter- 
 esting to him. With the added advantage of experience Man 
 seems now to be devoted to a life of study ; but he is still prone 
 to the follies of the world, and in a period of weariness result- 
 ing from overstudy he again gives rein to his passions and 
 lapses into a state of vice and ignorance.' 
 
 ^ See p. 145, note 1, above. 
 
 2 The final regeneration of man, which any student of the Moralities would 
 feel confident is to follow here, can only be conjectured, since the manuscript 
 is imperfect. 
 
WISDOM, WHO IS CHRIST 149 
 
 3. Conflict for the Possession of Man represented 
 
 MERELY BY OnE OR MoRE PERSONIFIED ATTRIBUTES 
 
 In the final subdivision of this most important class of 
 Moralities the human hero ceases to appear, and his place 
 is taken by abstract representations of the mind or soul of 
 man, or both. In the '' Wit " plays, which constitute three 
 fifths of this group, the effect is almost the same as if Man 
 himself were introduced as the object of strife, but in the 
 Morality of Wisdom, who is Christ^ the effect is very different. 
 
 Instead of the simple human hero, we have in this play 
 Anima, or the Soul, with her attendant train of the Five 
 Wyttes, arrayed as " five vergynes," and " the 3 Powers of 
 every Christian Soul," Mynde, Wylle, and Understondyng. 
 This formidable array of human attributes seems, at first, to 
 threaten complications in the plot ; but the action is kept fairly 
 simple by the fact that there is only one active representative 
 of evil, Lucyfer, pitted against only one representative of good- 
 ness, Wysdom, or Christ. There is, therefore, strictly speak- 
 ing, no Vice in the play, this being one of the rare occasions 
 when the devil himself plays the part of chief tempter.^ There 
 are whole herds of Vices in the service of the corrupted Mynde, 
 Wylle, and Understondyng, but these, appearing only as silent 
 retainers, are not to be regarded as real actors. The only 
 representative of goodness, also, is the real figure of Christ 
 thinly veiled as the personified abstraction of wisdom.^ 
 
 Wysdom first appears and gives an account of himself. His 
 name, he explains, is " everlastynge Wysdom," which name 
 applies to each of the three persons of the Trinity, but more 
 
 ^ The Macro Plays, edited by Furnivall and Pollard. Probably produced 
 between 14S0 and 1490. 
 
 2 The only other occasion is in the Morality Mankind. 
 
 * Christ is also referred to as " Wysdam " in the Salutation and Conception 
 scene of the Coventry cycle. 
 
ISO THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 especially to the Son, who is both God and Man. Then the 
 Soul comes in, kneels before Wysdom, and confesses her love 
 for him. A long conversation follows, on the nature of wisdom 
 and of love. Wysdom expounds the relation of the soul to God, 
 and the origin and nature of the seven sacraments. He asks 
 the Soul for her heart and obedience, which she joyfully grants. 
 The five wits, arrayed as five virgins, enter and receive their 
 instructions from Wysdom, who then reminds the Soul that 
 
 Thre myghtis every cresten sowU has, 
 Wyche bethe applyede to J>e trinyte.^ 
 
 ^ P. 41. This play has an unusual amount of literal, in place of allegorical, 
 discussion, and thus is a very imperfect allegory. In the above scene Mynde, 
 Wylle, and Understondyng speak of themselves, and are spoken of, as human 
 faculties rather than as allegorical figures. When, for instance, Wylle says 
 (p. 42) 
 
 And I of J^e scull am )pe wyll ; 
 
 Off }>e godhede lyknes & fygure. 
 
 Wyth goode wyll no man may spyll 
 
 Nor without goode wyll of blys be sure, 
 
 he is using literal, and not allegorical, language. The only point of connection 
 with allegory is that the man on the stage speaks in the first person. In order 
 to be consistently allegorical Wylle would have to speak of himself as a com- 
 panion or a blood relation of the Soul. 
 
 This inconsistency appears from time to time through the whole play. 
 When Lucyfer is planning to corrupt Mynde, Wylle, and Understondyng, 
 he says (p. 47) : 
 
 To )?e mynde of ^e soule I xall mak suggestyun, 
 Ande brynge hys wndyrstondynge to delectacion, 
 So \>at hys wyll make confyrmacion. 
 
 It is only when Lucyfer (arrayed as " a galaunt ") tempts them that we get 
 really allegorical speech. He incites Wylle to a life of enjoyment (p. 51) : 
 
 Therfor, Wyll, I rede yew inclyne ; 
 Lewe yowur stodyes, J>ow [\>ey] ben dywyn ; 
 Yowur prayers, yowur penance, of Ipocryitis \>e syne, 
 Ande lede a comun lyff. 
 
 But a few lines further on, when Lucyfer produces serious arguments in favor 
 of his advice, he assures Wylle : 
 
 The Wyll of \>e soule hathe fre dominacion. 
 
WISDOM, WHO IS CHRIST 151 
 
 In answer to this suggestion Mynde, Wylle, and Understondyng 
 present themselves humbly to Wysdom for guidance, and he 
 requests each to give a full account of his character. When 
 these explanations are concluded Wysdom gives them a solemn 
 warning against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, their 
 three deadly enemies, and exhorts them to remain loyal to him- 
 self. Then, after more eulogy of Wysdom by the Soul, the 
 whole company retires. 
 
 Lucyfer now appears, and proclaims that he was once an 
 angel, but is now lowest in Hell. He plans to corrupt the 
 
 Then, after Lucyfer has accomplished his work, and the Soul appears, dis- 
 figured by sin, Wysdom points to her and says to Mynde (p. 65) : 
 
 Se howe ye have dysvyguryde yowur soule I 
 Be-holde yowur selff ; loke veryly in mynde I 
 
 Here, instead of Mynde's being one of the " thre myghtis " of the Soul, he is 
 for the moment elevated into the position of a man, with a mind and a soul ; 
 and the Soul, wrho has previously been spoken of in literal language as being 
 a part of man, and including mind, is now referred to as the soul of the man 
 Mynde, whose mitid and sottl are degraded by vice. Wysdom continues his cen- 
 sure of the degraded Mynde (p. 65) : 
 
 As many dedly synnys as ye have vsyde, 
 So many deullys in yowur soule be. 
 Be-holde wat ys Jjer-in reclusyde I 
 Alas, man ! of \>\ soule have pyte 1 
 
 Shortly after this, the Soul, convicted of sin, speaks of herself as a person 
 having a soul, of which the tnind, will, and understanding are parts (p. 68) : 
 
 To owur modyr, holy chyrche, I wyll resort, 
 My lyff pleyn schewenge to here syght. 
 With mynde, vndyrstondynge, & wyll ryght, 
 Wyche of my sowll t)e partyes be. 
 
 This discussion might be carried further, but these are the main points of 
 confusion in the allegoiy. The only consistent allegorical scenes in the play 
 are those depicting Mynde, Wylle, and Understondyng leading a life of sin. 
 This same sort of allegorical confusion appears, to some extent, in a great 
 many of the Moralities, but never in anything like the abundance that we find 
 here ; and, in this play, the special confusion is largely the result of personi- 
 fying four related attributes of Man and presenting them as common objects 
 of strife. 
 
152 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Soul by tempting Mynd, Wylle, and Understondyng to sin, 
 and for this purpose retires to array himself as a " goodly 
 galont." When he returns he is joined by Mynde, Wylle, and 
 Understondyng, who are busily engaged in proclaiming their 
 loyalty to God, and their intention to live in contemplation of 
 His goodness. A discussion follows on the relative merits of 
 the active and the contemplative life. Lucyfer urges that there 
 is a time for prayer and a time for worldly labor and enjoy- 
 ment. Did Christ live in contemplation .? he asks, and Mynde 
 is obliged to answer, " I suppos not, by my relacion." The 
 three companions are completely confused by Lucyfer's subtle 
 arguments, and are soon brought to admit that " man may be 
 in the worlde, and be ryght goode." 
 
 After this it is all smooth sailing for Lucyfer. He persuades 
 them to leave their studies and penance and go out into the 
 world, where they can dress well, live well, and be happy with 
 their fellow-men. Then, with final instructions to beware of 
 preachers, who are wolves in sheep's clothing, and a repeated 
 exhortation to get all the pleasures that the world affords, he sends 
 them out, and remains to exult over his mastery of the Soul.^ 
 
 The next scene shows how completely and unreservedly 
 Lucyfer's instructions have been followed out by Mynde, Wylle, 
 and Understondyng. These three friends, who a short time 
 ago took all their pleasure in communion with God, now talk 
 of nothing but fine clothes, money, and wenches. Mynde calls 
 in his train of followers, consisting of Indignation, Sturdynes, 
 Males (Malice), Hastynes, Wreche, and Dyscorde. He himself, 
 
 1 The Devil and the world are thus made to figure in the downfall of Man, 
 though the world is not allegorically represented. But Wysdom has warned 
 the Soul and her " thre myghtis " against the three enemies of Man, i.e.., the 
 World, the Flesh, and the Devil, so the flesh is referred to by Lucyfer as par- 
 ticipating in the work, though indirectly (p. 47) : 
 
 And the flesche of man that ys so changeable, 
 That wyll I tempte, as 1 gees. 
 
WISDOM, WHO IS CHRIST 153 
 
 he says, is called Mayntennance. The six followers of Mynde 
 go through a dance, then give way to the attendants of Under- 
 stondyng, who are called Wronge, Sleyght, Dobullnes, Falsnes, 
 Raveyn, and Dyscheyit (Deceit), and who make up the Holborn 
 Quest. Understondyng then explains that he, the leader and 
 " fownder " of the Quest, is called Perjury. After these merry 
 lads go through their dance, Wylle calls in his company, com- 
 prising Rekleshede, Idyllnes, Surfet, Gredynes, Spouse-breche 
 (Adultery), and Fornycacion. But Mynde is insulted by their 
 appearance in the "gyse of France," and demands that they be 
 sent out. 
 
 The attendants all leave, and the three friends proceed to lay 
 plans for the future. Mynde is to continue imposing on people, 
 Understondyng will indict citizens falsely, and Wylle's ambitions 
 extend only as far as the stews. He mentions a certain Janet, 
 whom he desires, but cannot enjoy because her husband is always 
 in the way. But Understondyng tells him how they can easily 
 get rid of the husband, and here one gets a curious bit of insight 
 into the legal methods of the time. They are on the point of 
 going out when Wysdom appears and rebukes them sternly for 
 their sins. Mynde begins to relent, but Understondyng is de- 
 fiant, and Wylle is not yet prepared to resign his pleasant vices. 
 He reminds his friends that they are still but young. " We may 
 a-mende wen we be sage," he adds comfortably. But before 
 they can escape from Wysdom, the Soul " apperythe in the most 
 horrybull wyse, fowlere than a fende," and six devils come run- 
 ning out from under her robe. The three culprits are overcome 
 with fear at the sight, and hastily confess their sins, while the 
 Soul cries aloud to God for mercy. Wysdom tells them that, 
 to obtain forgiveness, they must become filled with sorrow and 
 contrition, and they go out singing dolefully. 
 
 Wysdom now edifies the audience with a long speech, enumer- 
 ating the nine points most pleasing to God. At the conclusion 
 
154 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 of his harangue the reformed sinners, who in the meantime 
 have been assuming their former robes, return in symbolical 
 procession. The Soul is the central figure. She is preceded by 
 the Fyve Wyttes, and is accompanied by Mynde on one side, 
 and Understondyng on the other, while Wylle brings up the 
 rear. Wysdom receives them lovingly, and assures the Soul 
 that since her conversion she is dearer to him than ever before. 
 The repentant sinners all emphasize the sincerity of their con- 
 version, and the Soul ends the play with a last appeal to the 
 audience to " eschew vycys, ande so to ende with perfeccion." 
 
 The nature of each character is sufficiently evident, and no 
 explanation is needed except that, in the play, Wysdom is 
 regarded as the personification of the attribute rather than 
 as the individual Christ. It must also be borne in mind that, 
 while Anima, or the Soul, is the real object of strife, her down- 
 fall and subsequent regeneration are accomplished through 
 the triple medium of Mynde, Wylle, and Understondyng, lit- 
 erally and awkwardly designated throughout the play as three 
 attributes of the soul, instead of being given some allegorical 
 relationship. 
 
 The interpretation runs thus : The soul instinctively worships 
 and loves true wisdom, of which Christ is the exemplar. But 
 the Devil is ever on the watch to draw the soul away from wis- 
 dom and into his own power. This he accomplishes by inventing 
 worldly temptations which appeal to the mind, the will, and the 
 understanding. Through indulgence in these sins the soul is 
 debased, since the soul cannot be dissociated from these other 
 human attributes. But the mind, having once loved the good, 
 becomes uneasy at the consciousness of present degradation, and 
 upon direct contact with the wisdom of Christ is convicted of 
 sin. This is accompanied by horror at the debasement of the 
 soul, which, in the light of wisdom, now becomes apparent. 
 Deep contrition follows, the will is subdued and brought into 
 
THE FLA Y OF WYT AND SCIENCE 1 5 5 
 
 accordance with the will of God, the lapses from sin are par- 
 doned, and the soul is reinstated in a condition of purity. 
 
 In discussing the Interlude of the Fozir Elevients I men- 
 tioned the "Wit" plays, which, while not to be classed tech- 
 nically with the Four Elements, were written with the same 
 purpose, that is, to popularize learning, or science.^ These 
 plays, three in number, belong to the present class. 
 
 The Play of Wyt and Science^ though coinciding with the 
 Four Elements in purpose, falls at the opposite extreme when 
 regarded from the point of view of literary merit. The latter 
 play is one of the most prosaic and didactic (in the worst sense 
 of the word) of the Moralities ; the former is not only among 
 the finest of the Moralities, but is one of the most perfect 
 allegories in existence. 
 
 The play is incomplete at the beginning, though it is evident 
 that not very much is missing. As the existing portion begins, 
 Reason is offering "a glas of Reason" to someone, either to 
 Wyt himself, or to Instruccion, the attendant of Wyt. As we 
 are informed later in the play, Wyt has been suing for the hand 
 of Science, the daughter of Reason, and in this mutilated scene 
 at the beginning he has either approached Reason himself with 
 his request, or has sent his friend Instruccion to ask for him. 
 The latter is probably the case, since, at the end of his speech, 
 while Reason is presenting the glass, he bids farewell to Instruc- 
 cion, and no one else is mentioned. The purpose and use of 
 the glass Reason explains : 
 
 Namely when ye 
 Cum neere my dowghter, Science, then see 
 That all thynges be cleane and trycke abowte ye, 
 Least of sum sloogyshnes she myght dowte ye, 
 Thys glas of Reason shall showe ye all. 
 
 1 " Science," in all these plays, has the broad meaning of learning, or 
 knowledge. 
 
 2 Manly, Vol. I. The Morality was written by John Redford, about 1545. 
 
156 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Reason, left alone, soliloquizes on the proposed match between' 
 his daughter and Wyt. Some people, he says, may marvel that 
 he bestows his daughter thus basely, but he is of opinion that, 
 when two young people are so well fitted for each other, and so 
 much disposed toward mutual love, they ought to be joined in 
 marriage. If Wyt be in want Science will have enough for them 
 both ; and, for his part. Reason has no desire to bestow his 
 daughter from worldly considerations, since love and harmony 
 are of greater importance. ^ He reflects that Wyt will need some 
 cheering and refreshing influence, and determines to hire Honest 
 Recreacion, a good woman who dwells hard by, to wait upon him. 
 "If Wyt were halfe deade," he muses, with a forecast of what 
 afterwards happens, "she cowld revyve hym." With this gener- 
 ous thought in mind he hurries out to seek Honest Recreacion ; 
 and then Confydence goes by with a picture of his master Wyt, 
 which he is taking to present to Science. 
 
 Wyt now appears with his two attendants. Study and Dyly- 
 gence, and asks their advice as to which road he shall travel. 
 Dylygence, who is of an impetuous turn of mind, urges him at 
 once to take the most travelled road, but the cautious Study 
 wishes to wait and get the advice of Instruccion. In a few 
 moments Instruccion joins them and rebukes Wyt for running 
 aimlessly about without applying to him for guidance. The road 
 that Dylygence has pointed out, he argues, would be a very 
 dangerous one for Wyt to attempt without having some further 
 token of Science's favor, and especially without the sword called 
 Comfort, which Science will soon bestow upon him if he will 
 contain himself in patience for a while longer. Without this 
 weapon he will certainly be attacked by the giant Tedyousnes, 
 
 1 The speech here referred to is typical of the play, and indicates the 
 superiority of Wyt and Science to most of the other Moralities. Usually a 
 situation like that above would be made the occasion for much literal and 
 didactic speech on the benefits of science to men. Here the language is 
 consistently allegorical. 
 
THE PLAY OF WYT AND SCIENCE 157 
 
 who lives on this road. But Wyt is impatient to be off, and 
 Dylygence assures him of his fidehty in case of an attack. Study 
 is by no means so eager for the journey. His head is beginning 
 to ache, and he would gladly turn back ; but Wyt and Dylygence 
 compel him to accompany them, and the three start off, leaving 
 Instruccion to mourn his master's foolhardiness. 
 
 In the next scene the giant Tedyousnes comes out in a tower- 
 ing rage. He has heard that Wyt is on his way to the lady 
 Science, and he vows to "bete hym to dust" before he can 
 reach his lady-love. Then Wyt comes along, accompanied by 
 Dylygence, who is still urging his master to the fray, and by 
 Study, whose head is now in a very bad condition. The giant 
 rushes out, attacks them savagely, and strikes Wyt dead, while 
 the two attendants run for their lives. Tedyousnes bestows 
 " another kuffe " upon the prostrate Wyt to make sure of him, 
 and then retires in triumph. 
 
 Honest Recreacion now comes to the rescue with her attend- 
 ants. Comfort, Quycknes, and Strength. They kneel about the 
 lifeless body and chant a song of comfort and hope which gradu- 
 ally brings Wyt back to life. At the last verse they raise him 
 to his feet, fully restored. 
 
 Reason comes in at this juncture and tells Wyt that he has 
 sent the life-giving company to him. But now that their work 
 is done he exhorts Wyt to dismiss them and go forward on his 
 journey. But Wyt has been through some trying experiences of 
 late, and he does not feel like losing his pleasant company so 
 soon. " I shall to your daughter all at leyser," he assures Reason 
 evasively. Comfort, Quycknes, and Strength retire, but Wyt 
 insists on retaining Honest Recreacion, and with a reproachful 
 " Well, Wyt, I went (i.e., thought) ye had bene no such man as 
 now I see," Reason bids him farewell. 
 
 W}^ now proves an arrant traitor to his absent mistress, and 
 makes violent love to Honest Recreacion, laying some emphasis 
 
158 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 on his desire for a kiss. His companion shows surprise that he 
 
 should forget Lady Science thus easily, but he reassures her 
 
 with the easy gallantry of a lover speaking to a new mistress 
 
 about an old one : cu n t 4. n * *u i 
 Shall I tell you trothe ? 
 
 I never lovde her. 
 
 To win Honest Recreacion, however, he must prove himself in 
 certain ways. First, she challenges him to a dance ; and Wyt, 
 in order to respond to the challenge, finds that he must remove 
 the " cumbryng garment " which Science has given him. Then 
 the minstrels play, the dance begins, and, unnoticed, Idellnes 
 comes softly in and sits down. 
 
 Finally Wyt grows weary with the exertion of dancing and 
 lies down, settling his head comfortably in the lap of Idellnes. 
 Honest Recreacion becomes indignant. She recognizes Idell- 
 nes as a harlot, and loses no time in telling her so. Idellnes, 
 on her part, is at no loss for a retort ; and W}^, taking a judicial 
 view of the situation, remarks, " While I take my ese, youre 
 toonges now frame." A distinctly feminine quarrel ensues, and 
 is followed by a debate on the respective merits of the two 
 suitors for Wyt's favor. In the end Wyt goes to sleep, and 
 then Honest Recreacion departs of her own accord, " syns Wyt 
 lyethe as wone that neyther heerth nor seeth." Then Idellnes 
 puts her mark on the sleeper, and whistles for Ingnorance. 
 
 The thick-skulled Ingnorance comes shambling on in response 
 to the whistle, and Idellnes sets to work, with infinite pains, to 
 teach him the almost impossible task of spelling his own name.^ 
 When this is finally accomplished Idellnes performs the almost 
 equally difficult feat of making her pupil realize that he has 
 learned his lesson ; then, as a reward, she gives him Wyt's 
 coat, puts his coat on Wyt in exchange, and the pair, teacher 
 
 1 Ingnorance should be contrasted with the Ignorance who figures in The 
 Longer TA021 Livest. The latter is a very wise person, though he makes fools 
 of others ; the former is the most extreme type of fool. 
 
THE PLAY OF WYT AND SCIENCE 159 
 
 and pupil, retire in high glee, — Ingnorance because he has 
 earned a new coat, and Idellnes because she has "conjured" 
 her victim " from Wyt into a starke foole." 
 
 While Wyt is slumbering quietly in a corner, Confydence 
 comes in seeking him. But he fails to notice the prostrate 
 figure, and goes out mourning the loss of his master. Then 
 Woorshyppe, Favour, Riches, and Fame come in singing ; and 
 when Science presently appears, with her mother Experyence, 
 they offer their services to her, saying that they have been sent 
 by the World. But Science answers mournfully that she has 
 small cause to care for the World's favoring now that Wyt has 
 deserted her, and the delegates of the World are sent away. 
 
 At this point Wyt awakens, and, seeing his former mistress 
 before him, advances to excuse himself for his laxity in wooing. 
 But Science, perceiving this strange figure in the motley coat 
 of Ingnorance and with face blackened by the marks of Idell- 
 nes, repulses him indignantly. Wyt, blissfully unconscious of his 
 foolish appearance, and laboring under the delusion that his 
 lady is only coy, grows bolder and proffers his customary re- 
 quest for a kiss. Then Science, waiving all nicety of expression, 
 denounces him roundly as an arrant fool, and finally goes out, 
 with her mother, in a state of dignified annoyance. 
 
 Wyt at first leaps about in a towering rage at this ungentle 
 treatment, and fumbles for his sword, which is gone. Then he 
 remembers the mirror which Reason gave him, and produces it 
 in order to satisfy himself that Science and Experyence were 
 slandering his personal appearance. At the first glance he is 
 convinced, though not in the way he had expected ; and then 
 his rage takes a sudden turn against Idellnes, whom he rightly 
 blames for the disfigurement. Now Shame enters, with a whip, 
 accompanied by Reason, and administers a sound thrashing to 
 the unhappy Wyt, who kneels and beseeches Reason to pardon 
 him. Reason orders Shame to stay his hand, and cheers the 
 
i6o THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 penitent Wyt by a promise to admit him again as a suitor for 
 the hand of Science. Then he calls in Study, Dylygence, and 
 Instruccion, and orders them to return to the service of Wyt. 
 The restored attendants retire with their master in order to put 
 new apparel on him, and Reason soliloquizes on the probability 
 of Wyt's proving worthy of his daughter's hand. 
 
 Wyt soon reappears, new-clothed, and carrying the " sword 
 of comfort," a gift from Science. Fortified now by the presence 
 of Study and Dylygence, and guided by the sage counsels of 
 Instruccion, he goes forward to a fresh combat with the giant 
 Tedyousnes. The giant comes out, as before, but soon falls 
 before the vigorous attacks of Wyt and his followers. Then 
 Confydence comes running in to announce to the victor that 
 Science has been watching the conflict from a mountain, and 
 is coming to reward him. This announcement is followed by 
 the entrance of Science with her parents, Reason and Expery- 
 ence. A duet ensues between " Wyt and his Cumpanye " and 
 " Science and hir Cumpanye." Speeches are made all round, 
 and the union of Science and Wyt is sanctioned by Reason 
 and Experyence. 
 
 Wyt here occupies the place usually held by the representa- 
 tive of mankind. In fact, in the broadest sense he may be said 
 to represent mankind, since he is the personification of the 
 human mind or intelligence. It will be at once obvious to a 
 student of the Moralities that the substitution of one of the 
 attributes of Man in the place of Man himself greatly increases 
 the opportunities for consistent allegorical action. In the pres- 
 ent play there is not a scene, with the exception of Ingnorance's 
 lesson in spelling, ^ that is not a distinct and significant step in 
 the progress of the allegory. 
 
 1 Courthope, II, 339, referring to this mere episode, says of the play that 
 " its leading feature is a conversation in rustic dialogue between Idleness 
 and Ignorance." 
 
THE PLAY OF WYT AND SCIENCE i6l 
 
 It is apparent, also, that the personified abstractions here are 
 not of the same general character as those we are accustomed 
 to in the Moralities with a human hero. There we have, as a 
 rule, representations of virtues or vices which, when practised 
 by men, are said to be qualities of the mind or heart. There 
 are four such qualities personified in the list here, Confydence 
 and Dylygence on the side of Virtue, Ignorance and Idellnes 
 on the side of Vice. But the other active figures here. Honest 
 Recreation, Study, and Instruccion on the side of goodness, 
 and Tediousnes on the side of evil, represent conditions or 
 influences affecting the mind of man, but not qualities of the 
 mind. Science represents knowledge or learning, the fitting 
 object of the mind's desire. Reason, the father of Science, is 
 of course the reasoning faculty of man, which originates science. 
 Experyence does not figure in the play except as the mother of 
 Science. Shame is merely an agent of retribution. The other 
 characters, Comforte, Quycknes, and Strength in one group, 
 and Fame, Ryches, Favour, and Woorshyppe in the other, 
 are introduced only once in short allegorical scenes which are 
 explained by the mere account of them in the outline of the 
 play given above. 
 
 The allegory may be reduced to the following bald statement : 
 The human mind desires learning, but learning is not to be 
 acquired except by diligence and study properly guided, or 
 instructed. The dictates of reason impel the mind in this 
 direction ; but reason also suggests that the mind cannot be 
 held to a continuous career of study, but must occasionally 
 have recourse to innocent recreations which will brace and 
 strengthen it for the sterner work of the search for knowledge. 
 The mind, by a diligent application to study, is at first too 
 eager to grasp knowledge, and, lacking proper guidance and 
 confidence, is soon completely discouraged by the tediousness 
 of work. The reasonable course at this juncture is to turn for 
 
i62 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 the moment to the bracing influence of honest amusements, 
 such as music ; but the mind, having become excessively 
 wearied by study, now goes to the opposite extreme, and from 
 an indulgence in innocent pastimes relapses into complete idle- 
 ness, which soon results in ignorance. This ignorance at first 
 induces a feeling of contentment and complacence ; but the 
 mind, by the light of reason, soon comes to realize its debased 
 condition, and is plunged in shame. The feeling of intense 
 shame acts as a wholesome corrective ; and the mind, submit- 
 ting humbly to the dictates of reason, becomes again devoted 
 to study. Confidence returns, and the mind, steadied now by 
 proper methods of instruction, is no longer hindered by the 
 tediousness of work. Under these new cotiditions, in fact, 
 tediousness soon disappears, and the mind is at last ennobled 
 by the acquisition of knowledge. 
 
 The even tenor of the " Wit " plays must be broken for a 
 moment now by the intrusion of a Morality with an entirely 
 different set of ideals, — Wealth and Health} The object of 
 the " Wit " plays is to urge men to make the most of their 
 minds and of their opportunities for advancement in learning. 
 Wealth and Health has a distinctly patriotic tone, and its 
 object is to induce men — and especially Englishmen — to pre- 
 serve wealth, health, and liberty within their borders. Though 
 it is constructed primarily for the guidance of men in general, 
 it has in another aspect a political and controversial leaning 
 which allies it at some points with Group IV. 
 
 The play opens with the entry of Wealth and Health, who 
 come on the stage singing, and then fall into a debate on their 
 comparative merits. Wealth at first takes a high hand, refusing 
 to admit that anyone else can compare with him in the estima- 
 tion of men ; but Health, speaking modestly, makes out so good 
 
 ^ In ^Lost'' Tudor Plays, edited by John S. Farmer. The play was entered 
 in the Stationers' Register, 1557. 
 
WEALTH AND HEALTH 163 
 
 a case for himself that Wealth is finally brought to admit that 
 he was mistaken in his estimate of Health, and begs the latter 's 
 pardon. This is readily accorded, and the two agree for the 
 future to remain in each other's company. Then Liberty enters, 
 also in a tuneful frame of mind, which is soon altered to dejec- 
 tion when he sees that Wealth and Health keep together but 
 fail to make up to him. Plucking up his spirits, however, he 
 advances and opens an argument with the two friends to prove 
 that he is better than either of them, and that neither of them 
 could get along without him. Wealth and Health are not pre- 
 pared to adopt this point of view at once, but gradually all three 
 come to realize that their interests are common, after which 
 discovery they promise to stick together for the future. 
 
 This amicable resolve is no sooner taken than 111 Will 
 approaches and introduces himself to the trio as their very 
 humble servant Will. The three friends are inclined to be a 
 bit suspicious of their suddenly conferred mastership ; but the 
 pretended Will glibly talks them round, and persuades Liberty 
 that he is related to him. 
 
 Will and Liberty is of ancestry old : 
 Without Liberty, Will dare not be bold : 
 And where Will lacketh, Liberty is full cold : 
 Therefore, Will and Liberty must needs be of kin. 
 
 The three companions, completely deceived, agree to take him 
 into their common service, and then withdraw, for no reason 
 except the dramatic one of allowing 111 Will to explain his 
 innate wickedness to the audience. 
 
 When 111 Will has finished this account of his personality, 
 he is joined by his friend Shrewd Wit, who recounts, in the 
 usual fashion of the Vice, his recent exploit of stealing a 
 purse. Their confidences are interrupted by the rude entry of 
 Hance, otherwise called War, a drunken Fleming, who is first 
 tuneful, then garrulous, in broken English. At the mention of 
 
l64 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 the name Wealth he asserts that Wealth is in Flanders and that 
 he himself brought him there ; to which 111 Will assents with a 
 curse, agreeing by implication that wealth did come by war in 
 Flanders. Then the merry Hance staggers out, the two villains 
 lay a hurried plan for deceiving Wealth, Health, and Liberty, 
 and drop suddenly to their knees and pretend to pray when they 
 see their trio of masters coming in. Their piety is warmly com- 
 mended, and Shrewd Wit, modestly giving his name simply as 
 Wit, is employed as a servant along with his friend. Then the 
 two servants retire, singing in the fullness of their hearts. 
 
 The three friends are now joined by Remedy, whom they 
 greet with great respect, judging by his appearance that he is 
 one having authority. Remedy returns their greetings in kindly 
 fashion, and tells them : 
 
 To maintain you is all my desire and faculty : 
 
 Yet hard it is to do, the people be so variable : 
 
 And many be so wilful they will not be reformable . . . 
 
 My authority is given to me, most special, 
 
 To maintain you three in this realm to be. 
 
 After they have come to a full understanding with each 
 other. Remedy sends the trio out with a final warning against 
 " ill and shrewd company." Then, while he lingers to impress 
 his views on the audience, the two Vices return and stumble 
 across him. He recognizes them and curses them heartily as 
 111 Will and Shrewd Wit, while they, for their defence, retort 
 that he is a liar, and order him to call them by their proper 
 names, Will and Wit. Remedy, however, not easily to be 
 hoodwinked, declines to call them by any names of their own 
 invention. He warns them that they will soon come to pmish- 
 ment for their crimes, and leaves them. 
 
 To combat this new enemy the Vices decide to tell lies 
 about him to their masters, and thus to ruin his character with 
 them. The aforesaid masters conveniently appearing when this 
 
WEALTH AND HEALTH 165 
 
 plan is completed, the Vices proceed to carry out their program, 
 then threaten to leave if they are not well used ; whereat the 
 three guileless employers entreat them earnestly to remain. 
 The sensitive retainers give in graciously, and the whole com- 
 pany, employers and employed, retire in amicable discussion. 
 
 Remedy comes back and explains to the audience that his 
 office is "to amend all faults." He has come to see how 
 Wealth, Health, and Liberty are prospering. While he is talk- 
 ing, the bibulous Hance again puts in an unwelcome appear- 
 ance, and is sternly rebuked by Remedy, not for being drunk, 
 but for being a Fleming. 
 
 Fie on thee, flattering knave ! fie on all you aliants, I say ! 
 
 Ye can, with craft and subtle figure, Englishmen's wealth away. 
 
 When the much-berated Hance is properly disposed of, 
 Remedy is joined by Health, who comes in sadly, with a 
 kerchief around his head, and wailing that he is " infect, both 
 body and soul." His friends Wealth and Liberty are in even 
 worse case, as he tells Remedy. 
 
 As for Wealth, he is fallen in decay and necessity 
 By waste and war, through 111 Will and Shrewd Wit ; 
 And Liberty is kept in durance and captivity. 
 
 Remedy promises to help them, but is forced to admit that he 
 cannot do much till he catches 111 Will and Shrewd Wit. 
 They stand aside and wait, and presently the two Vices come 
 in boldly, seeing no one around. Remedy leaps out upon them, 
 and 111 Will attempts to disguise his identity by talking a kind 
 of Spanish ; but the inexorable Remedy binds them and hands 
 them over to Health to be taken away to prison. 
 
 We are to imagine that, after the capture and imprisonment 
 of the two Vices, Remedy at once proceeded to relieve the dis- 
 tresses of his three guileless wards, who, in the final scene, come 
 in together and ask pardon very contritely of their benefactor. 
 
1 66 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Remedy graciously comforts them, warns them against a repe- 
 tition of their fall from grace, and ends the play with a prayer 
 for Queen Elizabeth and the country. 
 
 It may look at first like a plain case of hair-splitting to 
 separate this Morality from such a play as The Three Laws} 
 where the three abstractions, Law of Christ, Law of Moses, 
 and Law of Nature are striven against and for a time over- 
 thrown by a set of Vices. But technically there is a distinct 
 difference. In the latter play the " three laws " are consciously 
 pitted against the Vices. They are never deceived in the char- 
 acter of the Vices, who make no attempt to enter their serv- 
 ice, but accomplish their temporary downfall by corrupting 
 men. In the present play Wealth, Health, and Liberty occupy 
 the place usually taken by the human hero, as Wit does in 
 the " Wit " plays. They are for a time deceived by the Vices, 
 admit them to their service, are debased in consequence, 
 and are finally restored by turning to Remedy, the Virtue 
 of the play. 
 
 There is one noticeable point of difference from the other 
 plays of this special group. In this play there is no depiction 
 of the Life in Sin. In the Morality of Wisdom, Who is Christ, 
 Mind, Will, and Understanding are corrupted and for a time 
 live in sin, just as the human hero does. The same is true of 
 Wit in the " Wit " plays. But in the present play the abstract 
 personifications over whom the war is waged cannot be shown 
 as living in sin, since they are essentially good. They are 
 weakened, however, in consequence of the machinations of the 
 Vices, in whom they place an abused confidence, and in much 
 the same manner in which the " three laws " are weakened. 
 Health is " infect, both body and soul," Wealth lapses into 
 "' decay and necessity " through the contrivances of 111 Will and 
 Shrewd Wit, and Liberty is imprisoned. In The Three Laws 
 1 See pp. 43 ff., above. 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WIT AND SCIENCE 167 
 
 the Law of Nature becomes leprous, the Law of Moses becomes 
 "stark bhnd," and the Law of Christ is bound and sentenced 
 to be burned. 
 
 All the chief characters in the present play represent forces 
 at work in the land at large. Wealth, Health, and Liberty are 
 national blessings which should be maintained. Ill Will and 
 Shrewd Wit are the forces which make for disturbance and war, 
 and Remedy is the salutary power of good law, the chief func- 
 tion of which is to keep down disturbing forces and to maintain 
 wealth, health, and liberty. Hance is a type figure, introduced 
 for a bit of patriotic by-play. 
 
 The interpretation is brief and simple : Wealth, health, and 
 liberty are all necessary to the welfare of a country. They are 
 of equal importance, and are always found together. When 
 desires for sharp practice and lust for war arise in a country, 
 these national blessings are quickly reduced, and would in time 
 disappear entirely but for the intervention of sound and patriotic 
 laws. The enforcing of these laws curbs war and dishonesty, and 
 restores wealth, health, and liberty in the land. 
 
 The popularity of The Play of Wyt and Science is attested 
 by the fact that it was reproduced a few years later, in slightly 
 altered form, with the title The Marriage of Wit and Science} 
 In allegorical structure the two plays are almost identical, but 
 with one very important difference : Wit, in the second play, is 
 accompanied throughout by Will, a new figure, who represents 
 inclination. The second author, also, had it in mind that the 
 element of age must be regarded when one speaks of the ac- 
 quisition of knowledge by the intellect, and he brings Wit on 
 the stage as a boy seven years old,^ — though, to be sure, we 
 hear nothing more of the age of Wit (except that in the second 
 
 1 Dodsley, Vol. III. 
 
 2 Of course the same specification of age may have been given in the 
 beginning of the other play, which, as it stands, is incomplete at that end. 
 
1 68 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 act, Will thinks he is " seventeen or thereabout "), but must 
 imagine that he grows steadily older, if not steadily wiser, as 
 the play goes on. 
 
 This failure of the hero to wax steadily in wisdom as in 
 stature brings up a point which, though obvious enough, de- 
 serves a remark in passing. The Morality playwright did not 
 advocate the doctrine that a human being can grow, uninter- 
 ruptedly, better or wiser with the advancing years. Whether the 
 hero be good or evil in the beginning, he has his strongly con- 
 trasted periods of progress and of retrogression before the ideal 
 ending in peace ; ^ and his final conversion, in nearly every case, 
 is accomplished through a powerful spiritual upheaval. 
 
 The play is not introduced by a Prologue. Nature comes on 
 leading her son Wit, a boy seven years old. The precocious Wit 
 announces to his mother that he is deeply in love ; 
 
 And thougli I wed not yet, yet am I old enou' 
 
 To serve my lady to my power, and to begin to woo. 
 
 Nature enquires the name of the lady who has enfiamed her 
 son's youthful heart, and Wit confesses that it is Science, the 
 daughter of Reason and Experience. He implores his mother 
 to aid him in his suit, but she tells him gravely that it is not 
 within her power to unite him with such a famous lady as 
 Science. There are but few that could prove themselves worthy 
 of so high an honor, and Wit must win his lady by patient 
 zeal through time and travail. To aid him in his toil she gives 
 him a boy to wait upon him, "A bird of mine, some kin to 
 thee ; his name is Will." The new servant, when interrogated 
 by Wit as to his powers of service, proves evasive. He admits 
 
 1 I have already called attention to two exceptions which will test this rule. 
 In The Trial of Treastire Just is good at the beginning and remains, without a 
 lapse, good to the end. In The Longer Thou Livest the More Fool Thou Art 
 Moros, foolish and vicious at the start, becomes steadily more foolish and 
 more vicious as the play proceeds. 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WIT AND SCIENCE 169 
 
 that he can do all things when it pleases him, but refuses to 
 say anything more definite than, "If ye bid me run, perhaps 
 I will go." 1 Wit is inclined to grow impatient at this show 
 of independence, but Nature desires them to be agreeable to 
 each other. Then, with a final request to Will for obedience 
 to his master, she leaves the two boys to their fate. 
 
 The beginning of the second act shows Wit already puzzled 
 and annoyed by the independence and flightiness of his servant. 
 He is urging Will to repair at once to Science with an offer of 
 his master's hand, and Will, after teasing him for a while with 
 incoherent replies, finally admits that he himself is not anxious 
 to bring about the marriage. While Wit remains a bachelor (he 
 has evidently grown beyond his seven years now) he may go 
 about and enjoy life freely ; but if he is " tied by the toe " in 
 marriage he will speedily become " solemn and sour, and angry 
 as a wasp," and all his care will be to hamper his poor servant 
 Will. Wit hastens to assure his disconsolate follower that a 
 marriage shall make no difference in their pleasant relations, 
 and finally he persuades Will to act as messenger. 
 
 We are next introduced to the lady Science, who is in a state 
 of profound dejection. Many suitors have presented themselves, 
 and have spent their youth and wealth in the desire to obtain 
 her hand ; but none has succeeded, and she feels that, for the 
 present at least, she ought not to encourage any more advances. 
 But Reason, her father, wisely urges her to retain hope. Among 
 the many thousands who are striving for her favor there must 
 be a chosen one who will prove worthy, and when this one 
 comes she must yield herself freely and willingly to him. Ex- 
 perience, the mother, seconds Reason's counsel, and Science, 
 though unconvinced, gives in wearily : 
 
 Fall out as it will : there is no help, I see. 
 Some one or other in time must marry me. 
 
 1 Go has here the usual Middle English sense of " walk." 
 
I/O THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 While this conversation has been going on, Will has been in 
 the background listening, and now he comes forth buoyantly 
 with a matrimonial offer from his master, who will not stick, he 
 says, to marry Science within the hour if she will but give the 
 word. He proceeds to describe his master as a well-favored 
 youth of " seventeen or thereabout," and, to back up his state- 
 ments, produces a picture which Wit has sent so that Science 
 may know the appearance of the man who is suing for her hand. 
 After scanning the picture, Science admits that " nature in him 
 hath done her part," and despatches Will back to his master with 
 an invitation to come and talk matters over. 
 
 In the third act Will delivers his message to Wit, who is 
 transported with delight, and presses on at once to the house of 
 Science, taking Will along with him. Here an interview takes 
 place between the lovers, in company with Reason and Experi- 
 ence, and with Will, who begins to take a very gloomy view of 
 the projected union. The solemn faces of Science and her 
 parents — especially the mother — are not to his taste, and he 
 tells his master so in very vigorous asides. Wit is informed by 
 his mistress that there is a formidable enemy whom he must 
 vanquish before he can win her hand, and that this enemy is so 
 powerful that he will have to overcome him not by force, but by 
 sleight. To aid him in the perilous enterprise. Experience goes 
 out to procure Instruction, a trusted friend and retainer of the 
 family, who, with his two servants. Study and Diligence, will 
 accompany Wit and give him the benefit of their counsels ; and 
 Reason gives him a " glass of crystal clear," in which to study 
 his defects. Presently the three counsellors arrive, and Wit, 
 after greeting them cordially, takes them off to his own house, 
 along with the disgruntled Will. 
 
 Act IV shows Wit becoming very restive under the counsels 
 of Instruction, Study, and Diligence. He is a hot-headed and 
 ardent young lover, and they persist in their policy of delay 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WIT AND SCIENCE 171 
 
 until he shall become worthy of the hand of Science. Will is now 
 in open enmity with the three counsellors, and he urges his mas- 
 ter to take the management of affairs into his own hands. In 
 the midst of the argument Reason and Experience appear with 
 their daughter, and Wit now appeals directly to his mistress, 
 urging her to bestow herself upon him and put an end to his 
 miserable period of probation. Science answers that her lover 
 must undergo a stern trial of strength before he can claim her. 
 In a neighboring wood dwells the giant Tediousness, who has 
 sworn to slay all claimants for the hand of Science. Already he 
 has slain tens of thousands of suitors, and unless Wit can over- 
 come this monster and bring his head as a trophy to Science he 
 will have to share the common fate. Wit is at once on fire for 
 the combat, and Will urges him on. Diligence is willing to ac- 
 company them, but Instruction refuses to be a party to such an 
 immature and rash adventure, and Study, complaining of an 
 aching head, decides to remain behind with Instruction. 
 
 The rest of the play follows substantially the same lines as 
 The Play of Wyt and Science. 
 
 This second version of the Wit and Science plot is not, in 
 general, so well motivated as the first one. For example, one 
 of the most important incidents — the slumbering of Wit in the 
 lap of Idleness and his consequent disgrace and punishment — 
 is thoroughly motivated in the first play, and is decidedly weak 
 in the second. In the former case Wit, after his resuscitation, 
 refuses to listen to the advice of Reason ; then he deliberately 
 leaves Honest Recreation for Idleness, and when Reason finally 
 brings Shame in to chastise him one feels that his punishment 
 is richly merited. In the latter case Wit becomes wearied with 
 his exertions, decides to rest before resuming his labors, and 
 innocently places his head upon the convenient lap of Idleness. 
 He has disdained no good counsels, and, upon awakening, he 
 is prepared to return at once to his arduous task of winning 
 
172 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Science ; but after a quiet scene, in which he modestly attempts 
 to procure recognition from Reason and Science, Reason calls 
 Shame in to administer a whipping to the unoffending Wit. 
 These scenes are quite as well motivated as the average Morality 
 incidents, but in comparison with the corresponding scenes in 
 the first " Wit " play they fall quite fiat. 
 
 The only new characters here — and consequently the only ones 
 that now require explanation — are Nature and Will. Nature is 
 here pictured as the great guiding force of children, their teacher 
 during the early years before they must turn to the education of 
 the world. Will, who is brought on the stage as a child coeval 
 with Wit, is, I take it, the representative of human inclination 
 or impulse, which is not essentially wicked, but which is likely 
 to influence the mind in the direction of pleasure rather than of 
 study. When Wit is in a state of degradation Reason says 
 to him, 
 
 Remember, how Instruction should have been followed still, 
 And how thou wouldst be ruled by none but by Will,^ 
 
 which points to this explanation of the character of Will. He is 
 the same sort of figure as Frewyl or Imagynacyon in Hycke- 
 s corner^ neither essentially good nor essentially bad. How 
 important a factor he is in the later version the following 
 interpretation will show. 
 
 The human mind early in life ceases to follow merely the 
 guidance of nature. The learning of the world begins to appeal 
 to it, and soon becomes the chief object of its desire. But the 
 natural inclinations, which would help in the quest for learning 
 if rightly directed, often influence the mind in the direction of 
 ease and pleasure. The mind addresses itself with diligence to 
 the work of study, is wisely guided in its labors, and bids fair 
 to become successful. The inclinations, however, soon begin to 
 pull the other way, and end by imbuing the mind with a strong 
 
 ^ Act V, scene 2, p. 385. "^ See note i, p. 50, above. 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WIT AND WISDOM 173 
 
 distaste for study. The tediousness of study completes the 
 work ; and the mind, turning at first to innocent pleasures, 
 soon lapses into idleness and ignorance. But human reason 
 will not permit the mind to fall irretrievably into the dull 
 unconsciousness of the brute. By a sudden stirring of reason 
 the mind realizes its degradation, is struck with intense shame, 
 and returns with vigor to the pursuit of learning. The inclina- 
 tion joins in this pursuit, study loses all its tediousness, and the 
 mind at last becomes enriched by knowledge. 
 
 The third and last of the "Wit" plays is The Marriage of 
 Wit and Wisdom} as bad a play as the other two are good. 
 The first two are skillful allegories, dignified and pure in tone ; 
 the third, though it employs the same motive, is disconnected, 
 and is varied with low comedy scenes of a grossness uncommon 
 even in a Morality. 
 
 The author here, to be sure, is adapting his work to the de- 
 sires of an audience becoming enamored of scenes from actual 
 life, and growing impatient of unmixed allegory, however skill- 
 ful and consistent. The resulting play is allegorical in its main 
 structure, and teaches a lesson for the guidance of life ; but 
 even in the allegorical parts — to say nothing of the unmixed 
 low comedy scenes — there is an evident desire to raise a laugh 
 rather than to induce the reflective and repentant mood. This 
 Morality, then, is one of those which come very near the bounds 
 of the comedy of actual life, while remaining, by virtue of their 
 technical structure, within the limits of the earlier species. 
 
 After a brief outline of the play by the Prologue, Severity 
 and his wife Indulgence enter and hold a family conference 
 with their easy-going son Wit. The uncompromising Severity 
 tells Wit that he has it in mind to procure a wife for him, and 
 that if Wit does not behave well in general he will never cost 
 
 ^ See Five Anonymous Plays (Early English Dramatic Series), edited by John 
 S. Farmer. The play is usually dated about 1579. 
 
174 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 his father another groat. Indulgence also expresses her desire 
 to see their son well married, but uses much milder terms than 
 the choleric father. Severity now comes to the point by pro- 
 posing Dame Wisdom as a fitting and desirable mate for his 
 son, and the proposal pleases Wit, as, indeed, all proposals do, 
 whatever their nature or source. Finally, Severity warns his 
 son to apply himself diligently to his book and avoid Idleness, 
 also to beware of Irksomeness, a monster who has his lair near 
 the house of Lady Wisdom. Then the parents retire, and Wit, 
 dutifully resolving to follow their precepts, goes out to give a 
 practical demonstration of his virtue. 
 
 Idleness, the chief Vice of the play, enters and in the usual 
 manner lays his nature bare before the audience. He is deter- 
 mined to corrupt Wit, and to prevent the union between him 
 and Wisdom ; but, as Wit in his present virtuous condition of 
 mind would not be likely to strike up a friendship with a person 
 named Idleness, the wily schemer plans to alter his name to 
 Honest Recreation, a name which, as he knows, will be attrac- 
 tive to Wit. Then Wantonness joins him, and he makes arrange- 
 ments to employ her in his attack on the virtue of Wit. 
 
 The innocent subject of these plans now comes upon the 
 scene, and extends a warm greeting to Idleness when the latter 
 introduces himself under his assumed name. Then Wanton- 
 ness is presented as Mistress Modest Mirth, a name which 
 endears her at once to the chaste mind of Wit. After some 
 friendly conversation they all sit down, and Wit is easily in- 
 duced to take a short nap, with his head in the lap of Wanton- 
 ness. She then sets a fool's bauble on his head and blackens 
 his face, while Idleness steals his purse. The two conspirators 
 retire in high good humor with their success, and Good 
 Nurture enters, seeking for Wit. In searching about the stage 
 he stumbles heavily on the sleeping dupe and wakes him up. 
 Then Wit, on having his attention drawn to the obvious defects 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WIT AND WISDOM 175 
 
 in his personal appearance, washes his face and removes the 
 fool's bauble from his head. Good Nurture calls in the gen- 
 uine Honest Recreation, presents him to Wit in the capacity of 
 servant, and they all retire. 
 
 Idleness, whose constant function in this play is to amuse 
 the audience, whether at his own expense or not, makes his 
 second entrance rigged out as a doctor, and carrying the purse 
 that he has filched from Wit. He lays down the purse in a 
 corner, and presently two rogues named Snatch and Catch 
 appear and combine against him. They steal the purse, then 
 seize Idleness, tie a sheet over his head, beat him soundly, and 
 go out with the purse. But soon Wit comes to the rescue, with 
 Honest Recreation at his heels. He frees Idleness from his in- 
 convenient headgear, and listens sympathetically and with a char- 
 acteristic ignoring of his previous experiences when the latter 
 emerges from the sheet and introduces himself as Due Disport. 
 
 On the advice of the so-called Due Disport the confiding 
 Wit now dismisses Honest Recreation from his service and 
 starts off to enjoy himself with his new friend, rejoicing that 
 he has got rid of Honest Recreation, who was becoming tire- 
 some. Idleness leads him straight to the lair of Irksomeness, 
 then runs away, and Irksomeness leaps out, beats Wit down 
 with his club, and leaves him for dead. But Lady Wisdom 
 now makes her appearance. She approaches Wit and helps 
 him to his feet, and he apparently comes to life at once, as he 
 answers her the moment she addresses him. She urges him to 
 attack Irksomeness again, and presents him with a sword. 
 Fortified with this new weapon he challenges the monster to a 
 second trial of strength, and this time the luck is on Wit's side. 
 He pursues Irksomeness off the stage, returns with the head 
 of his enemy, and rushes off to tell the news to his father. 
 
 The obliging Idleness returns, this time in the character of 
 rat-catcher. Search, the constable, follows, seeking for Idleness, 
 
176 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 whom he wishes to arrest for cozening Wit. He fails to recog- 
 nize the offender in his new garb, and offers to pay him if he 
 will cry a proclamation offering a reward for the criminal. Idle- 
 ness consents and mounts a chair. Then a series of dull witti- 
 cisms follows, at the end of which Search runs away without 
 paying what he has promised, and Idleness rushes off in pur- 
 suit. Dame Fancy now appears, planning to capture Wit for 
 a husband ; and Wit, who is always ready to cooperate heartily 
 with anyone who wishes to make a fool of him, comes in to 
 place himself at the disposal of Fancy. She tells him that she 
 is a messenger from Lady Wisdom, and hands him a letter 
 which bids him go with the messenger to a place where Wis- 
 dom will meet him. Fancy then leads him into her own house, 
 and there makes him an offer of herself and her fortune. But 
 Wit, for the first time in his career, asserts himself. He pro- 
 tests that he is in love with Wisdom ; so Fancy, unable to 
 prevail over his stubborn heart, goes out and leaves him in 
 durance vile. 
 
 Then Idleness, still in the character of general entertainer, 
 comes in, spies an empty house, steals the pottage-pot, and 
 leaves. Presently the two servants, Doll and Lob, who have 
 been engaged in a questionable amusement in the barn, come 
 back and discover the loss of the pot ; and when Mother Bee, 
 their mistress, returns, she beats them soundly for their care- 
 lessness. Inquisition enters with Idleness, whom he has caught 
 with the pot about his neck. The pot is given up, and Inquisi- 
 tion leads Idleness away to justice. 
 
 Good Nurture comes in, again looking for Wit, and hears 
 the latter bewailing his fate in bitter terms from the prison of 
 Fancy. He breaks the prison door, releases Wit, and leads 
 him away. Then Idleness makes his last appearance in the 
 play. He is attired like a priest, and invites all "who list not 
 to work " to follow him. 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WIT AND WISDOM 177 
 
 In the final scene the father Severity enters with his 
 chastened son Wit, who is now to be united with Wisdom. 
 Good Nurture enters with the bride, and the young lovers sing 
 by turns to each other, as in the first Wit play. Then the 
 company sets forth to the wedding, and the Epilogue ends the 
 play by impressing the moral upon the audience. 
 
 The only characters that need concern us seriously are those 
 that figure in the allegory. Severity and Indulgence are the 
 father and mother of Wit, but why they should be so one is at 
 a loss to understand. The author fails to make this relationship 
 allegorically reasonable, and we must conclude that this is simply 
 one more point of approximation to the drama of actual life ; 
 that is, in the mind of the author and in the minds of his 
 audience the scenes presenting Severity, Indulgence, and Wit 
 are merely the family conferences of a severe father, an indul- 
 gent mother, and an easy-going and complaisant son. Any at- 
 tempt to go beyond this in the interpretation of the first two 
 characters would, I am sure, be only a display of allegoristic 
 skill on the part of the interpreter, and would also be a work 
 of supererogation, since Severity and Indulgence have no part 
 in the play but to exhibit a strong parental anxiety that their 
 son may be well married. Inquisition, another character with 
 an allegorical name, is likewise of no importance. He is simply 
 an officer of the law, who arrests Idleness toward the close of 
 the play. Snatch, Catch, and Search are type figures with 
 suggestive names. Mother Bee, Doll, and Lob are individuals 
 introduced in a short scene of rough humor. 
 
 The characters, then, upon whom the allegory depends are 
 Wit, Wisdom, Idleness, Irksomeness, Honest Recreation, Fancy, 
 Wantonness, and Good Nurture ; and most of these have been 
 discussed before. Wisdom, of course, is the same character as 
 Science in the two previous plays, and Irksomeness the same 
 as Tediousness. Fancy here sets herself up in opposition to 
 
178 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Wisdom as the fitting object of Wit's desire, and represents 
 empty imaginings as opposed to solid learning. Wantonness, like 
 Idleness, represents a quality of the corrupted mind, and Good 
 Nurture stands for good bringing-up, or good training, a force 
 or condition affecting the mind, but not a quality of the mind. 
 The Epilogue skillfully avoids giving us the clew to the 
 allegory : 
 
 For though the style be rough, and phrases found unfit, 
 Yet may you say, upon the head the very nail is hit ! 
 
 Wherefor, the moral mark ! for Finis let it pass, 
 And Wit may well and worthy then use it for a glass. 
 
 Whereby for to essue his foes, that always do await him, 
 And never hang upon the hook, wherewith they seek to bait him.^ 
 
 Every reader of The Marriage of Wit and Wisdom will agree 
 with the first line of this quotation, but will be inclined to balk 
 at the second. Instead of hitting the very nail on the head the 
 author has made an awkward attempt to hit several nails on the 
 head at once, with the result that not one of them is driven 
 home. In fact, one is almost tempted to throw up the whole 
 business of arguing for the play as a Morality, and to let the 
 interpretation go at something like this : Let Wit — or any 
 other gullible young man — beware whom he trusts. But it is 
 obvious that the main structure of the play is allegorical, that 
 the chief characters are of the kind necessary to an allegory, 
 and that, with this machinery, the play teaches one lesson for 
 the guidance of life ; so one must make the best of an unfortu- 
 nate situation. 
 
 Much of the action, in fact, has been planned without any 
 strict sense of allegorical fitness. The author keeps the main 
 situations of the other two " Wit " plays, but fails to lead up to 
 them in a consistent fashion. For instance, in the other two 
 plays Wit is beaten down by Tediousness, but this is because 
 
 1 p. 208. 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WIT AND WISDOM 179 
 
 (to introduce literal with allegorical language) he is studying in 
 a misguided or spiritless fashion. In the present play, after Wit 
 has passed from the company of Honest Recreation to that of 
 Idleness, he is tricked by Idleness into visiting the den of Irk- 
 someness, where he is beaten into insensibility. That is, the 
 mind, while wasting away in idleness, is rendered apathetic by 
 the irksomeness of work, a paradoxical condition of things, 
 surely. Then, as if this were not enough. Wit is jerked back 
 to activity by Wisdom, the signification being that the mind, 
 in a condition of ignorance and paralysis, is recalled by wisdom, 
 the result of diligent study. 
 
 But, with such glaring inconsistencies in mind, we can pre- 
 sent the interpretation in a general sort of way : The mind, 
 while desiring the wisdom resulting from study, often igno- 
 rantly employs the wrong methods of acquiring this wisdom. 
 Realizing that innocent pleasures are lawful, it relapses into 
 idleness in the mistaken belief that this is rest and recreation. 
 The result is that it grows besotted through wanton desires, 
 and is redeemed only by the application to it of wise training, 
 which permits for purposes of recreation only those pleasures 
 which are really innocent. After a period of virtue the mind 
 grows weary of that relaxation which employs only harmless 
 amusements, and, influenced by its desires, again has recourse 
 to idle delights ; but these, by contrast, make studies seem 
 intolerably irksome, and the mind soon falls into a state of 
 apathy. From this condition it at length recovers, and, with a 
 renewed desire for wisdom, overcomes the tediousness of study. 
 There is, however, one more obstacle to be overcome. Empty 
 fancies begin to appeal to the mind, and for a time render it 
 unfit for serious work. But the influence of good training 
 again brings salvation ; and now the mind, after sundry lapses, 
 goes on steadily in its search for wisdom, with which it is at 
 length rewarded. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MORALITIES ILLUSTRATING A SPECIAL TEXT 
 
 The second main division of the Moralities contains three 
 plays, each one enforcing and illustrating a particular text 
 which is announced in the title, is repeated from time to time 
 in the dialogue, and in general is made the watchword of the 
 play. In every case it is the text that binds the play together 
 and gives it unity. There is no hero upon whose fortunes to 
 concentrate our interest from first to last. Each play is a 
 bundle of loosely connected scenes, — or of scenes that would 
 be loosely connected if it were not for the one central thought 
 that each new scene, as it comes, presents in some fresh aspect. 
 
 The first of these plays, then, to give it the full advantage 
 of its sonorous title, is Like Will to Like, Quoth the Devil to 
 the Colliery The action consists, on the one hand, in the 
 mating of several vicious human types by the Vice, Nichol 
 Newfangle, in the service of their common master the Devil ; 
 and, on the other hand, in the mating of Virtuous Life with 
 his allegorical companions. Good Fame and Honour. In the 
 end poetical justice is meted out to all the characters. The 
 vicious type figures, after being borne in hand by Nichol 
 Newfangle, are ruined and then die shameful deaths, and 
 Nichol himself is mounted on the Devil's back for " a journey 
 into Spain." Virtuous Life, on the contrary, is reassured by 
 God's Promise, and joined by Good Fame and Honour .^ 
 
 1 By Ulpian Fulwel. Dodsley, Vol. III. The play was printed in 1568. 
 
 2 It will thus be seen that the play is to be grouped with the Morality The 
 Trial of Treasure and the moral tragedy The Nice Wantoyi in probably owing 
 something to French influence. For an account of the French plays of this 
 type see p. 121, note 2, above. 
 
 1 80 
 
LIKE WILL TO LIKE l8i 
 
 The Prologue explains to his hearers why '" our Author " 
 has made this particular selection of title and subject : 
 
 Sith pithy proverbs in our English tongue doth abound, 
 Our author thought good such a one for to choose 
 As may show good example, and mirth may eke be found, 
 But no lascivious toys he purposeth for to use. 
 
 Then the play begins with a merry address to the audience 
 by the Vice, Nichol Newfangle. Although Nichol is the em- 
 bodiment of sin in general, he represents in a special way the 
 fashionable, or newfangled, vices of the day. In narrating the 
 history of his apprenticeship to Lucifer he tells the audience : 
 
 All kinds of sciences he taught unto me : 
 That unto the maintenance of pride might best agree. 
 I learned to make gowns with long sleeves and wings : 
 I learned to make ruffs like calves' chitterlings, 
 Caps, hats, coats, with all kinds of apparels, 
 And especially breeches as big as good barrels. 
 Shoes, boots, buskins, with many pretty toys : 
 All kinds of garments for men, women, and boys. 
 
 Nichol Newfangle was and is, and ever shall be : 
 And there are but few that are not acquainted with me. 
 
 Lucifer joins his apprentice and greets him with pride and 
 affection. Nichol meets these friendly advances at first with a 
 good deal of chaffing on the subject of Lucifer's bottle-nose 
 and ill-favored visage, but finally he sobers down and consents 
 to hear his master's plan for retaining the allegiance of his fol- 
 lowers on earth. Then Lucifer grows confidential and informs 
 him : 
 
 Thou knowest I am both proud and arrogant, 
 And with the proud I will ever be conversant ; 
 I cannot abide to see men that are vicious 
 Accompany themselves with such as be virtuous. 
 Wherefore my mind is, sith thou thy part canst play, 
 That thou adjoin like to like alway. 
 
1 82 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Nichol at first pretends to think that his master is exhorting 
 him to live on a diet of leeks and onions, but the patient Devil 
 again laboriously explains his real purpose ; and then the 
 apprentice bids him have no fear, since he is ready to play his 
 part. Tom Collier is now seen approaching, and Lucifer steps 
 aside to see how his plan will work. 
 
 Tom comes up and exchanges friendly greetings with Nichol. 
 The latter asks for an account of the day's work, and Tom glee- 
 fully announces that for every bushel of coal he has sold he has 
 delivered but three pecks. Nichol commends him for "as fit a 
 companion for the devil as may be," and introduces him to 
 Lucifer in pursuance of their motto. Tom accepts the introduc- 
 tion, joins in a song and dance with his new friend in token of 
 amity, then retires to continue his dishonest trade. Lucifer com- 
 mends his adroit apprentice, bestows his blessing upon him, and 
 departs, leaving him to carry on the work of joining like to like. 
 
 Nichol is now joined by Tom Tosspot, who comes in angry 
 and swearing because he can nowhere find a companion who 
 does not exhort him to leave off his pride and blaspheming, 
 instead of agreeing with him in friendly fashion. Catching 
 sight of Nichol, he greets him as his friend and patron ; and 
 Nichol, for his part, promises to find the disgruntled Tom a 
 companion " as fit for you as a pudding for a friar's mouth." 
 Presently Ralph Roister appears on the scene, and is intro- 
 duced to Tom as the promised mate. The new-made friends 
 prepare to enlighten each other on the question of personal 
 history ; but Nichol, taking sudden offense at them for neglect- 
 ing to remove their caps in the presence of their superior, 
 pitches in and gives them a sound whipping. The two rogues 
 become submissive at once and beg him to desist. This he 
 consents to do after he has drubbed them to his heart's content. 
 Then he orders Tom and Ralph to continue with their narra- 
 tives, promising the farm " called Saint Thomas-a- Waterings 
 
LIKE WILL TO LIKE 183 
 
 or else Tyburn Hill,"^ "that of Beggar's manor doth hold," to 
 the one who proves himself the worse rogue. At the close of the 
 hearing Nichol is unable to decide between two such unmixed 
 scoundrels, so he judicially divides the prize between them. 
 
 The friends now receive a substantial addition to their com- 
 pany in the person of Hance, ironically addressed as "" little 
 bellied Hance " by the sportive Nichol, The newcomer is in 
 an advanced condition of tipsiness. Attempting to dance, he 
 sprawls over the floor instead, and finally decides to take the 
 easier way and go to sleep. Then Philip Fleming, drunk and 
 portly of waist as Hance himself, comes in looking for his 
 drinking companion. He rouses Hance from his pleasant 
 dream of being drowned in a barrel of beer, and urges him to 
 return to the actual delights of the botjtle. Nichol commends 
 his disciples, and allows them all to depart for a drinking-bout, 
 while he himself stays to receive two more favorite pupils, 
 Cuthbert Cutpurse and Pierce Pickpurse. These rascals are 
 highly praised for their success in their chosen trade, and 
 Nichol generously informs them that they are to inherit a 
 piece of property called "the land of the two-legged mare" 
 (i.e., the gallows). The two thieves are delighted, and are plan- 
 ning to order a feast in celebration of their good luck when 
 Virtuous Life interrupts them with a soliloquy on the advantages 
 of a clear conscience. Nichol invites him to join their merry 
 company, but Virtuous Life is quite content with the approving 
 fellowship of his undisturbed conscience. " My name," he pro- 
 claims loftily, 
 
 is Virtuous Life, and in virtue is my delight. 
 So Vice and virtue cannot together be united ; 
 But the one the other hath always spited. 
 For as the water quencheth fire, and the flame doth suppress, 
 So virtue hateth vice, and seeketh a redress. 
 
 1 The two places chiefly used for execution, after the discontinuance of 
 the Elms in Smithfield. — Hazlitt. 
 
1 84 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Nichol sees no prospect of a recruit in the person of Virtuous 
 Life, so he retires, leading his two followers, and the audience 
 is left for a while at the mercy of the incorruptible soliloquizer. 
 At length the sermon is cut short by the entrance of Good 
 Fame, God's Promise, and Honour, who have come to show 
 their appreciation of Virtuous Life by joining themselves to him. 
 
 After the withdrawal of this virtuous troop, Nichol Newf angle 
 reappears with a bag, a staff, a bottle, and two halters, with which 
 to reward his followers. He is in high good humor over the suc- 
 cess of his plans. His pupils have spent all their substance on 
 the strength of his promises ; and when Tom Tosspot and Ralph 
 Roister come in he presents them with the bag and the bottle 
 and tells them to go begging. They lament their simplicity in 
 allowing themselves to be duped, and turn the tables on Nichol 
 for a moment by throwing him down and beating him heartily ; 
 but this does not help their case, and at last they accept the 
 inevitable result of their folly and go out to beg for a living. 
 
 Severity, the judge, now appears ; and when Cuthbert Cutpurse 
 and Pierce Pickpurse come on the stage seeking a refuge from the 
 law, he detains them and sentences them to the gallows. Nichol 
 puts the halters about their necks, thus fulfilling his earlier prom- 
 ise, and then turns them over to Hankin Hangman, who leads 
 them forth to execution. Finally the Devil comes in, and Nichol 
 Newfangle is compelled to mount on his back to " make a journey 
 into Spain," while Virtuous Life and his companions appear and 
 wind up the play by applying the obvious moral to the situation. 
 
 The author here chose to improve the lives of his audience 
 by exhibiting vices to shun rather than virtues to emulate. We 
 have in the play a whole troop of sinful and amusing persons 
 to warn us by their careers that unauthorized gaiety cannot last 
 forever, and one rather colorless abstraction to assure us by 
 his experience that virtue, besides the oft-promised reward of 
 its own radiant self, is enriched by various earthly emoluments 
 
LIKE WILL TO LIKE 185 
 
 well worth considering. This playwright, like many others, was 
 willing to furnish his audience with the incentive for a good 
 laugh, while occupied, in the main, with the sterner business of 
 improving their lives. 
 
 A general comment may here be made with regard to the 
 Morality playwright and his purpose in producing such a type 
 of drama. It is too often indicated, in general terms, that the 
 Morality was a purely religious production, and that the frown- 
 ing author had but one desire in life, to herd his ignorant flock 
 of listeners together on the straight and narrow path to Heaven. 
 In some cases this judgment would undoubtedly be the correct 
 one. The most earnest seeker for frivolous motives could hardly 
 credit Bishop Bale with any lighter desire than this. Bishop 
 Bale, to give him his full due while we are about it, went farther 
 than this : he narrowed the path till it could accommodate none 
 who did not start in it from the Protestant fold. But from Bishop 
 Bale down to the author of Like Will to Like, QiiotJi the Devil to 
 the Collier ranged a line of authors, in most of whom the desire 
 to amuse and the desire to edify were mingled in varying propor- 
 tions. This is not in the least contradictory to the statement in 
 the introductory chapter that a sine qua non of the Morality is its 
 avowed purpose of improving life ; but one must insist that the 
 author, while accepting this as a technical requirement, followed 
 his own natural bent in the direction of fun or of seriousness. 
 
 To return to the play under discussion, the nature of each 
 character is easily determined. Virtuous Life, or Virtuous 
 Living, personifies the abstraction that his name indicates. 
 He might, by an almost imperceptible change of character, 
 be the man of virtuous life, and accommodate himself to the 
 action as well as he does in his present nature. Very possibly 
 the author may have felt that one virtuous type figure would 
 not be enough to oppose to the swarm of vicious ones, but was 
 unwilling to bore himself or his audience with more than one, 
 
1 86 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 and consequently personified the godly life itself, which could 
 apply to any number of people. God's Promise, Honour, and 
 Good Fame personify the rewards which belong to an upright 
 life. On the other side are Tom Tosspot, Tom Collier, Hance, 
 Cuthbert Cutpurse, Ralph Roister, Philip Fleming, and Pierce 
 Pickpurse, who are types of the people who follow vice and 
 suffer for it. In some cases the name indicates the particular 
 vice to which the character is addicted. When, for instance, 
 Ralph Roister introduces himself to Tom Tosspot, the latter 
 comments on the significance of their names : 
 
 It should appear by your sayings that we are of one mind, 
 For I know that roisters and tosspots come of one kind.^ 
 
 But in such a case as that of Tom Collier, — the type of men 
 who are dishonest in business relations, — we must go beyond 
 the name to the actions. Nichol Newfangle is the Vice of the 
 play, who represents "all sins generally." Evidently his par- 
 ticular designation, given instead of a regular Vice name, is to 
 harmonize with the general tone of the names ranged on the 
 side of evil. Lucifer requires no explanation, and Severity is 
 simply the judge who appears at the close of the play to give 
 the dupes of Nichol their deserts ; it makes no difference 
 whether we regard him as the severe judge or as the severity 
 of the law, which punishes the wicked. 
 
 The interpretation is simple and unequivocal : Men who in 
 this life practise vices and yield to the temptations of the Devil 
 are fit companions only for each other and for the master whom 
 they serve. Their pleasures are provided by Satan and his agents, 
 and are of brief duration. In the end they pay the penalty by 
 sorrow and disgrace, and have as a prospect for eternity the end- 
 less pains of hell, provided by the master whom they have fol- 
 lowed on earth. The virtuous life, on the other hand, is entirely 
 
 1 p. 320. 
 
THE TYDE TARYETH NO MAN 187 
 
 removed from these vices and sinful pleasures of the world, and 
 is accompanied by the rewards which naturally belong to those 
 who practise self-restraint and piety. To those who lead this 
 life God's promises of prosperity and happiness are fulfilled, 
 by substantial tokens of fame and honor in this world and by 
 assurance of salvation in the world to come. 
 
 The Tydc Taryeth No Man} by George Wapull, is much 
 more serious in tone. There are scarcely any touches of humor 
 such as abounded in the last play. Corage, the Vice who em- 
 bodies all sins, and his more specialized co-workers, Hurtfull- 
 helpe, Paynted-profite, and Fayned-furtheraunce, employ their 
 time in urging people to cheat their neighbors, disobey their 
 parents, and sacrifice all their scruples of conscience to the 
 desire for worldly pleasure and advancement, since " the tyde 
 taryeth no man'' But finally FaythfuU-few asserts himself in 
 the service of his master Christianitye, and employs the same 
 text to persuade people to turn from the error of their ways 
 while there is yet time. Thus the text, like that of Like Will 
 to Like, is used in the service both of good and of evil, and 
 both the plays serve as practical lessons to show that people 
 who employ the Devil's sophistry in twisting good advice to 
 wicked ends must suffer for it. 
 
 After the Prologue, Corage, the Vice, enters and gives the 
 audience an insight into his methods of work. His general 
 purpose is to procure souls for hell as he explains. 
 
 I, Corage, do call 
 BotVi great and small 
 To the Barge of Sinne ; 
 Wherein they do wallow 
 Tyll hell do them swallow : 
 That is all they do win. 
 
 ^Illustrations of Early English Popular Literature, edited by J. Payne Collier, 
 London, 1864. The play was printed in 1 576, but Collier conjectures that " the 
 drama is of considerably older date than the year inserted on the title-page." 
 
1 88 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The minor Vices, Hurtfull-helpe, Paynted-profite, and Fayned- 
 furtheraunce, join their leader, and the four discuss ways and 
 means of ruining people/ These plans are for a time inter- 
 rupted by the usual question of superiority among the Vices, 
 and the question is settled by the superior physical force of 
 Corage. Then they curtail their names to Helpe, Profite, and 
 Furtheraunce, in order to make a good impression on people, 
 and go out to perform their duties. 
 
 Corage, left behind as general manager, is presently joined 
 by his friend Greedinesse. The latter is being momentarily 
 hampered by a brief onslaught on the part of his conscience. 
 A preacher of the gospel has encountered him on the street 
 and has reproached him and his kind as evil members of the 
 commonwealth. But Corage soon raises his friend's mind be- 
 yond the reach of petty embarrassments with a lecture on his 
 favorite text, "The tyde taryeth no man," and persuades him 
 that he must make money while he can and in any way that he 
 can. Greedinesse he addresses by a name which the latter much 
 prefers, and under which he commonly works, — Master Welth- 
 inesse, — except when he, Corage, forgets himself and lapses 
 into the use of the correct name. 
 
 When Greedinesse is sent away, comforted and uplifted in 
 spirit, Hurtfull-helpe comes in with No-good-Neighbourhood. 
 The owner of this sinister name is eager to procure a tenement 
 possessed by Greedinesse. Another man is occupying the tene- 
 ment, but No-good-Neighbourhood is consumed with the desire 
 to turn him out on the street and take possession himself. 
 Corage informs him how this may best be done, and recom- 
 mends him to the self-styled Furtheraunce, who comes in at this 
 
 1 Here, as a natural enough result of the absence of a human hero to strive 
 for, the Vice-motives are divided. Corage does his wrork, in the main, unself- 
 ishly, and for the general furtherance of wickedness. On the other hand, his 
 followers, like the Vices in Respublica, declare that they are laboring for their 
 own gain. 
 
THE TYDE TARYETH NO MAN 189 
 
 moment. At the counsel of his advisers No-good-Neighbourhood 
 leaves off all but the last element of his name, and under the 
 more attractive designation of Neighbourhood goes out, with 
 Hurtfull-helpe and Fayned-furtheraunce, to obtain the coveted 
 tenement. 
 
 The high seat of Corage is now approached by Willing-to- 
 win-worship, a courtier who is in dire need of money. Corage 
 impresses his favorite motto upon this new pupil, advising him 
 not to be too nice in the selection of his paths toward courtly 
 advancement. Hurtfull-helpe and Fayned-furtheraunce reappear. 
 They are introduced to Willing-to-win-worship under their as- 
 sumed names, and agree to further his ambitions on consideration 
 of a fee. 
 
 When the courtly employer and his two servants depart on 
 their errand, Corage is again visited by Greedinesse, whom he 
 tells that Neighbourhood and the courtier are looking for him 
 on matters of business. Greedinesse, scenting profit, hurries out 
 to find them. Corage himself departs to look up some of his 
 " schollers," and during his absence the tenant who has been 
 ejected in favor of No-good-Neighbourhood comes in with bitter 
 complaints on the hardness of the times. He wonders where he 
 can find Christianitye, and decides to follow up this search as his 
 one remaining hope of receiving fair treatment in the world. 
 
 When the unhappy tenant goes out, Corage reappears and 
 resumes his seat as judicial adviser for the whole world. He is 
 now approached by "the mayd, Willfull Wanton," who yearns 
 for a husband, — apparently an unholy desire. Corage urges 
 her to disobey her mother, who is virtuously opposed to the 
 idea of marriage, and to get a husband at all costs, since " the 
 tyde taryeth no man." Willfull Wanton departs, much embold- 
 ened by this advice. Then the three subordinates of Corage 
 troop in to report progress and to exult over the gains from 
 their lucrative traffic. 
 
I90 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 When the businesslike Corage has sent his helpers back to 
 their duties, he is visited by Wastefullnesse, the husband of 
 Wantonnesse, the former "' mayd Willfull Wanton," now happy 
 in the possession of a husband and a more satisfactory name. 
 Corage reminds his caller that " the tyde taryeth no man," and 
 advises him to be no niggard with his wealth. Wastefullnesse is 
 exhibiting his confidence in the soundness of this advice when 
 suddenly his wife, Wantonnesse, rushes in and casts bitter re- 
 proaches on him for his neglect of her. Corage, in the office of 
 mediator, again applies the ever-ready motto, urging them to 
 take their pleasure while they are young enough to enjoy it, and 
 the husband and wife go away lovingly together. 
 
 The stage is now cleared for the interposition of a short scene 
 which has only the most general connection with the rest of the 
 play. The Sergeant is shown leading the Debtor off to jail. He 
 shows a readiness to accept a bribe from his prisoner, but the 
 Debtor refuses to free himself in this dishonest manner, and is 
 hurried away to custody. 
 
 Christianitye now appears, bearing a sword with "Pollicy" 
 written on one side and " God's word " on the other, also a 
 shield with " Riches " on one side and " Fayth " on the other. 
 He laments that through the greediness of people he is forced 
 to show his sword and shield with the titles " Pollicy " and 
 " Riches." Faythfull-few enters, greets Christianitye lovingly, 
 and turns the titles, though Christianitye warns him : " You 
 faithful in number are few." The experiment is no sooner 
 tried than Greedinesse enters with his master Corage, and 
 after a hot argument with Faythfull-few compels Christianitye 
 to turn his weapons again. Then the whole company leaves the 
 stage, Faythfull-few assuring his friend and master that he will 
 strive to right his weapons in the near future, 
 
 Wastefullnesse comes in, poorly clad and bewailing the fact 
 that he and his wife are compelled to separate and seek their 
 
THE TYDE TARYETH NO MAN 19 1 
 
 livings. Dispayre joins him and urges him, in rather impressive 
 language, to make an end of his life. 
 
 Thy prodigall sinnes are so manifold 
 
 That God of mercy doth thee utterly denay, 
 
 Therefore, to ende thy life it is best. 
 
 Thy calling for mercy is all but in vayne ; 
 
 By ending thy life thou shalt be at rest ; 
 
 But if longer thou live great shall be thy payne. 
 
 Wastefullnesse accepts the advice, and is on his way out to kill 
 himself '" with cord or with knyfe," when Faythfull-few rushes 
 up and restrains him. Then the latter kneels down and prays 
 with the unfortunate Wastefullnesse, and together they beseech 
 God to banish Dispayre, who " fiyeth " as the petition is offered 
 up. Faythfull-few instructs Wastefullnesse to " scan " the motto 
 "Tyde taryeth no man" "after God's will," and sends him back 
 to his wife with fresh strength. 
 
 The decline of the Vices is now indicated by the mournful 
 appearance of Corage, who enters weeping for the death of 
 Greedinesse. Faythfull-few and Authority follow, looking for 
 Corage, who makes violent efforts to escape.' But Correction 
 comes in to aid in the arrest, and to him the Vice is handed 
 over for punishment. Christianitye now joins his friends ; 
 Faythfull-few turns his weapons to show " God's word " and 
 "' Fayth " ; and the play ends with prayers on the part of 
 Christianitye and Faythfull-few that the weapons may never 
 again be reversed. 
 
 Some of the characters here, such as Fayned-furtheraunce 
 and No-good-Neighbourhood, stagger under the weight of most 
 oppressive names. Though we find in Magnyfycence such char- 
 acters as Counterfet Countenaunce and Courtly Abusyon, and 
 in the later Morality All for Money such pretentious figures aS, 
 Prest-for-Pleasure and Learning-without-Money, the authors of 
 English Moralities prefer, in general, simplicity of nomenclature. 
 
192 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 However, if the author of The Tyde Taryeth No Man was ac- 
 quainted — as it seems very probable that he was — with the 
 earher French Morahties, he could parallel his figures with 
 such involved abstractions as Desperation-de-Pardon, Honte-de- 
 dire-ses-pechies, Crainte-de-faire-penitence, and Esperance-de- 
 longue-vie,^ and could justly pride himself on his self-restraint. 
 
 But if the author of the present play is to be credited with a 
 somewhat doubtful moderation in the length of names, he must 
 at least be denounced as utterly reckless in assigning abstract 
 names to type figures. Greedinesse, Wantonnesse, Wastefull- 
 nesse, and No-good-Neighbourhood, though abstractions in 
 name, are in reality types of wrongdoers, each of whom is 
 especially addicted to the kind of wrongdoing that his name 
 implies : Greedinesse is the man actuated by greed of wealth, 
 Wantonnesse is the wanton young woman who lusts for pleas- 
 ure, Wastefullnesse is the careless and wasteful young man, and 
 No-good-Neighbourhood is the bad neighbor. But since we are 
 governed in our classifications by the internal evidence of the 
 play, we must note a fragment of contradictory evidence as to the 
 nature of the most important of these types, namely, Greedinesse. 
 
 As Corage is sitting in council, Greedinesse, his friend and 
 disciple, enters in a rather perturbed state of mind. He has 
 been reproached for his lack of good citizenship, and his drowsy 
 conscience has almost been stirred by the reproach. 
 
 As I walked along through the streate, 
 By such wayes as mine affayres did lie, 
 It was my chance with a preacher to meete, 
 Whose company to have I did not deny : 
 And as we two together did walke, 
 Amongest other communication we had, 
 The preacher brake out with reprocheable talk, 
 Saying that we cittizens were all to bad. 
 Some of us, he sayeth, are greedy guttes all, 
 And evill members of the common welth.^ 
 
 1 In UHomvie Pechenr (acted 1509). ^ P. 16. 
 
THE TYDE TARYETH NO MAN 193 
 
 Greedinesse, therefore, in his eagerness for gain, is an " evill 
 member of the common welth," or, in the picturesque figurative 
 phrase of the preacher, a " greedy gutte," the type of person 
 that every well-informed American of to-day will easily recognize. 
 Greedinesse again sounds a modern note in the ease with which 
 he stills the half-audible murmurings of his conscience under 
 the direction of the master Vice, Corage ; and, to complete the 
 comparison, Greedinesse assumes the name Welthinesse. 
 
 So far, then, Greedinesse is undeniably a type ; but later in the 
 play the author seems to become disturbed at having presented 
 a figure with an abstract designation as a consistent type. Corage 
 enters weeping for the death of his friend, and thus soliloquizes : 
 
 Why, but is Greedinesse dead in good sadness ? 
 
 {Reasoning with himself \ 
 My thinkes these newes are not true which you tell, 
 Yes, truly, he dyed in a great madnesse. 
 And went with boate straight into Hell. 
 Why, foole, Greedines will never dye. 
 So long as covetous people do live. 
 
 I am sure he is dead, or one of his likenesse. 
 
 For when he was buryed I stood by. 
 
 And some sayd he dyed of the new sicknesse.^ 
 
 This is a very curious soliloquy, and I am at a loss to explain it. 
 It may be that the author took this method to explain what is 
 more obvious without such a clumsy explanation, that is, that 
 Greedinesse is not what his name suggests, but a type figure. 
 He can hardly have intended that his audience should interpret 
 this as a real doubt on the part of Corage. The Vices are never 
 fooled as to the identity of the characters with whom they come 
 in contact. But whatever purpose the above soliloquy may have 
 been intended to serve, the conclusion is inevitable, — Greedi- 
 nesse is an indefatigable seeker after wealth, who has come to 
 
 a miserable end. 
 
 1 p. 77. 
 
194 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The real personifications of evil are Corage, Hurtfull-helpe, 
 Paynted-profite, and Fayned-furtheraunce. Corage, the leader, 
 represents vice in general, while the other three are of an un- 
 usual kind, representing evil influences in the world instead of 
 human vices. If we remove the qualifying words from each of 
 the names — as the owners of the names do for themselves — 
 we have left the names of the three influences which these char- 
 acters seem to exert in favor of the human beings with whom 
 they come in contact. The first represents the help that worldly- 
 minded people seek in their efforts for advancement, the hurt- 
 fulness of which they do not realize ; the second represents 
 worldly profit, the evil of which is painted over, or disguised ; 
 and the third stands for earthly advancement, which, though a 
 strong influence with people of mercenary minds, is only a snare 
 to entrap them to their downfall. Hurtfull-helpe's own explana- 
 tion of his tactics is worth quoting, as it indicates the regular 
 method employed by Vices here and elsewhere to delude their 
 human victims. 
 
 If men in me hurtfullnesse should know, 
 
 There are few or none that with me would deale : 
 
 Therefore this word hurtfulle I never reveale. 
 
 My name I fayne playne Helpe to be, 
 
 Wherefore ech man for helpe doth come unto me.^ 
 
 Christianitye is, of course, the chief representative of virtue, 
 and Faythf ull-few, a type figure, stands for the few Christians who 
 remain true to their religion. Authority and Correction, who ap- 
 pear only to confirm the final overthrow of vice at the close of the 
 play, represent the powers of good law and morality. Dispayre is 
 the Agent of Retribution who appears frequently in the Moralities 
 to punish type figures who have consorted too long with Vices. 
 
 There is no necessity now of going into details to outline the 
 interpretation of the allegory step by step. The general meaning 
 
 1 Pp. 8-9. 
 
ALL FOR MONEY 195 
 
 is that people who make worldly wealth and advancement their 
 object in life are following a delusion. They struggle on, think- 
 ing it necessary to grasp opportunities as they come, when sud- 
 denly they are overtaken by death or give way to despair ; and 
 it is fortunate for them if they are brought to their senses in 
 time to turn to Christianity. In this mad rush for pleasure and 
 advancement Christianity is neglected or, worse still, is employed 
 for purposes of policy. But there are always a faithful few who 
 follow religion sincerely and with faith ; and these few are able, 
 when the law assists them, to overthrow the reign of vice and 
 to cause their religion to be embraced. 
 
 In All For Money} the last play of this class, the sole pur- 
 pose is to show the power and the evil of money. The text is 
 not cited in full, but one does not need to go far to find what 
 is implied, — "' The love of money is the root of all evil." The 
 play is not so grimly earnest as the last Morality discussed. 
 There is a good deal of rough humor in William's perplexity 
 over the management of his two wives, in Sinne's teasing of 
 Satan, and in the latter's " roaring and crieing " lest Sinne will 
 desert him. There is also a pervasive satiric tone which allies 
 the play closely with TJie Three Ladies of London, and which 
 gives it a sort of relish almost completely lacking in The Tyde 
 Taryeth No Man. 
 
 Some of the names here are more involved and more preten- 
 tious than the best — or worst — of those in The Tyde Taryeth 
 No Man. Prest-for-Pleasure and Swift-to-Sinne are compara- 
 tively innocent ; Learning-without-Money and Money-without- 
 Learning are conceptions that can be understood without much 
 effort; but Neyther-Money-nor- Learning is nothing. That is evi- 
 dent. But what particular variety of nothing is he } As a type 
 figure he could be understood, but as a personified abstraction 
 
 1 Ed. by Ernst Vogel in the Shakespeare Jahrbuch, XL. The play was 
 written by T. Lupton, and was printed 1578. 
 
196 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 he launches the imagination out into darkest space. And when 
 we find a simple individual scarcely worth noticing bowed down 
 under the title " William- with-the-two- Wives " we must conclude 
 that the author consciously adopted the "P>ench guise " and used 
 long names for their own sake.^ 
 
 The Prologue has a long preamble on the evils of money. 
 From his point of view there is scarcely a vice or crime on the 
 whole list that may not, in some way, be traced to the damning 
 influence of pelf. However, he concludes rather obviously, 
 money is not necessarily an evil in itself. It is an evil be- 
 cause we use it for evil purposes, and it could, conceivably, 
 be a source of good, just as 
 
 we may cut our necessaries and meate with our knyfe 
 Wherewith many have cut their owne throtes and bereved them of their life. 
 
 After this cheerful simile has cleared away the lingering cob- 
 webs of misapprehension, the Prologue winds up his speech by 
 remarking that the " pleasant tragedie " that is to follow has 
 been constructed because people are so greedy of money. He 
 hopes that people may thereby amend their faults, then retires. 
 Theologie, Science, and Arte enter in succession, and each 
 makes his solemn plaint that he is sought for money instead of 
 for his own sake. After their departure Money comes in exult- 
 ing that he is worshipped and served by all classes of men, 
 from the lord to the apprentice. This potent ruler is joined by 
 Adulation, who greets him with esteem and affection, and as- 
 sures him that all his labors are for the sake of Money. While 
 the two friends are exchanging confidences Money is suddenly 
 taken sick. Mischievous Helpe comes in to wait on him, and 
 with the aid of this attendant Money succeeds in vomiting up 
 a full-grown son. Pleasure. The new-born Pleasure has hardly 
 time to give an account of his place in the scheme of things 
 when he, in his turn, becomes sick also, and obtains relief only 
 
 1 See p. 192, above. 
 
ALL FOR MONEY 197 
 
 when, with the assistance of Prest-for-Pleasure, he vomits up a 
 
 lusty offspring, Sinne. The hne is not yet complete. Sinne is 
 
 taken with violent pains, Swift-to-Sinne is hurriedly called in, 
 
 and with his aid Sinne gives birth to Damnation. 
 
 It soon becomes evident that Sinne is the interesting member 
 
 of this fertile family. In other words, he is the chief Vice of 
 
 the play. The others retire and leave him to amuse the audience 
 
 with an account of his influential position in the world of affairs. 
 
 He is finally interrupted by Satan, who comes in shouting with 
 
 joy over the enlargement of his kingdom through the efforts of 
 
 Money and Pleasure. Sinne immediately takes a stand upon his 
 
 dignity. Then, he infers, 
 
 I and my son Damnation be no bodie with you, 
 Sinne and Damnation belike bring a man to heaven ! 
 Is thy kingdom diminished through us, thinkest thou ? 
 
 Howe can Money and Pleasure bring men into hell 
 Without Sinne and Damnation, Sir good face, me tell ? 
 
 Since he is of no service he may as well retire. But here Satan 
 sets up a lamentable roaring, and tearfully beseeches Sinne to 
 remain with him lest his kingdom decay through his ancient 
 enemy Jesus. Sinne has not the slightest intention of deserting 
 Satan, but he has obtained a hold over the latter which he does 
 not fail to utilize, when the mood seizes him, to the production 
 of roars of dismay. The Devil calls in Pride and Gluttonie to 
 help him conciliate the offended Sinne, who finally allows him- 
 self to be pacified, and consents to remain. 
 
 In the next scene there is a convocation of several not very 
 interesting persons, Leaming-with-Money, Learning-without- 
 Money, Money-without-Learning,and Neyther-Money-nor-Leam- 
 ing. There is a great deal of explanation and discussion, but 
 the chief feature of the scene is a debate between Leaming- 
 without-Money and Money-without-Learning on their respective 
 merits. The former makes use of his particular stock-in-trade 
 
198 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 to swamp his less intellectual rival with learned arguments, and 
 Money-without-Learning is compelled to take refuge in the 
 conviction, 
 
 If I should diminishe my money but one grote, 
 I should not be quiet these two days, I wote. 
 
 When this argumentative group retires, Money comes in, puffing 
 with fatigue. He is so much in demand that he cannot over- 
 take all his duties, and finds that he must have a helper. His 
 grandson Sinne joins him, and, learning his need, proclaims 
 that he has a friend 
 
 who has such a minde and great love to money 
 That he will doe anie thing for you by and by. 
 
 Then All-for-Money comes in, " apparelled like a ruler or mag- 
 istrate," and receives his instructions. He is to take the place 
 of Money, and the latter gives him explicit directions as to the 
 persons he shall favor. 
 
 What suters so ever come to crave your ayde, 
 If they come from me let them not be delay de. 
 Whatever their matter be, have thereto no regarde, 
 For if they come from me they will you well rewarde. 
 
 All-for-Money promises to be faithful to his charge, and his 
 patron departs, leaving him in the judgment-seat, with Sinne 
 in attendance. Then a succession of people troop in and im- 
 plore help from the magistrate, and he dispenses his favors 
 strictly and consistently on the basis of recommendation from 
 Money. Gregorie Graceless is in danger of hanging for his 
 thefts, but he carries his token of the friendliness of Money, 
 and he is sent away pardoned. William-with-the-two- Wives has 
 married one woman for money and another for love, and now 
 he wishes to be rid of the first one while retaining her goods. 
 William has been recommended by Money, so the magistrate 
 arranges to suborn witnesses who will swear falsely and rid the 
 
ALL FOR MONEY 199 
 
 husband of his undesirable wife. Nichol-never-out-of-the-lawe 
 comes in to complain of a poor wretch who has a bit of land 
 which adjoins his own estate, and which he himself is anxious 
 to have. On presenting his credentials Nichol is assured that 
 he shall have the protection of the law in robbing his poor 
 neighbor. Sir Lawrence Livingless, an ignorant priest who 
 does not know " Greke, Ebrewe, nor Latin," is rewarded with a 
 benefice on account of good standing with Money ; and for the 
 same reason old Mother Croote gets the promise of a couple 
 of witnesses to aid her in compelling a young man whom she 
 loves to marry her. On the other hand justice is sternly meted 
 out to Moneyless-and-Friendless, who has committed only the 
 petty offense of taking a few ragged clothes off a hedge. 
 
 When All-for-Money has filled his purse he retires, accom- 
 panied by Sinne. Then, as a last reminder of the baleful results 
 of the worship of money, Judas and Dives come in bewailing 
 the state to which they are reduced by their love of wealth. In 
 the midst of their complaints Damnation enters and drives them 
 off to hell. Then Godly Admonition, Vertue, Humilitie, and 
 Charitie end the play with the regular commendation of virtue. 
 
 The task now remains of sorting out the thirty-two characters, 
 ranging from Theologie, Science, and Arte, to Judas, Dives, and 
 Mother Croote. Lupton seems to have entered on his work with 
 the determination to drag in every type, individual, and abstrac- 
 tion that might serve to add an extra fragment of testimony on 
 the evils of money. As a consequence the majority of the thirty- 
 two appear only once to say their say, and then disappear, while 
 most of the action is carried on by about half-a-dozen figures. 
 
 Theologie, Science, and Arte need no explanation. They 
 appear only once, make their moan, and retire. Money, Pleas- 
 ure, Sinne, Pryde, and Gluttonie are the Vices of the play, 
 while Damnation, the offspring of Sinne, is an Agent of 
 Retribution. Adulation and Mischievous Helpe are also on 
 
200 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 the side of evil ; they are not active Vices, but simply attend- 
 ants upon Money. Vertue, Humilitie, and Charitie are the Vir- 
 tues, and Godly Admonition represents a force on the side of 
 goodness ; but these four appear only at the close of the play 
 to drive the moral home. There is no contest between Virtues 
 and Vices, and no human hero to strive for ; the play is sim- 
 ply a presentation of wickedness and its punishment. Conse- 
 quently the Virtues and Vices are regarded, not as personal 
 qualities, but in the wider sense of influences at work in 
 the world. 
 
 Learning-with-Money, Learning-without-Money, Money-with- 
 out-Learning, and Neyther-Money-nor-Learning are personified 
 abstractions, not very consistently conceived, who are pressed 
 into service for the sake of a scene which culminates in a de- 
 bate on the comparative merits of money and learning. This 
 ends the list of abstractions. 
 
 The last statement might possibly be challenged, since the 
 important figure AU-for-Money still remains. There is no help 
 to be got from the name itself. In this respect All-for-Money is 
 inscrutable. But his actions are, on the whole, those of a type 
 figure rather than of a personified abstraction. He sits in the 
 judgment-seat, "apparelled like a ruler or magistrate," and de- 
 livers his verdicts in favor of those who can pay most for them. 
 This method of behavior would not harmonize with any abstrac- 
 tion suggested by the name, and we are safe enough in regard- 
 ing All-for-Money as the type of corrupt rulers and magistrates. 
 
 Prest-f or- Pleasure, Swift-to-Sinne, Moneyles-and-Friendles, 
 and Moneyles are type figures, sufficiently described by their ex- 
 haustive titles to go without further comment. Gregorie Grace- 
 less, Sir Lawrence Livingless, William-with-the-two- Wives, ^ and 
 
 ^ I do not insist that William is to be narrowed down to the type of man 
 that marries two wives. He must be given more scope than that; and, in any 
 case, his descriptive title universalizes him more or less. 
 
ALL FOR MONEY 201 
 
 Nichol-never-out-of-the-Lawe are also types, less highly univer- 
 salized than the others. Finally, Judas, Dives, and Mother 
 Croote range themselves at the foot of the symbolic ladder on 
 the plane of individualization. 
 
 The following interpretation must, of course, be merely a 
 series of remarks connected only by their bearing on the text, 
 and having no real logical sequence or organization : When 
 money becomes the great object of life all sorts of evils re- 
 sult. Theology, science, and art, which should be studied for 
 their own sakes, are converted into means for obtaining wealth, 
 and people forget that learning without money is far more de- 
 sirable than money without learning. Wealth procures pleas- 
 ures which are sinful and which lead to eternal damnation. 
 The rulers and magistrates are infected with these mercenary 
 desires, and use their power simply as a means for amassing 
 wealth, with the result that judgments are given in favor of 
 those who can pay most for them, while the poor man is ruth- 
 lessly punished for the smallest offenses. People should remem- 
 ber the fate of Judas and of Dives, who in this life obtained 
 money at the expense of Christian virtue and are now suffer- 
 ing in hell for it. To avoid such an end we must listen to 
 God's admonition, and practise virtue, humility, and charity in 
 our lives. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MORALITIES DEALING WITH THE SUMMONS 
 OF DEATH 
 
 The Summons of Death is made the motive in only two 
 plays, The Pryde of Lyfe and Everyman, though it appears in 
 The Castle of Perseverance} that great storehouse of Morality 
 motives, and also in the nineteenth play of the Coventry Cycle 
 {The Slaughter of the Innocents)? Of course there is no tell- 
 ing how many plays of this class may have been written, acted, 
 and forgotten ; but judging by the numbers of each class that 
 have come down to us, — which should preserve the original 
 ratio fairly well, — one naturally asks why a motive which is 
 made so tremendously effective in Everyman should have been 
 so little in vogue. But our standards of effectiveness do not 
 necessarily coincide with those of the playwright and audi- 
 ence of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Morality is 
 primarily a bit of practical teaching, designed to warn men, by 
 precept and by example, from a life of viciousness, and to lead 
 them to a life of sobriety and virtue. Death and the life be- 
 yond enter into the discussion comparatively seldom ; the play- 
 wright assumes, with some show of reason, that if the present 
 life is well conducted the life beyond the grave will look after 
 itself. I fancy, too, that the extreme solemnity of death scenes 
 did not much appeal to the average spectator, but that he pre- 
 ferred to leave the play with a pleasant and renewable determi- 
 nation to live in virtue rather than with a sombre realization of 
 the imminence of death. 
 
 1 See p. 63, above. ^ See p. 30, above. 
 202 
 
THE PRYDE OF LYFE 203 
 
 The Pryde of Lyfe ^ remains now only as a fragment, but 
 fortunately this fragment consists of the first part of the play ; 
 and the unusually long and descriptive prologue outlines the 
 action from beginning to end. The hero is presented in two 
 aspects ; first, allegorically, as a king, accompanied by his queen 
 and subjects, who is finally vanquished by a rival king ; second, 
 literally, as the typical human being, with typical qualities, who 
 at length must succumb to death .^ 
 
 When the Prologue has outlined the play, the Kyng of Lyfe 
 enters and exults in his strength and power. He is ruler over 
 all lands, and no one dares to oppose him. His two soldiers, 
 Streinth and Hele, flatter him and confirm him in this Herod- 
 like opinion of himself. But his queen, who is wiser than he, 
 begs him to think of mortality : 
 
 thinke, thou haddist beginninge, 
 Qwhen thou were i-bore : 
 & bot thou mak god endinge 
 thi sowle is fforlore. 
 
 This strikes the King as being the merest foolishness. He 
 upbraids his queen for her fanciful language, and demands to 
 know if she wishes his death so that she may " have a new." 
 The Queen, however, holds stoutly to her point. She insists on 
 the power of Deth, the great conqueror, and on the perishable- 
 ness of things of this world. The King then turns confidently 
 to his two soldiers, and asks their opinion of his power to com- 
 bat this rival monarch : 
 
 streinth & hele, qwat sey ye, 
 my kinde, kornin knightes? 
 schal deth be lord ouer me 
 & reve me of mightes? 
 
 1 Edited by Alois Brandl in Quellen des weltlichen Dramas in England. 
 The date of the play is not known, but it is usually placed about as early as 
 the Castle of Perseverance. 
 
 2 Cf. New Custom (p. 46, etc.) for the same sort of treatment. 
 
204 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 They assure him that Deth shall not harm him while they are 
 in his service. Then, for a further bolstering up of his pride, he 
 sends for Mirth, his messenger, and lays the case before him. 
 Mirth answers with even more assurance than the two soldiers, 
 and for this he is warmly commended by the King, who prom- 
 ises to advance him and give him " the erldom of kente." 
 
 The Queen then secretly despatches Mirth for the Bishop, 
 to save her lord. The Bishop comes at Mirth's bidding and 
 preaches a sermon on the vices of the day, ending with a 
 special warning to the King ; but the latter rewards his serv- 
 ices with railing and scorn, and finally orders him home. The 
 Bishop goes with a last warning that Deth will come very soon 
 and deal to the King his death-wound. 
 
 The King now determines to settle the question of supremacy 
 by an actual encounter with this mighty Deth. He summons 
 Mirth and sends him with a challenge 
 
 Of deth & of his maistrye 
 Qwher he durst com in sighte, 
 Ogeynis me & my meyne 
 with fforce & armes to flfighte. 
 
 Mirth starts off confidently, and here the manuscript comes to 
 an abrupt end. But the sequel, as indicated by the Prologue, is 
 this : Deth comes to the land, slays people right and left, and 
 finally encounters the Kyng of Lyfe in "a sterne strife." The 
 outcome of the encounter is that Deth drives the King to the 
 earth and gives him his mortal wound. Then an intercession 
 scene is indicated for the close of the play, where "cure lady 
 mylde" prays her " son so mylde " for the soul of the dead King. 
 Rex, or the Kyng of Lyfe, is the representative of mankind, 
 — the human hero, who always figures where this motive is 
 used. Regina cannot be shown to serve any special purpose 
 allegorically. When we regard the literal aspect of the play she 
 is simply the thoughtful wife of a reckless and boastful king ; 
 
THE PRYDE OF LYFE 205 
 
 but when we return to the allegory she cannot be regarded as the 
 typical wife, nor, on the other hand, does she stand for wisdom 
 or prudence. It is, I think, simply a case of an author's having 
 two purposes in mind : one to construct an allegory of life and 
 death, the other to present an over-confident king, like Herod, 
 with his natural companions ; and the latter purpose comes in at 
 times and crowds out the former. Regina could easily be taken 
 as the type of wise companion or counsellor, though there is 
 nothing in the presentation that will warrant attaching more sig- 
 nificance to her than I have indicated. Episcopus, or the Bishop, 
 is merely a bishop or, if you like, a type of the spiritual adviser. 
 
 Streinth, Hele (Health), and Mirth, the servants of the human 
 hero, represent human qualities. They are not on the side either 
 of vice or of virtue, and it is not necessary that personifications 
 should be on either in this class of plays, where there is no strug- 
 gle to win the hero to a life of virtue or of vice. Streinth and 
 Hele require no explanation, but Mirth is not quite so obvious 
 a character. He stands, apparently, for high spirits, the joy of 
 living which accompanies health and strength. Deth completes 
 the list of figures in the play. 
 
 The interpretation is necessarily much broken up by the in- 
 complete state of the manuscript, but the remaining portion can 
 be explained thus : Man, exulting in his health and strength, 
 laughs at the idea of death. His high spirits make him feel 
 that he could ward off death by his own power. It is in vain 
 that he is warned by friends and spiritual advisers that death 
 comes to all men sooner or later ; and finally his pride becomes 
 so great that he rails at and abuses anyone who dares to suggest 
 such an idea to him. In a spirit of mirth he wantonly runs a 
 mortal risk, and (to proceed by the flickering light of the pro- 
 logue), after a hard struggle in which his boasted health, strength, 
 and spirits avail him nothing, he succumbs. He has no merit 
 of his own to save him from eternal punishment for his pride 
 
2o6 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 on earth, and it is only by the intercession of the Virgin Mary 
 with her Son that his soul is received into heaven. 
 
 The other play of this class is Everyman} the best known of 
 all the Moralities, — or, to dispense with understatements, the 
 only Morality that is generally known. Everyman is to be 
 grouped with The Castle of Perseverance, and, as far as one 
 can judge, with The Pryde of Lyfe, by the tone of restrained 
 pathos, by the power to excite the emotions of pity and terror, 
 which these three plays possess in common, and which mark 
 them off from all other English Moralities. And among these 
 three there is no question of supremacy. The Castle of Per- 
 severance is marred, from this point of view, by a good deal of 
 claptrap and roaring of devils ; The Pryde of Lyfe presents a 
 king who at first repels our sympathy by his extravagant boast- 
 ing ; but Everyman is sombre and restrained from the begin- 
 ning in both speech and action^ and the hero, as he goes to 
 obey the summons of Death, takes on a human interest and a 
 tragic pathos that make him unique among Morality figures. 
 
 After a short summary of the action by the Messenger, God 
 speaks alone, lamenting the condition of men and the poor re- 
 turn they make Him for His sacrifice. They are so led astray 
 by worldly riches that He must now deal out justice to them. 
 Having thus decided He calls Death, " His mighty messenger," 
 and instructs him to go to Everyman with a summons to depart 
 on a pilgrimage, taking a " sure reckoning " with him. Death 
 delivers his message, and Everyman is at first completely non- 
 plussed by the strangeness of the demand. But the messenger 
 tells him explicitly what he must hasten to do. 
 
 On thee thou must take a long journey, 
 Therefore thy book of count with thee thou bring, 
 For turn again thou cannot by no way : 
 And look thou be sure of thy reckoning ; 
 
 ^ Dodsley, Vol. I . The play was printed bef ore 1 53 1 , but is of uncertain date. 
 
EVERYMAN 207 
 
 For before God thou shalt answer and show 
 Thy many bad deeds, and good but a few, 
 How thou hast spent thy life, and in what wise, 
 Before the chief lord of paradise. 
 
 Everyman confesses that he is not ready to yield a reckoning 
 on such short notice, but thinks that if he had "twelve year" 
 in which to make preparation he could get his accounts perfectly 
 clear. Death, however, will listen to no such stipulations, and 
 denies even the humble request for a respite until the morrow. 
 Then Everyman inquires piteously if he will be allowed to "come 
 again shortly," providing he makes this pilgrimage and delivers 
 his reckoning. " What ! " exclaims Death, " Weenest thou thy 
 life is given thee, and thy worldly goods also ? " "I had weened 
 so, verily," answers Everyman. " Nay, nay," Death assures him, 
 
 it was but lend thee ; 
 For, as soon as thou art gone, 
 Another awhile shall have it, and then go therefro, 
 Even as thou hast done. 
 
 So Everyman, bowed down with grief, resigns himself to the 
 stern necessity of complying with the summons of Death, and 
 seeks about for friends to accompany him on this dreaded pil- 
 grimage. He first repairs to Fellowship, who marvels at his 
 appearance of sorrow, and demands heartily to know what he 
 can do for his friend. Everyman tells him of Death's order, 
 and beseeches him to come on the lonely journey. But this is 
 not what Fellowship expected. He flatly refuses to take the pil- 
 grimage. " And yet " he adds, 
 
 if thou wilt eat and drink, and make good cheer, 
 Or haunt to women the lusty company, 
 I would not forsake you. 
 
 Leaving the fickle Fellowship to his pleasures, Everyman 
 turns to Kindred and Cousin, comforting himself that here, at 
 least, he will find constant friends, " for kind will creep where 
 
208 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 it may not go." Kindred and Cousin greet him lovingly and 
 urge him to make any request that he may have in mind ; and 
 Cousin adds, " wot ye well, we will live and die together." 
 Thus reassured, Everyman asks them to go with him on his 
 long journey and help him to render his account. But Kindred 
 declines, offering to send his maid instead, and Cousin is seized 
 with a sudden cramp in the toe. Everyman turns away from 
 them almost in despair. There is now but one left of all the 
 friends who have accompanied him thus far in life. He reflects : 
 
 Yet in my mind a thing there is : 
 All my life I have loved riches ; 
 If that my Goods now help me might, 
 It would make my heart full light. 
 
 Goods appears on the summons and assures his friend that he 
 can bring him remedy for any sorrow or adversity in the world. 
 Everyman replies that his sorrow is not of this world, but is 
 caused by the necessity of yielding an account " before the 
 highest Jupiter of all " ; and, since money '* maketh all right 
 that is wrong," he has come for his friend Goods to accompany 
 him before the seat of God. " Nay, nay, Everyman," answers 
 Goods, "I sing another song; I follow no man in such voy- 
 ages." He explains to the dismayed Everyman that it would 
 only make things worse for him if they should go together. 
 Since he. Goods, has made the account "blotted and blind" 
 he is hardly the one to call upon now to make it clear. And, 
 he continues, he does not belong to Everyman, but was only 
 lent to him for a while. " I had weened otherwise," answers 
 Everyman with pathetic simplicity, and in utter despair turns 
 to Good Deeds, whom he has neglected for years. She answers 
 him weakly : 
 
 Here I lie cold in the ground ; 
 Thy sins have me so sore bound 
 That I cannot stir. 
 
EVERYMAN 209 
 
 Everyman begs her for counsel in his sore need, and she tells 
 him that, though she is too weak to perform the journey her- 
 self, she has a sister called Knowledge who will be true to him 
 and assist him to make the dread reckoning. Knowledge enters, 
 promises to abide with him, and leads him to Confession, who 
 gives him a scourge called Penance. Everyman confesses his 
 sins with grief and uses the scourge on his body, after which 
 Good Deeds is able to stand up and go with him. In prepara- 
 tion for the journey Knowledge gives him the garment [of sor- 
 row, called Contrition, and the sisters direct him to summon 
 Discretion, Strength, Beauty, and Five Wits to counsel him 
 upon the way. He assembles these counsellors, and they all 
 agree to go, promising to stand by their master forever. 
 
 Thus the whole company proceeds on the pilgrimage, with 
 Everyman leading. But soon he becomes so faint that he can 
 walk no farther, and must creep into a cave to rest ; whereat 
 Beauty starts to leave him and, to his despairing appeal to her, 
 answers that she would not remain "and thou wouldst give me 
 all the gold in thy chest." Strength also asserts, " The game 
 liketh me not at all," and takes his departure, followed by Dis- 
 cretion. Last of all. Five Wits decides to leave, untouched by 
 Everyman's final appeal, " I took you for my best friend." 
 
 Of all his earthly companions only Knowledge and Good 
 Deeds now remain ; and Knowledge warns him that, although 
 she will not forsake him before death "for no manner of danger," 
 yet she can follow him no further. Everyman grows weaker 
 every moment, and at last, commending his spirit into the hands 
 of God, he dies. Knowledge hears the singing of angels, and 
 rejoices that Everyman's soul has been received into bliss. Then 
 an angel appears and summons Good Deeds to follow the soul 
 of her master to heaven. 
 
 Everyman, Fellowship, Kindred, and Cousin, the type fig- 
 ures of the play, having been discussed thoroughly in an earlier 
 
2IO THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 chapter,! ^eed no further comment here. Beauty, Strength, 
 Knowledge, Discretion, and Five Wits are personifications of a 
 different order. Goods represents earthly riches ; Good Deeds, 
 the charitable acts performed by Man during life; and Con- 
 fession, the sacrament of confession and absolution. None of 
 the other figures needs explanation. 
 
 The play is an allegory of mankind in the presence of death. 
 Man, seeing that his end is near, realizes with deep sorrow that 
 his worldly possessions and the friends and kinsmen whom he 
 loved so deeply must be left behind. He knows that he must 
 yield a reckoning, before the throne of God, of his life here on 
 earth ; and though he has performed good deeds, yet his sins 
 have been so many that they overbalance the good. His only 
 reasonable course now is to make full confession of his sins and 
 pray for absolution. Having performed this he undergoes pen- 
 ance and is filled with sorrow and contrition for the evil he has 
 done. Thus his spirit is purified, and the good deeds of his life 
 stand out more clearly. As he approaches death his strength, 
 his intelligence, and lastly his faculties desert him. The soul 
 leaves the body, and, by virtue of the good deeds done on earth, 
 is received into heaven. 
 
 1 See pp. 5-8, above. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MORALITIES DEALING WITH RELIGIOUS AND 
 POLITICAL CONTROVERSY 
 
 Several of the Moralities already considered have shown 
 strong controversial tendencies, but the fact that they are 
 modelled after conventional Morality schemes — the contro- 
 versial element coming in only as a secondary consideration — 
 made it more reasonable to treat them under the classes to 
 which those schemes belong. But there are three plays (strictly 
 speaking, two plays and a half-play) which, while conforming 
 in all essentials to the general definition of the Morality, are 
 avowedly and primarily controversial in tone. Their sole aim is 
 to expose and correct national abuses. All the other Moralities 
 make it their chief aim to preach morality to mankind in general, 
 though several of them have also a satiric bearing on national 
 affairs. But the three plays of the present class have nothing 
 to do with a general inculcation of morality, and would only be 
 hampered by adopting the conventional schemes which pre- 
 suppose this purpose. They have to do with national problems 
 of religion and politics, and employ great freedom of allegorical 
 plot in order to exhibit these problems in all possible aspects. 
 These three plays are The Satyre of the Thrie Estaites, Part II 
 (a complete play in itself). King Johan, and Respublica. 
 
 The Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaites has already been 
 treated in part.^ The first section of the play presents the 
 human hero, who goes through the regular stages of State of 
 Goodness, Fall from Grace, Life in Sin, and Final Conversion. 
 
 1 See pp. 87 ff., above. 
 211 
 
212 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 This section having been treated in its regular place with 
 Class I, b, it now remains to discuss the second part of the 
 play, which follows a different scheme, or rather dispenses 
 altogether with a conventional scheme and devotes itself to a 
 vigorous attack on the political and religious evils of Scotland 
 shortly before the Reformation, with suggestions for reform. 
 
 In Part II the human hero. Rex Humanitas, drops into in- 
 significance. He takes his seat with the parliament, and when 
 his voice is heard it is on the side of right ; but with his final 
 conversion at the close of Part I he ceased to be an important 
 figure. Our interest from now on is centered upon the wranglings 
 of the " thrie estaites," including the various statements of 
 national abuses which, as a matter of fact, had much to do with 
 the religious revolution which was soon to follow. 
 
 The action begins with a proclamation of parliament by 
 Diligence. Then the three estates, represented by Spiritualitie, 
 Temporalitie, and the Merchand, come walking in backwards, 
 led by their Vices. They address the King and take their seats, 
 together with Gude Counsell and Correctioun. Then the King 
 makes a short speech, indicating that parliament is assembled 
 for the purpose of reforming abuses and bringing oppressors to 
 punishment " with help and counsell of King Correctioun." 
 Spiritualitie speaks up hastily and warns the king against any 
 sudden reforms. "The peopill of this Regioun," he argues, 
 " may nocht indure extreme correctioun." Then, with a stem 
 rebuke to the lords for attempting to hinder the progress of 
 reform, Correctioun sends Diligence out to proclaim that it is 
 the King's will that all who are in any way oppressed shall 
 come and make their grievance known. 
 
 At this invitation Johne the Common-weill rushes eagerly 
 forward, shouting : 
 
 Out of my gait, for God's saik let me ga : 
 Tell me againe, gude Master, quhat ye say, 
 
SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESTAITES, II 213 
 
 and when Diligence repeats his offer he responds fervently : 
 
 Thankit be Christ, that buir the crown of thorne, 
 For I was never sa blyth sen I was borne. 
 
 Diligence leads him over to the King, who learns his name, and 
 then enquires why he carries so sad a face. Johne replies that 
 it is because the three estates go backwards. The King has 
 heard this report before, and is anxious to know the names of 
 the Vices who lead the estates. Johne, who is perfectly familiar 
 with them, proceeds to explain : 
 
 Thair canker cullours, I ken them be the heads : 
 As for our reverent fathers of Spiritualitie, 
 They ar led be Covetice and cairles Sensualitie. 
 And 2& ye se Temporalitie has neid of correctioun, 
 Quhilk hes lang tyme bene led be Publick Oppressioun : 
 Loe ! quhair the loun lyis lurkand at his back ; 
 Get up, I think to se thy craig gar ane raip crack. 
 Loe ! heir is Falset, and Dissait, weill I ken, 
 Leiders of the Merchants and sillie crafts-men. 
 
 Johne demands that these Vices be put out, and Correctioun 
 orders the sergeant to lead them to the stocks. Then the doors 
 are closed and the session begins, with Johne the Common-weill 
 and Pauper guarding the doors. Gude Counsell states the main 
 grievance of Scotland, and Johne follows him up vigorously with 
 a more detailed account of the ignorance and oppressions of 
 the clergy. Correctioun then orders the three estates to em- 
 brace Johne and to promise him friendship and protection for 
 the future. Temporalitie and the Merchand consent, but Spirit- 
 ualitie refuses, thinking it unwise " in sic maters for to conclude 
 ouir haistilie." Then come Johne's more important charges of 
 sensuality, ignorance, and corruption among the spiritual lords. 
 Spiritualitie insults him and calls him a liar, and demands that 
 he shall be thrown out ; but he holds stoutly to his indictment, 
 and is backed up by Pauper and by Gude Counsell, who reads 
 
214 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 from Paul's epistle to Timothy on the subject. Veritie and Chas- 
 titie come up and add their accusations against the " Spirituall 
 Stait," and Veritie concludes : 
 
 My prudent Lords, I say, that pure craftsmen, 
 Abufe sum Prelats are mair for to commend : 
 Gar examine them, and sa ye sail sune ken 
 How thay, in vertew, Bischops dois transcend. 
 
 Then the Tailzour and the Sowtar are brought in and questioned 
 about their trades. They answer intelligently, showing that they 
 understand their vocations, whereas the spiritual lords have 
 demonstrated that they are entirely ignorant concerning theirs. 
 Gude Counsell breaks out into passionate appeal : 
 
 Lord, my God, this is an mervelous thing. 
 How sic misordour in this realme sould ring. 
 Sowtars and Tailzeours, thay are far mair expert 
 In thair pure craft, and in thair handie art. 
 Nor ar our Prelatis in thair vocatioun : 
 
 1 pray yow, Sirs, mak reformatioun. 
 
 Our attention is now distracted for a moment from the 
 wrangling of the three estates by the appearance of Common 
 Thift. He has heard of the promised corrections, and is in a 
 pitiful state of fear and anxiety to escape. As he passes the 
 stocks he is greeted by his old friend and master Oppressioun, 
 who is there detained. Oppressioun persuades him to take his 
 place in the stocks for half an hour, while he shall go to procure 
 relief for them both from Temporalitie. When the transference 
 has taken place Oppressioun starts off gaily, hinting that it will 
 be a long while before he and Common Thift will meet again ; 
 so the unfortunate Thift is left to bemoan the uneven distribution 
 of honor among thieves. 
 
 We return again to the doings in parliament. Diligence 
 brings in three " famous Clarks," who are welcomed by the 
 King and instructed about preaching by Correctioun. The 
 
SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESTAITES, II 215 
 
 spiritual lords are now questioned concerning their work. 
 Spiritualitie, answering first, shows that his conception of 
 the ghostly duties refers to the maintaining of "concubeins" 
 and the heaping up of wealth for his illegitimate children, 
 but has not the remotest connection with the spiritual welfare 
 of his people. Correctioun remarks : , 
 
 I wein'd your office had bene for til preich, 
 And God's law to the peopill teich. 
 
 The Abbot, the Person, and the Priores, when questioned, show 
 the same zeal for pleasure and profound ignorance of duty. 
 Correctioun tells the Doctour (one of the three Clarks) to 
 preach a short sermon on the duties of the clergy, and the 
 Doctour complies, to the complete mystification of Spiritualitie 
 and his friends. 
 
 The lords of the spiritual state are now despoiled of their 
 robes, which are given to the three Clarks. The Priores is also 
 stripped of her habit, and it is found that she has "ane kirtill 
 of silk " under it. A friar is spied whispering in the ear of the 
 Prelate. He also is seized and stripped, and it is discovered 
 that he is Flatterie in masquerade. Then Johne the Common- 
 weill is gorgeously clothed and given a seat in parliament, after 
 which the Vices are taken out of the stocks and led to the 
 gallows, where they are all hanged except Flatterie, who is 
 banished from Scotland. 
 
 The play proper is now ended, but there still remains the 
 Interlude of the Sermon of Folie, who comes in with " Folie 
 Hattis " to sell. The King spies him and sends Diligence to 
 summon him to the royal presence. Folie holds off the mes- 
 senger for a while, but finally goes to the King and explains his 
 identity. Then he hangs his hats on the pulpit and gets up to 
 preach a sermon on fools and folly. He enumerates the differ- 
 ent kinds of fools " dwelland in eurie cuntrie," and winds up 
 
2l6 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 with a disquisition on the folly of kings and emperors in making 
 war on each other. Diligence, concluding the Interlude, apolo- 
 gizes for the tediousness of the play, and commends the audience 
 to the protection of Christ. 
 
 There are, it may be seen, a few important changes in the 
 r61es played in this second part of the play. The subordination 
 of Rex has already been noticed. There is no further use for 
 Wantonnes, Placebo, and Solace, who in the first part repre- 
 sented only the personal desires of the hero for pleasure. They 
 were converted into characters representing innocent desires for 
 pleasure, and, in any case, would have no function in a satire of 
 purely national abuses ; so, except for a brief appearance at the 
 beginning of the action, we see no more of them. But the most 
 important change is the introduction of Johne the Common- 
 weill, sometimes referred to simply as " the Commonweill." 
 He is the type-representative of the common people, and, in the 
 political aspect which the play has now assumed, becomes the 
 chief figure. There is mention made of a new Vice, Covetice 
 (covetousness), who combines with "cairles Sensualitie " to lead 
 Spiritualitie into parliament and then disappears so far as the 
 play is concerned. Publick Oppressioun, another Vice, leads 
 Temporalitie into parliament, and appears later in the play. 
 Common Thift, probably best regarded as an abstract figure 
 representing thievery, appears toward the close of the play in 
 an unimportant r61e. The Priores comes on to participate in the 
 downfall of the Catholic Church ; and finally, during the ex- 
 posure of the " Lords of the Spirituall Stait," three " famous 
 Clarks " are brought in to exemplify the superiority of Protes- 
 tant learning and virtue to Catholic ignorance and corruption. 
 The most important of all these changes are the introduction 
 of Johne the Common-weill, the practical disappearance of 
 Wantonnes, Placebo, and Solace, and the subordination of Rex 
 Humanitas as a dramatic figure. 
 
KYNGE JO HAN 21/ 
 
 The action, being interpreted, runs thus : The CathoHc Church 
 is responsible for many of the worst evils of the time. The 
 spiritual lords are sensual and covetous; they care for nothing 
 but personal gain and pleasure, and are ignorant of their sim- 
 plest duties. The temporal lords are scarcely better. They band 
 together for the oppression of the common people ; and as for 
 the merchants, they practise their trade with dishonesty and de- 
 ceit. What is needed is a complete renovation. The Catholic 
 dignitaries should be exposed and driven out of office, and re- 
 placed by learned doctors of the Protestant faith, who are zealous 
 and mindful of their duties. The common people, who form the 
 backbone of a realm, should be relieved from the oppression of 
 the rich and given a voice in the government of the country. 
 Then the land will be freed from oppression, dishonesty, and 
 ignorance, and will flourish under the rule of liberty. 
 
 Kynge Johan} the next play to be considered, is listed some- 
 times as a Chronicle Play, sometimes as a Tragedy, sometimes 
 as a Morality, and sometimes as a sort of amphibious creation. 
 But, whatever the play may have been in a former edition,^ one 
 
 1 Written by John Bale. The text used here is that in Manly, Vol. I. Fleay 
 (p. 62) comments on the date and production: " King Johan, two plays in one, 
 was edited by Collier from a MS. in Jhe Duke of Devonshire's library, for the 
 Camden Society, in 1838. This MS. was formerly in the possession of the 
 municipal body of Ipswich, where the plays, beyond doubt, must have been 
 performed. From p. 66, 1. 13, the MS. is in the handwriting of Bishop Bale, 
 who died in 1563, and as it contains a distinct statement (p. 102) that it was 
 produced under Queen Elizabeth it must date between 1558 and 1563. She 
 was at Ipswich 1561, Aug. 5-10, and at no other time. The concluding prayer 
 shows that the plays were acted before her : and there can be no doubt that 
 it was on this occasion." 
 
 2 The MS. spelling varies, showing that Bale's alterations were made on a 
 transcript of an older play, but this does not necessarily indicate a different 
 authorship. Fleay concludes (p. 62) that "as Bale, in his own list of his 
 dramatic works, mentions one in idiomate matemo de Joanne de Anglorum Rege, 
 and no other play on John of so early a date is anywhere heard of, it is almost 
 certain that the original play, as well as the fashioned one, was by him. This 
 is confirmed by internal evidence of style." 
 
2i8 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 thing seems clear from the evidence of the text as it now stands, 
 that is, that Kyiige Johan is a MoraHty, though with an historical 
 protagonist, who, by the way, is idealized until he becomes, to 
 all intents and purposes, the type of a good or just ruler. All 
 the other characters in the play are unexceptionable from the 
 point of view of the Morality, and the fact that some of them 
 pose at times as well-known historical figures does not affect the 
 situation. The Vices are Vices from beginning to end of the 
 play, even though, for greater effectiveness in their vicious work, 
 they agree with each other in one section of the play to proclaim 
 themselves personages of high rank in the Church. In almost 
 every English Morality the Vices resort to the trick of changing 
 their, names for added effectiveness ; and to say, for instance, 
 that Private Wealth is the historical Cardinal Pandulph simply 
 because in part of the play he agrees to call himself Cardinal 
 Pandulph, is on a par with saying that the Seven Deadly Sins 
 are really seven dramatic Virtues because when they attempt 
 to seduce Man they usually proclaim themselves to be Virtues. 
 It is evident that a thread of history runs through the play 
 from beginning to end, but this historical thread could be 
 removed in a few moments and the play would remain, in tex- 
 ture, exactly as it is now ; whereas any attempt to remove the 
 allegorical element would result in the complete dismemberment 
 of the play. 
 
 Of course Kynge Johan is not an absolutely pure Morality, 
 since one of the chief characters, Kynge Johan himself, is a real 
 historical figure. But Kynge Johan is only in a half-sense the 
 hero of the play, since, if he were wholly so, the play should 
 end as a tragedy with his death. Nor does the action proceed 
 with historical events as in a Chronicle Plav, but advances, 
 after the orthodox fashion of Moralities, to a triumphant and 
 satisfactory conclusion with the complete overthrow of the 
 
KYNGE JO HAN 2 1 9 
 
 Vices and the establishment of peace and right. The death 
 of Johan, then, which would be the logical culmination of 
 the play if it were a Tragedy or a Chronicle Play, is only an 
 incident — though an important one — in the play as it stands. 
 Kynge Johan, in fact, comes nearer filling all the conditions 
 for a pure Morality than does The Life and Repentance of 
 Marie Magdalene} 
 
 The play has a good deal of that peculiarly venomous anti- 
 Catholic invective of which Bale was the undisputed master. 
 For a deliberately planned, climactic insult it would take some 
 ingenuity to beat a conversation that takes place between Sed- 
 wyson and Dyssymulacyon when these two worthies pause in 
 their labors to work out a scheme of relationship. 
 
 Dys. I have ever loved both the and thy condycyon. 
 
 Sed. Thow must nedes, I trowe, for we cum of ij bretheme : 
 Yf thu remember, owr fathers were on mans chylderne, — 
 Thow comyst of Falsed and I of Prevy Treason. 
 
 Dys. Than Infydelyte owr grandfather ys by reason. 
 
 Sed. Mary, that ys trewe, and his begynner Antycrist, 
 The great Pope of Rome, or fyrst veyne popysh prist.^ 
 
 Sedwyson's characterization of his progenitor as the " fyrst 
 veyne popysh prist " indicates a fault in this play which has 
 already been discussed in the case of another Morality.^ In the 
 absence of Virtues to maintain the right, a Vice will sometimes 
 grow exceedingly solicitous that the audience should understand 
 the full nature of the villainy that is being planned, and will 
 make an explanation that sounds like a remorseful confession. 
 At one point Sedwyson, who is the chief Vice, sends Dyssymu- 
 lacyon to bring in Pryvat Welth and Usurpyd Power, and when 
 they come he explains to his audience the allegorical signification 
 
 1 See p. Ill, above. ^ p. ^^g. 
 
 ^ Marie Magdalene. See p. iii, above. 
 
220 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 of what is going on. The explanation, so far as tone is concerned, 
 would be much more in keeping with a Virtue. 
 
 Surs, marke well this gere, for now yt begynnyth to worke : 
 False Dyssymulacion doth bryng in Privat Welth : 
 And Usurpyd Power, which is more ferce than a Turke, 
 Cummeth in by hym to decaye all spyrytuall helth : 
 Than I by them bothe, as clere experyence telth : 
 We iiij by ower crafts Kyng Johan wyll so subdwe, 
 That for iijC yers all Englond shall yt rewe,^ 
 
 and Dyssymulacion adds : 
 
 Of the clergy, frynds, report lyke as ye se. 
 That ther Privat Welth cummyth ever in by me.^ 
 
 This fault — from an artistic point of view — of explaining 
 the allegorical signification of an action, is tolerably common in 
 the Moralities, especially in those with strong religious tenden- 
 cies. The pleasure to be derived from allegory consists largely 
 in the feeling that one is grasping a meaning which is merely 
 implied ; and when a composer of allegory, more anxious for 
 the eternal salvation of his hearers than for their amusement, 
 adopts the position of interpreter, he insults the understanding 
 of any hearer who is quick-witted enough to grasp the meaning 
 for himself. 
 
 Kynge Johan opens the play with a soliloquy showing his 
 intention to rule his country well, to work justice, and to act in 
 accordance with the will of God. He is then joined by the 
 widow Ynglond, who is in sore distress from the abuses of 
 the clergy. She asks Johan for justice from these despoilers 
 of her peace, and he is very S3aTipathetic. Before they can 
 make any plans, however, Sedwyson intrudes himself and falls 
 to cracking lewd jokes about the suggestiveness of the pair's 
 being alone. Johan sternly orders him out, but he retorts 
 
 1 P. 552. 
 
KYNGE JO HAN 2 2 1 
 
 confidently, " I shall abyde in Ynglond,^ magry yowr harte," and 
 adds that, through the Pope, he is able " to subdewe bothe kyng 
 and keyser." He persists in his ribaldry, and abuses Ynglond 
 at every opportunity. However, Ynglond goes on patiently re- 
 citing her wrongs to the king, and explaining the vile practices 
 of the Pope and his followers, who have driven her husband, 
 God, out of the country. Johan promises to help her, and she 
 goes out. Then Sedwyson goes on in his mocking way to ex- 
 plain himself to the king. He makes no attempt to play the 
 usual Vice's role of deceit and concealment of identity, but boldly 
 asserts his power, and maintains that all Johan's subjects are on 
 his side. Then, in spite of Johan's efforts to detain him for 
 punishment, he hurries out on his business, and Nobelyte 
 comes in. 
 
 The king is very much disturbed at Sedwyson's claim that he 
 has the sympathy of the people of the realm, and he immedi- 
 ately confronts Nobelyte with his suspicions ; but the latter 
 assures him that he has always hated Sedwyson " for his in- 
 iquite." Johan is somewhat mollified, but still expresses doubts. 
 
 A clere tokyn that is of trew nobelyte ; 
 
 But I pray to God we fynde yt not other-wyse. 
 
 Yt was never well syns the clargy wrowght by practyse, 
 
 And left the Scripture for mens ymagynacyons, 
 
 Dyvydyng them-selvys in so many congrygacyons 
 
 Of monkes, chanons, and fryers, of dyvers colors and facyons. 
 
 Clargy now puts in an appearance, and by his insolent de- 
 mands at once provokes a hot argument with the King. Then 
 Syvyll Order appears, and joins sides with the King in the argu- 
 ment against Popery, as upheld by Clargy ; and Nobelyte also 
 
 1 The name " Ynglond," it may be seen, is rather equivocally employed. 
 Johan, in his opening speech, announces that he is " Kyng of Ynglond." 
 Then the personified Ynglond comes in as a widow, and, in her presence, 
 Sedwyson announces that he " shall abyde in Ynglond." It is, of course, the 
 old story of confusion between literal and allegorical statement. 
 
222 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 sympathizes with the King, though his defective intellect does 
 not permit him to go beyond commending his leader when the 
 latter makes a good point. At length Johan and Syvyll Order 
 retire, and Nobelyte makes an abortive attempt to carry on the 
 argument, but is soon brought to admit : 
 
 I am unlernyt : my wytts are sone confowndyd. 
 
 Then he and Clargy part company, and Clargy sets out '' to 
 sewe un-to Rome for the Churches lyberte." 
 
 In the next scene Sedwyson comes in to await the appearance 
 of friends "' from the stues." He does not have to wait long. 
 In a few moments Dyssymulacyon enters, singing the litany, and 
 the two friends fall into a discussion on the state of Popery in 
 England. They agree that something must speedily be done to 
 better conditions, as the "abbeys go downe every-where " ; and 
 Dyssymulacyon promises to get a child of his own bringing up 
 to help Sedwyson in his efforts. Sedwyson is anxious to know 
 who this child is, and his friend informs him : 
 
 Mary, Pryvat Welth ; now hayve I tolde the what. 
 
 I made hym a monke and a perfyt cloysterer, 
 
 And in the abbeye he began fyrst celerer, 
 
 Than pryor, than abbote of a thousand pownd land, no wors, 
 
 Now he is a bysshope and rydeth with an hondryd hors, 
 
 And, as I here say, he is lyke to be a Cardynall. 
 
 When Pryvat Welth comes, Dyssymulacyon adds, he will bring 
 Usurpyd Power with him, " and than the gam is ower." Dys- 
 symulacyon is despatched for his son, who in turn brings his 
 friend along with him ; and Sedwyson, with a keen eye to the 
 allegorical significance of the scene, persuades Usurpyd Power to 
 retire with him for a moment and then bear him in upon his back, 
 
 That yt may be sayde that, fyrst, Dyssymulacyon, 
 Browght in Privat Welth to every Cristen nacion, 
 And that Privat Welth browght in Usurpid Power, 
 And he Sedycyon, in cytye, towne, and tower. 
 
KYNGE JO HAN 223 
 
 The assembled company enter into a long discussion on the 
 ways and means of maintaining popery in the land, and in the 
 end they disguise themselves ; Usurpyd Power as the Pope, 
 Pryvat Welth as a Cardinal, and Sedwyson as a monk ; while 
 Dyssymulacyon explains to the audience that they are prepar- 
 ing to punish Johan for rebelling against Holy Church. The 
 so-called Pope changes the names of his disguised friends to 
 complete the deception. Pryvat Welth becomes Pandulphus, 
 Sedwyson becomes Stephen Langton, and Dyssymulacyon be- 
 comes Raymundus. They all set out to compass the destruction 
 of the King, and the Interpretour comes in to give a foretaste of 
 coming events. 
 
 In the next act Sedwyson and Nobelyte come in conversing,^ 
 and Nobelyte grieves over the controversy now raging between 
 the King and the Church. Sedwyson speaks warmly in favor of 
 the Church, and in the end Nobelyte kneels down for his blessing. 
 After promising complete submission to the Church, Nobelyte 
 goes out, and Sedwyson is joined by Clargy and Syvyll Order. 
 Sedwyson unfolds to them his plans for bringing Johan into 
 subjection to the Church, and they all retire. 
 
 Johan now appears, lamenting that he is so persecuted by 
 the Church for doing what the welfare of his country demands. 
 Pryvat Welth comes in " lyke a Cardinall," and commands 
 Johan, in the Pope's name, to make peace with the Church on 
 the Church's terms. Johan refuses indignantly, and Pryvat 
 Welth curses him in the name of the Pope. Syvyll Order 
 and Nobelyte enter, but they refuse to converse on terms of 
 friendship with the King, since he is now " a man defylyd." 
 Johan is left alone ; but soon the widow Ynglond comes in 
 
 1 There is a notable inconsistency in this scene. Sedwyson, who has been 
 named Stephen Langton, here speaks of himself as Good Perfectyon, a mes- 
 senger from the Pope. He has no reason for giving this name before Nobelyte, 
 and this is probably a feature of the original play overlooked in the proces.s 
 of remaking. 
 
224 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 with her son Commynalte, who is blind, " for want of knowlage 
 in Christes lyvely veryte," as he explains. Ynglond reminds 
 Johan of his promise to relieve her distress, but he answers 
 mournfully that his hands are tied and he can do nothing 
 for her. 
 
 Pryvat Welth (or Pandulphus, as he now calls himself) ap- 
 proaches the group and orders Commynalte out to wait on his 
 captains Nobelyte and Clargy, who are preparing to join the 
 French king against their country. Commynalte goes meekly, 
 but Ynglond disowns him for it, and refuses to leave the King. 
 After some arguments, accompanied by threats on the part of 
 Pryvat Welth, Johan gives up the crown rather than involve his 
 country in war. Then Treason comes in, arrayed as a priest, 
 and joins forces with the other enemies of the King. 
 
 Johan and Ynglond go out, and Dyssymulacyon joins Sed- 
 wyson with a cup of poison which he plans to give to Johan. 
 He is determined to put this scheme through at all costs, and 
 says that he will drink half the poison himself if such a step is 
 necessary to throw the King off his guard. Then when Johan 
 reappears, with the faithful Ynglond still in attendance, he 
 introduces himself under the new name Simon of Swynsett, 
 and offers him the drink. Johan is extremely thirsty, but also 
 a bit suspicious, and he demands that the supposed Simon shall 
 first drink half the contents of the cup. The demand is com- 
 plied with, and Johan takes what is left. Then the poison begins 
 to work on Dyssymulacyon, and he staggers out in a dying con- 
 dition, calling for his friend Sedwyson. Johan himself is soon 
 overcome, and is supported out by the grief-stricken Ynglond. 
 
 Veryte now appears and assures the audience of Johan's 
 honesty and loyalty to his country. Though he is dead his 
 noble acts still live, and his Christian zeal is declared by his 
 expulsion of the Jews from the country. Nobelyte, Clargy, and 
 Syvyll Order enter ; and Verity rebukes them all roundly for 
 
KYNGE JOHAN 225 
 
 their cruelty to the King, finally reducing them to sorrow and 
 contrition. Imperyall Majestye approaches, Veryte reports to 
 him that he has performed his commands, and then the two go 
 on to harangue the repentant culprits, who, to compensate for 
 their wickedness, promise to exile the Pope and his followers 
 from the country and to defend the supremacy of Imperyall 
 Majestye. Sedwyson joins them and argues violently in behalf 
 of the Pope, but in the end he is sent out, under the guard of 
 Syyyll Order, to be hanged. Then Imperyall Majestye, Nobelyte, 
 and Clargy give each other assurances of fidelity, lay plans for 
 establishing the true religion, and end the play with a prayer 
 for the Queen. 
 
 Most of the characters are easy to interpret. Sedwyson, 
 Piyvat Welth, Dyssymulacyon, Usurpyd Power, and Treason 
 are personifications — the Vices of the play. Veryte and Im- 
 peryall Majestye are the Virtues, and the latter stands for kingly 
 power. Syvyll Order is more mysterious. He defines his posi- 
 tion thus : 
 
 Ye know very well, to set all thynges in order 
 
 I have moche ado, and many thynges passe fro me, 
 
 For yowr common-welth, and that in every border 
 
 For offyces, for londes, for iawe and for lyberte, 
 
 And for transgressors I appoynt the penalte ; 
 
 That cytes and townes maye stand in quiotose peace, 
 
 That all theft and murder, with other vyce, maye seace.^ 
 
 That is, he may be a personification standing for national 
 justice, or a type representing the administrators of justice. 
 Since he receives his directions from Johan in company with 
 Clargy and Nobelyte, — two type figures like Spiritualitie and 
 Temporalitie in the Thrie Estaites, — and turns against Johan 
 when the latter is excommunicated, he had best be regarded as 
 a type figure standing for administrators of justice. Johan is 
 consistently in the right throughout the play, and it would be 
 
 ^ P- 538. 
 
226 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 unreasonable to suppose that national justice could ever be op- 
 posed to him. Commynalte is a type standing for the common 
 people, like Johne the Common-weill in the Thrie Estaites. 
 Ynglond is a symbolic figure representing England, and Kynge 
 Johan is the historical king, idealized to represent the good king 
 who is beset by treacherous foes. 
 
 The play in its historical aspect needs no explanation. Alle- 
 gorically it may be thus interpreted : In the past England has 
 been well-nigh ruined by internal strife, caused by the Romish 
 Church. The spiritual lords made it their aim to amass private 
 fortunes, practised dissimulation, and usurped the power belong- 
 ing to the king. They did their utmost to raise sedition in the 
 land, not stopping even at treason. The common people sym- 
 pathized with the king in his efforts to bring peace to the land, 
 but they were rendered ignorant by their lack of religious in- 
 struction, and could not be of much service. The nobles and 
 judges were well-meaning and tried to serve their king faith- 
 fully, but the Church had such power over them that when it 
 pronounced a curse upon the king they did not dare to stir in 
 his defence. Thus kingly authority was rendered of no avail, 
 and the country was plunged in misery for three hundred years. 
 But now the beneficent power of the throne, assisted by the 
 enlightened knowledge of God's truth as introduced by the 
 Protestant faith, has restored the country to peace and happi- 
 ness, and the old vices of the Catholic Church have lost their 
 power in England. 
 
 The final play of this class is "A merye enterlude entitled 
 Respublica, made in the yeare of oure Lorde 1553, and the 
 firste year of the mooste prosperous Reigne of our moste gracious 
 Soveraigne, Quene Marye the first." ^ After having Protestant 
 abuse dinned into our ears through the last two plays it is a 
 
 ^ Edited by Leonard A. Magnus for the Early English Text Society, London, 
 1905. The editor conjectures that the author was Nicholas Udall. 
 
RESPUBLICA 227 
 
 relief to hear at last a word from the other side. But the author, 
 though his sympathies at least were on the side of the Catholic 
 Queen Mary, was no Bishop Bale, and he contented himself 
 with taking a general view, through the allegorical telescope, 
 of England's condition when his " moste gracious Soveraigne 
 Quene Marye " came to the rescue. There is no direct attempt 
 to fasten blame upon the Protestant Church. The vices " held 
 up to scorn " are national vices, and we are only to infer that 
 they were allowed full scope, before Mary's time, owing to the 
 laxity of Protestant rule. 
 
 We have a special debt of gratitude to pay to the author — 
 whoever he may have been — for putting into the mouth of his 
 Prologue an unusually concise statement of the purpose of his 
 play ; which statement, when broadened, will be found to sug- 
 gest many of the theories which have been insisted on at some 
 length throughout this work. The Prologue states : 
 
 the Name of our playe ys Respublica certaine : 
 
 cure meaninge ys (I say, not, as by plaine story, 
 
 but as yt were in figure by an allegorye) 
 
 to shewe that all commen weales Ruin and decaye 
 
 from tyme to tyme hath been, ys, and shalbe alwaie, 
 
 whan Insolence, Flaterie, Opression, 
 
 and Avarice have the Rewle in their possession,^ 
 
 That is, though the play has its special application to the 
 social conditions in England at the accession of Queen Mary, it 
 is universalized, by the allegorical method, into a depiction of 
 the causes which bring on the ruin of a commonwealth. This 
 is the first and last time we encounter an open avowal of the 
 employment of allegory. 
 
 Respublica just misses the technical structure of the class 
 representing the struggle of Vices and Virtues for the posses- 
 sion of man. The Vices, Avarice, Insolence, Oppression, and 
 
 ip. I. 
 
228 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Adulation, all find it necessary to get into the service of the 
 widow Respublica in order to carry on their schemes. But their 
 schemes are merely for self-aggrandizement, — by which we are 
 to infer the selfish schemings of politicians and men in power. 
 They make no attempt to corrupt Respublica, and, in fact, avoid 
 her company except when they feel that it is time to p:.^oh up 
 another report of the good work they are doing. In other v^^ords, 
 the entry into her service is only the stepping-stone toward the 
 fulfilling of their own schemes of personal aggrandizement. 
 The regular Vices of Class I, b, do not work for themselves,^ — 
 except when in humorous by-play they refer to having robbed 
 houses and picked pockets in order to get spending money for 
 the taverns and stews. Their single aim is to get into the hero's 
 favor, and no personal or selfish motive enters into considera- 
 tion. But in this play and the one last treated the case is 
 entirely different. In Kynge Johan the Vices worked for their 
 own evil interests, and arrayed themselves openly against Johan 
 because he understood them and opposed those interests; in 
 the present play the Vices have their own interests uppermost, 
 and array themselves against Respublica, not openly, since that 
 would defeat their aims, but secretly, to deceive her and to 
 enrich themselves at her expense. Thus they fail to make the 
 appeal of their brethren in Class I, b, who frequently win our 
 sympathy by their hearty devotion to the cause. 
 
 The important conclusion to be drawn from this is that in 
 the plays of Class I, b, the evil figures simply represent vices 
 which assail the heart of man, while in the present class the 
 evil figures, though primarily representing national vices, also 
 
 1 There are slight exceptions to this rule in the case of some Vices in 
 Magnyfycence and in the Satyre of the TTirie Estaites. These selfish Vices have 
 been discussed above in the treatment of these Moralities. They were rendered 
 necessary by the underlying satirical bearing ot the plays. In so far as Mag- 
 nyfycence and the Satyre employ this kind of Vices they are directly related to 
 the plays of this last class. 
 
RESPUBLICA 229 
 
 connote the idea of corrupt personages who practise these vices 
 to the detriment of the nation. ^ 
 
 The Prologue beseeches the indulgence of his hearers, and 
 outlines the play to follow. Then the first act begins with a 
 soliloquy by Avarice, the chief Vice, who discloses his plans for 
 amassing wealth. He has long been awaiting the chance to 
 feather his nest in view of old age,^ and now the chance has 
 come. He will introduce himself to the wealthy Dame Respub- 
 lica, who wastes and throws away enough to fill his purse. But, 
 since he would not be welcome if his name were known, he 
 decides to disguise himself and change his name to Policie. 
 He hopes no one will blame him for looking out for his own 
 interests. One must spend money daily, and then there is always 
 the danger of thieves. But at the mention of thieves a sudden 
 fear strikes to his heart. " Owte, alas," he wails, "" I feare I left 
 my Cofer Open," The audience is suddenly deserted, while 
 Avarice rushes out in an agony of doubt and fear. 
 
 Insolence, Oppressyon, and Adulacion come in singing, and 
 Adulacion praises the voice of Insolence as equal to that of 
 an angel. Insolence is not much moved by this flattery, but 
 demands to know " what availeth that to highe dignitiee." 
 Oppression roughly breaks in, agreeing that it avails " not a 
 strawe," so far as he can see. But Adulacion is not lightly 
 to be shaken from his determination to admire. He assures 
 Insolence that he is as fit to rule the land as he is to sing a 
 song, and here Oppression takes common ground with him. 
 
 1 It is to be noted that in the Satyre of the Thrie Estaites, Part II, these cor- 
 rupt personages are represented more directly by type figures. This is really 
 the ideal way of presenting this motive, since it dispenses with the necessity 
 of making the connection between the vices which are personified and the 
 persons who practise the vices. 
 
 ^ This, of course, is the regular attitude, not of a personified vice, but of a 
 typical avaricious man. The personified vice of avarice has but one consistent 
 function — to influence an individual, or a type figure, to the arousing of 
 avaricious desires. This inconsistency appears throughout the play. 
 
230 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Insolence does not object to this prospect of power and afflu- 
 ence, but they all agree that their " fownder Avarice " must 
 be consulted before any steps are taken. 
 
 While they are conversing Avarice comes back, complaining 
 bitterly of thieves, and congratulating himself that he got to 
 his coffers in time to save them. He is so intent on his own 
 thoughts that the three others have great difficulty in gaining 
 his ear ; and when he does notice them at last he flies into a 
 rage and accuses them of being the thieves who tried to rob 
 him half-an-hour before. But they finally succeed in allaying 
 his suspicions. He becomes partially mollified, and consents to 
 join them in the struggle for success and wealth, though the 
 slightest occasion is still enough to arouse his suspicions again. 
 He discloses the fact that Respublica, " the ladie of Estate," is 
 in great trouble over the decaying of her fortunes, and would 
 welcome anyone who could bring her a prospect of relief. 
 Furthermore, he promises to introduce them to her so that 
 they can work together and all succeed in getting a share of 
 her estate. It is first necessary that they shall all find more 
 attractive names ; and Avarice, who has already prepared his 
 disguise, suggests Authority as a new name for Insolence, Ref- 
 ormation for Oppression, and Honesty for Adulation. Adula- 
 tion has great difficulty in getting his new name fixed in his 
 mind, but he finally succeeds. Then Avarice turns his own 
 gown inside out, " for theise gaping purses maie in no wyse 
 be seen," and at last they are ready for the introduction to 
 Respublica. 
 
 In the second act Respublica comes in bewailing the muta- 
 bility of fortune in the state. She knows not how it is, but good 
 government always seems to bring prosperity ; and now her 
 own fortunes are ebbing, — ergo, what she needs is good gov- 
 ernment. Avarice approaches, so intent again upon the question 
 of his money-bags that he does not at first notice the downcast 
 
RESPUBLICA 231 
 
 Respublica ; but, suddenly catching sight of her, he recollects 
 himself with a start, and introduces himself as " Maister Policie." 
 Respublica welcomes him eagerly, and implores his aid, which he 
 readily grants, promising to bring, in addition, his three friends, 
 Authority, Reformation, and Honesty. Avarice calls in the prof- 
 fered friends and introduces them, with some serious blunders 
 on the part of Adulation, who finds it very difficult to repress 
 his real nature. A compact is made, and then Respublica re- 
 tires to give her new counsellors an opportunity to consult among 
 themselves for the good of her estate. Adulation, who is much 
 perturbed by the effort he has just made at self -repression, in- 
 sists on having a song "to lighten our hartes." Then they 
 retire happily to their new work. 
 
 The third act introduces Respublica rejoicing in her new hopes 
 of prosperity. She wonders, however, what Master Policie has 
 been doing, since he has not yet made any report of his work. 
 Adulation enters and assures her that he and his fellow-workers 
 have been toiling night and day to improve her estate. Then, 
 somewhat to the confusion of Adulation, they are joined by a 
 friend of Respublica's, People, who is an honest and rather 
 shrewd fellow, with a great affection for Respublica and a lurk- 
 ing suspicion ^of her new counsellors. People tells sorrowfully 
 of his poverty and affliction, but protests his love for Respublica, 
 and she in turn assures him of her constant affection. Adulation 
 breaks in with loud avowals of his own good intentions, but he 
 is regarded very coldly by the honest People. Then Respublica 
 and People retire to let Adulation consult with his friends, who 
 are soon to arrive. Presently Avarice enters, again busied with 
 his ever-present reflections on his money-bags. He is soon fol- 
 lowed by Oppression, and later by Insolence. The newly-arrived 
 workers have been very busy in their absence, and have rich 
 fruits to show for their toil in the shape of bishoprics and 
 lands. Adulation, whose ambitions have not soared as high as 
 
232 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 they might have, is strongly censured for having procured only 
 " three hundred pound by the yeare and one manior place." 
 
 In Act IV Respublica comes on alone, very ill at ease be- 
 cause People is still unhappy and oppressed. Somehow the new 
 management is not producing the golden results that it prom- 
 ised at first. She is joined by the unhappy People, and then 
 by Avarice, who excuses himself for his long absence on the 
 plea that he has been immersed in " depe studies " to find a 
 way of increasing his patroness's wealth. But People has got 
 beyond even the pretence of accepting Avarice's explanations. 
 " That lye," he responds, " ere this is flowen as ferre hens as 
 Polle steple." Avarice asks, and is granted, permission to bring 
 in his brother counsellors. They are assembled, and all combine 
 to bear down the arguments of People. Respublica is stupid 
 and gullible, as usual, and about the only suggestion she con- 
 tributes to the argument is, " Undoubtedly, I fele many thinges 
 are amisse." But People argues stoutly against the present 
 abuses in the Church, which are falsely called reformations. 
 Avarice and his friends maintain that these apparent abuses 
 will really work for the good of People in the long run if he 
 will only have patience to wait ; and at this argument People is 
 mollified and consents to give the reforms a chance. Respublica, 
 delighted at the prospect of amity, retires to give the others a 
 chance to settle things peaceably among themselves. The 
 moment she disappears the Vices turn furiously upon People, 
 revile him as a peasant and a lout, and order him home. 
 People bows beneath the storm and prepares to get out of the 
 way, but he proffers one last request : " One worde erche goe. 
 Yele geve volke leave to thinke ? " " No, marie, will we not," 
 retorts Oppression, " nor to looke, but winke." 
 
 In the last act Mercy enters with a speech in praise of God, 
 and announces that she is sent from God to aid Respublica. 
 While she speaks Respublica approaches in deep distress, and 
 
RESPUBLICA 233 
 
 praying to God for help. Mercy goes up to comfort her, and 
 while they are together Avarice enters at another part of the 
 stage. Here he is presently joined by Adulation, who announces 
 that " there is newe stertt up, a ladye cald Veritee." Avarice is 
 much disturbed by the report, and draws Adulation aside to warn 
 him that they must be on their guard against Mercy and Truth, 
 who are their bitter enemies. While they are occupied in their 
 asides Truth joins the two women at the other part of the stage. 
 In a few minutes Justice and Peace follow, and now the four 
 sisters, Mercy, Truth, Justice, and Peace plan a " blysfull reno- 
 vacion " of Respublica's estate. Respublica, whose eyes are at 
 last opened to the real state of her affairs, turns to Avarice and 
 dismisses him, in spite of his loud protestations of innocence. 
 Then she calls People, and he enters and tells her that things 
 are looking up with him. 
 
 The women now retire. In a few moments Oppression, 
 Insolence, and Adulation come in, and, encountering People, 
 begin promptly to load him with abuse. But they receive an 
 abrupt check from Avarice, who comes racing in to warn them 
 of the plot that is on foot. Before they can get away the four 
 sisters come in with Respublica and accuse them. They can 
 still lie as readily as ever, but when the cloak of Avarice is 
 turned and his money-bags disclosed, their real characters are 
 revealed. Then the sisters turn the culprits over to People 
 to be guarded. 
 
 Finally Nemesis enters, and, after reassuring Respublica and 
 People, confronts the Vices with her knowledge of their crimes. 
 They make a last despairing attempt to escape punishment by 
 shifting the blame on each other ; but their accuser sternly com- 
 mends them to People to be closely guarded until the day for 
 their trial. Nemesis again promises Respublica and People to 
 restore them to their former state of happiness, and the play 
 is ended. 
 
234 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The characters here are absolutely unequivocal. Avarice, 
 Insolence, Oppression, and Adulation represent national vices. 
 Misericordia, Veritas, Justicia, and Pax, the Four Daughters of 
 God, are virtues representing the power and influence of God 
 making themselves felt in the land. Nemesis, though in a spe- 
 cial sense Queen Mary, is allegorically an Agent of Retribution. 
 Respublica is symbolic of the country, like Ynglond in Kynge 
 Johan ; and People, "representing the poor Commontie," is 
 the familiar type figure that we have encountered in all these 
 political Moralities. 
 
 The interpretation is equally simple and unequivocal : When 
 a commonwealth falls under misrule an opportunity is given to 
 all the baser national impulses, avarice, oppression, insolence, 
 and adulation. The common people are the ones who must bear 
 these ills, while the persons higher in authority are enabled to 
 gratify their avarice at the common expense. The country is 
 reduced to despair. But a just punishment is in store for those 
 who thus oppress the land for their own gains. When a good 
 ruler succeeds to power he quickly apprehends and punishes 
 the oppressors, and brings comfort to the people ; then mercy 
 and truth, righteousness and peace, become the mainsprings 
 of national feeling. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 CONTEMPORARY PLAYS WITH MORALITY FEATURES 
 
 We have now to take a brief survey of a few sixteenth-century 
 plays which conform in some respects to the requirements of the 
 MoraHty, without belonging primarily to that class. The dis- 
 cussion in the first chapter of this work has shown the reasons 
 upon which this distinction is based, so that very little more than 
 a brief outline of each play to be considered now will suffice to 
 show the necessity for discarding it. The three essentials of the 
 Morality, to repeat from my definition of Chapter I, are didactic 
 purpose, the presentation of personified abstractions and univer- 
 salized types as dramatis personae, and allegorical structure. 
 
 The Preaty Interlude Called Nice Wanton ^ has been dis- 
 cussed in part in Chapter I. It presents the same motive 
 which enters into the construction of Like Will to Like ^ ; that 
 is, the contrast of two lives, or two sets of lives, with poetic 
 justice meted out at the end of the play. The outline, in brief, 
 is this : 
 
 After the Messenger, or Prologue, outlines the play, Bar- 
 nabas comes in and discusses the distribution of virtue among 
 the different members of his family. It is plain to the youthful 
 mind of Barnabas that he himself has been generously treated 
 in this respect, while his brother and sister, Ismael and Dalila, 
 have been woefully stinted. Apparently the mother, also, is not 
 
 ^ Manly, Vol. I. Fleay, p. 32, states that the play was acted at court by the 
 Paul's choir boys on August 7, 1559. He thinks the author may have been 
 Thomas Ingeland. 
 
 2 See note 2, p. 180, above. 
 
 23s 
 
236 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 so good as she might be, for she settles the family quarrels by 
 the simple expedient of beating Barnabas and petting her " ten- 
 der tidlynges," Ismael and Dalila. The brother and sister appear, 
 and fully justify Barnabas's account of them by replying with 
 abuse and ridicule when he urges them to go to school with him. 
 Barnabas departs alone for school, and Ismael and Dalila throw 
 away their books and decide to go in for a life of pleasure. 
 
 In the next scene a neighbor, Eulalia, comes in to warn 
 Xantippe that two of her children, Ismael and Dalila, are laying 
 themselves open to grievous censure. She urges the mother to 
 " chastyce them for it," but Xantippe receives the advice in the 
 usual spirit of ingratitude evinced by mothers on such occasions. 
 Thereupon Eulalia departs, and shortly after Xantippe leaves 
 the stage clear for the presentation of Iniquitie, Ismael, and Dalila 
 in the well-known dice-throwing scene. Dalila joins forces with 
 Iniquitie, and they make short work of the brother's purse. 
 Ismael goes out to replenish his purse by robbing some one, 
 and Iniquitie and Dalila break into a violent quarrel because 
 he accuses her of keeping back part of the common winnings. 
 She leaves in a rage ; and Iniquitie, after commenting on the 
 wickedness of the brother and sister, departs also. 
 
 After "a long interval" Dalila reappears, ragged and dis- 
 figured by disease. Presently Barnabas joins her. At first he 
 fails to recognize his sister in the tattered creature before him ; 
 but when she discloses her name he remarks characteristically 
 that the outcome is just what might have been expected. She 
 begs him to intercede for Ismael, who is to be tried for his life ; 
 and Barnabas, promising to do what he can for them both, leads 
 his sister away to feed and clothe her. 
 
 Then follows the scene in which the unfortunate Ismael is 
 tried, before Daniel the judge, for "felony, burglary, and murdre." 
 Iniquitie is present, and tries unavailingly to purchase the pris- 
 oner's freedom by bribing the judge. Ismael is condemned to 
 
THE NICE WANTON 237 
 
 be hanged, but before being led away he accuses Iniquitie of 
 leading him into the life of sin. Then Daniel orders that In- 
 iquitie be imprisoned also, and the latter is led out by a halter, 
 defying his captors to injure him. 
 
 In the final scene Worldly Shame appears, rejoicing in the 
 late turn of events. Dalila is dead of her disease, and Ismael 
 is hanging in chains. Xantippe comes in and, hearing his ac- 
 count, attempts to kill herself. But Barnabas returns just in 
 time to save her. He comforts her by the assurance that Dalila 
 repented before her death, and adds that he has heard the same 
 of Ismael. Xantippe retires in a more resigned frame of mind ; 
 and Barnabas, after exhausting the significance of his family's 
 career, ends the play with prayers for the Queen. 
 
 The point of contact between this play and the Morality is 
 the element of moral didacticism, — the aim to teach a lesson 
 for the guidance of life. But even this is a good deal obscured 
 by the fact that The Nice Wanton deals with individual human 
 beings. The Prologue reminds his hearers that "He that spareth 
 the rod, the chyld doth hate," and indicates that the purpose of 
 the play is to show that 
 
 If chyldren be noseled in idlenes and yll 
 And brought up therin, it is hard to restrayne 
 And draw them from naturall wont euyll, 
 As here in thys interlude ye shall se playne. 
 
 But, since Barnabas, Ismael, and Dalila have all been brought 
 up by the same mother, they should all have gone astray, unless 
 we are to suppose that Xantippe unintentionally drove Barnabas 
 into the paths of virtue by employing the rod on his person 
 because she disliked him. Even in the latter case the play 
 would be contradicting the moral, "He that spareth the rod, 
 the chyld doth hate." On the whole, it seems necessary to 
 conclude that the author believed strongly in the efficacy of the 
 rod irrespective of the motives behind the rod. But enough has 
 
238 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 been said to show that the working out of the lesson has been 
 confused by the employment of individual persons, who may turn 
 out good or bad irrespective of parentage or training. 
 
 The play contains no type figures. There are two personified 
 abstractions, Iniquitie and Worldly Shame. The latter appears 
 only once, and here he is not employed in allegorical action, 
 but merely comments on events which have taken place. In- 
 iquitie is a more important figure. He is prominent in the chief 
 scene of the play, — the dice-throwing scene. But here the action 
 is not allegorical. Iniquitie is undoubtedly intended as the per- 
 sonification of vice, but as far as the action is concerned he 
 might just as well be another sinner like Ismael or Dalila. He 
 does not induce them to a life of sin (the allegorical way of 
 depicting vice as entering the heart) but merely joins them, at 
 one stage of their career, in the capacity of boon companion. 
 Evidently he is given his far-reaching abstract name in order 
 that the dice-throwing scene may be more strongly suggestive 
 of the wickedness of Ismael and Dalila than if they were shown 
 simply with a fellow-sinner. 
 
 The Nice Wanton thus coincides with the Moralities in that 
 its aim (though vaguely realized) is to teach a direct lesson for 
 the guidance of life. It does not employ the sort of characters 
 proper to a Morality, and it is not allegorical in structure. 
 
 The Disobedient Child'^ has also been shortly discussed in 
 Chapter I. The author here announces the same purpose that 
 we find animating the play of The Nice Wantoji, i.e., to show 
 the evil results of a failure to employ the all-sufficient rod of 
 correction upon children. The working out of this purpose in 
 
 1 By Thomas Ingelend. Fleay, History of the Stage, p. 32, states that the 
 play was produced at court, by Leicester's servants, Christmas, 1560-1561. 
 But in his Biographical Chronicle, I, 307, he says it was " a revised interlude 
 of the time of Edward VI" and "was probably acted at Court, 6th March 
 1 560-1. ... If so, it was acted by the Paul's boys. . . . There is no evi- 
 dence that interludes of the morality species were ever acted at Court by men 
 players." It is edited in Dodsley, Vol. II. 
 
THE DISOBEDIENT CHILD 239 
 
 The Disobedient Child is less convincing even than in The Nice 
 Wanton. The Rich Man (whom the action shows to be some 
 particular man, who happens to be rich, and whose name is 
 withheld for no particular reason) takes it into his head that 
 marrying is the unpardonable sin. His son commits this sin, 
 and is disowned forever by his righteously indignant father, 
 who warns his compeers, the fathers and rich men of the 
 audience, that 
 
 we parents must have a regard 
 Our children in time for to subdue, 
 Or else we shall have them ever untoward, 
 Yea, spiteful, disdainful, naught, and untrue. 
 And let us them thrust alway to the school. 
 Whereby at their books they may be kept under ; 
 And so we shall shortly their courage cool. 
 And bring them to honesty, virtue, and nurture.'^ 
 
 The avowed purpose of the play, then, is to show the danger 
 of neglecting discipline when the child is young ; but the lesson 
 which the action seems to enforce is : if a young man insists on 
 being married he must pay the bitter penalty of a ruined life, 
 without hope of forgiveness. 
 
 The outline, in brief, is this : The son complains to his father 
 of the severity of school life. The father urges him to keep on, 
 but he refuses and finally discloses the fact that he is yearning 
 for a wife. At this the father flies into a rage. '" Why," he 
 
 exclaims, foolish idiot, thou goest about a wife, 
 
 Which is a burthen and yoke all thy life. 
 
 But the son is not to be shaken from his purpose, and the father 
 disowns him. 
 
 In the next scene the two cooks, male and female, come in 
 to prepare for the feast. They give the latest information about 
 the approaching nuptials, and then retire as the young man comes 
 in with his prospective bride. After some love-making on the 
 
 1 P. 280. 
 
240 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 part of the enamored pair, the priest comes in and marries them. 
 When the wedding-party retires new hght is thrown on the mar- 
 riage question by a long denunciatory soliloquy on the part of the 
 father, who quotes from Hipponax and Ovid to support his views. 
 
 The sad fulfillment of these prophetic utterances is seen pres- 
 ently, when the wife comes in beating her husband and order- 
 ing him to work. The wretched husband goes to work, but 
 the beating continues. When the possibilities of corporal pun- 
 ishment are exhausted and the husband lies prostrate on the 
 ground with a broken head, the gentle wife retires, followed at 
 some distance by her timorous and remorseful mate. Then the 
 Devil comes on in high spirits to announce the success of his 
 earthly schemes, which culminate in marriage. Finally the son 
 repairs to his father for help. He is sincerely repentant, but the 
 evil deed has been accomplished, and happiness is irretrievable. 
 The father sends him back to his wife, to drag out his days in 
 the misery which he has brought upon himself. 
 
 The only aspect of this play which brings it into relation with 
 the Moralities is its avowed purpose of teaching a lesson. The 
 action is not allegorical, and the characters are merely individ- 
 uals with their names withheld, as the Prologue's explanation 
 
 will show : 
 
 In the city of London there was a rich man, 
 
 Who, loving his son most tenderly,^ etc. 
 
 The Disobedient Child, then, should be classified merely as a 
 tendenz play. 
 
 The Interlude of the Virtiiotis and Godly Queen Hester'^ is 
 a biblical play with a few allegorical figures introduced in an 
 unimportant scene. The plot runs as follows : 
 
 1 P. 267. 
 
 2 Edited in Anonymous Plays, 2nd Series, by John Farmer. The play was 
 first printed in 1561. Fleay, p. 66, states that it was "beyond doubt a play 
 acted by the Chapel children publicly by way of retaliation for their inhibition 
 at Court in 1 560." 
 
INTERLUDE OF QUEEN HESTER 241 
 
 King Assverus listens to a discussion among his three gentle- 
 men as to what should be the object of greatest honor. One 
 of these gentlemen is Aman, who proves himself so skillful in 
 argument that he is appointed the King's chief counsellor. 
 Presently Assverus decides to be married, and he sends Aman 
 to gather the wisest and most beautiful maidens of the king- 
 dom, in order that the best possible selection may be made. 
 Mardocheus, the Jew, hears of the King's intention, and brings 
 forward his niece as a candidate for the royal favor. When the 
 maidens, then, are assembled before the King, Hester is among 
 them ; and her wit and beauty so captivate Assverus that he 
 chooses her for his queen. 
 
 Then comes the scene which connects this play with the 
 Morality group. Pride enters, poorly clad. He explains that 
 hfe has had to lay aside his fine clothes because Aman will not 
 allow any man but himself to go well dressed, and wishes to 
 have a monopoly of pride.^ Adulation joins him, and complains 
 in like manner that Aman will permit no one but himself to 
 deal in adulation, or flattery. Finally, they are reinforced by 
 Ambition, who adds his complaint in the same key. As a last 
 resort in their extremity, the three Vices decide to resign every- 
 thing to Aman, "to the intent," as Ambition expresses it, "that 
 Sathan may love him well." Having surrendered their respec- 
 tive personalities to their master exponent, these Vices drop 
 out of sight for the rest of the action. 
 
 In the next scene Hardydardy approaches Aman, and by the 
 charm of his witty conversation persuades the latter to engage 
 him as servant. In the course of their conversation Hardydardy 
 refers to the bequest of Pride, Adulation, and Ambition ; but 
 Aman understands this only as a merry jest on the part of his 
 entertaining follower. 
 
 ^ The chief characteristic of the allegorical figure Pride is, here and else- 
 where, love of finery. 
 
242 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 The play proceeds with the scriptural story of Aman's attempt 
 to have all the Jews killed, the frustration of this plan by Hester, 
 and the condemnation of Aman. Hardydardy is present at the 
 banquet where Aman's villainy is exposed. He exults in the 
 downfall of his master, and comments to Assverus on the jus- 
 tice by which Aman is to be hanged on the gallows that he 
 himself has prepared for Mardocheus. 
 
 This brief outline is sufficient to show how slight is the 
 Morality element in the play. The aim is to present a dramatic 
 rendering of a well-known biblical narrative, not to teach a les- 
 son for the guidance of life. The structure is not allegorical, 
 and the characters proper to an allegorical action that do appear 
 are kept so much in the background that they might be omitted 
 without essentially affecting the play. 
 
 The method of developing Aman into the master spirit of 
 pride, adulation, and ambition is quite unique. Apparently the 
 author did not wish to encumber the main action of his play 
 with allegorical machinery, and consequently introduced the 
 three Vices, Pride, Adulation, and Ambition, in their separate 
 scene, as an easy way of showing the wickedness of Aman and 
 the extent to which his evil desires had carried him. The regu- 
 lar allegorical way of depicting this would be to have the three 
 Vices apply to him for service, be admitted, and then proceed 
 to guide his life by their counsels. But the opposite way is 
 taken : Aman does so much of the work usually performed by 
 the Vices that the Vices themselves are thrown out of employ- 
 ment ; and all they can do in revenge is to give him so much 
 of their natures that he will inevitably overreach himself. 
 
 Hardydardy is a colorless sort of figure. He is, of course, 
 the technical representative of the chief Vice of the Morality, but 
 here he plays only the part of fool, or jester. His entry into 
 the service of Aman was probably understood, in a dim way, as 
 being symbolic of the complete occupation of Aman's heart by 
 
JO HAN THE EVANGELIST 243 
 
 "all sins generally," but this is not expressed in the play. It is 
 merely suggested by Hardydardy's general air of maliciousness, 
 and his unfeigned joy when Aman is brought to a sudden end 
 in the midst of his crime. 
 
 The short interlude oijohan the Evangelist^ mwst be noticed 
 in passing, as it is carried on partly by the sort of characters 
 proper to a Morality. The action begins with a discussion be- 
 tween a godly person named Irisdision and a pleasure-loving 
 person named Eugenio. Irisdision gives an allegorical descrip- 
 tion of two paths — one leading to good and the other to evil 
 — by which a man may travel. Eugenio is affected, but, waiv- 
 ing the question of allegorical paths, he decides to go out and 
 have his fun while he may. The pair retire in different direc- 
 tions, and Johan the Evangelist appropriates the empty stage. 
 He pompously introduces the audience to himself, preaches a 
 short sermon, and retires with the promise that he "wyll hastely 
 agayne be here." Then Actio comes in, complaining that some- 
 one has wakened him before his time by throwing water upon 
 him. Eugenio returns, and is greeted by Actio as an old friend. 
 Some witticisms are exchanged, and then Eugenio tells of a 
 sermon he heard by a good man (apparently Johan), who spoke 
 of everlasting life and happiness. The two friends decide to 
 walk abroad and partake of such enjoyments as occasion may 
 offer, but Eugenio is determined that they shall return " by 
 pryme " to hear the next sermon from Johan. 
 
 The next to appear is Evell Counsayle, who is presently 
 joined by Idelnesse. Evell Counsayle is anxious to find a 
 master, and is prepared to perform any service of a wicked 
 nature that may be demanded of him. He learns that the hobby 
 
 1 In the Malone Society Reprints. The editor (p. vi) suggests the possi- 
 bility of a date before 1557 for the play. It was discovered in quarto form, in 
 1906, and was purchased by the British Museum. The quarto is undated, but 
 the catalogue of the British Museum assigns the edition to about 1565 on 
 grounds of typography. 
 
244 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 of Idelnesse is to corrupt other men's wives ; so he announces 
 that he is pecuharly fitted to assist an employer in such work. 
 Then the two go about their business, hastened on their way 
 by an apprehension that they may be disturbed by the sermon- 
 izer " that layde fyrst In principio togyther." Their places are 
 taken by Actio and Eugenio, who return discussing their recent 
 adventures. Presently they see Johan approaching, and pause 
 to hear the forthcoming " sermonysacyon." Johan opens his 
 discourse with the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, 
 and then proceeds with a stern denunciation of sin. The two 
 listeners are converted on the spot, and Johan concludes the 
 play with admonitions to his recruits. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to comment on the formlessness of the 
 play. It is neither Morality nor biblical tale, and if anyone feels 
 impelled to classify it he had better content himself with calling 
 it an " Interlude," which would indicate that it is probably a play. 
 The characters that concern us here are Evell Counsayle and 
 Idlenesse. Their conversation makes it almost certain that Idle- 
 nesse is a type figure representing the idle man, and that Evell 
 Counsayle is the abstract personification of the tendencies towards 
 mischief such as Satan still finds for idle hands to do. The rest 
 of the characters are individuals. As for the purpose of the play, 
 it is strongly moral in tone ; but there is not the slightest attempt 
 (or, if there is, it cannot be detected) to teach one connected 
 lesson for the guidance of life. 
 
 In Kyng Daryus'^ the Morality features are much more 
 evident. The play is about equally divided between Morality 
 and Bible History, and the two elements are completely sepa- 
 rated, the only semblance of contact being in one speech at the 
 end of the action. The outline, in brief, is as follows : 
 
 1 Edited by Alois Brandl in Quellen des weltlichen Dramas in England 
 vor Shakespeare. The play was registered October, 1565. Fleay, p. 59, states: 
 " This was probably an old interlude, revived possibly at Christmas 1563-4." 
 
KYNG DARYUS 245 
 
 After the Prolocutor outlines the action to follow, Iniquytie, 
 the chief Vice, enters looking for some friends to converse with. 
 No one joins him, and he works himself up into a condition of 
 extreme irritability, so that when the virtuous Charyte appears 
 he is made the target for a fusillade of abusive language. 
 Charyte protects himself behind the ever-present bulwark of 
 scriptural quotation, but finally becomes disgusted with his op- 
 ponent's language and leaves. Then appear Importunyte and 
 Parcyalytie, two minor Vices. The irascible Iniquytie is suspi- 
 cious of them at first, but relents when he learns their names, 
 and receives them as his followers. 
 
 Their conference is interrupted by Equytie, and a furious 
 altercation follows. The three Vices use all the threats and 
 abusive language at their command, and are almost driven to 
 despair when Equytie stoutly holds his ground, since they 
 realize that their power will be lost if they cannot drive him 
 out. Equytie makes several long speeches to them with great 
 calmness and presence of mind, and expounds the Scriptures 
 freely. At last he kneels down and prays, then goes out lei- 
 surely with a last disdainful speech to his excited opponents. 
 The three Vices sing a song and retire from the stage. 
 
 Agreable and Preparatus, the two servants of King Daryus, 
 enter, and are soon followed by the King with his counsellors 
 Perplexitie and Curyosytie. Daryus sends the two servants to 
 bid a company to his feast. Presently Aethopia, Percia, Juda, 
 and Media come in, partake gratefully of the feast, and retire. 
 Then the King and his counsellors also depart. 
 
 Iniquytie returns, trolling a merry song, and is at once joined 
 by his two followers. They settle down to a discussion of their 
 ancestry, and Iniquj^ie informs them that the Pope is his father. 
 But this pleasant interchange of family histories is interrupted 
 by Equytie, who comes prepared to renew the recent argument. 
 In the ensuing quarrel Iniquytie, as his followers think, shows 
 
246 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 too much disposition to reason with Equytie, and they leave in 
 disgust. Iniquytie is placed at a decided disadvantage when his 
 opponent is reinforced by Constancy and Charytie. A long and 
 bitter exchange of insults follows, with occasional attempts on 
 the part of the Virtues to convert the incorrigible Iniqu)rtie. 
 Finally, according to the stage direction, " somebody must cast 
 fyre to Iniquytie," who rushes out shrieking, 
 
 Nay, I go to the devil, I fere. 
 
 The Virtues give thanks to God, sing a song of triumph over 
 the destruction of Iniquytie, and retire. 
 
 King Daryus comes in and despatches his two servants for 
 his counsellors. When the counsellors appear he explains to 
 them that he has overheard an argument among his three 
 chamber-servants, and has collected pieces of paper on which 
 they have written down certain mysterious statements. The 
 three servants, Stipator primus, Stipator secundus, and Zoro- 
 babell, are summoned and made to explain their written state- 
 ments. Stipator primus argues for the strength of wine, Stipator 
 secundus for the strength of the king, and Zorobabell for the 
 strength of women. Zorobabell is triumphant, and is taken into 
 the King's favor. Then, before they leave the stage, he petitions 
 for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. 
 
 Constancy comes forward with a speech maintaining that 
 Zorobabell was victorious through him, while the other two 
 servants were flatterers. Equytie and Charytie join him, and 
 the three conclude the play with prayers for Queen Elizabeth 
 and her counsellors. 
 
 The only point of contact, then, between the Morality and the 
 biblical parts of the play is the speech of Constancy referring 
 to his services to Zorobabell. There is an indirect relation, how- 
 ever, in the fact that the Morality scenes are symbolic of the 
 strife going on at the court between right and wrong, equity 
 
HORESTES 247 
 
 and iniquity, culminating in the victory of Zorobabell. The 
 Morahty element, also, is very interesting in itself. It could be 
 lifted bodily out of the play in which it is now but a secondary 
 element, and placed alone as a complete Morality on the theme, 
 Conflict between Virtues and Vices for Supremacy. As there 
 is no mention of any prize to be striven for, it would be an 
 example of Class I, a, in its purity. 
 
 Horestes} an historical play by John Pickering, is of interest 
 in this discussion mainly on account of the presence of a Vice 
 (denominated almost entirely throughout the play as "the Vyce ") 
 who poses at various times as Pacience, Courrage, and Revenge. 
 Judging from his actions in the play, and by the fact that he 
 is once introduced, in a long speech, as Revenge, it seems 
 probable that he was intended to personify the spirit of re- 
 venge. A few other personified abstractions also appear, in 
 unimportant roles. 
 
 The play begins with a long conversation in which the Vice 
 disguises himself under the name Pacience. He encounters two 
 rustics, Hodge and Rusticus, and by judiciously playing them 
 off against each other involves them at last in a game of fisti- 
 cuffs. While they are thus busily engaged he steals in quietly, 
 and impartially bestows a few stinging buffets. Then he takes to 
 his heels and leaves the amazed rustics to patch up the quarrel 
 at their own convenience. 
 
 In the next scene Horestes comes on, lamenting the murder 
 of his father and the shameful conduct of his mother, Clytem- 
 nestra, who has brought about the death of her husband, and 
 is now with her guilty lover and accomplice, Egistus. He is 
 undecided as to whether he should avenge his father's death. 
 But at this point the Vice approaches, announcing himself as 
 
 1 Edited by Brandl in Quellen des weltlichen Dramas, etc. The play was 
 published in 1 567 by William Griffith. There is no entry of it in the Stationers' 
 Register. 
 
248 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Courrage, the messenger of the gods, and says that the gods 
 have decreed that Horestes shall make war on his mother and 
 her accomplices. This advice is seconded by King Idumeus, 
 who first gets the opinion of his servant Councell. Before 
 Horestes departs on this mission, Dame Nature attempts to 
 dissuade him from this cruel action against his mother, but in 
 vain. He wages war against Clytemnestra and Egistus and 
 slays them both, backed up by the counsels of the Vice, who 
 now appears frankly as Revenge. 
 
 Menelaus, the brother of the slain Cl)^emnestra, now proceeds 
 against Horestes ; but, after a conference, he sees that the latter 
 has had good reasons for avenging his dead father, whereupon he 
 forgives him and bestows on him the hand of his daughter Her- 
 mione. They retire, and Revenge appears in a downcast mood, 
 and equipped for a journey, since his influence in the country 
 has come to an end. He bestows characteristic advice upon the 
 audience and takes his leave. 
 
 Finally, Horestes comes in with his bride Hermione. Truth 
 and Dewtey place a crown on his head, and conclude the play 
 with speeches on their usefulness in the kingdom. 
 
 Horestes would have nothing in common with the Moralities 
 except for the fact that a few of its characters are personified 
 abstractions. These characters are unimportant here. Even 
 the Vice, Revenge, could easily be spared. He is not respon- 
 sible for any of the important actions of the play, but simply 
 appears to influence persons who are already in the mood 
 for revenge. 
 
 The " tragicall history" of Cambyses ^ is frequently mentioned 
 in connection with the Moralities, but it has so little in common 
 with them that it will not be necessary to go into an outline of 
 
 1 The play was written by Thomas Preston, Fellow of King's College, and 
 afterwards Master of Trinity Hall, in Cambridge. It was licensed to John Allde 
 in 1569-70, but was written some years earlier. The text used is that in 
 Dodsley, Vol. IV. 
 
CAMBYSES 249 
 
 the plot. Ambidexter is the Vice, technically speaking. As a 
 matter of fact he is simply a double-faced rascal who provides 
 most of what amusement there is in a very sanguinary play, and 
 performs one important act of maliciousness. He goes to young 
 Smirdis, brother of the murderous King Cambyses, and pro- 
 poses to him a plan for supplanting his brother in the popular 
 favor. Then he proceeds to Cambyses and informs him that 
 Smirdis is working to overthrow him in order that he himself 
 may enjoy the kingdom. The obvious result follows. Cambyses 
 goes out to see to the death of Smirdis. Ambidexter is in high 
 glee at this outcome, and confides to the audience : 
 
 Thereby you may perceive I use to play with each hand.* 
 
 Several personifications appear for brief intervals throughout 
 the play. They are, however, not only unessential, but unim- 
 portant to the last degree. Shame appears once in a short in- 
 terval in the action to address the audience in deprecation of 
 the wickedness of Cambyses. Commons' Cry makes a brief plaint 
 to the King on the miseries of the people, then Commons' 
 Complaint continues the strain, backed up by Proof and Trial. 
 Execution, Cruelty, and Murder are employed by the king to 
 enforce his frequent demands on the lives of his relatives and 
 friends. Attendance and Diligence are simply a pair of follow- 
 ers who appear with young Smirdis during the brief period 
 between the arousing of his ambition and his death. Prepara- 
 tion is a figure, common to many plays of the period, whose 
 duty it is to prepare feasts. 
 
 Not one of these allegorical figures has any important place 
 in the action. They could all be supplanted by such characters 
 as First Lord, Second Lord, First Murderer, Second Murderer, 
 and so on. Cambyses is, then, a "tragicall history," displaying 
 a few minor characters borrowed from allegory. 
 
 1 P. 215. 
 
250 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Appiiis and Virginia'^ is announced on the title-page as a 
 "Tragicall Comedie," but perhaps it would seem less paradoxi- 
 cal, from the point of view of modern expression, to speak of 
 it as a " tragicall history," like Cambyses, with some allegorical 
 figures introduced. It is, from our point of view, a much more 
 important play than Cambyses. In the latter there was no attempt 
 to show that the play was produced to teach a single lesson for 
 the guidance of life ; but in Appitts atid Virginia, as I have 
 shown before,^ there is such an attempt. Some of the allegori- 
 cal figures here, also, are of more importance in the plot than 
 are any of those in Cambyses, as the following outline will show. 
 
 The Prologue makes a speech in praise of chastity. Then 
 Virginius comes in with his wife. Mater, and his daughter, Vir- 
 ginia. They converse on the advantages of domestic happiness 
 and affection, then solemnly depart. Haphazard, the Vice, enters 
 with a long and somewhat incoherent speech, showing, in a 
 general way, that he is in the world for no good purpose. He 
 soon has a pair of tangible objects for his merry jests. Man- 
 sipulus and Mansipula, two servants, join him, and presently he 
 takes occasion to bestow a sound drubbing upon the person of 
 the former. Subservus comes, they all sing together, and then 
 retire amicably. 
 
 The serious part of the play begins now with a soliloquy from 
 Judge Appius on his madness for Virginia. Haphazard joins 
 him with a plan by which he may obtain the object of his desire. 
 Conscience, with a burning candle, and Justice, with a sword, 
 come to warn him, but he decides to accept the advice of 
 
 1 The title on the old edition runs as follows : " A new Tragicall Comedie 
 of Apius and Virginia. Wherein is lively expressed a rare example of the 
 virtue of Chastitie by Virginias Constancy in wishing rather to be slaine at her 
 owne Fathers handes, then to be dishonored of the wicked Judge Apius. 
 By R. B. Imprinted at London by William How for Richard Ihones. 1575." 
 The text used here is that in Dodsley, Vol. IV. 
 
 2 See p. 13 of this work. 
 
APPIUS AND VIRGINIA 251 
 
 Haphazard. He retires, full of his new purpose, and Conscience 
 and Justice appear alone for a few minutes to comment sorrow- 
 fully upon the probable outcome of events. 
 
 Appius, following the advice of Haphazard, now instructs his 
 friend Claudius to accuse Virginius of stealing a thrall of his, 
 a young child {i.e., Virginia), and bringing her up as his own 
 daughter. Haphazard, who is present, urges them on, and goes 
 out with Claudius to see that the base scheme is carried through. 
 Conscience, hidden behind a curtain, makes a last faint appeal 
 to Appius, but is not heeded. 
 
 After another comic scene with Haphazard and the servants, 
 Virginius comes in wondering why Appius has neglected him 
 of late. His curiosity is soon appeased when Appius and Clau- 
 dius come in with their trumped-up accusation. They give him 
 stern orders to deliver up Virginia to her rightful master, then 
 leave him to mourn the sudden calamity to his house. Virginia 
 enters and learns the sad news. She is determined, however, 
 to retain her chastity, and requests her father to take her life 
 at once. He complies, somewhat unnecessarily cutting off her 
 head on the stage. Then he prepares to end his grief by suicide ; 
 but Comfort arrives on the scene and persuades him instead to 
 proceed with his daughter's head to Appius, and get comfort in 
 seeing the bad end in store for the tyrant. 
 
 In the next scene Appius comes in accompanied by Hap- 
 hazard, who amuses his master by talking nonsense, which 
 seems, however, to have a sinister suggestion of impending 
 disaster. They are suddenly joined by Virginius, who bears 
 the head of his daughter. He denounces the tyrant sternly, 
 and Justice and Reward follow close on his heels to avenge 
 him. Justice approaches Appius with the warning, " Thy reward 
 is ready here, by Justice now allotted," and Reward proclaims : 
 
 Thy just reward is deadly death ; wherefore come, wend away : 
 
 To death I straight will do thy corpse : then lust shall have his prey. 
 
252 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Appius is handed over to Virginius, who takes him to prison 
 and returns in time to become the custodian also of Haphazard, 
 who has been sentenced in the meantime by Justice and Reward. 
 Finally, Fame enters with Doctrina and Memory, who bear a 
 tomb. Memory writes on the tomb ; and Fame, Justice, and 
 Reward all proclaim that they will continue to treat virgins and 
 their persecutors according to their deserts. 
 
 It is evident that Appius and Virginia has much more in 
 common with the Moralities than have most of the plays we 
 have considered in this chapter. Many of its characters are 
 personified abstractions, and the author takes pains to insist that 
 he is teaching one particular lesson for the guidance of life. 
 Haphazard, who may be taken for the representative of *" all 
 sins generally," originates the scheme by which Appius is to 
 corrupt Virginia, and in the end the tyrant is punished, and the 
 Vice overthrown, by the abstractions Justice and Reward. But 
 a closer study of the play shows that this allegorical element is 
 merely grafted on to give a superficial explanation of actions 
 that really result from the characteristics of the different human 
 beings taking part, and that are sufficiently motivated without 
 the introduction of these abstract figures. The allegorical struc- 
 ture is lacking, and again the conclusion is indicated that one 
 consistent lesson for the guidance of life cannot be made the 
 sole point in any other dramatic structure. The author proclaims 
 that his play teaches virgins to value honor more than life, but 
 the play does not teach this any more than it does any one of 
 half-a-dozen other lessons. Human beings with individual char- 
 acteristics cannot, except by the most unusual kind of accident, 
 lend themselves, in action, to the illustration of one unequivocal 
 lesson for the edification of their fellow-sinners. 
 
 Finally, we have one play, written late in the period, which 
 exhibits the allegorical structure and allegorical figures, but which 
 falls short of being a Morality because there is no attempt to 
 
THREE LORDS AND THREE LADIES 253 
 
 teach a single connected lesson for the guidance of life. This is 
 The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London} It is a sequel to 
 The Three Ladies of London, and has already come in for some 
 slight discussion in the treatment of the latter play ; ^ but it is still 
 necessary to present an outline of the somewhat involved action. 
 
 The three lords of London, Policy, Pomp, and Pleasure, 
 come to sue for the hands of Lucre, Conscience, and Love, who 
 are in prison.^ They argue over the coming distribution of the 
 ladies, each exhibiting great anxiety that Lucre may be the one 
 to fall to his share. They apply to Judge Nemo for their brides, 
 and he sends Sorrow to bring them from prison. After a scene 
 in which Fraud, Dissimulation, Simony, Usury, and Simplicity 
 foregather and recount their adventures since their last meeting. 
 Sorrow leads in the three ladies and places them on three stones 
 that have been set in place for them. The first stone is marked 
 " Remorse," the second " Charity," and the third " Care," 
 Fraud, Dissimulation, Simony, and Usury, the former retainers 
 of Lucre, now apply for a renewal of her favor, but she rejects 
 them all, and they make a hasty exit as Judge Nemo reappears 
 with the three lords of London. Falsehood and Double-Dealing 
 enter at about the same time, and address themselves to Love, 
 but Nemo steps forward and drives them out. Honest Industry, 
 Pure Zeal, and Sincerity now take the three ladies in charge, 
 and lead them out to change their prison rags for seemly apparel. 
 
 After a comic scene in which Fraud, disguised as a French- 
 man, persuades Simplicity to invest ten shillings with him in 
 return for some jewelry which he claims to be worth ten pounds. 
 Nemo enters with tHe three lords, who are still wrangling for 
 the possession of Lucre. Determined to marry off all three of 
 his prot6g6es. Nemo resorts to a bit of pious fraud. He goes 
 
 1 Edited in Dodsley, Vol. VI. The play was printed in 1592, but was prob- 
 ably written a couple of years eariier. 
 
 * See p. 51, above. ^ See conclusion of TTie Three Ladies of London. 
 
254 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 out and leads in Conscience clothed in white, proclaiming that 
 she is Lucre. The lords admire her beauty-, and Pleasure, in 
 particular, falls so violently in love that he remains constant 
 even after the deception is uncovered. A sudden interruption 
 comes at this point. Diligence comes running in to warn them 
 that a Spanish host has come to conquer the land, aiming their 
 hostilities chiefly at the three lords of London, and with intent 
 to carry off the three ladies into bondage. The three lords retire 
 to prepare for the combat. 
 
 While the lords, behind the scenes, are girding on their 
 armor. Usury appears with the luckless Simplicity, and threat- 
 ens to imprison him for attempting to sell his (Usury's) jewelry. 
 Fraud comes in and gets Simplicity off with only the loss of the 
 jewelry, which is forfeited. Fraud, Dissimulation, and Simony 
 now decide to go over to the invading army, and urge Usury to 
 join them ; but Usury has misgivings about proving traitor to 
 his own country. Simony argues : " 'T is not our native country, 
 thou knowest. I, Simony, am a Roman : Dissimulation, a mon- 
 grel — half an Italian, half a Dutchman : Fraud so, too — half 
 French and half Scottish ; and thy parents were both Jews, 
 though thou wert born in London, and here, Usury, thou art 
 cried out against by the preachers. Join with us, man, to better 
 thy state, for in Spain preaching toucheth us not." But Usury 
 has made up his mind that he is better off in London than 
 anywhere else, and he is not to be moved from this position. 
 
 The three lords of London now appear, dressed for war and 
 accompanied by their pages ; and, advancing from the opposite 
 side of the stage, come the three lords of Spain : Pride, with 
 his page Shame ; Ambition, with his page Treachery ; and 
 Tyranny, with his page Terror. Fealty, the English herald, ad- 
 vances to parley with the Spanish herald Shealty.^ Then there 
 
 1 Policy explains that shealty is an Irish word signifying " liberty," but that 
 it should mean " remissness," or " looseness." 
 
THREE LORDS AND THREE LADIES 255 
 
 are two or three symbolic encounters, in which the London 
 lords, with much patriotic comment, beat down the shields and 
 the lance-points of the Spanish lords. The latter can offer only 
 railing and abuse in return for their symbolic drubbing, and in 
 the end they are put to flight. 
 
 Judge Nemo now leads in his trio of London ladies, who 
 advance to greet their victorious lords. Lucre makes up to 
 Pomp, Love to Policy, and Conscience to Pleasure. A triple 
 wedding is decided upon, after which the ladies retire. Then 
 the lords are applied to by Fraud, Dissimulation, and Usury, 
 who are still patiently seeking service. But Policy takes Usury 
 and puts a mark on him — a little "x" in the middle of a 
 great " C." Then the three rascals are driven out. 
 
 Nemo, still acting the part of gentleman usher, brings in 
 Desire, Delight, and Devotion, the three lords of Lincoln, who 
 hope to prove attractive in the eyes of the three ladies of Lon- 
 don. But their suit is not to be granted. Nemo decides that the 
 London ladies must not be separated from the London lords, 
 and, in rather doubtful compensation, he presents the lords of 
 Lincoln with the three stones marked " Care," " Remorse," and 
 " Charity." 
 
 In the final scene the triple wedding is celebrated with great 
 ceremony. In the crowd of onlookers is Simplicity, who sud- 
 denly espies his enemy Fraud in disguise. He raises a great 
 hue and cry, and the two are brought before Pleasure, who 
 ordains that Fraud shall be bound, and that Simplicity, for his 
 revenge, shall be allowed to thrust at him with a torch. But 
 when the preparations are made Simplicity starts off in the 
 wrong direction with his torch, and Fraud slips away in the 
 crowd. So, in merry fashion, the play is ended. 
 
 This involved allegorical structure is employed, not to bring 
 out, step by step, a lesson useful for its application to life, but 
 mainly to show the superiority of England over other countries, 
 
256 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 and of London over other parts of England. It has the outward 
 form, but not the animating spirit, of the MoraHty. The charac- 
 ters, while they are individually proper to the Morality, are 
 combined, not with a view to subordinating them to one central 
 action with a moral import, but for the purpose of presenting a 
 series of scenes which would express the complacent mood of 
 the London audience. 
 
 In all of the plays considered in this chapter we have found 
 elements common to the Moralities, and even the brief discus- 
 sions that have been accorded these plays will be sufficient to 
 show that the experiment of combining Morality elements with 
 Comedy, History, and Tragedy was not a success. It would be 
 possible to include here a few other plays from the second half 
 of the sixteenth century, and also a few artificial revivals from 
 the seventeenth century ; but we have now considered all the 
 sixteenth-century plays that could by any chance be mistaken 
 for Moralities, and to consider examples from the seventeenth 
 century would be little more pertinent to our discussion than to 
 consider Everywoman and other so-called Moralities of a recent 
 date. The Morality as a serious type of drama withdrew gradu- 
 ally from the stage as the sixteenth century proceeded toward 
 its glorious closing decade, and by 1600 its place on the boards 
 was completely occupied, not by a lineal descendant, but by a 
 youthful and vigorous usurper, the drama of real life. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE MORALITIES CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO 
 THEIR ORIGINAL AUDIENCE 
 
 It is so frequently asserted of the Moralities that they were 
 dull, dreary, and lifeless, that these adjectives have become the 
 stock epithets of the literary historian when he turns aside for a 
 momentary inspection of these unfortunate plays. Undoubtedly 
 this ill report is due in no small degree to the unhappy taste 
 displayed by the Morality in its selection of a name. While we 
 may find ourselves approving highly of the conditions in life 
 which are the results or the natural accompaniments of morality, 
 we feel something peculiarly unlovely in the connotations of the 
 term itself. One natural result is that we have an instinctive 
 repugnance for the dramas that display this ugly brand so openly. 
 It would not be much worse for them if they were termed, in- 
 stead, " Respectability plays." 
 
 But, while the name itself is equivalent to a warning to pass 
 by on the other side, there are two characteristics, more organi- 
 cally connected with the plays, that are just as displeasing. These 
 are allegory and homily. I should like, then, before bidding my 
 subject farewell, to consider briefly what defence may be made 
 for the employment of these two devices in the Moralities. 
 
 In the first place, it is quite safe to assume that the modern 
 reader has a deep-seated abhorrence of the term " allegory." He 
 occasionally finds himself reading with interest literature that 
 belongs to the allegorical category, but that is because he finds 
 in this literature some quality, apart from allegory, that charms 
 or interests him. The Pilgrim's Progress and the first two cantos 
 
 257 
 
2 58 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 of The Faerie Qtieene still have their wide circles of readers, in 
 spite of the allegorical framework on which they are constructed. 
 In The Faerie Queene the reader allows himself to be conducted, 
 to the sound of Spenser's exquisite music, into the charmed 
 country of mediaeval romance, and there he is thrilled with the 
 interest that belongs to the vicissitudes of wandering knights 
 and fair ladies. If the knights and ladies were designated by 
 abstract or type names (in accordance with the strict tenets of 
 allegory) instead of by names that are merely suggestive, the 
 reader would find his interest seriously hampered. But, as it 
 is, he can ignore the allegory as completely as if it were, as 
 Mrs. Malaprop supposed, '" on the banks of the Nile." The 
 commendation regularly accorded to Bunyan's masterpiece indi- 
 cates the §ame sort of explanation for the interest which it still 
 arouses. The Pilgrim s Progress, it is said, is to all intents and 
 purposes a story of real life, and may be read and enjoyed as 
 such. The allegorical framework, we are assured, can be ignored, 
 and we can regard Christian and Hopeful as individual human 
 beings of flesh and blood, travelling in strange lands, and en- 
 countering sundry adventures with a great variety of other inter- 
 esting human beings composed of equally solid flesh and crimson 
 blood. This explanation is perfectly applicable to the work. 
 While Bunyan carefully designated his characters by abstract 
 and type names, he at the same time characterized them as 
 individual human beings ; and thus his allegory approached so 
 near to the confines of literal narrative that his readers, starting 
 where he stopped, can with the slightest effort complete the 
 journey by themselves, crossing the debatable land between al- 
 legorical and literal, and establishing themselves securely and 
 happily on the open ground of literal narrative. I shall show 
 presently that exactly this same condition, though from a dif- 
 ferent cause, was frequently brought about when the Moralities 
 were presented on the stage. 
 
THE MORALITY IN ITS OWN DAY 259 
 
 Bunyan wrote another work, The Holy War, in which the 
 action all takes place in the remote and murky forest of allegory. 
 The scheme is worked out with infinitely more pains than in 
 The Pilgrim s Progress, but we no longer care to subject our- 
 selves to the intellectual labor of translating The Holy War into 
 literal terms. 
 
 I hope not to be understood as implying here a contradiction 
 to a remark, made in my Preface, that the finest Moralities are 
 those which cling most consistently to the allegorical scheme, 
 A piece of literature cannot be a work of art simply by virtue 
 of being consistently allegorical. In allegory, as in other forms 
 of literature, the measure of success must be estimated by inter- 
 est and effectiveness. Neither of these qualities can exist long 
 if the reader is compelled to make swift and recurrent transitions 
 from allegorical action to abstract statement. In the Moralities, 
 with their well-recognized and comparatively simple conventional 
 schemes, the action is rarely so involved as to become confusing ; 
 but in spite of this, the author, for reasons which I shall specify 
 later, frequently compels his actors to pause and deliver an ap- 
 parently uncalled-for explanation of actions that seem in them- 
 selves obvious. This compels the reader or spectator to move 
 rapidly from one atmosphere to another, and the interest, which 
 should be continuous, is broken. But if, on the other hand, the 
 allegory becomes so involved as to be meaningless without an 
 understanding of the interpretation underlying the allegorical 
 action — and this is the case in The Holy War — the reader is 
 compelled on his own account to pause and get his bearings ; 
 and the interest is again, for the time at least, diverted from 
 the allegorical narrative itself. 
 
 The finest allegory, then, is that which maintains an interest 
 in itself, and for its own sake, and which does not request or 
 compel the reader to close his eyes, even for a moment, in order 
 to puzzle out its connection with the actual meaning. To this 
 
26o THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 end an allegory should be consistent, and it should be compara- 
 tively simple, not dealing with remote or unfamiliar ideas. The 
 underlying meaning may flow along with it so smoothly that the 
 reader will subconsciously perceive it, or it may be entirely ig- 
 nored at the moment, to be " recollected in tranquillity " at a 
 later time. In this class are the two Moralities to which I 
 accorded special praise in my Preface, — Everyman and the 
 Play of Wit and Science. 
 
 The injustice done to allegory to-day is in the tacit assumption 
 that all allegory is bad allegory, — that it is dull if we accept it 
 as it is, and irritating if we try to translate it into literal terms. 
 We are more interested, we say, in the spectacle of our flesh- 
 and-blood fellow-creatures as they battle with temptations, make 
 love to each other, and pass through the fire and flood of strange 
 adventure. The "' bloodless abstractions " of allegory are remote 
 from the life we love to contemplate. They make no appeal to 
 our sympathies, and we prefer to employ our intellects in a more 
 practical way. There is, I think, a real reason for this feeling 
 of irritation in the fact that in modern literature we frequently 
 encounter works which are robbed of much of their human 
 interest by the occasional introduction of allegory. Such a de- 
 vice is, indeed, intensely irritating, and quite warrants a reader 
 in desiring to curse allegory out of existence. In parts of Tenny- 
 son's Idylls of the King we feel that a brave story of love and 
 chivalry is being pruned down to make space for a bit of lifeless 
 allegory quite out of place in such surroundings ; and we natu- 
 rally look upon the allegory with the resentment that an intruder 
 inspires. In such an environment it is, of course, unnatural. If 
 it is to be effective, it must move by itself, and not in conjunc- 
 tion with pictures of supposed reality. The plays that I have 
 considered in the preceding chapter are, in every case, seriously 
 hampered by the grafting-on of allegorical characters and actions 
 to their main scheme of literal presentation. 
 
THE MORALITY IN ITS OWN DAY 261 
 
 When, however, an allegory fulfills the rather simple condi- 
 tions that I have laid down, it may be quite as interesting and 
 absorbing as a narrative or representation of real life. The 
 effect, as a matter of fact, is much the same. While more is 
 meant than meets either the eye or the ear, no guide-book is 
 necessary or desirable for the purpose of ascertaining what that 
 more is. The attention is centered on the action itself, and the 
 action charms and interests in proportion to the skill of its 
 presentation. We should approach a consideration of the ab- 
 solute merits of the Moralities with this sympathetic realization, 
 and with the recollection that the Moralities were in their day 
 not read, but acted. This latter fact had, undoubtedly, a great 
 influence in preserving the proper attitude towards allegory on 
 the part of the audience. If, then, we would consider the ques- 
 tion of excellence in the case of the Moralities, we should try 
 to ascertain the contemporary point of view. 
 
 In the first place, we must remember that, for the potential 
 spectators of the Moralities, the classifying term had none 
 of the unpleasant connotations that it has for us, and that the 
 literary method for which the term stands had for them the 
 comfortable associations of an accepted convention. Their an- 
 cestors for generations had regarded human problems through 
 the medium of allegory, and had been keenly interested in the 
 medium itself. The time had not yet arrived for relegating 
 allegory as a means of amusement and intellectual recreation to 
 the dust-bin of literary tradition, and they came to the spectacle 
 with unprejudiced minds. 
 
 In the second place, it is obviously unfair to dismiss the 
 dramatis personae of the Moralities as a set of dreary abstrac- 
 tions, going through a series of lifeless dialogues merely to 
 bring out a moral. They could not have been dreary abstrac- 
 tions to the people who saw them on the stage, or, needless 
 to say, they would not have appeared in play after play for 
 
262 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 more than two hundred years. In the MoraHty of Mankind 
 the spectators are called upon to pay " red royals " in return 
 for the pleasure of witnessing the performance, and there is 
 no indication that they could enjoy it more cheaply in other 
 cases. Thus, since Moralities continued to be acted, the spec- 
 tators continued to sacrifice their royals for the sake of behold- 
 ing them, and consequently the spectacle must have afforded 
 them a considerable amount of satisfaction. What fascination, 
 then, could the Morality have possessed which it is now so 
 hard for us to detect .? 
 
 The question of comparative excellence among the Moralities 
 I have discussed from time to time in the preceding pages. At 
 present I am concerned with refuting the wholesale condemna- 
 tion of plays of this type. Now, judged purely as literature to 
 read, the Moralities are, I think, underestimated in most literary 
 histories. For a long time the convention has been to dismiss 
 them with the remark that they are dull, homiletic, and lifeless ; 
 and a glance at the lists of dramatis personae seems to bear out 
 this remark. A play presenting a set of characters designated 
 as Mankind, Riot, Charity, Humility, Pride, and Lechery hardly 
 gives promise of interesting dialogue or exciting action. But, if 
 one reads doggedly on in order to discover what such a play 
 actually contains, one will probably discover that the more vicious 
 of these apparently chilly abstractions indulge in a good deal of 
 coarse but frequently amusing repartee ; that they exhibit a sur- 
 prising amount of virility in opposing their natural enemies in 
 the open field, and a fine if reprehensible subtlety in hatching 
 their plots under cover ; and that a good deal of excitement and 
 suspense is aroused in the outcome of the strife between the lewd 
 fellows and their virtuous opponents to supplant each other in the 
 favor and companionship of Mankind. The patient reader, thus 
 encouraged to peruse other plays, will also find that Riot, Pride, 
 and the like are often characterized as distinct personalities, 
 
THE MORALITY IN ITS OWN DAY 263 
 
 and that they exhibit amusing idiosyncrasies which add materially 
 to the interest without detracting from the consistency of the 
 allegory. If all this can be found in the Moralities, the actual 
 state of the case is very different from the popular belief that 
 each allegorical character, labelled with his name, appears in his 
 appropriate scene, makes his appropriate speech, and retires. 
 
 If the reader who has made the discoveries outlined above 
 then goes on to consider that the plays which he has found 
 so much above the expectation raised by the lists of dramatis 
 personae were written, not to be read, but to be acted, he will 
 probably come to the conclusion that the spectators did not pay 
 down their good "' red royals " for nought. He will, in that case, 
 be arriving at what I conceive to be the only just conclusion, 
 reached by the only reasonable method. No criticism of the 
 Moralities can be definitive which ignores the fact that they 
 were presented to contemporaries as acted performances. 
 
 Our own contemporaries were somewhat surprised, a few 
 years ago, to discover that Everyman was tremendously effective 
 on the stage. The general situation in the play (man in the 
 presence of death) is, to be sure, one that by its inherent tragic 
 intensity might be supposed to appeal to people of all times. 
 But the criticism that is applied to Moralities in general will 
 apply just as readily to the play of Everyman. When the 
 summons comes to the type that represents mankind to present 
 his account before the throne of God, this type-person proceeds 
 to several other type-persons and to personifications of abstract 
 qualities, with the request that they accompany him. Would not 
 this situation, we might ask, be made infinitely more effective 
 if we had, instead, an individual person surrounded in his last 
 moments by his friends, and striving pathetically to prepare for 
 death by the same methods that have enabled him to live his 
 life .'' And is not the allegorical method unbearably artificial 
 and lifeless as a medium for depicting so important a crisis ? 
 
264 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 These questions might easily be answered to the discredit of 
 Everyman if it had remained simply a printed text. But those 
 who have seen it on the stage realize that such an estimate 
 would be entirely unfair. When the play was acted, the char- 
 acters, instead of being dreary types and abstractions, were at 
 once individualized and humanized ; and the same transformation 
 once took place in the case of every one of the other Moralities 
 which are now so hastily judged on the basis of the printed copy. 
 There is no evidence that the play of Everyman was especially 
 popular in the days when Moralities held the stage. On the 
 other hand, there is pretty good evidence that the kind of Mo- 
 rality of which Everyman is the exemplar was not very popular. 
 Of the thirty-one Moralities that have come down to us, only 
 two are constructed on the scheme presenting the Summons of 
 Death, while in the popular class presenting the Conflict between 
 Virtues and Vices are listed twenty-four out of the thirty-one. 
 Some of the probable reasons for this proportion I have already 
 discussed.^ Suffice it now to say that in the dramatic spectacle 
 of two opposing bands intent upon victory at all costs, and usually 
 with a very tangible and important prize as the meed of victory, 
 the spectator of the Morality period probably found the excite- 
 ment and interest that the theatregoer always demands in return 
 for his money. When these so-called " bloodless abstractions " 
 appeared on the stage, they had to bestir themselves vigorously 
 if they would maintain the field against their natural foes. The 
 plays exhibit now one party, now the other, in the ascendant ; 
 and these ups and downs are accompanied by many a subtle 
 plot and many a stern encounter. The suspense aroused and 
 the excitement stimulated in the minds of the spectators would, 
 as always, depend largely on the combined skill of the play- 
 wright and the actors ; but the potentialities were inherent in 
 the Morality itself. 
 
 1 See p. 202, above. 
 
THE MORALITY IN ITS OWN DAY 265 
 
 I referred, a few pages back, to the fact that the allegory of 
 The Pilgrim s Progress approaches so near to the borders of 
 concrete narrative that its readers frequently forget that they 
 are following an allegory ; and then went on to mention that 
 the same result, from a different cause, was apparently produced 
 in the acting of the Moralities. This cause I have, as I think, 
 just indicated. In some of the Moralities we find that speeches 
 are introduced in which the actors call attention to the allegori- 
 cal signification of their actions. This apparently resulted from 
 the knowledge, on the part of the playwright, that his audience 
 was prone to center its interest in the very human and exciting 
 action on the stage. If the playwright happened to be a person 
 of stern moral purpose, he would naturally be anxious that his 
 audience should not lose sight of the excellent lesson inculcated, 
 and he would take this precaution to ensure their souls' welfare. 
 The occasional device, then, of breaking the allegory to call 
 attention to its meaning is a most interesting bit of testimony 
 that the spectators, without this device, were likely to be seduced 
 by the excitement of the action into regarding the play as a 
 purely human spectacle. 
 
 Again, the scheme presenting the Conflict between Virtues 
 and Vices has wide possibilities of humor ; and this was another 
 reason for its great popularity. In Everyman there is not a glint 
 of humor, except in the situation where the fickle Cosyn sud- 
 denly develops the cramp in his toe which conveniently prevents 
 him from accompanying Everyman on his pilgrimage. The motif 
 of such a play is the most solemn within the range of human 
 experience. No humorous possibilities are inherent in the scheme. 
 Humor could be introduced only in isolated scenes of the kind 
 that are inserted in Shakespearean tragedy to relieve the intoler- 
 able strain of the main action. And in such a play as Everyman, 
 where the action is, from the very nature of the situation, swift 
 and brief, no spectator could wish to have the main allegorical 
 
266 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 scheme interrupted by disconnected scenes of humor that would 
 be grotesquely out of place.^ But the popular Conflict scheme, 
 on the other hand, includes a list of characters that lend them- 
 selves naturally to humorous dialogue and situation. These are 
 the Vices, the jovial scoundrels who are the natural opponents 
 of the Virtues, and who are actuated by a burning zeal to main- 
 tain friendly relations with Man. When these abstract personi- 
 fications of vice foregather in private to lay plans and compare 
 experiences, they frequently become, for the time being, types 
 representing mortals who lead reprehensible lives. In this ca- 
 pacity they entertain themselves, and incidentally the audience, 
 with many a merry anecdote of the lives they lead ; indulge in 
 sallies of repartee which are often coarse, but, from the point 
 of view of the contemporary spectator, always amusing ; and 
 frequently proceed from repartee to active trials of strength and 
 skill. Then, when they advance to the real business of conquer- 
 ing or supplanting their enemies, the Virtues, they frequently 
 resort to subterfuges and practical jokes which would delight an 
 age that still detected humor in such things. 
 
 The merry quips, gibes, and practical jokes of these repre- 
 sentatives of vice might seem at first to be out of harmony 
 with the spirit of a play which is in its scheme allegorical, and 
 which has for its avowed object the inculcation of morality. But 
 such is not necessarily the case. As to their fitness in an alle- 
 gorical scheme, it is to be noted that personified vices, if they 
 are to be consistently characterized, are best characterized by 
 having carnal conversation and ungodly acts attributed to them. 
 Now, while such acts and such conversation are not in strict 
 
 1 The allegory is so interrupted in Lyndsay's Satyre of the TTirie Estaites. But 
 here the scheme is of a very different kind, and, from the nature of the situa- 
 tion, moves slowly. Besides, the Satyre is of excessive length, and could not 
 be viewed at a continuous session. Consequently, the isolated humorous 
 Interludes are introduced for the purpose of allowing the spectators to depart 
 occasionally for purposes carefully specified by the Prologue. 
 
THE MORALITY IN ITS OWN DAY 267 
 
 accord with the severe tenets of good behavior, they are often 
 undeniably amusing, and are eminently in harmony with the 
 characters of reprehensible persons and personified vices. As 
 to their fitness in a play written to encourage morality, we are 
 to remember that one orthodox way of persuading people to be 
 good is to teach them to shun evil. The Morality playwright 
 was sensible enough to realize that Vice is not always a mon- 
 ster of frightful mien, but that he frequently appears as a very 
 amusing and companionable creature. But he never committed 
 the blunder of allowing his audience to depart with the convic- 
 tion that vice is, after all, more pleasant than virtue. The true 
 natures of the seemingly attractive personifications of evil were 
 always laid bare, and the spectator discovered, or was confirmed 
 in the impression, that while vice is at first sight " pleasant to 
 each man's intent," its ways lead down to hell. 
 
 In our hasty strictures on the Morality, which, we say, was 
 written with a moral and not with a dramatic purpose, we over- 
 look the fact that writers of the drama from beginning to end 
 have argued for the moral effect of their productions. During 
 the most corrupt period of the English drama, the writers of 
 comedy still contended that they were exhibiting vices and fol- 
 lies to be shunned, that they attacked immorality by showing 
 it to be foolish and harmful. One may well question whether 
 these dramatists did not occasionally introduce their scenes of 
 folly and vice, not in a fury of moral zeal, but rather from a 
 politic desire to amuse the audience ; but, at least, they were 
 employing the sound argument that men may be taught virtue 
 by being warned against vice. They realized, what the Morality 
 playwright realized long before them, that a play, to inculcate 
 morality, does not necessarily exhibit only persons who preach 
 morality, and that it is not perforce heavy and solemn, but will 
 be more successful in a variety of ways if it is frequently the 
 opposite. 
 
268 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 This leads to the second point proposed for consideration in 
 this chapter, — the presence of homily in the Moralities. The 
 whole purpose in this concluding discussion is to give reasons 
 for the belief that the plays in question were not merely moral 
 disquisitions, moulded in a dramatic form that was dull and 
 uninteresting, and foisted upon an unwilling audience, but that 
 they were plays conforming to a literary scheme that had long 
 been in favor, and were written in a way that was pleasing to 
 the audience upon whose verdict their success depended. Now, 
 along with the humorous scenes that have just been discussed, 
 there appears, in all of the Moralities, a good deal of homiletic 
 moralizing and religious instruction. That is, the playwright 
 carried out his avowed purpose of inculcating morality not merely 
 in the negative but also in the positive way. The same sort of 
 defence, however, that I have made for allegory as a dramatic 
 method suited to the times, can also, I think, be made for the 
 frequent presence of the dramatic homily. 
 
 In the Moralities most of the really dramatic effects are pro- 
 duced by the champions of vice, occasionally reinforced by the 
 representative of mankind in a state of depravity. These are 
 the actors who deal in lively sallies of wit, formulate subtle 
 schemes and deep-laid plots, and exhibit exciting rapidity of 
 action. In addition to this, they are frequently characterized 
 in amusing and interesting ways. But with the actors repre- 
 senting virtues the case is very different. They, as a rule, do 
 justify the familiar defining phrase "bloodless abstractions," 
 and one is led to suspect that the critics have taken the word 
 "morality" too literally, and have supposed that the Virtues are 
 the only important actors. These personifications of commend- 
 able qualities are often very slightly characterized. They are 
 never consciously amusing, and are never entertaining in our 
 sense of the word. When they are not engaged in administering 
 lofty rebukes to their opponents, they conceive it to be their 
 
THE MORALITY IN ITS OWN DAY 269 
 
 business to impart moral and religious instruction, in the form 
 of long speeches, to the dramatic representative of mankind, 
 or to the audience. But they return to the stage so often, and 
 remain there so much of the time, that we should do well to 
 inquire whether or not they v^oxe personae gratae to the playgoers. 
 
 It cannot be premised too often or too emphatically that when 
 men are engaged in serving the public the broad lines of their 
 work are laid down by that public itself. Many of our contem- 
 poraries applaud vigorously from their exalted station in the 
 theatre when a noble sentiment is uttered from the stage ; but 
 they would give a very different expression of personal feeling 
 if they were treated, instead, to a long homiletic speech on the 
 advisability of preparing for death, or on Saint Paul's explanation 
 of the scheme of redemption. For this reason among others we 
 hear many beautiful sentiments when we attend the theatre, but 
 practically no homiletic speeches. If, on the other hand, the 
 plays of another period are consistent and regular in their 
 introduction of such speeches, we may be sure that the latter 
 found favor in the eyes of those whose patronage supported 
 the stage. 
 
 It is well known that the poetic homily was an established 
 literary form before and during the time when Moralities were 
 being produced. Outside of the classic literature of this period, 
 which is itself frequently homiletic in form, there was a large 
 body of more popular poetry (part of which has been preserved) 
 that consisted of religious instruction and moral exhortation. In 
 addition to this, the puh'ic had been accustomed, for generations 
 before the appearance of the Moralities, to receiving religious 
 instruction through the riiedium of the drama as embodied in 
 the Miracle plays. The Moralities, therefore, were simply em- 
 ploying what was a well-recognized and acceptable tradition in 
 both poetry and drama when they in turn exhibited a tendency 
 to moralize and instruct ; and the spectators, apparently, had no 
 
2/0 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 suspicion of the great truth, which it remained for later ages to 
 discover, that moral and religious matters are in harmony, not 
 with the pleasures and employments of the week, but only with 
 the quiet retirement of the seventh day and the house of prayer. 
 It is not an easy matter to make out a convincing case for 
 the inherent excellence of a type of play that has been persist- 
 ently decried in the pages of many standard works. And this 
 task is rendered all the more difficult since the type presents 
 many characteristics which, while they were undeniably suited 
 to contemporary tastes and needs, become merely dull and irk- 
 some when they confront the readers and critics of to-day. My 
 appeal for a juster estimate of the Moralities must be to the 
 student whose literary sympathies are not wholly bound up with 
 that which makes an immediate and obvious appeal to the present, 
 but who can still find merit in a form of dramatic entertainment 
 that seems to have possessed, in its own day, the power to please 
 as well as to instruct. 
 
LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND EDITIONS 
 
 Bates, Katharine Lee. The English Religious Drama. New York, 
 1893. 
 
 Brandl, Alois. Quellen des weltlichen Dramas in England vor Shake- 
 speare. Ein Erganzungsband zu Dodsley's Old English Plays. (Quellen 
 und Forschungen, LXXX.) Strassburg, 1898. 
 
 Carpenter, Frederic Ives. The Life and Repentance of Marie Mag- 
 dalene, by Lewis Wager. Chicago, 1904. 
 
 Chambers, E. K. The Mediaeval Stage. 2 vols. Oxford, 1903. 
 
 Collier, J. P. The History of English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of 
 Shakespeare. London, 1879. 
 
 Collier, J. P. Illustrations of Early English Popular Literature. London, 
 1864. 
 
 CouRTHOPE, W. J. A History of English Poetry, Vols. I and II. London, 
 1895-1897. 
 
 Creizenach, Wilhelm. Geschichte des neueren Dramas. Vols. I-III. 
 Halle, 1893-1903. 
 
 CusHMAN, L. W. The Devil and the Vice in the English Dramatic Litera- 
 ture before Shakespeare. Halle, 1900. 
 
 DODSLEY, R. A Select Collection of Old Plays. Chronologically arranged, 
 revised and enlarged by W. C. Hazlitt. 4th ed., 15 vols. London, 
 1874-1876. 
 
 Ellis, F. S. The Golden Legend ; or. Lives of the Saints, as Englished 
 by W. Caxton. London, 1900. (Temple Classics.) 
 
 Farmer, John Stephen. Anonymous Plays. Series 1-4. London, 
 1905-1908. 
 
 Farmer, John Stephen. The Dramatic Writings of John Bale. 
 London, 1907. 
 
 Farmer, John Stephen, Recently Recovered " Lost " Tudor Plays. 
 London, 1907. 
 
 Farmer, John Stephen. The Tudor Facsimile Texts. London, 1907. 
 
 Fleay, F. G. History of the Stage. London, 1 890. 
 
 271 
 
272 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 FuRNiVALL, F. J. The Digby Plays, with an Incomplete Morality of 
 Wisdom, Who is Christ. 1882. (New Shakspere Society, Series VII, i ; 
 reissued for Early English Text Society, 1896.) 
 
 FuRNivALL, F. J., and Pollard, Alfred W. The Macro Plays. Early 
 English Text Society, London, 1904. 
 
 Gayley, Charles Mills. Representative English Comedies. London, 
 1903. 
 
 Gayley, Charles Mills. Plays of our Forefathers. New York, 1907. 
 
 Halliwell, J. O. Ludus Coventriae. A Collection of Mysteries, formerly 
 represented at Coventry on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Shakespeare 
 Society, London, 1841. 
 
 Herford, C. H. The Literary Relations of England and Germany in the 
 Sixteenth Century. Cambridge, 1886. 
 
 Hone, W. Ancient Mysteries described, especially the English Miracle 
 Plays, founded on Apocryphal New Testamenc Story, extant among 
 the unpublished Manuscripts in the British Museum. London, 1823. 
 
 Jahrbuch des deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft. 45 vols. 1865-1909. 
 
 KOELBING, Arthur. Zur Characteristik John Skeltons. Stuttgart, 1904. 
 
 Laing, David. The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay. 3 vols. Edin- 
 burgh, 1879. 
 
 Magnus, Leonard. Respublica. Early English Text Society, London, 
 1894. 
 
 Malone Society Reprints. London, 1907. 
 
 Manly, J. M. Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama, Vols. I and II. 
 Boston, 1897. 
 
 Petit DE JuLLEViLLE, Louis. Les Myst^res. 2 vols. Paris, 1880. (Part 
 of Histoire du theatre en France.) 
 
 Petit de Julleville, Louis. La Com^die et les moeurs en France au 
 moyen ige. Paris, 1886. 
 
 Petit de Julleville, Louis. Repertoire du theatre comique en France 
 au moyen ige. Paris, 1886. 
 
 Petit de Julleville, Louis. Les Com^diens en France au moyen &ge. 
 Paris, 1889. 
 
 Pollard, A. W. English Miracle Plays, Moralities, and Interludes. Ox- 
 ford, 1890. 
 
 Raine, J. The Towneley Mysteries. With preface by J. Hunter and glos- 
 sary by J. Gordon. 1836. (Surtees Society, III.) 
 
 Ramsay, Robert Lee. Skelton's " Magnyfycence." Early English Text 
 Society, London, 1908. 
 
 Romania : recueil trimestriel consacrd k I'dtude des langues et des httdratures 
 romanes. 37 vols. 1872-1908. 
 
LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND EDITIONS 273 
 
 Smith, Lucy Toulmin. The Plays performed by the Crafts or Mysteries 
 
 of York on the Day of Corpus Christi. Oxford, 1885. 
 Symonds, John Addington. Shakspeare's Predecessors in the English 
 
 Drama. London, 1884. 
 Ten Brink, Bernhard. Geschichte des englischen Litteratur. Berlin 
 
 and Strassburg, 1877-1893. 
 Traver, Hope, The Four Daughters of God. Philadelphia, 1907. 
 Ward, A. W. A History of English Dramatic Literature. 2d ed. 3 vols. 
 
 London, 1899. 
 Wright, Thomas. The Chester Plays. 2 vols. 1843. (Shakespeare 
 
 Society.) 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abominable Living, 97 
 Abundance, 107 ff. 
 Adolotria, 44 ff. 
 Adulation, 228 if., 241 
 Adversity, 79 
 Albion, Knight, 118 ff. 
 Albion, Knight, 118 fif. 
 All for Money, 195 ff. 
 All-for-Money, 198 ff. 
 Allegory, as employed in the Morali- 
 ties, 257 ff. ; wrong use of, 260 
 Ambidexter, 249 
 Ambition, 241, 254 
 Appius and Virginia, ID ff., 250 ff. 
 Avarice, 48, 139 ff., 227 ff. 
 
 Bacbytynge, 60 ff. 
 
 Backbiter, 28 ff. 
 
 Bale, John, 43, 185, 219 
 
 Barnabas, 14, 235 ff. 
 
 Bates, Professor Katharine Lee, 20 
 
 Bodily Lust, 74 
 
 Cambyses, 248 ff. 
 
 Cardinal Virtues, see Seven 
 
 Carnall Concupiscence, 114 
 
 Castle of Perseverance, The, 58 ff., 70, 
 
 73, 202, 205 
 Chambers, E. K., 2, 3 
 Charity, 100 ff. 
 Charyte, 245 ff. 
 Chastitie, 89 ff. 
 Christianitye, 190 ff. 
 Circumspeccyon, 80 
 Clargy, 221 ff. 
 Classification of the Moralities on the 
 
 basis of allegorical structure, 21 ff. 
 Cloked Colusyon, 78 ff. 
 Collier, J. Payne, 4, 19 
 Common Thift, 214 
 Commynalte, 224 ff. 
 Confession, 209 
 
 Conflict of Conscience, The, 1 1 ff., 137 ff. 
 Confusion, 135 
 
 Confydence, I56ff. 
 
 Conscience, 52 ff., 107 ff., 141, 250 £f., 
 
 253 ff- 
 
 Conscyence, 84 ff. 
 
 Constancy, 246 
 
 Contemplacio, 24 ff. 
 
 Contemplacyon, 40 ff. 
 
 Contentation, 128 ff. 
 
 Controversial tendencies in the Mor- 
 alities, 43, 46, 76, 87, 95, 99, 119, 
 162, 211, 226-227 
 
 Conversion of St. Paul, The, 34 
 
 Corage, 187 ff., 
 
 Correction, 191, 212 ff. 
 
 Counterfet Countenaunce, 77 ff. 
 
 Courthope, W. J., 2, 8, 160 note 
 
 Courtly Abusyon, 78 ff. 
 
 Coventry Cycle, The, 24 ff. 
 
 Crafty Conveyaunce, 77 ff. 
 
 Creizenach, W., 8 
 
 Cruelty, 48 
 
 Cupiditie, 114 
 
 Curiosity, 36 
 
 Curyosytie, 245 
 
 Cuthbert Cutpurse, 183 fit. 
 
 Dalila, 14, 235 ff. 
 
 Damnation, 197, 199 
 
 Danger, 87 ff. 
 
 Deadly Sins, see Seven 
 
 Death, 30 ff., 203 ff., 206 ff. 
 
 Definition of the Morality, 9 
 
 Devil, the, 96, 138, 149 ff., 181 ff., 
 184, 197, 240 ; considered as a char- 
 acter in the Moralities, 2 ff. 
 
 Diligence, 170 ff. 
 
 Discipline, 132 ff 
 
 Disobedient Child, The, 13 ff., 238 ff. 
 
 Dispayre, 191 
 
 Dissait, 88 ff. 
 
 Dissimulation, 52 ff., 253 ff. 
 
 Division, 119 ff. 
 
 Divyne Correctioun, 90 ff., 212 ff. 
 
 Dylygence, 1 56 ff. 
 
 27s 
 
276 
 
 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Dyspare, 79 
 Dyssymulacyon, 2198. 
 
 Elation, 1 27 ff. 
 
 Envy, 105 ff. 
 
 Equytie, 245 ff. 
 
 Evell Counsayle, 243 ff. 
 
 Everyman, 5 ff., 202, 206 ff., 260, 263 ff. 
 
 Everyman, 5 ff., 206 ff. 
 
 Exercitation, 132 ff. 
 
 Experience, 146 ff., 1699. 
 
 Experyence, 1 59 ff . 
 
 Faerie Queene, The, 7, 258 ff. 
 
 Fame, 52 
 
 Fancy, 176 
 
 Fansy, 77 ff. 
 
 Fayned-furtheraunce, 188 ff. 
 
 Faythfull-few, 190 ff. 
 
 Felicite, 76 ff. 
 
 Fellowship, 6 ff., 97, 207 
 
 Flatterie, 88 ff. 
 
 Folly, 134 
 
 Folie, 215 
 
 Foly, 78 ff. 
 
 Folye, 85 ff. 
 
 Four Elements, Interlude of the, 144 ff.. 
 
 Fraud, 52 ff., 253 ff. 
 
 French influence on the Moralities, 
 
 121, 180 note, 192 
 Frewyl, 39 ff., 46, 65, 92, 172 
 
 Gayley, C. M., 20 ff. 
 
 God, 44 ff., 64, 206 ; considered as a 
 
 character in the Moralities, 2 ff. 
 God's Judgement, 135 
 God's Merciful Promises, 98 
 God's Promise, 184 
 God's Visitation, I29ff. 
 Good Counsel, 95 ff. 
 Good Deeds, 208 ff. 
 Good Fame, 184 
 Good Hope, 79 
 Good Nurture, 174 ff. 
 Goods, 208 
 Greedinesse, 6, 188 ff. 
 Greedy-gut, 127 ff. 
 Gude Counsall, 88 ff., 212 fif. 
 
 Hamelines, 87 ff. 
 Hance, 163 ff., 183 ff. 
 Hankin Hangman, 184 
 
 Haphazard, 250 ff. 
 
 Hardydardy, 241 ff. 
 
 Health, 162 ff. 
 
 Hele (Health), 203 ff. 
 
 Herod, 30 ff. 
 
 Holy War, The, 259 
 
 Homily in the Moralities, 257, 268 ff. 
 
 Honest Recreacion, 1 57 ff. 
 
 Honest Recreation, 175 
 
 Honour, 184 
 
 Horestes, 247 ff. 
 
 Horror, 141 
 
 Hospitality, 54 
 
 Humanity, 145 ff. 
 
 Humility, 104 
 
 Humor in the Moralities, 265 ff. 
 
 Hurtfull-helpe, 188 ff. 
 
 Hyckescomer, 8, 39 ff. 
 
 Hyckescorner, 39 ff. 
 
 Hypocrisy, 48, 90 ff., 139 ff. 
 
 Idellnes, 158 ff. 
 
 Idelnesse, 243 ff. 
 
 Idleness, 174 ff. 
 
 Idlenesse, 133 ff. 
 
 Idylls of the King, 260 
 
 Ignorance, 47 ff., 134 ff., 147 ff. 
 
 Ill Will, 163 ff. 
 
 Imagynacyon, 39 ff., 46, 65, 92, 172 
 
 Impatient Poverty, 105 ff. 
 
 Impatient Poverty, 106 ff. 
 
 Imperyall Majesty e, 225 
 
 Importunyte, 245 
 
 Inclination, I26ff. 
 
 Incontinence, 133 ff. 
 
 Indulgence, 173 ff. 
 
 Infidelitas, 44 ff. 
 
 Infidelitie, 112 ff. 
 
 Ingnorance, 1 58 ff. 
 
 Iniquitie, 13 ff., 236 ff. 
 
 Iniquytie, 245 ff. 
 
 Injury, 118 ff. 
 
 Innocency, 71 ff. 
 
 Insolence, 227 ff. 
 
 Instruccion, 155 ff. 
 
 Instruction, 170 ff. 
 
 Interlude, meaning of the term, 99 
 
 note 
 Irksomeness, 175 
 Ismael, 14, 235 ff. 
 
 Johan the Evangelist, 243 ff. 
 Johne the Common-weill, 212 ff. 
 
INDEX 
 
 277 
 
 Just, 122 ff. 
 
 Justice, ii8ff., 250 ff. 
 
 Kindred, 207 ff. 
 Knowledge, 96, 209 
 Knowledge of Sinne, 115 
 Kyng Daryus, 244 ff. 
 Kyng of Lyfe, the, 203 ff. 
 Kynge Johan, 217 ff., 228 
 Kynge Johan, 218 ff. 
 
 Langton, Stephen, 223 
 Lawe of God, the 1158. 
 Lechery, 103 
 Liberte, 76 ff. 
 Liberty, 163 ff. 
 Light of the Gosppl, 48 ff. 
 Like Will to Like, Quoth the Devil 
 to the Collier, 16 ff., 121, 180 ff., 
 
 235 
 Longer Thou Livest the More Foole 
 
 Thou Art, The, 131 ff., 168 note 
 Love, 52 ff., 253 ff. 
 Lucre, 53 ff., 253 ff. 
 Lust, 122 ff. 
 Lusty Juventus, 95 ff. 
 
 Magnyfycence, 75 ff., no 
 
 Magnyfycence, Skelton's, 75 ff., 93, 
 228 note 
 
 Malicious Judgement, 114 ff. 
 
 Man, 26 ff., 70 ff. 
 
 Mankind, 65 ff. 
 
 Mankind, 60 ff., 262 
 
 Mankynde, 66 ff. 
 
 Marie Magdalene, 113 ff. 
 
 Marie Magdalene, The Life and Re- 
 pentance of. III ff., 219 
 
 Mary Magdalene, 34 ff. 
 
 Mary Magdalene, 36 ff. 
 
 Mathetes, 138 ff. 
 
 Measure, 76 ff. 
 
 Mercy, 66 ff. 
 
 Mercy, Truth, Righteousness, and 
 Peace, 233 ; debate of, 26 ff., 63 ff., 
 68 
 
 Miracle plays, influence of, on the 
 Moralities, 37 
 
 Mirth, 204 ff. 
 
 Mischeff, 66 ff. 
 
 Misrule, 108 ff. 
 
 Money, 196 ff. 
 
 Moros, 131 ff. 
 
 Mundus et Infans, 82 ff. 
 Mynde, i49ff. 
 
 Nature, 70 ff. 
 
 Nature, 71, i45ff., 168 ff. 
 
 Nemesis, 233 
 
 Nemo, 55, 253 ff. 
 
 New Custom, 8, 46 ff. 
 
 New Custom, 48 ff. 
 
 New Gyse, Now-a-days, and Nought, 
 
 66 ff. 
 Nice Wanton, The, 13 ff., 15, 17, 121, 
 
 235 ff- 
 Nichol Newf angle, 16, 181 ff. 
 Nobelyte, 221 ff. 
 No-good-Neighbourhood, 188 ff. 
 
 Oppression, 227 ff. 
 
 Pandulph, Cardinal, 218, 223 
 
 Parcyalytie, 245 
 
 Pauper, 213 ff. 
 
 Paynted-profite, 188 ff. 
 
 Peace, 105 ff. 
 
 Penance, 61 
 
 People, 135, 231 ff. 
 
 Perplexitie, 245 
 
 Perseverance, 80, 86 
 
 Perseveraunce, 40 ff. 
 
 Perverse Doctrine, 47 ff. 
 
 Philip Fleming, 183 ff. 
 
 Philologus, II ff., 138 ff. 
 
 Pietie, 132 ff. 
 
 Pilgrim'' s Progress, The, 7, 257 ff. 
 
 Placebo, 87 ff. 
 
 Pleasure, 129 ff., 196 ff., 253 ff. 
 
 Policy, 253 ff. 
 
 Pollard, A. W., 18 ff. 
 
 Pomp, 253 ff. 
 
 Poverte, 79 
 
 Pride, 102 ff., 114, 241, 254 
 
 Pryde of Lyfe, The, 202 ff. 
 
 Pryvat Welth, 218 ff. 
 
 Psychomachia, 39 
 
 Pyte, 40 ff. 
 
 Queen Hester, Interlude of the Virtu- 
 ous and Godly, 240 ff. 
 
 Raise-Slander, 28 ff. 
 Ralph Roister, 182 ff. 
 Ramsay, R. L., 18 
 Raymundus, 223 
 
2/8 
 
 THE ENGLISH MORALITIES 
 
 Reason, 71 ff., 155 ff., i69ff. 
 Redresse, 80 
 Remedy, 164 ff. 
 Respublica, 226 ff. 
 Respublica, 230 ff. 
 Revenge, 247 ff. 
 Rex Humanitas, 87 ff., 212 ff. 
 Riot, loiff. 
 
 Sapience, 128 
 
 Sapientia, 31 
 
 Satyre of the Thrie Estaites, Part I, 76, 
 
 87 ff., 228 note; Part II, 211 ff., 
 
 229 note 
 Schryfte, 61 
 Science, 169 ff. 
 Sedwyson, 219 ff. 
 Sensual Appetite, 145 ff. 
 Sensual Suggestion, 140 ff. 
 Sensualitie, 87 ff. 
 Sensuality, 71 ff. 
 Seven Cardinal Virtues, the, 62 
 Seven Deadly Sins, the, 31, 32, 33 ff., 
 
 35 ff., 59 ff., 70ff., 83 ff., 113,218 
 Severity, 173 ff., 184 
 Shame, 159 
 Shrewd Wit, 163 ff. 
 Simony, 52 ff., 253 ff. 
 Simplicity, 52 ff., 253 ff. 
 Sincerity, 53 ff. 
 Sinne, 197 ff. 
 
 Sins, see Seven Deadly Sins 
 Sodomismus, 44 ff. 
 Solace, 87 ff. 
 Soul, the, 149 ff. 
 Soul and Body, 63 ff. 
 Spiritualitie, 89 ff., 212 ff. 
 Streinth (Strength), 203 ff. 
 Studious Desire, 145 ff. 
 Study, I56ff., 170 ff. 
 Sturdiness, i26ff. 
 Sure Surveyaunce, 77 ff. 
 Syvyll Orderj^22i ff. 
 
 Tedyousnes, i56ff. 
 
 Temporalitie, 212 ff. 
 
 Three Ladies of London^ The, 50 ff., 
 
 195 
 
 Three Laws, the, 44 ff. 
 
 Three Laws, The Comedy Concerning, 
 43 ff., 166 
 
 Three Lords and Three Ladies of Lon- 
 don, The, 51, 253 ff. 
 
 Tom Collier, 182 ff. 
 
 Tom Tosspot, 182 ff. 
 
 Treason, 224 ff. 
 
 Treasure, 1 29 ff. 
 
 Trial of Treasure, The, 121 ff., 131, 
 
 168 note 
 Tyde Taryeth No Man, The, 187 ff. 
 Type, definition of specialized, 6; 
 
 definition of universalized, 6 
 Tyranny, 139 ff., 254 
 
 Understondyng, 149 ff. 
 Usurpyd Power, 219 ff. 
 Usury, 52 ff., 253 ff. 
 
 Veritie, 89 ff. 
 
 Veryte, 224 ff. 
 
 Virtues, see Seven Cardinal Virtues 
 
 Virtuous Life, 183 ff. 
 
 Wantonness, 87 ff., 174 ff. 
 
 Ward, A. W., 4, 8 
 
 Wastefullnesse, 190 ff. 
 
 Wealth, 162 ff. 
 
 Wealth and Health, 162 ff. 
 
 Will, 167 ff. 
 
 Willfull Wanton, 189 ff. 
 
 Willing-to- win- worship, 189 
 
 Wisdom, 27, 175 ff. 
 
 Wisdom, who is Christ, 149 ff., 166 
 
 Wit, 166, 167 ff., 173 ff. 
 
 "Wit" plays, the, 144, 149, 155 ff. 
 
 Wit and Science, The Marriage of, 8, 
 
 167 ff., 173 ff- 
 Wit and Wisdom, The Marriage of, 
 
 173 ff- 
 World, the, 72, 82 ff. 
 World, the Flesh, and the Devil, the. 
 
 35, 58, 59 ff., 151, 152 note 
 Worldly Affection, 72 ff. 
 Worldly Shame, 237 ff. 
 Wrath, 133 ff. 
 Wylle, 149 ff. 
 Wysdom, 149 ff. 
 Wyt, issff. 
 Wyt and Science, The Play of, 8, 1 55 ff., 
 
 260 
 
 Xantippe, 2368. 
 
 Ynglond, 220 ff. 
 
 Youth, 95 ff., 100 ff. 
 
 Youth, The Interlude of, 99 ff. 
 
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