MODERN PHILOLOGY

EDITED BY

PHILIP S. ALLEN, Managing Editor FBEDEBIC I. CARPENTER JEFFERSON B. FLETCHER

ADVISORY BOARD

JAMES W. BRIGHT FRANCIS B. GUMMERE

GEORGE HEMPL GEORGE L. KITTREDGE

JOHN E. MATZKE CALVIN THOMAS

FREDERICK M. WARREN

VOLUME FIVE 1907-1908

CHICAGO

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 1908

Y/ V

Published

July 1907, October 1907 January 1903, April 1908

Composed and Printed By

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A.

CONTENTS

GEORGE C. TAYLOR. The Relation of the English Corpus Christi Play

to the Middle English Religious Lyric 1 *'

JOHN J. MEYER. Hindu Chips for Readers of Goethe 39

OTTO MANTHEY-ZORN. Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi's Home at Pempelfort 43

H. OSKAR SOMMER. Galahad and Perceval. Part I 55

W. OWEN SYPHERD. Old French Influence on Middle English Phrase- ology 85 ^

KARL PIETSCH. Notes on Spanish Folklore 97

HARLOW D. CURTIS. Source of the Petronel-Winifred Plot in East- ward Hoe , 105

EDWARD SAPIR. Herder's Ursprung der Sprache 109

PAUL SHOREY. A Few Parallels from the Classics 143

HENRY N. MACCRACKEN. The Source of Keats's Eve of St. Agnes ... 145

GEORGE F. REYNOLDS. Trees on the Stage of Shakespeare . . . . . 153

MAX BATT. The German Story in England about 1826 169

MILTON A. BUCHANAN. Some Italian Reminiscences in Cervantes . . 177

H. OSKAR SOMMER. Galahad and Perceval. Part II 181

JOHN M. MANLY. Familia Goliae 201 *

JOHN E. MATZKE. The Lay of Eliduc and the Legend of the Husband

with Two Wives 211

CHARLES G. OSGOOD( JR. Notes on Goldsmith 241

JEFFERSON B. FLETCHER. Did Astrophel Love Stella? 253

FRANCIS A. WOOD. Studies in Germanic Strong Verbs. Part II . . . 265 &

H. OSKAR SOMMER. Galahad and Perceval. Introduction, and Con- clusion of Text 291

EDWIN H. TUTTLE. Three Asturian Poems 343

STARR W. CUTTING. Concerning Schiller's Treatment of Fate and Dra- matic Guilt in His Braut von Messina 347

C. ALPHONSO SMITH. The Indicative in an Unreal Condition .... 361

GEORGE L. HAMILTON. Capados and the Date of Gawayne and the

Green Knight 365

SAMUEL KROESCH. The Formation of Compound Words in Gothic . . 377 >

iii

iv CONTENTS

A. E. H. SWAEN. What if a Day . . 383

WILLIAM W. LAWRENCE. The Banished Wife's Lament 387 v

W. A. R. KERB. The Pleiade and Platonism 407

PHILIP S. ALLEN. Mediaeval Latin Lyrics. Part I 423 \f

GEORGE T. NORTHUP. El Libro de los Gatos 477

WINIFRED SMITH. Italian and Elizabethan Comedy 555

CHARLES GOETTSCH. Ablaut-Relations in the Weak Verb in Gothic,

Old High German, and Middle High German 569

D. L. THOMAS. Authorship of Revenge for Honour 617

Modern Philology

VOL. V July,

No. i

THE RELATION OF THE ENGLISH CORPUS CHRISTI

PLAY TO THE MIDDLE ENGLISH

RELIGIOUS LYRIC

The historians of the English drama, in seeking to record its origin and development, have almost without exception failed to take notice of the Middle English religious lyric in its relation to the Corpus Christi plays. An occasional note, made at random from time to time, indicates, it is true, that certain writers have been aware that a relation of some sort exists between these two forms of Middle English literature. These notes, however, have for the most part concerned themselves with calling attention to very slight, though interesting, parallels. It is with such similar- ities, for example, that the observations of Wright,1 Hone,2 Courthope,3 E. Mall,4 and W. A. Craigie5 have had to do. David- son,6 moreover, and Chambers7 have taken notice in a very general fashion of the fact that the plays are very considerably indebted to the great body of devotional poetry of the day; while Cook8 has called attention to the frequent occurrence of the Testament of Christ in Middle English literature.

One specific type of the mediaeval religious lyric, the Planctus Mariae, has for many years attracted considerable attention among

1 The Chester Plays, Vol. II, p. 204 (Shakspere Society, Vol. I).

2 Ancient Mysteries Described, pp. 90 ff .

3 History of English Poetry, Vol. I, pp. 413 ff. * The Harrowing of Hell.

6 An English Miscellany, pp. 52 ff. 6 Studies in the English Mystery Plays, p. 170.

7 The Mediaeval Stage, Vol. II, pp. 145 ff. 8 The Christ of Cynewulf, pp. 207 ff.

1] 1 [MODERN PHILOLOGY, July, 1907

2 GEORGE C. TAYLOR

European scholars and its relation to the drama has been fairly clearly determined.1 The other numerous lyric types, most of which, like the planctus, seem to have had their origin in the Latin,2 and some of which, like the planctus, have spread through Europe, have been, so far as I can learn, almost entirely ignored. Taken collectively, these forms doubtless contributed far more extensively to the growth of the cyclic plays in Europe than did the planctus, and one of these types alone, The Testament of Christ or The Complaint of Christ to his People, probably had an effect, all but as important as that of the planctus itself, on the growth and expansion of the passion-play.

It was at the suggestion of Professor Manly that I began several years ago to investigate the relation of the general body of lyric poetry in Middle English to the Corpus Christi plays. The field proved fertile. Indeed, so numerous are the types of the lyric which have contributed to the formation of the Corpus Christi plays, and so numerous are the examples which go to make up certain of these types,3 that I found it necessary for the time being to limit the thoroughgoing investigation to one special type, the Planctus Mariae* From a general survey of the field, how- ever, I have been able to arrive at results certain and definite enough to warrant some sort of a statement, and this paper will have attained its object if it succeeds in putting forward some of the more important of the types of the Middle English religious lyric upon which the writers and compilers of the miracle-plays have drawn most freely and extensively.

It will be unnecessary to enter here into an elaborate discussion of the meaning of the term "lyric;" but inasmuch as many of the poems to which reference will be made are not lyrical in any ordi- nary modern sense, it may be well to say that I have classed as

iFor references, see "The English Planctus Marine,1'1 Modern Philology, Vol. IV, pp. 605 ff. A thesis by Thien, Uber die englischen Marienklagen, was published several months before my article on the Planctus appeared. My article, which had been in the hands of the editors of Modern Philology for almost two years, was being printed when I secured a copy of Thien's thesis.

2 Unfortunately, during the last few months, Analecta hymnica (Dreves) has been inaccessible to me. It doubtless contains many other Latin prototypes of the Middle Eng- lish lyrics than those which I cite in this paper.

3 The Testament of Christ and The Hail Mary.

* See "The English Planctus Mariae," Modern Philology, Vol. IV, pp. 605 ff.

2

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH RELIGIOUS LYRIC 3

lyric any verse which either in metrical form or in emotional motive seemed in any sense to belong to the lyric categories. I have listed many prayers which are very slightly lyrical, if lyrical at all in any sense, and very occasionally I have paused to com- ment incidentally upon didactic types such as the Ten Command- ments.

Perhaps the non-dramatic type most frequently incorporated into the plays is the general prayer addressed, as the occasion may serve, to God the Father, Christ the Son, and very frequently also to the Virgin Mary. There are thousands of these prayers to be found in the devotional poetry of the day, and hundreds in the plays.1 It is fairly certain that many of these were taken over as ready-made lyrics by the play-writers and adapted to dramatic purposes. Thus the celebrated mediaeval Latin hymn, Veni creator, spiritus? seems to have been taken over bodily by Chester in The Emission of the Holy Ghost* and probably has escaped notice up to the time, mainly because it is so abominably trans- lated.4 Of the prayers to Christ5 two types especially have exerted a very marked and definite influence upon the drama. Of both types there are scores in Middle English literature. The one is

1 Chester Plays (ed. Thomas Wright, Shaks. Soc., Vol. I), Vol. I, pp. 97, 162; Vol. II, pp. 159, 160, 179; York Mystery Plays (ed. Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith), pp. 3, 36, 61, 100, 108, 433; The Towneley Plays (ed. A. W. Pollard, EETS), pp. 3, 23, 40, 99, 195; Coventry Mysteries (ed. J. O. Halliwell, Shaks. Soc., Vol. II), pp. 40, 49, 57, 104, 380. For examples of prayers of a somewhat similar nature, see Minor Poems of the Vernon MS (EETS), Vol. I, pp. 26, 145, 149, 355; An Old English Miscellany (EETS), p. 100; Religious Pieces (EETS), p. 59; Eng. Stud., Vol. IX, p. 49; Anglia, Vol. I, p. 67; Specimens of Lyric Poetry (Percy Soc., Vol. IV), p. 49; Richard Rolle of Hampole (ed. Horstmann, "Yorkshire Writers"), Vol. I, pp. 363 ff. ; Banna- tyne MS (pr. for the Hunterian Club), Vol. I, pp. 84, 107.

2 See Das deutsche Kirchenlied (Wackernagel), Vol. I, p. 75. See further, Minor Poems of V. MS, Vol. I, p. 43; Hymni Latini (Mono), Vol. I, pp. 241 ff.

% Chester, Vol. II, pp. 127 ff. In the Hegge Mary's Betrothment (p. 93), the stage direc- tions order the singing of this hymn, but the existing text does not contain it. In the York Descent of the Holy Spirit (p. 469), we are told that the angels sang this hymn to Mary.

4 See for dramatic customs in connection with the hymn, Chambers, The Med. Stage, Vol. II, p. 66. See for parallels, Appendix of the present discussion, pp. 16 f .

5 Chester, Vol. II, pp. 99, 101 ff. ; York, pp. 177, 212, 368, 424 ff., 504 ; Town., pp. 325 ff ., 340 ff. ; Cov., pp. 223, 356, 403. For prayers to Christ of various kinds, see Minor Poems of the V. MS, Vol. I, pp. 37, 45, 48, 131 ff., 154, 332; Vol. II, 449, 451, 464 ff. ; Richard Rolle of Hampole ("York- shire Writers"), Vol. I, pp. 72 ff., 363 ff.; William of Shoreham (EETS), pp. 79 ff. ; Oude and Godlie Ballatis (Scot. T. Soc.), pp. 21, 24, 62, 64, 73 ff. ; The Poems of Dunbar, Vol. II (Scot. T. Soc.), p. 65 ; Political, Religious and Love Poems, re-ed., Furnivall (EETS), pp. 123 ff. ; Anglia, Vol. V, Anzeiger, p. 119; Vol. XII, p. 595; Eng. Stud., Vol. VIII, pp. 255 ff. ; Vol. X, pp. 232 ff.; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. XCVIII, p. 129.

3

4 GEOBGE C. TAYLOR

the prayer of a repentant sinner, lamenting his past offenses ;* the other consists of that class of prayers in which the sufferings and bodily wounds of Jesus are recounted in detail as cause for lamen- tation.2 No single motive in the devotional poetry of the day seems to have been turned to literary uses so frequently and no motive enables the writers of the time to rise to more fervid and more moving heights of lyric poetry. It would seem that this motive has been taken over from the Testament of Christ poems, which will be considered at some length below. An exceptionally con- ventional form of these lyrical prayers is characterized both in the plays and in the independent lyrics by the initial phrase "When I think."3 Another very conventional passage which occurs in these prayers to Jesus and has made its way from the lyric over to the drama is characterized by the constant repetition of the phrase "Mercy Jesus."*

Perhaps the most highly conventional of all the conventional forms of address to Christ is the Hail Jesus, a prayer in which oftentimes almost every line begins with this formula, followed by synonyms indicating in a fashion the different qualities and char- acteristics of the Savior. There are numerous examples of this

1 Chester, Vol. II, pp. 6, 180 ff., 192 ff.; York, pp. 30 ff., 39, 138, 174, 311; Town., pp. 343, 351 ff . ; Minor Poems of the V. MS., Vol I, pp. 48 ff. ; Vol. II, pp. 696, 785 ff . ; Rich. R. of Ham- pole, Vol. I, pp. 74 ff., 368 ff. ; Polit., Relig. and Love Poems, pp. 123 ff., Hymns to V. and C. (EETS), pp. 95 ff. ; Reliquiae Antiquae, Vol. I, pp. 261 ff. ; Vol. II, pp. 119 ff., 190 ff., 226 ; Anglia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 157, 160. The crios of lost souls who are being carried away to hell might very well bo coasidered in connection with the prayers of the repentant sinners, but more fittingly deserve consideration in connection with the many lyrical poems which have found their way into the judgment-plays, which I consider below.

2 In the plays these lyrics in the majority of cases are characterized by Borne one of the stanzas or lines beginning with the word "Alas ! " Sometimes also this is the case with the independent lyrics. See further, Chester, Vol. II, pp. 53, 95, 101 ; York, pp. 260, 341 ff., 406 ff., 410, 421 ff., 456, 480 ff.; Town., pp. 277, 316 ff., 325 ff., 358; Cov., pp. 316, 331, 355 ff., 360; Minor Poems of the V. MS., Vol. I, pp. 29, 37, 47, 302, 384, 404, 425 ff. ; Vol. II, pp. 452 ff., 471 ff. ; Legends of the Holy Rood (EETS), pp. 150, 194 ff ., 217 ff., 222 ; Rich. R. of Hampole, Vol. I, pp. 76 ff., 369 ff. ; William ofShoreham's Poems (EETS), pp. 79 ff. ; Spec. of Lyric Poetry (Percy Soc., Vol. IV), pp. 62 ff., 83, 86, 111 ff. ; Eng. Stud., Vol. VII, pp. 454, 468; Vol. IX, p. 45 ; Anglia, Vol. XII, pp. 595 ff. ; Vol. XXVI, pp. 263 ff. ; An Old Eng. Misc., pp. 38, 140, 197 ; The Bann. MS., Vol. I, pp. 77, 85, 90, 103, 106. Especially interesting is the passage of this kind to be found in The Lamentation of Mary Magdalene (ed. Bertha M. Skeat), as the same kind of passage is so frequently put into her mouth in the miracle-plays. See further Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. 1, pp. 121 ff., 131 ff., 392 ff.

3 York, p. 452, 1. 116; Town., pp. 316, 327, 328; Spec, of Lyric Poetry (Percy Soc., Vol. IV), p. 83; Rich. R. of Hampole, Vol. I, p. 78 ; Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. I, pp. 415 ff. For par- allels, see Appendix, pp. 17 f ,

* York, pp. 424, 489 ; Town., p. 351 ; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. CVI, pp. 60 f . For parallel pas- sages, see Appendix, pp. 29 f .

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH RELIGIOUS LYEIO 5

form in the drama; it appears most frequently in the Christmas plays and constitutes a very large portion of the body of the play in Chester, York, and Towneley.1 It may possibly not be amiss to consider as variations of the above lyrical form the Welcome and Farewell lyrics sometimes addressed to Jesus, sometimes to Mary, in which "Welcome" or "Farewell" are substituted for "Hail;" they seem to be modeled throughout upon the Hail poems.2 Very similar in form and general treatment to the Hail Jesus is the Hail Mary.3 Serving about the same purpose in the plays is the prayer which begins with "Come" instead of "Hail,"4 and which very probably belongs to the class of Latin lyrics represented by Veni praecelsa domina.5 The Hail lyrics and their variations may all have been the development of one line in the annunciation-lyrics, spoken by Gabriel, "Hail Mary."6

1 Chester, Vol. I, pp. 140 ff., 167 ff. ; York, pp. 114 ff., 135 ff., pp. 216 ff ., 444 ff. ; Town., pp. 114 ff., 139 ff., 157 ff. ; Cov., pp. 158 ff., 168 ff . See also Rich. R. of Hampole, Vol. I, pp. 78 ff. ; Minor Poems of the V. MS, Vol. I, 'pp. 24 ff.; Lydgate's Nightingale and Other Poems (ed. Glauning, EETS), pp. 26 ff. ; The Bann. MS, Vol. I, pp. 72 ff., 84 ff . See further, Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. I, pp. 156 ff. See Appendix, p. 18.

2 The Welcome lyrics are to be found in Chester, Vol. I, pp. 194 ff. ; Vol. II, pp. 2 ff. ; York, pp. 443, 489 ; Cov., pp. 176, 347 ; The Pageant of the Shearmen and Taylors (Manly, Pre-S. Dr.), 11. 699 ff. See also for this form of address applied to persons other than Christ, The Digby Plays (ed. Furnivall, EETS), pp. 18, 128. They are to be found as independent lyrics in The Minor Poems of Lydgate (Percy Soc., Vol. II), p. 10; Christmas Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. IV), pp. 4, 53, 57; Songs and Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. XXIII), p. 43; The Bann. MS, Vol. I, p. 255. The specimen printed in Percy Soc., Vol. XXIII, p. 43, suggests that this class of lyrics may have had its origin in some of the pagan Germanic folk-customs.

The Farewell lyrics are to be found in Chester, Vol. I, p. 171; York, pp. 447, 487; Town., p. 203; Cou.,pp. 102, 143, 160, 347. See The Lamentation of Mary Magdalene, ed. Bertha M. Skeat. See also Songs and Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. XXIII), p. 57, and The Bann. MS, Vol. II, pp. 645 ff., where it is used as a form of address to others than Christ. See for parallel pas- sages, Appendix, pp. 19 ff.

3 York, pp. 473, 484 ff., 492; Cov., pp. 176, 387, 389, 391 ; Minor Poems of the V. MS, Vol. I, pp. 49 ff., 121 ff. ; Polit., Relig. and Love Poems (1st ed., EETS), pp. 81 ff., 145 ff., 174 ff. ; Wm. of Shoreham (EETS), pp. 127 ff.; Hymns to V. and C., pp. 4 ff.; Songs and Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. XXIII), p. 80 ; Chaucerian and Other Poems (ed. Skeat), p. 275 ; Rel. Ant., Vol. II, pp. 174; Anglia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 164 ff. ; Vol. XXVII, pp. 321 ff. ; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. LXXXIX, pp. 183 ff. For the use of this lyric as a form of address to characters other than Christ and Mary, see The Digby Plays, pp. 69, 103 ff., 126 ff. For French forms see GrOber, Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, Vol. II, Part I, pp. 974 ff. For Latin lyrics of this type see Das deutsche Kirchenlied (Wackernagel), Vol. I, pp. 125 ff., 169 ff., 172 ff., 190 ff. ; Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. II, pp. 5 ff.

* York, pp. 445, 484.

5 Das deutsche Kirch. (Wackernagel), Vol. I, p. 246; Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. II, pp. 125 f. ; see also Hymni Latini, Vol. I, p. 247, and Piae Cantiones (Klemming), p. 176. See Appendix, p. 21.

6 See the Latin lyric, Das deutsche Kirch., Vol. I, p. 116; see English lyrics, An Old Eng. Misc., p. 100; Minor Poems of V. MS, Vol. I, p. 4; Eng. Stud., Vol. XIV, p. 401 ; Chester, Vol. I, p. 94; York, p. 98 ; Town., p. 88; Cov., p. 112.

5

6 GEORGE C. TAYLOR

Of the general prayers and hymns to Mary there are in the poetry of the day thousands,1 and in the drama some few.2 It is espe- cially interesting to find, however, that two of the most highly conventionalized of all the hymns to Mary have worked their way into the plays. The one is the lyric which plays fancifully with the individual letters of Mary's name ;3 the other is one of the most face- tious and popular of the religious lyrics current during the Mid- dle Ages, The Five Joys of Mary, sometimes also written in the form, The Seven, Nine, and Fifteen Joys of Mary. It is in the form of the Five Joys that it is found in the York Plays.* This form of the lyric, however, affected the drama most extensively when at Brussels it was given the dignity of a separate play.5

Of the many types of prayers and complaints in Middle Eng- lish none is characterized by a more peculiar and striking tone than that in which the prayer is made to suit the especial needs of an old man.6 In these lyrics the speaker sometimes laments the sins of his youth, complains of his decrepit condition, and describes in detail the physical decay which accompanies old age. Many of these are of the nature of dramatic monologues and

1 See Das deutsche Kirch., Vol. I, pp. 47, 82, 109 ff.; Rel. Ant., Vol. I, pp. 22, 89, 102, 169, 235, 274; Vol. II, pp. 120, 212, 228 ff. ; Anglia, Vol. XXVI, p. 190.

2 York, pp. 101, 476, 492, 494 ff . ; Cov., pp. 116, 128, 154. Professor Manly has suggested that many more were present at one time in the body of the plays, but that most of them were cut out at the time when Mary-worship fell into disfavor in England.

3 See Cov., p. 88; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. CIX, p. 64; Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. II, pp. 94 f. See also the prayer to Jesus (Percy Soc., Vol. II, p. 278). See for parallel passages, Appendix, p. 29.

* Pp. 493 ff. See also for Latin forms, Das deutsche Kirch., Vol. I, pp. 150 ff.; Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. II, pp. 161 ff. ; Rich. R. of Hamp., Vol. I, pp. 408 ff. ; and for English forms, Minor Poems of V. MS, Vol. I, pp. 25 ff., 31 ff., 133 ff. ; Wm. of Shoreham, pp. 117 ; An Old Eng. Misc., p. 87; Spec, of Lyric Poetry (Percy Soc., Vol. IV), pp. 54 ff.,94ff.; Christmas Carols (P. Soc., Vol. IV), pp. 7 f. ; Songs and Carols (P. Soc., Vol. XXIII), pp. 68 ff. ; BOddeker, Altenglitche Dichtung, p. 218; Anglia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 164, 226, 232, 242, 257; Rel. Ant., Vol. I, p. 48; Matzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, pp. 51; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. LXXXIX, pp. 275, 282; Vol. CIX, pp. 48, 49; Cursor Mundi (EETS), Parts V, VI, p. 1468. See further Grober, Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, p. 973. For parallel passages, see Appendix, p. 22.

*Creizenach, Vol. I, p. 340; Chambers, Vol. II, p. 87.

«Rel. Ant., Vol. I, pp. 119, 197; Vol. II, p. 210; Hymns to V. and C., pp. 36, 83; Anglia, Vol. Ill, p. 279 ; The Minor Poems of Lydgate (Percy Soc., Vol. II), pp. 240, 254; Spec, of Relig. Poetry (P. Soc., Vol. IV), p. 47; Bann. MS, Vol. II, pp. 457, 781; The Poetical Works of Skel- ton (ed. Dyce), Vol. I, pp. 2 ff. Sometimes the passage simply describes the condition of the body in old age, without taking the form of a complaint. See The Minor Poems, of Lydgate (Percy Soc., Vol. II), p. 30; The Pricke of Conscience (ed. R. Morris), p. 22 ; Hymns to V. and C., p. 79; Minor Poems of Vernon MS, Vol. II, pp. 446 ff. ; Twenty-six Polit. Poems (EETS), p. 138. The best known of these is perhaps " Maximon," Rel. Ant., Vol. I, pp. 119 ff . ; pr. also in Anglia, Vol. Ill, pp. 279 ff., and in Boddeker, Alteng. Dicht., pp._244 ff .

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THE MIDDLE ENGLISH RELIGIOUS LYEIC 7

readily adapt themselves to dramatic treatment. It is difficult to read the speeches of characters in the plays, such as Noah, Joseph, and Simeon, without feeling that they were in a very definite sense influenced by these complaints.1 And the humorous treatment of Joseph in the Corpus Christi plays, especially in Chester and Coventry,2 may, in fact, be due to the eternal ridiculing of old men with young wives in the semi-religious lyrics.8

Middle English poetry contains an exceedingly rich body of Christmas songs.* One might expect to find that these had exerted a considerable influence upon the English Christmas plays. And there are, it is true, a few fragments of what may have once been Christmas lyrics.5 But if there were ever complete lyrics at the beginnings of the English shepherds plays, or at those points in the plays where the angels first address the shepherds — points at which we might expect to find them — they have been crowded out by material of another sort. In The Pageant of the Shear- men and Taylors, there are, of the three songs appended at the end, two, Nos. I and III, which bear unmistakable evidence of being Christmas lyrics.6 There is also another Christmas lyric which very evidently resembles those portions of the Christmas plays in which the shepherds make their offerings to Christ.7 In this case, however, it is the lyric which has been influenced by the miracle plays, rather than the reverse.

1 Chester, Vol. I, pp. 98, 139, 189; York, pp. 43, 102, 138, 436; Town., pp. 25, 161, 181 ff. ; Cov., pp. 96, 118; see also Nice Wanton, Manly's Pre-S. Dr., Vol. I, 11. 260 ff., for the same type of speech in the mouth of an old woman. For parallel passages, see Appendix, pp. 22 ff.

2 Chester, Vol. I, pp. 98, 138 ff. ; Cot;., pp. 117 ff., 131 ff., 145 ff.

3 Christmas Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. IV), p. 52 ; Hone's Ancient Mysteries, pp. 90 ff . See for the treatment of this theme in the fourth-century Greek homiletic writings, Cook, Jour- nal of Germanic Philology, Vol. IV, pp. 421 ff.

* See Christmas Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. IV) ; Songs and Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. XXIII) ; Anglia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 189, 196, 231, 235, 253, 260, 265, 268, 271, 274, 279. A complete list of them would make a small-sized book of bibliography in itself. See also, for numerous Latin songs of much the same sort, Das deutsche Kirchenlied, Vol. I, pp. 198 ff.

5 Town. Shepherd's Play, 1, 11. 295 ff. ; II, 11. 638 ff. ; The Adoration of the Shepherds, 11. 1-13. See also The Pageant of the Shearmen and Taylors (Manly, Pre-S. Z>.), 11. 435 ff.

•Manly, Pre-S. Drama, Vol. I, pp. 151 ff.; ed. also by Craig, Two Coventry Corpus Christi Plays (EETS), p. 32. Compare with No. I, Rel. Ant., Vol. II, p. 76; for the same carol see also Songs and Carols (Percy Soc., Vol. XXIII), p. 12, and Anglia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 250 ff. ; compare with No. Ill the lyric No. LXXIII of the Baliol MS, 354, Anglia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 237 ff. See Appendix, p. 23, for parallels.

7 Anglia Vol. XXVI, pp. 243 ff., Poem No. LXXXII, stanzas 7, 8, 9. See Appendix, pp. 23 ff ., for parallels.

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8 GEORGE C. TAYLOR

Almost as widespread as the Christmas Carol, and far more uniform in its type, is the Testament of Christ, termed variously the Lament of the Redeemer, Christ's Charter, and Christ's Complaint.1 Here again, as in the case of the Complaints of an Old Man, we have an instance of a lyrical form which is in itself essentially of the nature of a dramatic monologue ; and the treat- ment of this theme in the drama and in the independent poems differs scarcely at all, the independent poems sometimes, it is true, growing to far larger proportions than they ever do in the drama. It seems highly probable that in many cases the independent lyric has been inserted into the drama with little or no change. In Towneley2 this, it would seem, has certainly happened. Skelton' s lyric on the same theme,3 if Skelton's it may be called, is almost word for word and rhyme for rhyme similar to Towneley. It is difficult to say how much this form had to do with the growth and development of the passion-plays. Historians of the drama have had so much to say about the Planctus Mariae in its rela- tion to the passion-plays that they have failed to take special notice of this lyrical form, about as widespread and popular in the Middle Ages as the planctus, if not more so. The form, however, may have had more to do with the initial stages of development of the passion-play than it is given credit for. It is barely pos-

1 Cook, in The Christ of Cynewulf, pp. 208 ff., called attention to the frequent occurrence of this form in English and in other literatures, citing at the same time examples of its occurrence in the miracle-plays and inquiring into its origin. I add the following references : Chester, Vol. II, pp. 190 ff. ; York, pp. 363, 423, 450, 454 ; Town., pp. 265 ff ., 341 ; Cov., pp. 207, 325, 329, 346 ; Minor Poems of V. MS., Vol. I, pp. 259, 435 ; Vol. II, 462, 625, 659 ; Pricke of Conscience, pp. 141, 145; An Old Eng. Misc. (EETS), pp. 81, 231; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. CVI, pp. 53, 62 (similar to version by Skelton, pp. 141 ff.), 69 ff. ; Cursor Mundi, pp.1644 ff. ; Polit., Eelig. and Love Poems (re-ed. by Furnivall for EETS), pp. 141 ff., 182 ff., 190 ff., 254 ff., 262 ff., 276 ff. ; Hymns to V.and C. (EETS), pp. 124 ff. ; The Lamentation of Souls (ed. Lumby with Be Domes Daege) 11. 35 ff. (EETS) ; Twenty-six Polit. Poems (EETS), pp. 41 ff., 76 ff., 85 ff. ; The Minor Poems ofLydgate (Percy Soc., Vol. II), pp. 259 ff. ; Songs and Carols (P. Soc., Vol. XXIII), pp. 19 ff., 46 ; Wyt and Science and Early Poetical Miscellanies (Shaks. Soc., Vol. II), pp. 68 ff. ; Bann. MS., Vol. I, pp. 82 ff., 96, 103, 112ff. ; Lydgate's Two Nightingale Poems (EETS), pp. 21 ff. ; Poetical Works of Skelton, Vol. I, pp. 141, 144 ; The Assumption of our Lady (re-ed. by G. H. McKnight,EETS), pp. 123 ff. ; Eng. Stud., Vol. XXI, pp. 207 ff. ; Bel. Ant.,Vo\. II, pp. 119, 225; Anglia, Vol. Ill, pp. 550 ff. ; Vol. XXVI, pp. 246, 248 ff., 255; Alteng. Dicht. (Boddeker), pp. 271 ff. ; The New Nut Brown Maid ("Early Popular Poetry," ed. Hazlitt, Vol. Ill), pp. 2 ff. ; Rich. R. of Hampole, Vol. I, p. 88; Vol. II, pp. 16 ff., 457 ff. See also Thien, Uber die englischen Marienklagen (Kiel, 1906), p. 82. Compare Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. I, pp. 396 1, and also Carmina Burana (Schmeller, 1904), p. 29.

2 The Resurrection of the Lord, 11. 262 ff.

3 The Poetical Works of Skelton (ed. Dyce), Vol. I, pp. 144 ff. See Appendix, pp. 26 ff., for parallel passages.

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THE MIDDLE ENGLISH RELIGIOUS LYRIC 9

sible that it is to some form of this Lament that de Douhet refers when seeking to explain the origin of the passion-play.1 In the English passion-play there is no more evidence that the planctus was the germ or starting-point of the passion-plays than there is for the Christ's Testament.2 In the German Tyrol3 and Alsf el- der4 passion-plays this passage follows very closely the Latin hymn form, in which is found the First Lesson for the First Noc- turn for Good Friday.5 In both cases, moreover, the initial lines are in the original Latin, as if at one time the entire Latin hymn had had its place in the earliest passion-plays. So far as I have been able to discover, it seems by no means certain that the planctus was dramatized any earlier than the Testament of Christ.

Any investigation of the resurrection-lyrics, some of which are still retained in many of the miracle-plays6 which treat the events following the crucifixion, would naturally lead us back to the question of the liturgical origins of the Easter- play. With that question this paper is not directly concerned. There are, however, some few of these lyrics in the plays which may be the result of the playwrights having drawn upon the English independent resurrection-lyrics,7 rather than the result of the retention and gradual development of the original resurrection-hymns of the liturgical drama.

From the point of view of today those lyrics which deal with the general theme of the Life of Man* in a semi-secular, semi-

1 Dictionnaire des mysteres, pp. 633 ff .

2 See "The English Planctus Mariae," Modern Philology, Vol. IV, pp. 632 ff. 3 Wackernell, Altdeutsche Passionsspiele aus Tirol, pp. 127 ff. * Deutsche Nat.-Litteratur, "Das Drama des Mittelalters," Vol. Ill, pp. 764 ff. 5 For other places in which it is employed in the Sarum Use, see Cook, The Christ of Cynewulf, p. 208.

&York, p. 424; Town., pp. 324, 344 ff., 355 ff., 362 ; Coy., pp. 348, 356 ff., 362 ff., 367 ff., 371 ff., 375 ff.

^ The Gude and Godlie Ballatis, pp. 47 ; The Bann. MS, Vol. I, pp. 93, 95. For poems of the same kind with refrains as in Cow., pp. 375 ff., see The Bann. MS, pp. 92 ff. ; Polit., Relig. and Love Poems (GETS), pp. 210 ff . ; Chester, Vol. II, "Notes," pp. 204 ff. The last three examples are in reality Planctus Mariae influenced in form by the resurrection-lyric. For examples of Latin lyrics of a somewhat similar type, see Wackernagel, Das deutsche Kirchen- lied, Vol. I, pp. 175 ff., 218, 242 ff.

8 For lyrics of this general type, see Lydgate's Minor Poems (Percy Soc., Vol. II), pp. 74 ff., 198; Spec, of Lyric Poetry (P. Soc., Vol. IV), pp. 23, 47, 60, 101 ; Religious Songs (P. Soc., Vol. XI), pp. 64 ff. ; Songs and Carols (P. Soc., Vol. XXIII), pp. 4ff.; Rel. Ant., Vol. I, pp. 26, 138, 160, 234, 235, 261; The Minor Poems of Lydgate (P. Soc., Vol. II), pp. 20, 166, 177, 229; Early Pop. Poetry, Vol. Ill, p. 40 ; Bann. MS, Vol. I, pp. 37, 55, 127 ff ., 131, 137, 152 ff ., 155 ff., 201, 209 ff .,

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10 GEORGE C. TAYLOR

religious tone are by far the most interesting of all the various classes with which we are concerned in this discussion. The writers of Middle English verse never tire of discoursing about the briefness, the changeableness of life, the transitoriness and worthlessness of all earthly things, often stopping to describe in detail the repulsiveness of the human body, and almost as often, using this text as a sermon, ending the poem by calling upon us to amend our lives and repent while there is yet time. The best- known and, in a literary way, the most effective form of this lyric is the Ubi Sunt, immortalized by Villon and Thomas de Hales, in which the writer inquires where the great and famous of the world are all gone. With this lyric we are not concerned here ; its influence on the Corpus Christi play is hardly to be detected, though it later makes its appearance in Skelton's Magnyfycence, later still at the end of The Disobedient Child, and finally in Shakespeare's Richard III.1 Other types of the Life of Man lyric have, however, exercised an influence upon these plays which, though slight, is marked and striking. In the Towneley Shepherd Plays2 appears the form which emphasizes the variableness of life in the conventional phrases, "Now in, now out;"3 in the Towneley Shepherd' *s Play, II,* the briefness of life is especially empha- sized.5 In the Towneley Judgment6 there is a suggestion of the Ubi Sunt which calls to mind rather the Anglo-Saxon7 form than

308, 321, 329; Vol. II, pp. 759 ff. ; Anglia, Vol. I, pp. 285, 291; Vol. II, p. 71 ; Vol. XXVI, pp. 141 ff., 158, 167, 185, 197 ff., 207 ; Minor Poems of V. MS (EETS), Vol. I, pp. 335, 343; Vol. II, pp. 512, 667, 672, 674 ff., 686, 692, 715, 726 ff., 730, 740 ff. ; Polit., Relig. and Love Poems (re-ed. EETS), pp. 255, 263 ; Twenty-six Polit. Poems (EETS), p. 113; Wm. of Shoreham (EETS), p. 1; Reli- gious Pieces (EETS), p. 79; Hymns to V. and C. (EETS), pp. 39, 58, 80, 83, 86; An Old Eng. Misc., pp. 65, 69, 93, 156, 161, 170; Chaucerian and Other Pieces (ed. Skeat), pp. 291 ff., 449; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. CIX, p. 46; Eng. Stud., Vol. XXI, p. 201 ; The Poetical Works of Skelton (ed. Dyce), Vol. I, p. 2; The Gude and Godlie Ballatis, p. 30; The Poems of Dunbar (Scot. T. S.), Vol. II, pp. 74 ff., 110, 226, 232, 244; Rich. Rolle of Hampole, Vol. I, pp. 73, 77, 367 ff.; The Pricke of Conscience (ed. Morris), pp. 39, 52.

i Act IV, sc. iv, 11. 91 ff. 2 1, 11. i ff., and II, 11. 60 ff.

3 The Sayings of St. Bernard (Minor Poems of Vernon MS, Vol. II), pp. 513, 692, and else- where in The Sayings of St. Bernard; Bftddeker, Alteng. Dicht., p. 195; Eng. Stud., Vol. IX, p. 441 ; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. CIX, p. 42 ; Pricke of Conscience, pp. 40 ff . ; The Poems of Dun- bar (STS), Vol. II. p. 244. See Appendix, p. 29, for parallel passages.

< LI. 120 ff. ; see also Chester, Vol. II, p. 165.

6 Minor Poems of V. MS, Vol. II, p. 692 ; Wyt and Science and Early Poetical Miscella- nies (Shaks. Soc., Vol. II), pp. 110 ff.; Anglia, Vol. XXVI. pp. 192 ff.; Rich. Rolle of Hampole, Vol. II, p. 457 ; Pricke of Cons., pp. 20 ff.

« LI. 550, 551.

7 The Wanderer (Bibl. der angelsdchs. Poesie, Wulcker, IT. 92 ff.) ; see also a somewhat similar form in Body and Soul poems.

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THE MIDDLE ENGLISH RELIGIOUS LYBIC 11

the highly conventionalized and fixed form of Middle English. In the Towneley Lazarus l there is a lyrical passage which reminds one of the Ubi Sunt in theme, but differs from it very consider- ably in its type — a type which is about as common in Middle English as the better-known Ubi Sunt.2 There is, moreover, a longer lyric in the Lazarus which is marked by the refrain "Amend thee man whilst thou may."3 Poems of a very similar nature, most of them characterized by almost the same refrain, are abundant in the general body of lyric poetry of the day ;4 they too have their Latin prototype. Within this lyric another form makes its appearance — a form which the verse homilist is fond of using when preaching his sermons of the frightening sort. It reads here, "Thynk thou on the dredefull day," and, " Thy nke thou farys as dothe the wynde."0 Similar passages occur in many poems of the day.6 In the Lazarus also the poet follows the body of man after death and describes it in detail.7 The passage calls to mind scores of poems which treat the same theme, from some of which it very probably borrowed many a phrase and line. The most remarkable line which has worked its way into this passage is, "The Royfe of your hall,/ your naked nose shall touche," which is present in almost all of the Body and Soul poems, and some- times in the Long Life poems.8

i Ll. Ill ff.

ZBann. MS, Vol. I, p. 154; Spec, of L. P. (Percy Soc., Vol. IV), p. 87; Religious Songs (P. Soc., Vol. XI), p. 63; for Old French form see Satirical Songs and Poems on Costume (P. Soc., Vol. XXVII), p. 33; Eng. Stud., Vol. XIV, p. 186; Relig. Pieces (EETS), p. 81; An Old Eng. Misc. (EETS), pp. 91, 94, 157; Minor Poems of V. MS, Vol. II, pp. 676, 678. Com- pare Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. I, p. 398. For parallels see Appendix, p. 30.

s Town., p. 392, 11. 174 ff.

*Polit., Relig. and Love Poems, pp. 215 ff. ; An Old Eng. Misc., pp. 62, 78; Minor Poems of V. MS, Vol. if, pp. 668, 672, 725 ff., 727 ff., 730 ff. ; Twenty-six Polit. and Other Poems, pp. 60 ff. ; Anqlia, Vol. I, p. 411 ; Vol. II, p. 71 ; Vol. XXVI, p. 233; Minor Poems of Lydgate (Percy Soc., Vol. II), pp. 228 ff. ; the poem is far too similar to other poems of this type to be called Lydgate's in any proper sense; Religious Songs (P. Soc., Vol. XI), pp. 63 ff.; Songs and Carols (P. Soc., Vol. XXIII), pp. 4, 29, 37, 45 ; Bann. MS, Vol. I, pp. 97, 103, 127, 129. 133, 138, 145, 201, 203; Rich. Rolle of Hampole, Vol. I, pp. 73, 76; Herrigs Archiv, Vol. CVI, pp. 275 ff. For Latin poems with somewhat similar refrain, see Hymni Latini (Mone), Vol. I, pp. 395 f. ; Cantiones (Klemming), pp. 16 ff. See Appendix, pp. 32 ft'., for parallel passages.

5L1. 176, 178.

e Spec, of Lyric Poetry (Percy Soc., Vol. IV) ; Religious Songs (P. Soc., Vol. XI), p. 71; printed also in An Old Eng. Misc., p. 170; Minor Poems of the V. MS, Vol. II, p. 477; Rich. Rolle of Hamp., Vol. I, p. 156 ; Pricke of Cons., p. 73 ; Rel. Ant., Vol. I, p. 139. For Latin form, see Latin Hymns (March), p. 121. See Appendix, pp. 33 ff., for parallel passages.

7 Town., pp. 391 ff.

8 Especially is it noticeable in the Anglo-Saxon specimen printed in Anglia, Vol. V., p. 289; Eng. Stud., Vol. XIV, p. 184, 11. 153 ff. For other passages very similar to the Lazarus

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12 GEORGE C. TAYLOR

The judgment-plays, among the very latest developments of the English cyclic plays, afford on the whole the most interesting examples of the influence of the independent poems upon the up- building of the cyclic dramas. It is impossible perhaps to arrive at a just estimate of their origin and development, without enter- ing into a thoroughgoing investigation of the Doomsday litera- ture of the Middle Ages; and that, of course, lies beyond the limits of this study. It seems possible, however, to get a notion of some sort as to their development in English. The York judgment-play seems to represent the most primitive form of the four plays in English. Its structure is fairly simple : an opening speech by God recounting the wickedness of mankind, brief praise of God by the angels, the cries of the good and bad souls as they awake, Christ's descent to earth, and brief talk with his angels, brief speeches of the devils, Christ's Complaint or Testament, his division of the good and bad souls, their questions and replies to Christ, Christ's blessing of the good souls and damning of the bad — this is about the plot of the play. One set of incidents in this play we find in the judgment-plays of Chester, Towneley, and Coventry, with varying degrees of elaboration: the cries of the good and bad souls as they awake and arise from their graves, Christ's reproaches to the bad and blessing to the good, the dia- logue between Christ and the good and bad souls, the attempts of the bad souls to justify themselves, and the final blessing and damnation. And this set of incidents seems to constitute the gen- eral framework of the plays. Comparison of this portion of the plays with the treatment of the same theme in The Pricke of Conscience1 makes it seem that even this portion was already more or less prepared for by the dialogue treatment of the same theme

description of what we come to after death, see Bel. Ant., Vol. I, p. 139; The Poet. Works of Skelton (ed. Dyce), Vol. I, p. 19; Anglia, Vol. XXVII, p. 309; Rich. Rolle of Hamp., Vol. I, pp. 73, 367 ff., 372; Pricke of Con., pp. 13 ff. ; Wm. of Shoreham, p. 32; An Old Eng. Misc., pp. 78, 92, 172 ff., 178; Minor P. of V. MS, Vol. I, pp. 270, 335, 343; Vol. II, pp. 511 ff. Similar pas- sages may be found in almost any of the Body and Soul poems. See for parallel passages, Appendix, p. 33.

i LI. 6096 ff . ; see further Lamentacio Animarum, in the same volume as Be Domes Daege ; Minor