Bad Angel, that Humanum Genus is forty wynter olde.' The seven cardinal virtues are his companions in the castle, which is soon besieged by the seven deadly sins, headed by Belial, after he has abused and beaten them for their negligence in allowing Humanum Genus to escape:

Et verberabit eos super terram, is the stage direction at this point: Mundus, on his part, belabours Avaritia. There is at least spirit in the subsequent address of Belial to his followers before they assault the Castle of Perseverance.

...

'I here trumpys trebelen all of tene :
'The wery world walkyth to werre ¶
'Sprede my penon up on a prene,
' And stryke we forthe now undyr sterre.
Schapyth now your sheldys shene

'Yone skallyd ** skouts for to skerre . . .
'Buske†† ye now, boys, belyve,

'For ever I stonde in mekyl stryve

"Whyl Mankynd is in clene lyve.'

Some of the besiegers were on horseback, for Caro says of himself,

'Wahanne I syt in my sadyl it is a selkowth syt ‡‡; I gape as a Gogmagog whanne I gynne to gase.'

Humanum Genus, in a state of considerable alarm, calls on 'the Duke that died on rood' to take care of his soul. The deadly sins are defeated, and it appears from their complaint, that they suffered most from the roses flung at them from the walls by Charity, Patience, &c., which struck them hard enough to make them blak and blo.'

The assailants, therefore, retire discomfited; and very soon afterwards it appears, that Humanum Genus has grown hory and colde,' and that his bake gynneth to bowe and bende,' at which time Avaritia secretly makes his way under the castle walls, and uses artfull persuasions to induce Humanum Genus to quit it: he consents at last, and promises to do as Avaritia bids him, remarking,

6

Certys this ye wel knowe,

'It is good, whan so the wynde blowe,

'A man to have sum what of his owe *,
'What happe so ever be tyde.'

Tunc descendit ad Avaritiam, leaving the castle, to the dismay of the Virtues, while Largitas thus addresses the spectators :

'Now, good men alle, that here be
Have my systerys excusyd and me,
Thou† Mankynde fro this castel fle.'

Garcio (a boy), representing the rising generation, demands of old Humanum Genus, all he has accumulated with the assistance of Avaritia, alleging that Mundus had given it to him; after which Mors (who + Though.

* Own.

calls himself drery Death') and Anima make their appearance, the former delivering a long speech on the greatness and universality of his power, and on the forgetfulness of man. Anima calls on Misericordia for aid, but the Bad Angel, taking Humanum Genus on his back, sets off for the infernal regions, ending a speech with

'Have good day, I goo to helle.'

A discussion then takes place in Heaven, Misericordia, Pax, Justitia, and Veritus applying to Deus, sedens in tronum, who says;

'Welcum in fere,

Brythere thanne blossum on brere,
My dowters dere;

Cum forth and stande ye me nere.'

Misericordia and Pax plead in behalf of Humanum Genus, and Veritas and Justitia against him. The Deity sends for the soul of Humanum Genus; Pax takes it from the Bad Angel, and Misericordia thus introduces it:

* This figure seems to have been almost proverbial. In the Wid

kirk play of the Shepherds, one of them says,

'As lyght I me feyll,

'As leyfe on a tree :'

and Chaucer in his Envoy to husbands, at the end of his Clerk of Oxenford's Tale, names the same tree as is mentioned in this Moral:

'Be aye of chere as light as lefe on linde.'

The linde is what we now call the Linden or Lime tree.

We are rather left to infer that Humanum Genus is saved, than directly told it. Pater sedens in judicio pronounces the sentence, and, in the course of what he says, thus enlarges upon his own power :

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'Kyng, kayser, knyt, and kampyone,

‹ Pope, patriark, prest, and prelat in pes,

'Duke, dowtyest in dede be dale and be downe,

Lytyl and mekyl, the more and the les,

'All the stats of the werld is at myne renowne.'

The Bad Angel is of course left in hell; but what becomes of the rest of the persons, and especially of the Seven Deadly Sins, we have no information. It may be remarked as a singularity, that the Deity in person is made to speak the following epilogue, after having concluded an address which relates to the business of the piece.

'All men example here at may take,

'To mayntein the good and mendyn here mys.
Thus endyth our gamys:

To save you fro

synnynge

Evyr at the begynnynge,

Thynke on youre last endynge.

'Te deum laudamus."

This, in fact, is the moral of the play, which, it will be remarked, is a well-constructed and muchvaried allegory: although it is certainly as old as the reign of Henry VI., the production is of such a nature as to indicate that it must have had predecessors in the same kind, before it could have arrived at such a degree of perfection. At the close of the performance is a list of the characters, no less than

thirty-six in number (including the two Vexillators); so that the getting of it up must have been expensive, and according to a rude drawing on the last leaf, its representation required the appearance of a castle in the centre, with a bed under it for Humanum Genus, and five scaffolds for Deus, Belial, Mundus, Caro, and Avaritia.

The next Moral, Mind, Will, and Understanding*, must also have been represented at very considerable cost, for, independent of the rich dresses of the speaking characters, eighteen mutes are introduced, all differently disguised, for the purpose of producing bustle and variety. The construction of the piece is not by any means complicated.

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It is opened by Wisdom, who states that he represents the second person of the Trinity: he is dressed in a rich purple cloth of gold,' with 'a beard of gold,' a' cheveler' or perriwig on his head, and ‘a rich imperial crown thereupon, set with precious

stones-in his left hand a ball of gold with a cross thereupon, and in his right hand a regal sceptre.' He is soon joined by Anima as a maid, in a white 'cloth of gold, gaily purfled with minever, a mantle ' of black thereupon, a cheveler like to Wisdom, with 6 a rich chaplet laced behind, hanging down with two 'knots of gold and side tassels. By the dialogue

*This is the Moral, a large fragment of which exists among the Digby MSS. (No.133), in the Bodleian Library. It is there imperfect at the conclusion. It is apparently in the same hand-writing as the complete copy I have used in the ensuing pages.