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ECENNIAL  PUBLICATIONS  OF 

UIF  ^^NIVEKSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


\\'AGii:il'S  THE  LIFE  AND  REPENTAUNCE  OF 

MARIE  T>-1AGDALENE 


CARPENTER 


THE  DECENNIAL  PUBLICATIONS  OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


THE  DECENNIAL  PUBLICATIONS 


ISSUED   IN   COMMEMORATION   OP   THE  COMPLETION   OP  THE    FIRST  TEN 
YEARS   OF  THE   UNIVERSITY'S    EXISTENCE 


AUTHORIZED   BY   THE   BOARD   OP   TRUSTEES   ON   THE   RECOMMENDATION 
OF  THE    PRESIDENT   AND   SENATE 


EDITED   BY    A   COMMITTEE   APPOINTED   BY   THE   SENATE 

EDWARD  CAPP3 
8TAEH  WILLARD  CDTTINQ  ROLLIN  D.  SALISBURY 

JAMES  ROWLAND  ANGELL      WILLIAM  I.  THOMAS  8HAILER  MATHEWS 

CAKL  DARLING   BUCK  FREDERIC  IVES  CARPENTER         OSKAR  BOLZA 

JULIUS  8TIEGLITZ  JACQUES  LOEB 


THESE  VOLUMES  A.RE  DEDICATED 

TO   THE   MEN   AND  WOMEN 

OF   OUR  TIME  AND  COUNTRY   WHO   BY   WISE   AND  GENEROUS   GIVING 

HAVE   ENCOURAGED   THE   SEARCH    AFTER   TRUTH 

IN   ALL   DEPARTMENTS   OP   KNOWLEDGE 


THE  LIFE  AND  REPENTAUNCE  OF 
MAKIE  MAGDALENE 


THE  LIFE  AND  REPENTAUNCE 
OF  MARIE  MAGDALENE 


BY 


LEWIS  WAGER 


A     MORALITY    PLAY    REPRINTED     FROM     THE    ORIGINAL     EDITION    OF    1566 
EDITED  WITH  INTRODUCTION    NOTES  AND  GLOSSARIAL  INDEX 

BY 

FREDERIC  IVES  CARPENTER 

OF  THE  DEPAETMENT  OF  ENGLISH 


NEW  AND  REVISED  EDITION 


THE  DECENNIAL  PUBLICATIONS 
SECOND  SERIES    VOLUME  I 


CHICAGO 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1904 


Copyright  1H04 
BY  THE  DNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


3/7E 


PREFACE 

The  following  reprint  presents  one  of  the  few  sixteenth 
century  English  dramas  still  inaccessible  in  modern  type. 
It  is  a  late  morality-play,  and  neither  better  nor  worse  as  a 
piece  of  literature  than  most  others  of  its  kind.  It  has,  how- 
ever, a  peculiar  historical  interest,  as  I  have  indicated  in  the 
Introduction  which  follows,  and  suggests  several  problems 
for  consideration.  The  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  literary 
treatment  of  the  theme  which  there  follows  is  merely  a 
sketch  in  outline  and  is  by  no  means  exhaustive. 

The  text  of  this  second  edition  has  been  completely 
revised,  and  now  follows  that  of  the  copy  (probably  unique) 
of  the  first  edition  (1566),  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  W.  A. 
White,  of  New  York.  I  have  to  thank  Mr.  White  for  his 
great  kindness  in  twice  letting  this  copy  come  into  my  hands 
for  collation.  It  is  probable  that  the  edition  dated  1567,  of 
which  there  are  two  exemplars  in  the  British  Museum,  is  but 
a  reissue  of  the  unsold  copies  of  1566  with  the  title-page 
redated,  since  the  same  errors  of  the  press  seem  to  occur  in 
both  editions. 

I  have  tried  to  reproduce  the  text  in  its  original  spelling, 
with  such  accuracy  as  four  separate  collations  can  assure. 
My  own  experience  and  my  observation  of  various  other 
reprints,  corroborated  by  the  experience  of  divers  others 
competent  to  judge,  has  convinced  me  that  absolute  accuracy 
is  possible  only  in  a  photographic  facsimile,  and  that,  lacking 
such  absolute  trustworthiness,  it  is  not  worth  while  in  a  reprint 

iz 


Preface 


of  this  sort  to  attempt  to  reproduce  all  the  lesser  minutiae  of 
sixteenth  century  punctuation  and  capitalization.  I  have 
accordini^ly  modernized  the  punctuation  throughout  so  far 
as  the  somewhat  cumbrous  and  difficult  nature  of  Wacer's 
syntax  has  permitted.'  In  modernizing  I  have  frequently 
had  to  interpret.  Those  who  seek  a  different  interpretation 
of  any  passage  have  but  to  strike  out  all  present  marks  of  punc- 
tuation and  point  to  suit;  for  the  jwinting  of  the  original  is 
seldom  of  service  to  the  modern  reader.  Initial  capitals  also 
I  have  added  or  rejected  to  correspond  with  my  punctuation. 
Otherwise  I  have  left  the  capitalization  as  in  the  original. 
I  have  not  tried  to  reproduce  or  to  indicate  other  typographi- 
cal characteristics  of  the  original  print.  The  stanzaic 
structure  of  the  text  is  indicated  in  the  reprint  (in  this 
unlike  the  original)  by  indentation  and  spacing. 

My  Introduction  and  Notes  I  have  purposely  restricted 
to  such  limits  as  in  my  judgment  correspond  to  the  length 
and  importance  of  the  text.  It  would  have  been  easy  to 
expand  both.  In  their  revised  form  they  owe  something  to 
the  reviewers  of  my  first  edition.  Much  that  was  offered, 
however,  has  seemed  to  me  quite  inappropriate.  Wager's 
text  naturally  swarms  with  biblical  allusions,  and  it  would 
have  been  especially  easy  to  fill  pages  with  such  references. 
Bible  concordances  and  similar  reference  books,  however, 
are  sufficiently  common  and  accessible  to  make  this  unneces- 
sary. And  similarly  for  some  other  matters  of  index 
learning. 

I   take    pleasure   in    acknowledging   my    obligations    for 

I  Phrases  followed  by  siicli  locutions  as  {qitod  he),  in  parenthesis,  I  have  left  as 
in  the  original,  without  modern  marks  of  (luotution. 


Preface  xi 


assistance  or  courteous  suggestions  in  this  work  to  Profes- 
sors J.  M.  Manly,  H.  Schmidt- Wartenberg,  K.  Pietsch,  T. 
A.  Jenkins,  W.  G.  Hale,  G.  L.  Hendrickson,  E.  Capps,  and 
W.  D.  MacClintock,  of  the  University  of  Chicago;  to  Mr. 
H.  Bradley,  of  Oxford;  Mr.  W.  C.  Hazlitt,  of  London; 
Professor  A.  Brandl,  of  Berlin;  and  to  the  librarians  of 
Harvard  College  and  of  the  University  of  Cambridge. 


Frederic  Ives  Carpenter. 


The  University  op  Chicago 
June,  1904 


INTRODUCTION 

Among  the  entries  of  the   Stationers^  Register,  in  the 

volume  covering  the  period  from  22  July,  1566,  to  22  July, 

1567,    appears    the    following    (Arber's    Tran- 

Bibliographical  .    ,     _.    .^.-.^^ 

script,  1,  Sod): 

Charlewod.  Recev3'd  of  John  charlewod  for  his  lycense  for  the 
pryntinge  of  au  interlude  of  the  Repentaunce  of  Mary  Magdalen, 
etc.  /iiij  d. 

This  "interlude"  was  printed  in  two  editions,  the  first  in 
1566  (see  facsimile  of  title-page,  below,  p.  1),'  and  the  second 
in  the  following  year.  The  edition  of  1567 — copies  of  which 
are  in  the  British  Museum — is  apparently  the  same  impres- 
sion as  the  first  edition  of  1566.  Both  are  in  "fours,"  A — 
I,  iii,  in  black  letter.  The  work  has  never  heretofore  been 
reprinted , 

Of  the  author,  the  learned  clarke  Lewis  Wager,  almost 
nothing  is  known.  A  William  Wager,  contemporary  with 
and  perhaps  related  to  him,  is  known  as  the 
author  of  the  Very  mery  and  Pythie  Comniedie, 
called  The  Louf/er  thou  livest,  the  more  foole  thou  art,  circa 
1560  (reprinted  in  the  Jahrbuch  der  deiitscJien  Shakespeare- 
Gesellschaft,  XXXVI,  1900,  ed.  A.  Brandl).  An  attempt 
has  been  made  (by  Joseph  Hunter,  Chorus  Vatum,  MS.  in 
B.  M.,  Vol.  V,  p.  90)  to  identify  this  Wager  with  the  better- 

'  Tho  only  existing  copy  of  this  edition  seems  to  be  that  now  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  W.  A.  White,  of  New  York.  There  is  none  in  the  British  Museum,  Bodleian,  or 
Cambridge  University  Libraries.  Waser's  name  does  not  appear  in  tlie  printed 
catalogues  of  any  of  the  following  libraries:  Advocates'  of  Edinburgh,  Kylands  of 
Manchester,  Liverpool  Free  Public,  Trinity  College  of  Dublin,  The  London  Insti- 
tution, The  London  Library  (St.  James'  Square,  1875),  Library  of  the  Corporation 
of  London,  Lincoln's  Inn  Library,  Birmingham  Free  Library,  Manchester  Free 
Library.  The  Dyce  Collection  at  South  Kensington  possesses  two  MS.  transcripts 
of  the  play,  both  probably  made  from  the  B.  M.  copy,  15(37. 

xiii 


xiv  Introduction 


known  William  Gager,  Oxford  doctor,  author  of  poems  and 
Latin  plays,  and  interlocutor  with  the  author  in  Rainoldes's 
Overthrow  of  Stage-Platjcs,  15U9  (written  1508).  This 
identification,  however,  is  purely  gratuitous  and  quite  unten- 
able. Gager  is  later  in  date  than  either  of  the  Wagers,  and 
the  mistake  in  names,  difficult  to  suppose  in  the  case  of  even 
one  man,  is  practically  impossible  in  the  case  of  two.  The 
Cruell  De])fter,  a  play  of  which  only  a  slight  fragment  has 
been  preserved,  entered  1505-66  in  the  Stcifioiers''  Eegister, 
is  there  assigned  to  a  certain  "Wager."  This  may  be  either 
William  or  Lewis.  It  has  been  argued  (by  Rudolf  Imel- 
mann,  in  Herrig's  Archiv,  CXI,  201))  that  the  Cruell 
Dehhier  belongs  to  Lewis.  The  evidence  is  too  meagre  to 
permit  of  a  decision  of  the  question.  But  on  the  other  hand 
the  points  of  likeness  in  the  plays  by  Lewis  and  by  William 
are  sufficiently  striking  to  justify  the  assumption  of  relation- 
ship and  of  mutual  influence.' 

Lewis  Wager  became  rector  of  St.  James,  Garlickhithe, 
on  March  28,  1500."  This  fact,  and  the  evidence  of 
his  morality-play,  including  the  description  of  him  as  a 
"learned  clarke"  on  his  title-page,  make  it  altogether 
probable  that  he  was  a  university  man,  although  his  name 
does  not  appear  among  the  published  lists  of  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge graduates,  and   the  registrar  of  Cambridge  informs 


1  Such  points  are  (1)  a  general  similarity  in  diction,  exemplified  in  their  fond- 
ness for  such  words  and  phrases  as  annexed  (The  Longer  thou  livext  1.  666),  beleue,  as 
noun  (457,  1764,  179il),  etisne  (414),  »iorA-cs  and  {jtiuden  (111),  vilitic  (202),  make  God 
auoire  (lU)),  nemhte  \'!]  (1074),  U'e  desire  no  man  here  to  be  offend ei I  (16%);  (2)  the 
citation  by  both  of  the  phrase  [pucllue  pestis]  indulgentia  purcntum;  (3)  the  simi- 
larity in  situation  in  The  Longer  //iom  i/vcs<,  11.  H40-42  and  3/(n-2/ jl/affrfd^ene,  648-51; 
also  11.  1876-79  and  2023-26;  (4)  a  fjoneral  similarity  in  type  of  play,  alleRory.  and 
doctrine.  Yet  there  are  sutlicicnt  dillVrcnccs  to  forbid  any  hypothesis  of  identity, — 
such  as  William's  foiidiicss  for  such  striking  words  as  nuscled  (The  Loni/er,  etc.  SWl, 
1060.  1267,  1571, 1H87),  indurate  (534,  17<.t4),  temerarious  (644),  insipient  (SXi,  10i)6,  1114,— 
note  its  peculiar  meaning),  and  forttinable  (1194,  1678), not  found  in  Lewis;  besides  a 
certain  greater  versatility  and  liveliness  of  comic  power  in  William  than  in  Lewis. 

'^  Cf.  R.  Newcoukt.  Hepertorium  Eeelesianticum  farochiale  Londinenae,  an 
Ecclesiastical  Parochial  History  of  the  Diocese  of  London  (London,  1708-10,  2  vols., 
folio).  Vol.  I,  p.  .367. 


Introduction  xv 


me  that  the  name  of  Wager  is  not  to  be  found  even  among 
the  unpublished  registers  of  that  university. 

Since  Wager  became  rector  of  Garlickhithe  in  loGO,  it  is 
likely  that  his  work  as  a  playwright  was  done  anterior  to  that 
date,  and  probably  during  his  university  years 
or  very  soon  thereafter.  Indeed,  one  allusion 
in  the  "Prologue"  of  the  Life  and  Repentance  of  Mary 
Mayddlene  renders  it  apparent  that  that  piece  was  writ- 
ten as  early  as  the  reign  of  King  Edward  VI,  although 
not  entered  for  publication  or  printed  before  156G.  While 
justifying  the  utility  of  the  art  of  acting  in  stage-plays,  the 
"Prologue"  rhetorically  demands: 

Doth  it  uot  teache,  God  to  be  praised  aboue  al  thing? 
What  facultie  doth  vice  more  earnestly  subdue  ? 
Doth  it  not  teache  true  obedience  to  the  kyngf 

An  author  writing  in  the  reign  of  the  dominant  and  domi- 
neering Elizabeth  would  not  have  spoken  of  "obedience  to 
the  kyng."  Moreover,  the  quality  of  the  diction  and  the 
theology  of  the  play  points  to  the  period  of  Edward  VI.  I 
therefore  conjecturally  date  it  circa  1550.' 

The  play  is  a  biblical  morality  play,  with  special  features 
which  give  it  a  peculiar  interest.  It  is  a  Reformation  drama  on 
General  ^^^  Protestant  side,''  like  most  of  the  moralities,^ 

Character  with  a  combined  moralistic  and  doctrinal  design, 

and  it  presents  most  of  the  late  morality  devices,  including 
the  Vice  in  its  fullest  development.      Like    Bale's   Kynge 

'The  reference  of  course  may  be  to  King  Henry  VIII,  and  so  the  piece  may  date 
before  17iVi\  but  this  is  less  probable  in  view  of  the  date  already  given  in  Wager's  life 
as  well  as  of  the  other  considerations  just  buggested.  But  cf.  Professor  Brandl 
on  this  point  in  the  Shakespeare- J uhrbuch,  XXXIX.  p.  317. 

2  A  fact  noticed  similarly  by  Ceeizenach,  Gesc/iJc/itedes  newej-en  Dramas  (Halle, 
1903),  III,  p.  558.  Among  the  "  Kampfes-moralitaten  der  Reformationszeit "  Brandl 
(Shake.ipeare-Jahrbuch,  XXXVI,  p.  1)  reckons  similarly  the  piece  of  like  tendencies 
by  the  other  Wager,  The  Longer  thou  Uvest  the  more  fool  thou  art. 

sThis  is  not  equivalent  to  asserting  that  it  is  a  drama  of  "  Protestant  contro- 
versy." I  merely  mean  that  its  sympathies  and  its  coloring  are  Protestant  ;  nor  do  I 
allude  exclusively  to  £n.(7?/'s/i  moralities.  The  later  moralities  were  written  mainly 
by  Protestant  sympathizers.    Cf.  Ceeizen.-vch,  III,  pp.  35  f.,  515. 


xvi  Introduction 


Johan,  like  Nice  Wanton,  like  Jacob  and  E.^au,  and  like 
Camhyses,  it  introduces,  alongside  of  the  usual  personifica- 
tions of  abstractions,  figures  drawn,  or  supposed  to  be  drawn, 
from  history.  And  like  the  mystery-plays  it  is  founded  on 
an  episode  of  Bible  story.  In  style  it  is  cumbersome  and 
inefficient,  although  about  on  a  level  with  other  moralities  of 
the  period.  Although  weighed  down  by  the  morality  con- 
ventions and  the  morality  diction,  the  author  in  his  way  is 
striving  for  realism  and  in  parts  for  a  comedy  of  manners. 
In  the  part  of  Mary  he  has  attempted  dramatic  characteriza- 
tion, as  in  the  account  of  her  childhood,  in  her  petulance  and 
frowardness.  She  is  a  type  of  the  spoiled  child,  of  the  sort 
shown  us  in  The  Disobedient  Child,  in  Nice  Wanton,  and  in 
some  of  the  Latin  dramas  of  the  period.'  The  circumstan- 
tial description  of  dress  and  customs  (sixteenth  century,  of 
course)  is  given  with  zest,  and  the  Puritanic  satire  underly- 
ing that  description  is  dramatically  enforced.  Infidelitie, 
too,  is  a  more  plausible  rogue  and  plays  more  convincingly 
the  part  of  the  Mephistophelian  tempter  than  does  the  Vice 
in  most  other  moralities.  This  is  seen  especially  (11.  1143  ff. ) 
when  he  attempts  to  ensnare  Mary's  soul  in  the  reaction  of 
her  despair  from  the  stern  doctrine  of  Knowledge  of  Synne. 
The  homilies  passim  and  the  prolonged  enforcement  of  doc- 
trine toward  the  end  are  the  only  positively  non-dramatic 
portions.  They  may  have  their  interest  for  the  historian  of 
belief. 

As  usual  with  plays  of  this  class  and  period,  there  is  no 

division  into  acts  and  scenes.     The  action  is  very  indistinctly 

localized,^  and  it  is  evident  that  little,  if  any, 

staging  ... 

attempt  was  made  to  help  the  imagination  by 
settings  or  scenery.  A  simple  stage  or  platform  doubtless 
suflficed  for  the  action.     There  was  at  least  one  door  for  exits 

1  Cf.  Heefobd,  Lit.  Rel.  of  England  and  Getttiany  in  the  Sixteenth  Cent.  chap, 
iii ;  Ceeizenach,  II,  121  ff.,  164  B. 

•'See,  however,  1.  827:  "Will  you  resort  with  mo  vnto  lerusalem  ?  "  and  1.842: 
"  We  shal  be  at  lerusalem,  1  think,  to  morow." 


Introduction  xvii 


and  entrances.  After  1.  1302  the  devils  are  directed  to  "cry 
all  thus  without  the  doore,  and  roare  terribly !" '  During  the 
dinner  at  the  house  of  Simon  the  Pharisee  some  sort  of  a 
table  and  stools  were  brought  out.  When  Mary  appears 
seeking  Christ  in  the  house  of  Simon  (11.  1662  ft'.),  she 
doubtless  walked  about  on  one  side  of  the  stage  pretending 
to  look  for  the  company  already  seated  at  dinner  on  the 
other  side.  Joining  the  company,  she  creeps  under  the 
table  and  does  "as  it  is  specified  in  the  Gospell."  The 
actors  of  course  were  dressed  in  some  way  to  conform  with 
their  various  parts,  but  in  such  fashion  as  to  admit  of  rapid 
shifting  of  costume  to  suit  the  rapid  change  of  parts  and 
their  necessarily  short  absence  from  the  stage.  Stage  dis- 
guises also  were  used  (see  11.  56,  400,  991,  1543)  —  "a  cap 
and  gown,"  and  the  like;  all  probably  more  or  less  conven- 
tional, although  more  regard  than  usual  is  shown  for  dra- 
matic decorum  and  probability  when  Infidelity,  at  the  house 
of  Simon,  although  in  disguise,  is  cautioned  to  keep  his  face 
concealed  from  Christ's  sight. 

The  title-page  informs  us  that  "Foure  may  easely  play 
this  Enterlude."  "Foure"  is  perhaps  a  misprint  for  jive, 
as  during  two  long  periods  in  the  play  (11.  423-812  and 
Distribution  1679-1867)  five  speaking  characters  are  on  the 
of  parts  stage  at  once.     It  is  likely,  however,  that  the 

part  of  Infidelity  was  written  to  be  played  by  a  boy,  who 
possibly,  as  such,  was  not  counted  among  the  "foure."  We 
find  the  same  arrangement  in  Lupton's  "Moral  Comedie"  All 
for  Money,  where  four  actors  carry  among  them  some  thirty 
odd  parts,  while  that  of  Sinne  the  Vice  (a  single  part),  is 
impersonated  by  a  boy.''  The  distribution  of  the  five  parts 
in  Wager's  play  may  have  been  as  follows: 

1  Cf.  Bale's  Kync/e  Johan  (Camden  Soc,  p.  53) :  "  What  a  noyse  is  thys  that  with- 
out the  dore  is  made." 

•iC/.  Jahrb.  d.  Shaks.-G&sellsch.,  XL,  pp.  133,  I'A,  171.  The  editor  (Ernst  Vogei) 
of  the  reprint  remarks  the  same  arrangement  further  in  Like  Will  to  Like,  Trial 
of  Treasure,  and  Wit  and  Wisdom.    Cf.  Eckhardt,  Die  lustige  Person,  p.  215. 


xviii  IXTKODUCTION 


A.  The  Prologue,  and  11.  247-812  (Pride),  843-926 
(Simon),  1103-1222  (Knowledge  of  Sin),  1329-1454 
(Faith),  1480-1518,  1575-1962  (Simon),  2007-2052 
(Love). 

B.  Lines  1-842,  927-1302,  1523-1962  (Infidelity). 

C.  Lines  57-226,  423-842,  1009-1454,  1679-1866, 
1963—2052  (Mary). 

D.  Lines  247-812  (Cupidity),  841-988  (Malicious 
Judgment),  1027-1202  (The  Law),  1329-1454  (Repentance), 
1480-1962   (Malicious  Judgment). 

E.  Lines  247-812  (Carnal  Concupiscence),  1231-1518, 
1575-1934  (Christ),  1963-2052  (Justification). 

For  the  sake  of  marking  the  exits  and  entrances  and  the 
arrangement  of  the  parts,  I  venture  to  suggest  a  division 
Synopsis  of  ^^^°  scenes  after  the  continental  system  in  the 
the  action  following  analysis  of  the  story : 

The  Prologue:  A  defense  of  the  "faculty"  or  "feate"  of  act- 
ing, especially  the  acting  of  improving  morality-plays.  The 
author's  sources  in  the  Bible  and  in  "Doctours." 

Scene  i.  Infidelity  solus.  His  function.  Intends  to  oppose 
the  new  Christ  (11.  1-56). 

ii.  Infidelity  and  Mary  Magdalen.  Mary's  character;  her 
fi-ivolity;  berates  her  tailor;  Infidelity  offers  sympathy,  and  — 
temptation;  she  tells  of  her  youth  and  upbringing;  she  now  has 
come  into  her  inheritance  of  the  castle  of  Magdalene;  she  should 
enjoy  her  wealth.  Infidelity  promises  to  introduce  her  to  good 
company  (11.  57-226). 

iii.  Infidelity  i^olus.  He  finds  Mary  toward;  plans  to  com- 
plete her  niin  (11.  227^6). 

iv.  Infidelity,  Pride  of  Life,  Cupidity  and  Carnal  Concu- 
piscence. These  worthies  assert  that  they  already  have  dominion 
in  Mary's  mind  and  desires.  Each  recites  his  qualities  and  powers 
(homily  on  the  deadly  sins).  Names  they  take  for  disguises  (11. 
247-422). 

v.  Infidelity,  Pride,  Cupidity,  Carnal  Conciipiscence,  Mary. 
Mary  again  is  annoyed  by  her  servants;  is  introduced  to  Infidelity's 
companions  and  instructed  in  their  lore;  the  proper  allmemeuts  of 
dress  and  manners.     A  four-part  song  at  parting  (11.  423-812). 


Introduction  xix 


vi.  Infidelity,  Mary.  Mary  is  fortified  in  her  new  faith.  They 
leave  for  Jenisaleni  and  a  life  of  pleasure  (11.  813-842). 

vii.  Simon  the  Pharisee  and  Malicious  Judgment,  in  confer- 
ence, resolved  to  compass  the  downfall  of  Christ.  Malicious  Judg- 
ment set  to  watch  for  him  (11.  843-926). 

viii.  Maliciovs  Judgment  and  Infidelity  confer  under  what 
names  they  are  to  pass,  the  better  to  deceive.  One  seeks  to  entrap 
Mary,  the  other  Christ  (11.  927-988). 

ix.  Infidelity  will  put  on  a  new  garment  for  disguise,  and 
assure  himself  of  Simon  (11.  989-998.) 

X.     Infidelity,  Mary.     She  has  gone  to  the  bad  (11.  999  1026). 

xi.  Infidelity,  Mary,  the  Late  of  God.  Turning-point  of  the 
action.  The  Law,  bearing  the  Tables,  denounces  against  Mary  the 
Old  Testament  law.  Conscience  stirs  within  her.  Pleadings  of 
Infidelity  vs.  Law  (11.  1027-1102). 

xii.  Infidelity,  Mary,  Law,  Knowledge  of  Sin.  Knowledge 
of  Sin  adds  another  step  in  Mary's  conversion.  But  law  and  con- 
science alone  offer  no  hope  and  prompt  to  despair.  Long  conten- 
tion for  her  soul.  Hope  of  salvation  in  the  Messias  hinted  (11. 
1102-1202). 

xiii.  Infidelity,  Mary,  Knowledge  of  Sin.  Last  efforts  of 
Infidelity;  scoffs  and  taunts;  he  violently  expels  Knowledge  of 
Sin  (11.  1203-1222). 

xiv.  Infidelity,  Mary.  He  tries  to  reassure  her — in  vain  (11. 
1223-1230). 

XV.  Infidelity,  Mary,  Christ.  Christ  annovmces  his  mission. 
Infidelity  resists ;  is  cast  out.     The  Divels  roare  terribly  (11. 1231-1302). 

xvi.  Mary,  Christ.  Christ  raises  Mary;  she  is  repentant  and 
believes  (11.  1303-1326). 

xvii.  Mary,  Christ,  Faith,  Repeyitance.  Faith  and  Repent- 
ance confirm  Mary  in  right  doctrine  (Protestant).  They  lead  her 
off  (11.  1327-1454). 

xviii.  Christ  thanks  the  Father  for  a  sinner  saved.  Gospel 
phrases  (11.  1455-1479). 

xix.  Christ,  Malicious  Judgment,  Simon.  Simon  biddeth 
Christ  to  dynner.  Christ  and  Simon  walk  in  the  garden  (11.  1480- 
1518). 

XX.  Malicious  Judgment  and  Infidelity  prepare  the  dinner 
and  cry  out  against  Christ.  They  promise  to  raise  the  Jews 
against  him  (11.  1519-1574). 


XX  Introduction 


xxi.  Malicious  Jxidgmeni,  Infidelity^  Simon,  Christ.  The 
dinner.  Malicious  Judgment  and  Infidelity  try  to  entrap  Christ  on 
thtK)logical  questions.  He  avows  himself  the  Son  of  God  (11.  1575- 
1678). 

xxii.  Malicious  Judgment,  Infidelity,  Simon,  Chru'it,  Mary. 
Mary  repentant  seeking  Christ's  presence.  Hhc  washes  and  anoints 
his  feet  "as  it  is  specified  in  the  Gospell."  The  parable  of  the  two 
debtors.  Christ  pardons  Mary's  sins  and  prefers  her  before  the 
self-righteous  Pharisee  and  his  company,  who  turn  upon  and 
denounce  him  (11.  1679-1934). 

xxiii.  Malicious  Jiidgi)if')if, Infidelity, Simon.  Simonsets  Infi- 
delity and  ^lalicious  Judgment  to  spj'  upon  Christ  and  collect 
evidence  against  him  (11.  1985-1962). 

xxiv.  Mary,  Justification.  Justification  expounds  to  Mary 
Christ's  sentence,  "Many  synnes  are  forgeuen  her,  for  she  loued 
much,"  in  a  safe,  Protestant  sense:  not  love  but  faith  saved  Mary, 
although  love  is  a  fruit  of  faith — and  so  enters  after  faith  in  the 
next  scene  (11.  1963-2006). 

XXV.  Mary,  Justification,  Love.  Love  proclaims  himself  the 
offspring  of  Faith.  Justification  and  Love  turn  to  the  audience 
and  moralize  the  scene,  explaining  the  successive  steps  in  Mary's 
course  of  sin  and  salvation.  Rest  assured  that  not  by  love,  but 
"  by  Faith  onely  Marie  was  iustified."  Benediction  from  Mary  (11. 
(2006-2052).^ 

The  preceding  analysis  suggests  very  clearly  the  scheme 
of  action  of  a  typical  morality-play.  The  morality  is  in 
itself  the  drama  in  its  rudiments,  or  rather  in  a  state  of  pure 
philosophical  abstraction,  presenting  Homo,  Juventus,  or 
some  other  typical  abstraction  of  man,  and  the  struggle  in 
and  for  his  soul  of  the  powers  (abstract)  of  good  and  evil  — 
the  eternal  and  original  dramatic  conflict!  So  here  is  pre- 
sented, largely  in  the  al)stract,  a  scheme  of  temptation,  fall, 
repentance,  struggle,  and  salvation.  The  morality,  more- 
over, is  essentially  an  allegory.  In  the  above  analysis  the 
allegorical  intention  of  this  play  is  made  plain.  Infidelity, 
once  admitted  into  the  heart,  leads  to  Pride,  Cupidity,  and 

I  Note  that  twice  the  stage  is  cleared  (after  11.  Wl  and  1%2).  This  comes  nearer 
than  anything  else  to  a  natural  division  into  acts. 


Introduction  xxi 


the  rest  of  the  seven  deadly  sins.  The  Law  denounces  pun- 
ishment, and  conscience  or  a  Knowledge  of  Sin  leads  to 
despair,  unless  forgiveness  and  salvation  are  promised,  and 
unless  Faith  expel  Intidelity.  Malicious  Judgment  and 
Infidelity  lead  others  to  reject  salvation.  Faith  leads  to 
Justification  and  to  Love.  It  is  around  this  simple  frame- 
work and  the  donn^e  of  the  story  given  in  Luke,  chap.  7, 
that  our  author  builds  his  drama. 

Wager  writes  in  the  literary  dialect  of  his  period — a 
fashion  of  speech  unlike  that  which  was  to  follow  in  the 
Diction  and  ^^^^^7  developed  Elizabethan  literature,  in  its 
versification  fondness  for  abstract  and  circuitous  turns  of 
phrase  in  place  of  the  concrete  and  condensed  Elizabethan 
idioms,  for  cumbrous  inversions,  and  for  a  clerical  and  Puri- 
tan vocabulary.  He  exhibits  many  of  the  characteristic 
usages  of  sixteenth  century  English,  now  obsolete  or  rare.' 

The  subject  of  Wager's  versification  offers  considerable 
difficulties,  and  until  the  question  ef  the  evolution  of  the 
pentameter  English  verse  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  of 
English  verse-forms  only  slightly  touched  by  continental 
influence  in  the  period  generally  has  been  more  fully  inves- 
tigated and  settled,  any  topic  in  the  field  must  be  discussed 
with  extreme  caution.  It  is  obvious  that  Wager  comes  in  a 
period  of  rhythmical  and  metrical  transition,  when  the 
ancestral  four-stress  verse  is  rapidly  breaking  up  and  losing 
its  predominance  as  a  national  measure,  and  when  the  secret 
of  the  Chaucerian  and  continental  pentameter  has  not  yet 
been  fully  recovered.  Alliteration  as  a  mark  of  the  rhythm 
is  no  longer  to  be  relied  upon.     To  the  modern  ear  Wager's 

1  Such,  for  example,  as  (a)  the  use  of  plural  subject  with  a  singular  verb:  11. 
40, 1090, 1328;  (fc)  use  of  double  superlative:  1.  58;  (c)  assimilatiouof  final  s  of  the  geni- 
tive with  initial  s  of  following  word:  1.  1107  (conscionce['s]  sight);  (,d)  idiomatic 
use  of  prepositions :  as  1.  405  (How  think  you  by  me?) ;  cf.  11.  532,  632,  649,  817,  1851 ;  1. 
781  (a  song  of  your  name) ;  1.  1000  (for  you  =  for  all  you  care,  or  know). 

Further  peculiarities  of  his  diction  may  be  studied  in  the  Glossarial  Index 
accompanying  the  text. 


xxii  Introduction 


verses,  with  certain  exceptions,  are  neither  rhythmical  nor 
metrical:  that  is,  in  a  natural  reading  the  ear  is  uncertain, 
in  a  very  large  number  of  cases,  whether  the  norm  of  the 
verse  is  four,  five,  or  sometimes  even  six,  rhythmical  stresses,' 
or  whether  any  rhythmical  scheme  of  either  ascending  or 
descending  movement  or  type  of  rhythmical  feet  or  intervals 
within  the  verse  (rhythmical  iamb,  trochee,  anapsBst,  or  dac- 
tyl) is  intended;  and  metrical  or  syllabic  his  verse  is  not, 
for  the  number  of  syllables  in  a  line  runs  anywhere  from 
eight  to  fourteen  or  fifteen/'  A  verse  very  loosely  con- 
structed, in  various  rhyming  combinations,  marks  the  popu- 
lar drama  of  the  entire  period.  Now  its  general  intention 
is  four  stress,'  and  at  other  times  five  stress/  Wager  starts 
out  with  a  "Prologue''  in  the  Rhyme  Royal  stanza,  a  form 
traditionally  associated  with  the  pentameter  measure,  and, 
although  his  rhyme-scheme  changes,  his  rhythm  seems  to  con- 
tinue the  same  throughout  the  j)iece.  In  his  case,  as 
most  probably  in  that  of  others,  it  would  seem  that  our 
author,  writing  with  an  untrained  ear  and  ignorant  of  good 
models,  intended  to  produce  a  five-foot  verse,  but  through 
negligence  and  inability  often  failed  in  his  attempt.  He 
and  his  audience  are  far  more  solicitous  for  rhyme  than  for 
rhythm,  while  metrical  measures  would  be  a  step  altogether 
beyond  them. 

Almost  any  approximate  congruence  of  final  syllables, 
whether  stressed  or  unstressed,  is  a  rhyme  for  Wager. 
Inversion  of  order  for  the  sake  of  rhyme  is  frequent.^     Iden- 

1  Examples:  11.  112  (I  hauo  not  sene  a  gentlewoman  of  a  more  goodly  grace),  237 
(Loke.  in  whose  heart  my  father  Sathan  doth  me  sow),  841  (Go,  wanton,  get  you 
forth  with  sorow),  1000  (I  may  doe  what  I  will,  for  you),  liat  (So  that  by  the  dedes  of 
the  law,  or  by  his  own  miKht). 

2  E.  g.;  11.  16  (Muche  woo  had  some  of  vs  to  scape  the  pillorie),  129  (That  he  was 
a  man  of  a  worshii)full  disposition).  270  (I  was  poyng  forth  you  to  call),  14.').)  (I  thank 
thee,  O  father,  O  Lord  of  heuen,  earth,  and  of  al). 

3  Cf.  SCHIPPEB,  AUengliache  Mctrik  (Bonn,  1881),  I,  pp.  231  S. 

*  Cf.  Brandl,  Quellen  des  weltlichen  Dramas  in  England  vor  Shakespeare  (Sirass- 
burg,  1H98),  p.  Ix. 

5  E.  !). :    1.  1411  (The  word  to  a  glasse  compare  we  may). 


Introduction  xxiii 


tical  rhyme  is  common,  especially  in  polysyllabic  words.' 
There  are  many  careless  and  imperfect  rhymes.'*  The  allit- 
eration is  not  conspicuous. 

The  arrangement  of  rhymes  shows  some  variety.  The 
rhymes  of  the  "Prologue"  are  those  of  the  Rhyme  Royal 

or  Chaucerian  stanza  {ah  ah  be  6).     The  greater 
Bhyme-scheme  ,       <>    ji       i      i         p    ,^  •  /n     ^    004     o  ^  <■» 

part  or  the  body  or  the  piece  (11.  1-Zd4,  o4o- 

1962)  is  in  alternate  quatrains  [a  b  a  b).     The  rest  (11.  235- 

782,  803-842,  1965-2052),  with  the  exception  of  the  song, 

is  in  couplets.     The  song  (11.  783-802)  consists  of  two  stanzas 

rhyming  a  b  a  b  and  one  rhyming  x  b  x  b,  each  with  the 

refrain  m  m.     There  are  not  infrequent  lines  in  quatrain  or 

couplet  in  which  rhyme  is  entirely  absent. 

The  speeches  uniformly  begin  and  end  with  the  begin- 
ning and  ending  of  a  line.  In  most  cases,  except  where  the 
speech  is  only  one,  two,  or  three  lines  long,  it  is  continued 
through  and  ends  with  the  ending  of  a  quatrain  or  couplet. 

It  is  probable  that  in  most  of  the  dramas  of  this  period 
changes  of  rhyme-scheme  or  of  measure  were  introduced  for 
a  purpose,  and  that  certain  forms  were  felt  to  be  appropriate 
to  certain  parts  or  moods.  Thus,  in  some  of  John  Hey- 
wood's  plays  Rhyme  Royal  is  reserved  for  passages  of  espe- 
cial dignity  or  impressiveness,  the  alternate  quatrain  for  the 

1  E.  g. :  11.  868,  870  (captiue,  prerogatiue),  988,  990  (possible,  inuisible),  1167, 1169 
(infirmity,  maiestie),  1172, 1174  (acceptation,  contentation),  1599-1602,  etc. 

2  E.  g. :  11.  94,  96  (midst,  best).  377-8  (^'atberinicr,  synne),  843,  845  (him,  Nairn),  872, 
874  (together  —  perhaps  written  "toi?ider"  — ,  consider),  1071,  1073  (shall  —  perhaps 
written  "  will"  — sty  11),  1368,  1370  (body,  daily),  1432,  1434  (Mary,  plainly),  1596,  1598 
(compassion,  satisfaction ;  c/.  1620,  1622),  1931,  1933  (render,  remember  ?),  1932,  1934 
(spoken,  open).  Some  other  apparent  cases  probably  represent  actual  pronuncia- 
tions :  thus,  11.  54,  117, 123,  251,  450,  823,  8.33,  etc.,  friend,  mynd :  cf.  Ellis,  Early  English 
Pronunciation^  London,  1869,  pp.  80,  104,  779;  priven  by  Bullokar,  1580,  as  "  f rendes, 
frinds  (friindz),"'  pronounced  like  "Alr/jer,  bier,'''  etc.  Similarly  Salesbury,  1547. 
But  alitor  by  Palsgrave,  1530,  as  "  frende,"  like  "fende  "  =fiend,.  and  Levins, 
1570:  but  Bale,  Thre  Lawes,  1.5;58,  11.  157,  348,  gives  as  rhymes"  mynde,"  "  fynde  "  = 
fiend,  and  "kynde,"  and  in  his  Teniptacyon  (od.  Grosart,  p.  25),"  frynde "  and 
"  wynde."  Cf.  also  Kynge  Johan  (Camden  Soc),  pp.  12,  15,  34,  86,  87,  93.  Also  11.  4.58 
(benefited,  requited),  947  (harted,  conuerted),  1875  (heard,  afeard),  2015  (perflte, 
delite),  and  possibly  377,  as  above. 

Similarly,  looseness  in  rhyming  marks  other  moralities,  e.  fir..  Mankind.  Cf. 
Beandl,  Quellen,  pp.  xxv,  Ixi,  Ixx. 


xxiv  Introduction 


ordinary  business  of  the  dialogue  and  for  middle  or  neutral 
parts,  and  tive-foot  couplets  for  the  Vice  and  the  comic 
parts.'  The  same  forms,  however,  were  not  always  used  for 
the  same  effects  by  others.  In  the  case  of  the  Marij  M(ig- 
dalcnc  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  was  the  author's  intention. 
Rhyme  Royal  for  the  "Prologue"  is  in  accordance  with  the 
common  practice.  And  the  alternate  quatrain  seems  to  be 
designed  for  the  basis  of  the  dialogue  throughout  the  bulk 
of  the  play.  Whether  the  couplet,  however,  was  used  for 
comic  effect  is  doubtful.  It  certainly  is  not  so  used  in  the 
last  eighty-seven  lines  (scenes  xxiv,  xxv)  of  the  play,  which, 
though  written  in  this  form,  are  entirely  serious  and  homi- 
letical.  Nor  are  the  opening  lines  with  Infidelity's  burlesque 
entrance  written  in  couplets,  as  we  might  expect.  Further- 
more, the  change  (at  1.  235)  from  quatrains  to  couplets 
occurs,  curiously  enough,  in  the  middle  of  a  speech  by  Infi- 
delity, but  at  the  precise  point  where  he  turns  from  com- 
menting on  Mary's  towardness,  after  her  exit,  to  what  is 
apparently  a  speech  directed  at  the  audience.  The  use  of 
couplets  then  continues  through  all  the  scenes'  between  Infi- 
delity and  his  associates  and  Mary  down  to  their  depart- 
ure from  the  stage  and  the  entrance  of  Simon  the  Pharisee 
with  Malicious  Judgment  (1.  842).  Familiar  comedy  is  the 
obvious  intention  of  these  scenes ;  so  that  it  seems  probable 
that  in  a  general  way  Wager  was  following  Heywood's  pi-ac- 
tice  in  the  partition  of  his  rhyming  measures. 

The  aim  of  the  authors  of  the  mystery-plays  dealing 
with  the  story  of  Mary  Magdalen,  as  of  other  mystery - 
plays,  is  a  comparatively  simple  and  unsophisticated  one 
—  to  hold  the  attention  of  their  audience  by  telling  as 
The  author's  aim  dramatically  as  they  can  a  striking  episode 
and  intention  of  religious  history.  The  edification  of  the 
audience  and  the  justification  of  the  author  is  found  in  the 

•  Cf.  Bkanul,  Quellcn,  p.  Hi.    See  also  pp.  xxiv,  xxxvii,  Ix. 
i  With  the  exception  of  their  soug  (11.  783-802.) 


Introduction  xxv 


choice  of  the  subject.  The  aim  of  our  author  (and  of  other  - 
authors  of  morality-plays)  is  diflPerent.  He  lives  in  an  age 
of  reformation.  Edification  is  now  his  insistent  and  his 
persistent  purpose.  He  has  a  moral  aim:  to  show  the  sin- 
fulness of  wantonness  by  presenting  an  accredited  story 
from  Holy  Writ,  heightened  with  familiar  circumstance  and 
local  color  to  make  it  the  more  telling;  and  to  offer  a  model 
of  repentance  and  reform  in  the  case  of  the  same  sinner 
saved.  That  his  edifying  intention  may  never  for  a  moment 
be  in  doubt,  the  accessory  parts  are  not  those  of  other  men 
and  women,  feigned  or  historical,  but  the  personified  quali- 
ties of  virtues  and  vices.  He  has  also  another  aim  of  edifi- 
cation: at  convenient  intervals,  and  especially  at  the  end, 
after  the  action  is  finished  and  his  abstractions  have  the 
floor  quite  to  themselves,  the  text  and  the  situation  are  to 
be  improved  and  right  doctrine  to  be  taught  therefrom. 
Here  the  learned  clarke  and  the  theologian  finds  his  oppor- 
tunity and  enforces,  in  the  case  of  our  play,  his  favorite 
doctrine  of  the  pre-eminence  of  faith  over  love  as  a  means  ^ 
of  salvation.'  This  is  his  thesis,  and  for  this  more  than  any- 
thing else  the  play  is  written  and  its  laborious  structure 
devised.  Other  aims  are  here  merely  incidental  which  in 
true  dramatic  writing  are  primary,  such  as  the  simple  delec- 
tation of  an  audience,  and  the  free  exercise  of  the  author's 
vis  comica  in  drawing  character  and  depicting  the  passages 
of  life.  Wager  has  some  dramatic  power.  Mary's  char- 
acter, especially  before  her  repentance,  is  sketched  with  a 
free  hand.  Her  tempters  and  associates,  although  handi- 
cap})ed  by  their  abstract  names  and  functions,  manage  to  put 
on  some  of  the  swagger,  customs,  and  local  color  to  be  seen  ' 
in  the  city-gallants  of  the  time.      The  author  treats  these 

1  C/.  the  similar  enforcement  of  the  doctrine  that  "grace  and  faith"  rather 
than  "  will-works  "  and  good  deeds  bring  salvation,  in  the  Epilogue  to  Goers  Promises 
spoken  by  "Baleus  Prolocutor"  (Hazlitt's  Dodsley,  I,  p.  322).  In  the  earlier  (Catho- 
lic) Everyman,  however,  it  is  Good  Deeds  whose  saving  power  is  emphasized. 


xxvi  Introduction 


episodes  with  as  much  realism  as  his  dramatic  type  admits 
—  perhaps  with  more  than  we  should  have  expected  from 
one  of  his  cloth  and  sect.  But  his  main  aim  is  doctrine 
rather  than  drama. 

Tlie  play  is  essentially  a  morality-play.'  Its  use  of  alle- 
gorical figures,  its  fully  developed  Vice,  and  its  long-winded 
discourse  of  doctrine  fatally  mark  it  of  this 
class.  In  its  use  of  an  episode  of  biblical  story, 
however,  it  is  unlike  most  other  morality-plays  and  stands 
nearer  the  New  Testament  mystery-plays  and  the  continental 
biblical  dramas."  It  is  further  remarkable  among  English 
plays  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  introducing  the  figure  of 
Christ  upon  the  stage  alongside  of  those  of  Simon  the  Phari- 
see and  Mary  herself.  Bale,  it  is  true,  introduces  the  figure 
of  Deus  Pater^  in  his  Comedi/  Concernync/e  Thre  Lowes 
and  of  Christ  in  his  Johan  Bapfijsfes  and  CJn-isfs  Tcmpid- 
iion;  "God  speaketh"  in  Evcryiyinn,  as  in  Bale's  God's 
Promises;  and  the  figure  of  Christ  had  appeared  in  several 
mystery-plays.^     But,  though  there  is  mixture  of  two  types 

1  That  the  ontry  in  the  Stationers'  Register  and  its  own  title-page  describe  it  as 
an  "Enterlude"  and  that  one  of  the  speakers  at  line  365  speaks  of  "our  trapedie" 
are  points  that  have  no  necessary  or  determinative  bearinc  on  the  classification  to 
be  adopted  for  this,  or  for  similar  plays,  by  the  modern  student  of  dramatic  history. 
The  term  "  Interlude  "  in  contemporary  use,  and  earlier,  was  of  altogether  too  wide 
and  loose  a  signification  (c/.  Chambers,  Media-val  Stage  [London,  11K)3],  II,  p.  1H2); 
while  no  one,  I  suppose,  even  supported  by  the  internal  evidence  of  Pride,  will  argue 
that  this  is  a  "tragedie"!  Creizenach's  definition  (Geschichte,  I,  p.  458),  of  the 
morality,  which  is  both  authoritative  and  orthodox,  makes  the  placing  of  this  play 
clear:  "Mit  dom  Ausdruck  '  Moralitfttnn  '  bezoichnen  die  Litterarhistoriker  dio- 
jenigen  Dramen  des  ausgehendon  Mittelalters  und  der  Reformationszeit,  in  welchen 
die  Trftger  der  Handluug  ausschliesslich  oder  vorwiegend  personificierte  Abstracta 
Bind."  Cf.  Gayley,  Representative  English  Comedies  (New  York,  1903),  I,  pp.  Iv-lvii; 
also  COEEIEK,  Hist.  Eng.  Dram.  J'netri/  (London,  1879),  II,  pp.  1S3,  1X4.  Creizenac'H 
himself  {op.  cit..  Ill,  p.  5H8),  it  is  true,  relying  upon  Collier's  description  of  it,  men- 
tions this  play,  not  strictly  among  the  English  moralities,  but  in  a  section  dealing 
with  the  "  Weilere  Entwicklung  des  biblischen  Dramas."  It  is  doubtless  a  biblical 
drama,  but  an  allegorical  biblical  drama,  in  which  personified  abstractions  pre- 
ponderate (eleven  out  of  fourteen  characters  are  such)  —  that  is,  by  the  definition,  a 
morality  play.     Cf.  als-o  Eckhardt.  Die  lustige  Person,  pp.  81,  140. 

2C/.  Creizenach,  II,  pp.  lOs  ff. 

3  So  also  see  The  Castle  of  Perseverance.  Pater  Ccelestis  speaks  in  Bale's  Johan 
Baptystes  —  and  there  are  other  instances. 

*In  the  Digby  play  of  Mary  Magdalene,  &nd  in  the  York,  Chester,  Woodkirk, 
and  Coventry  cycles  passim.    See  below,  pp.  xxxv-xxxvi  fT. 


Introduction  xxvii 


in  it,  as  in  Bale's  Kynge  Johan,  the  date  of  this  play  forbids 
our  classing  it  as  properly  transitional  between  mystery  and 
morality  plays.  In  the  development  of  dramatic  kinds  it 
stands  rather  as  a  "sport"  by  itself,  or,  at  best,  as  pointing 
to  the  approaching  breaking-up  of  the  morality  kind  through 
the  increasing  introduction  of  figures  from  real  life  and  from 
history.'  It  is  not  a  pure  morality  because  its  central  figure 
is  not  an  abstraction  or  a  type,  and  because  its  story  is  his- 
torical. It  seems  to  stand  in  no  close  relation  to  any  par- 
ticular plays  or  class  of  plays  of  the  period,"  although  it 
obviously  belongs  in  that  broad  division  of  allegorical  litera- 
ture dealing  with  the  Battle  of  the  Virtues  and  the  Vices,  of 
which  the  first  dramatic  exemplar  was  the  Play  of  the 
Paternoster  mentioned  by  Wyclif  in  1378,  and  the  next  two 
(in  England)  the  still  extant  Pride  of  Life  and  Castle 
of  Perseverance.  It  does  not  fall  into  any  of  Brandl's 
groups,  although  in  its  allegorical   machinery  it   seems  to 

1  Similarly  ia  Horestes,  1567;  King  Darius,  lUGit;  Bale's  Kynge  Johan,  VA^:  Nice 
Wanton,  1560 ;  etc.  A  similar  position  between  miracle-play  and  morality  is  occupied 
by  the  Digby  Magdalen  play,  as  Chambers  notices,  op.  cit.,  II,  p.  155. 

-Wager  no  doubt  had  read  Bale,  and  was  indebted  to  him.  In  Bale's  Thre 
halves,  as  in  Wager's  Mary  Magdalene,  there  is  a  Vice  called  Infidelitas  ("Infi- 
delity "  in  the  text)  who  is  the  father  of  other  vices  (Bale,  1.  973),  and  in  both  the 
figure  of  Law  appears  bearing  the  Tables  of  the  Law.  The  treatment  of  Christ  by 
Simon  the  Pharisee  and  the  vices,  his  abettors,  in  Wager's  play,  although  implied  in 
the  biblical  account,  may  have  been  directly  suggested  by  the  similar  attitude  toward 
John  of  "Pharisseus"  and  "  Sadduceeus  "  in  Bale's  Johan  Baptystes.  Cf.  Harleian 
Miscellany,  I,  p.  107: 
Pharismus. 

As  is  said  abroade,  thys  fellowe  preacheth  newe  lernynge ; 

Lete  vs  dyssemble,  to  vnderstande  hys  meanynge. 
Saddxica^us. 

Wele  pleased  I  am,  that  we  examyne  hys  doynges, 

Hys  doctrine  parauenture  myght  hyndre  els  our  lyuynges; 

But  in  our  workynge  we  must  bo  sumwhat  craftye. 

And  immediately  after,  when  they  approach  him,  John,  like  Christ  in  Wager's  play, 
spies  through  their  drift,  and  rebukes  them. 

Professor  Brandl  {Shakespeare- J ahrbuch,  XXXIX,  p.  .318)  insists  on  the  simi- 
larity between  the  allegorical  figures  introduced  here  by  Wager  and  in  his  several 
plays  by  Bale.  But  the  names  are  the  same  in  only  two  or  three  cases,  and  the  per- 
sonifications are  mostly  those  of  the  deadly  sins,  or  others  equally  common. 


xxviii  Introduction 


< 


belong  to  that  of  the  World  and  the  Deadly  Sins.^  It  is 
essentially  a  biblical  [)lay  in  a  morality  setting,  or  a  biblical 
morality-j)lay. 

The  author  tells  us  in  his  ''Prologue"  that  Luke,  chaps.  7 
and  8,  was  the  main  source  of  his  story.    Other  portions  of  the 
Bible  are  abundantly  quoted  or  paraphrased  inci- 
ources  dentally,  but  Luke  is  the  basis  of  the  play.   Wager 

accepts  without  question  the  time-honored  identification  in 
Latin  Christendom-'  of  Mary  Magdalen  with  the  woman  who 
was  a  sinner  of  Luke,  chap.  7,  and  with  Christ's  follower  and 
friend  mentioned  in  Mark,  chap.  16,  and  John,  chaps.  19  and 
20.'  He  betrays  no  consciousness  of  the  long  and  bitter  six- 
teenth century  controversy  over  the  question,  which  began 
with  Jacobus  Faber  Stapulensis  in  Paris  in  1518.*     On  the 


1  Quellen  des  weUUchen  Dramas  in  England  (Strassburg,  1898),  pp.  xliii,  etc.  Cf. 
also  J.  P.  Collier,  Hist.  Eng.  Dram.  Fotfry  (London,  lH79j,  I,  pp.  xi,  xii;  K.  L. 
Bates,  Eiig.  licligiom  Drama  (New  York,lH93),  pp.  252-4;  Symonds,  Sliakxpere's 
Predecessors  (London,  ^SXi\  chap,  iv;  Creizenach,  Gesc/i/cftte  des  neuer en  Dramas 
(Halle,  1X93),  I,  pp.  401-4. 
..^  2  Which  after  604  A.  D.  followed  Popo  Gregory  the  Great's  rulin;?  that  all  were 

^*^        identical  with  Mary  Mapdalen.    KxOuK,  Untersuchungen  iiber  die  Mittelcnglische 
Magdalenenlcgendc  des  MS.  Laud  lOS.  (Berlin,  1889),  p.  18. 

3  The  name  Maqdalena  itself  appears  only  in  the  following  New  Testament 
verses:  Matt.  27:. 56,  61;  2X:1;  Mark  15:40,  47;  16:1,  9;  Luke  8:2;  24:10;  John  19:25; 
20:1,18. 

*  KxOrk,  p.  18.  I  have  before  me  a  collection  of  seven  Latin  controversial  tracts 
"DeTripliei  [sic]  Maqdalena '":  (1)  De  .\faria  Magdalena,  Tridvo  Christi,  etvna  ertri- 
bus  Maria.  Disceptatio  [  Jacobi  Fabri  Stapulensis],  Paris  1519;  (2)  De  tribvs  et  I'nica 
Magdatena  Disceplatio  Secuiida  |J.  F.  S.],  Paris,  1519;  (.3)  Disceptationis  de  Mag- 
dalena  Defemio  [.Judocus  Clichtoueus],  Paris,  1519;  (4)  Apologiae  sen  defensorii 
Ecclesiae  catholicae  von  tres  sine  duas  Magdalenas  sed  vnicam  ccleliraniis  et  colentis 
Tutamentum  et  Anchora.  per  Marcum  de  Grand  Val,  1519;  (5)  Marcus  de  Grandval, 
De  Vnica  Maudalcua  Apologia,  VAX;  (6)  Joannis  Fisscher  Roffensis  in  Anglia 
Episcopi,  necnon  Cantibrigien.  academiae  ("ancellarii  ....  Confutatio  Secundae 
Disceptaticmis  per  Jacolium  Faltrum  Stapulenacm  habitae,  Paris,  1519;  (7)  Scholas- 
tica  Declaratio sentcntiae  et  ritus  ecclesiae  de  vnica  Magdalena,  per  Natalem  Bedam 
....  contra  magi-itrorum  .Jac.  Fabri  et  Judoci  Clichtouei  scripta.  Paris,  1519. 
One  may  conjecture  that  No.  6,  Bishop  Fisher's  tract,  at  least,  would  be  likely  to 
come  under  Wager's  notice,  especially  if  Wager  were  a  Cambridge  man.  It  cer- 
tainly is  noteworthy,  at  any  rate,  that  Wager  seems  to  assume,  agreeing  with  Fisher, 
that  the  three,  or  two,  women  apparently  mentioned,  are  really  one.  Neverthe- 
less there  are  obstacles  in  this  pleasing  path  of  conjecture,  for  one  of  the  "duo- 
decim  Suppositiones"  set  forth  by  Fisher  is  this:  "  Probabile  est  Peccatrici  cul- 
pam  diu  ante  fuisse  dimissam,  (luatn  ad  .Simonis  domvm  accesserit."  Wager  does 
not  so  represent  this  point  (cf.  11.  lH4:{fr. );  although  before  her  coming  to  Simon's 
house  (11.  1301  ff.)  Christ  is  represented  as  casting  the  devils  out  of  her,  and  intima- 
tion of  her  forgiveness  (1.  1.3.36)  is  given  by  Repentance.  Wager  is  probably  follow- 
ing the  biblical  account  independently  according  to  his  own  lights. 


Introduction  xxix 


other  hand,  he  confines  himself  strictly  to  the  gospel  story, 
and,  beyond  a  couple  of  references  to  Mary's  castle  of  Mag- 
dalen and  to  her  parentage  and  early  training,  makes  no  use  of 
the  extra-biblical  legend  of  Mary's  life.  It  is  probable  enough 
that  even  so  learned  a  clarke  as  Wager  would  make  use  of 
the  English  version  of  the  Bible  for  his  purpose.  Indeed, 
the  play  is  full  of  echoes  from  it.  For  convenience  of  com- 
parison, therefore,  the  portions  of  Luke  referred  to  are  here 
reprinted  from  the  Granmer  Version  of  15)39:' 

Luke  7 :36.  And  one  of  the  Pharises  desyred  him  that  he  wolde 
eate  with  him.  And  he  went  into  the  Pharises  house,  and  sate 
downe  to  meate. 

37.  And,  beholde,  a  woman  in  that  citie  (which  was  a  synner)  as 
soone  as  she  knew  that  lesus  sate  at  meate  in  the  Pharises  house, 
she  brought  an  alablaster  boxe  of  oyntment. 

38.  And  stodeat  his  fetebehynde  hym  wepjuige,  and  beganne  to 
wesshehis  fete  with  teares,  anddyd  wipe  them  with  the  heeres  of  her 
heed,  and  kj^ssed  his  fete,  and  auoynted  them  with  the  oyntment. 

39.  When  the  Pharise  (which  had  bydden  him)  sawe,  he  spake 
with  in  him  selfe,  saying:  If  this  man  were  a  prophete,  he  wolde 
surely  knowe  who,  and  what  maner  of  woman  thys  is  that  toucheth 
him,  for  she  is  a  synner. 

40.  And  lesus  answered,  and  sayde  vnto  him:  Simon,  I  haue 
some  what  to  say  vnto  the.     And  he  sayd:  Master,  saye  on. 

41.  There  was  a  certayne  lender  which  had  two  detters:  the  one 
ought  fyue  hundred  pence,  and  the  other  fyfty. 

42.  When  they  had  nothinge  to  paye,  he  forgaue  them  both. 
Tell  me  therfore,  which  of  them  wyll  lone  him  most  ? 

43.  Simon  answered,  and  sayd:  I  suppose,  that  he  to  whom  he 
forgaue  moost.     And  he  sayde  vnto  him:  Thou  hast  truly  iudged. 

44.  And  he  turned  to  the  woman,  and  sayde  vnto  Simon:  Seest 
thou  this  woman?  I  entred  in  to  thy  house,  thou  gauest  me  no 
water  for  my  fete:  but  she  hath  wesshed  my  fete  with  teares,  and 
wyped  them  with  the  heeres  of  her  head. 

45.  Thou  gauest  me  no  kysse:  but  she,  sence  the  tyme  I  came 
in,  hath  not  ceased  to  kysse  my  fete. 

46.  Myue  heed  with  oyle  thou  dydest  not  anoynte:  but  she  hath 
anoynted  my  fete  with  oyntment. 

1  The  Eitf/lisk  Hexapla  (London,  1S41). 


XXX  Introduction 


41.  Wherfore  I  saye  vnto  the:  inauny  synues  are  forgeuen  her, 
for  she  loued  moche.  To  whom  lesse  is  forgeuen,  the  same  doeth 
lesse  lone. 

48.  And  he  sayde  vnto  her.  thy  synnes  are  forgeuen  the. 

49.  And  they  that  sate  at  meate  wyth  him.  beganne  to  saye 
within  them  sehies:  Who  is  thj's  which  forgeueth  synnes  also? 

50.  And  he  sayd  to  the  woman:  Thy  fayth  hath  saued  the:  Go 
in  peace. 

8:1.  And  it  fortuned  afterwarde,  that  he  him  selfe  also  went 
throughout  cj^tyes  and  tounes,  preachynge,  and  shewinge  the  king- 
dome  of  God,  and  the  twelue  with  him. 

2.  And  also  certayne  women,  whych  were  healed  of  euell  spretes 
and  infirmities:  Mary  which  is  called  Magdalen  (out  of  whom  went 
seuen  deuyls). 

3.  And  loanna  the  wyfe  of  Chusa,  Herodes  stewarde,  and 
Susanna,  and  many  other:  which  ministred  vnto  him  of  their  sub- 
stance. 

The  "Infidelity"  of  this  plfiy  is  a  character  modeled  on 
the  traditional  lines  of  the  Vice,  and  is  an  excellent  repre- 
sentative of  the  type.     He  fulfils  the  threefqld 
The  Vice 

function  of  the  part,  as  the  enemy  of  the  Good 

and  of  God,  as  a  tempter  of  man,  and  (in  less  degree  in  this 
play)  as  buffoon.'     He  calls  imprecations  on  and  tries  to  drive 

•  L.  W.  CusHMAN,  The  Devil  ami  the  Vice  in  the  EnoUsh  Dramatic  Literature 
before  Shakespeare  (Halle,  1900),  p.  72. 

Mr.  E.  K.  Chambkrs,  in  his  Median-aJ Silage,  II,  pp.  20'A  fT.,  has  recently  attacked 
the  views  of  Cuslunan  as  to  the  history  of  the  Vice,  maintaining  that  the  Vice  is 
essentially  a  di'vclopment  of  the  nicdiapval  clown  or  jester,  and  pointing  out  that  the 
name  first  appears  in  John*  Heywood's  Love  and  Weather  in  l.ViS,  and  so  that  the 
type  is  derived  in  English  from  French  farce,  the  kind  of  drama  which  Heywood  is 
imitating.  The  matter  of  the  name  is  not  very  important ;  the  early  existence  and 
persistency  of  the  type  in  its  fundainoiital  characteristics  is  the  important  point. 
Mr.  Chambers's  radical  views  perhaps  dei)end  in  some  measure  upon  his  peculiar 
conception  of  the  morality  kind  and  its  history.  I  still  see  reason  for  holding  with 
Creizenach  (Gesch.  d.  n.  Dramas,  III,  ff.  'M.  r)05:  "Er  [der  Vertreter  des  BOsen 
Prinzips  I  ist  ohno  Zweifel  ein  AbkOmmling  des  lustigen  Teufols  Titinillus,  der  ,  .  .  . 
aus  der  Mysterion  in  die  MoralitAtr-n  ttbernominen  wurde.  Diese  aus  (Mown  und 
Teufcl  zusamnicngesetzte  Person  nahm  in  den  MoralitiUen  einen  immor  breiteren 
Raum  ein  und  wurde  nebst  anrleren  Hestandteilon  des  .Moralil<1t(?nstils  audi  in  die 

Dramon  aus  der  biblischen  und    Profangeschichto    hintlbergenommen Doch 

hatsichim  LaufedeslS.  Jahrhunderts  als  gomeinsame  GattungsbezeichnungfUr  alle 
diese  verwandten  Figiiren  der  Name  Vice  (Laster)  immer  mehr  eingebdrgert "); 
and  with  Gayley  {licpr.  Eiifj.  Com.,  I,  pi).  xlvi  IT.:  "Since  the  idea  of  the  Vice  seems 
to  be  inseparable  from  that  of  the  moral  play,  the  character  had  achieved  a  promi- 


Introduction  xxxi 


away  his  opponents  (Christ  and  the  allegorical  Virtues  of  the 
play).'  He  satirizes  the  friars,  marriage,  dress  and  customs, 
and  the  like."  In  tempting  Mary  he  first  ingratiates  him- 
self by  pretending  to  former  knowledge  of  her  parents,  and 
of  herself  as  a  child,  and  later  by  cajolery  and  flattery.^  He 
then  tempts  her  and  leads  her  astray.  He  endeavors  to  still 
her  scruples  and  stifle  the  voice  of  conscience.*  He  and  his 
assistant  Vices  provide  the  comic  element  and  supply  the 
"pleasaunt  myrth  and  [)astime"  promised  by  the  title-page. 
Infidelity  enters  with  a  characteristic  piece  of  burlesque  and 
nonsense  jingle.  His  favorite  exclamation  is  Huffal  He 
makes  use  of  foreign  (Latin)  phrases,'  probably  intended  as 
half-asides  for  the  audience,  although  on  one  occasion  Mary 
is  made  to  overhear  him  and  profess  to  understand  his  quo- 
tation. And  (very  "delectable"  to  the  audience,  doubtless) 
he  is  cast  out  by  Christ,  while  his  associates  without  the 
door  roar  terribly.     The  Vices  also  take  on  assumed  names 

nence  long  before  it  was  listed  as  a  generic  designation The  fact  is  that  the 

Vice  takes  part  in  all  the  plays  under  consideration,  whether  called  morals  proper 
or  moral  interludes,  from  1400  to  1578,  except  only  Wisdom  of  the  pre-Eeformation 
series  and  the  Disobedient  Child  of  the  post  Reformation  "),  that  the  Vice,  however 
called,  is  found  in  some  of  his  essential  characteristics  in  the  greater  number  of  the 
morality  plays.  He  is  a  composite  type,  and  not  merely,  as  Chambers  maintains,  a 
descendant  of  the  clown  or  jester.  He  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  elements  or  differ- 
entiae of  the  later  morality  play.  Professor  Gayley  moreover  finds  the  type  (without 
the  name)  existent  also  in  the  continental  drama;  and  Gaston  Paris  has  noticed  a 
similar  fact  and  suggested  a  partial  line  of  influence  (Mediaeval  French  Literature 
[London,  1903],  p.  158:  '"Note  ....  that  the  so<  [from  the  So^tes]  ....  often  figured 
in  the  mysteries  and  moralities  ....  From  this  type  derives  the  Spanish  gracioso, 
the  English  clown,  the  German  Hansrvurst,  certain  Italian  buffoons,  and  more  than 
one  of  the  characters  we  meet  with  in  French  drama  until  the  seventeenth  century  "). 
It  must  be  noticed  that  the  Vice  not  infrequently  appears  in  plays  which  are  not  in 
any  proper  sense  moralities.  (C/.  Eckhaedt,  Z)/e  iMS</.(/e  Persoji,  pp.  159  ff.)  But, 
of  course,  the  figure  was  easily  adaptable  for  comic  purposes  in  any  dramatic 
kind. — The  traditional  association  of  the  Vice  with  the  Devil  type  and  the  Eliza- 
bethan conception  of  his  nature  are  illustrated  in  Jonson's  Devil  is  an  Ass,  I,  i. 
On  the  subject  generally  see  also  Eckhardt,  Die  lustige  Person  im  alteren  englischen 
Drama  (Berlin,  1902),  esf).  pp.  9H  fl'.  Eckhardt's  views  of  the  genesis  of  the  Vice 
(p.  101)  seem  preferable  to  those  of  Cushmau.  But  both  agree  generally  as  to  the 
traits  of  the  Vice  (Eckhardt  perhaps  includes  too  much)  and  as  to  his  connection 
with  the  morality  kind.  See  p.  105  for  Eckhardt's  discussion  of  the  point  in  regard  to 
the  first  appearance  of  the  name  "Vice"  in  Hey  wood's  plays.  See  also  Cushman,  67  ff. 
See  especially  Eckhardt,  pp.  140, 141,  for  a  discussion  of  the  Vice  in  Wager's  play. 

I  Cushman,  pp.  81,  82,  3  ibid.,  p.  92.  a  jbid.,  p.  114. 

■;/6id.,  pp.  81,82.  tlbid.,p.91. 


xxxii  Introduction 


and  disguises  for  the  j)iir|K)se  of  deception,  as  in  other  [)lays.' 
All  of  these  traits,  as  Professor  Cushman  has  shown,  are  com- 
mon to  the  Vice  in  other  uiorality-phiys.  In  few  is  the  part 
more  completely  developed  along  its  legitimate  or  conven- 
tional lines  than  here. 

The  story  of   Mary    Magdalen    had   been   the   theme   of 

much    preceding   literature,  both   English  and  continental, 

so  that  Wager's  choice  of  subiect  is  not  strik- 

Treatment  of        .  .     .  "' 

the  theme  i^^»b'  original.      The  remarkable  thing  is  that 

e  ore  ager  |^^^  j^^^  made  SO  little  use  of  earlier  versions  of 
the  story  in  poetry  or  in  drama.  He  has  practically  disre- 
garded the  legend  of  the  saint  on  which  all  these  versions 
are  founded. 

This  legend,  however,  had  been  the  source  of  so  much 
literature  that  a  word  or  two  here  in  regard  to  it  will  not  be 

inappro])riate.  Although  other  and  much  earlier 
The  legend :  e  i 

its  content  and    sources  of  the  legend  have  been  traced  and  were 

provenience         sometimes  utilized  in  mediaeval  literature,  nearly 

all  modern  versions  are   founded   on   the   Lcgendd  Anrea 

(Lives  of  the  Saints)  of  Jacobus  de  Voragine,  circa  1275 — 

published  by  Caxton  in  1483  under  the  title  of  the  Golden 

Legend  in  a  free  English  translation"  made  with  the  help 

of  an  earlier  French  version.     The  Golden  Ler/end  relates 

very  briefly  the  early  career  of  Mary,  which  is  the  subject 

of  Bible  story  and  of  Wager's  play.     Mary  was  descended 

"from  kings  ;  her  parentage  is  told ;  with  her  brother  Lazarus 

and    sister    Martha    she    inherited    their    wealth,  receiving 

for  her  especial  part  the  castle  of  Magdalo;  while  Lazarus 

turned  to  knighthood,  and  Martha  was  a  sage  steward  of 

her  wealth,  Mary  used    hers   for    the  delight  of  her  body 

and  came  to  be   "called  customably  a  sinner."      How  she 

later  turned  to   Christ,  washing  and  anointing  his  feet  at 

•  CnsHMAN,  p.  l.^U.    Of.  also  Eckhahdt,  pp.  204,  205. 

-'To  bo  conveniently  consultod  in  the  reprint  edited  by  F.  S.  Ellis,  London, 
1900  (Temple  Classics);  see  Vol.  IV,  pp.  72-Mt. 


Introduction  xxxiii 


the  feast  of  Simon,  and  how  Jesus  forgave  her  sins  and  cast 
out  of  her  seven  devils,  is  told  freely,  but  in  accordance 
with  the  biblical  narrative.  So  far  it  is  conceivable  that 
Wager  may  have  read  and  utilized  the  Golden  Le<jend. 
The  story  of  her  later  career,  however,  which  is  given  in 
much  fuller  detail,  he  ignores,  like  a  good  Protestant.  This 
relates  how,  after  Christ's  ascension,  she,  with  other  dis- 
ciples, being  set  adrift  in  a  rudderless  boat,  was  miracu- 
lously wafted  to  the  port  of  Marseilles,  and  there  preached  to 
the  heathen,  converting  the  prince  of  the  province  and  his 
lady,  with  attendant  miracles;  what  marvels  and  adventures 
befel  this  latter  couple  on  their  journey  to  the  stations  of 
Rome  and  the  Holy  Land  to  receive  confirmation  from  St. 
Peter,  and  how  Mary  by  miracle  rescued  their  child  and 
brought  the  lady  to  life  again ;  how  later  Mary  retired  into  the 
desert  and  there  abode  in  solitude  for  thirty  years,  miracu- 
lously siistained  by  angels;  and  finally  of  her  holy  death. 

How  the  chief  particulars  in  the  earlier  part  of  this 
legend  grew  out  of  the  uncertain  references  in  the  Bible 
narrative  has  already  been  suggested.  The  Eastern  Church 
has  always  held  to  the  stricter  and  more  conservative  inter- 
pretation. In  the  West  the  legend  had  its  growth,'  And 
in  the  literature  of  the  West  it  constantly  reappears  in  poem 
and  drama  and  legendaries  and  homilies  in  verse  and  prose. 

Abroad,  as  in  England,   the  theme  was  a  favorite  one, 
especially  during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.     In 
France    it    was    treated    dramatically    several 
i/continenur  times.       Petit    de    Julleville   notes    the    repre- 
literature  sentation  of  a   Vie  de  Marie  MagdaleineJ  at 

Cambrai    in    1460,    and   gives   an   analysis^    of    a    Vie   de 

I  Outlined,  for  its  several  stages,  in  KnOrk,  Untersuchungen  iiber  die  mittel- 
englische  Magdalenenlegende  des  MS.  Laud  108  (Berlin,  1889),  pp.  17  ff.,  and  with 
important  corrections  and  additions  in  Eggert,  The  Middle  Louj  Gennun  Version 
of  the  Legend  of  Mary  Magdalen  (in  the  Journal  of  Germanic  Philology,  IV,  pp. 
132  ff.). 

•iLes  Mystires  (Paris,  1880),  II,  p.  644.  ilbid.,  II,  p.  533. 


xxxiv  Introduction 


Miiric  Maydalcinc  coidciuud  j)litsicnrs  bccuilx  miraclvs, 
comment  elle,  son  frdre  le  Lozarc  et  Mart  he  s(i  socur 
vindrent  a  Marseille,  printed  at  Lyons  in  1<)05.  In  his 
list '  of  lives  of  saints  told  in  French  verse  between  the 
eleventh  and  fourteenth  centuries  is  recorded  one  of  Ste. 
Marie-Madeleine  by  Guillaume  Le  Clerc,"  and  in  his  Reper- 
toire (In  Ihddtre  comique  au  moyen  cuje  (Paris,  1886),  No. 
43,  a  morality  of  Luzare,  Martlie,  Jacob,  Marie  Madeleine 
(ed.  LeRoux  de  Lincy,  III,  No.  1).  And  in  Italy''  also  the 
story  of  Mary  Magdalen  was  a  popular  theme.* 

From  these  examples  it  is  evident  how  frequently  it  was 
selected  for  dramatic  treatment.  Indeed,  in  the  earliest 
stages  of  the  evolution  of  the  religious  drama,  in  the  liturgi- 
cal tropes,  Mary  was  assigned  a  prominent  part,  and  in  the 
Easter  services  representing  the  Resurrection  she  appeared 
at  the  grave  with  the  other  Maries,  and  later  announced  the 
event  to  the  apostles.^  At  a  subsequent  but  still  an  early 
stage,  moreover,  her  career  as  a  sinner,  her  repentance,  and 
the  supper  at  Simon  the  Pharisee's  are  selected  as  a  subject 
for  dramatization.  Thus,  in  the  Benediktbeuer  Collection, 
circa  1800,  these  episodes,  treated  in  detail,  form  a  third  of 
the  whole  text."     Elsewhere  among  the  Germans  the  same 

I  Hist,  de  la  Lanf/ue  et  de  la  Litt.  franQaises  (Paris,  1896),  I,  p.  47. 

^Iq  Roinanische  Stwiien,  IV,  pp.  49:J-.").39.  See  also  Ceeizenach,  Gesch.  des 
neueren  Dramas,  I,  pp.  90  f.  (notice  of  the  Magdalen  scenes  in  the  Tours  Mys- 
tery, twelfth  century),  p.  2.j7;  III,  1,  u.  3  (Jean  Michel's  Passion  Play  at  Angers, 
1486) ;  III,  267. 

3  For  Spain,  cf.  Ticknor,  Hist,  of  S/iatiish  Lit.  (New  York,  1K.')4),  III,  p.  180 
(Tfie  Magdalen  of  Malon  de  Chaide,  printed  1592):  Ckeizenach,  III,  136. 

*  Cf.  Qaspary,  Gesch.  der  italienischen  Lit.  (Strassburg,  1888),  II,  p.  203  {Conver- 
sione  di  Sta.  Maria  Maddalcna).  The  Catalogue  of  the  Britisli  Museum  furnishes 
the  following  titles  :  Ln  devotissima  conversioiw  di  Santa  Maria  Maddalcna  [poem] 
(Vinegia,  1.J50) ;  La  Historia  di  Santa  Maria  Maddalena  et  L<izzero  et  Marta  [poem] 
(Florence(?).  l.')5i)(?));  Rapprasentatione  delta  convcrsione  di  S.  Maria  Maddalcna 
[verse,  by  Alemanui?]  (Firenze,  l.'>61);  La  Rapprasentatione  d'un  stupendo  miracolo 
di  Santa  Maria  Maddalcna  [verse]  (Firenze,  15tU).  Klein,  Gesch.  des  italienischen 
Dramas  (Leipzig,  186<)),  I,  p.  231,  also  mentions  a  Ruppresentazione  di  S.  Maria 
Magdalena,  ni  Castellano,  1.516. 

5  Ckeizenach,  I,  pp.  .Wf.,  92;  Chambers,  II,  p.  32. 

6CREIZENACH,  I,   p.  96;   CHAMBERS,   II,    pp.75,  76. 


Introduction  xxxv 


tradition  was  followed,  as  in  the  Vienna  Passion  Play  (in  a 
MS.  of  1472),'  in  the  Donauesching  Play,'  and  in  the  Erlau 
plays,  wherein,  however,  the  comedy  elements  are  made  more 
prominent.*  Mary  figures  occasionally  also  in  the  sixteenth 
century  Latin  drama.  Thus  she  appears  incidentally  in  the 
Anabion  of  Sapidus  (1531)),  a  drama  on  the  Raising  of 
Lazarus,  and  as  the  eponymous  character  in  the  Magdalena 
of  Philicinus  (1544).' 

In  all  the  principal  extant  cycles  of  the  English  reli- 
gious drama  preceding  the  morality-plays,  Mary  Magdalen 
appears  more  or  less  conspicuously.  In  "The  Woman 
taken  in  Adultery,"  of  the  York  Plays,'  Mary  is  seen 
Mary  Magdalen  ^i^^^  Martha  and  Christ  at  the  raising  of  Laza- 
in Englisii plays  ^.^^g  (^the  text  is  fragmentary).  So  in  "Christ 
led  up  Calvary'"*  the  three  Maries  take  part  (of  whom 
Mary  Magdalen  was  sometimes  regarded  as  one),  as  again 
at  "the  Resurrection."'  Finally  in  a  long  dialogue  "Jesus 
appears  to  Mary  Magdalen"  after  the  Resurrection.''  Simi- 
larly, in  the  Towneley  (Woodkirk,  or  Wakefield)  Plays, 
Mary  is  seen  incidentally  in  the  "Lazarus""  the  "Flagel- 
lacio,"'"  the  "Resurrectio  Domine" "  (a  principal  part), 
and  in  "Thomas  Indiae."'"  In  the  Chester  Plays  Mary 
takes  part  in  the  "Lazarus,"'*  the  "Crucifixion,"'*  and  the 
"  Resurrection  "  '^  as  before.  But,  more  than  this,  in  "  Christ's 
Entry  into  Jerusalem,"  "*  before  the  entry  occurs,  the  dinner 
at  Simon's  is  represented.     Lazarus  and  Martha  are  present 

'  Creizenach,  I,  p.  121.  'i  Ibid.,  p.  225. 

3CEEIZENACH,  I,  p.  239.    C/.  p.  355  (a  Bohemian  mystery-play  of  the  same  tradi- 
tion). 

i  Ceeizenach,  II.  pp.  134,  138. 

5  York  Plays,  ed.  Lucy  Toulmin  Smith  (Oxford,  1885),  pp.  193  ff. 

«  Ibid.,  pp.  337  ff.  '  Ibid.,  pp.  .396  ff .  « Ibid.,  pp.  421  tf . 

^  Townelei^ Mysteries,  London  (Surtees  Soc),  1836,  pp.  322  ff. 
1"  Ibid.,  p.  211.  11  Ibid.,  pp.  261  ff.  '2  ibid.,  pp.  280  ff. 

13  The    Chester    Plays,  ed.  T.  Wright,  London  (Shaks.  Soc),  1843,  1847,  Pt.  I, 
No.  xiii. 

» Ibid.,  Pt.  II,  No.  xvii.  is  Ibid.,  No.  xix.  '« Ibid.,  Pt.  II,  No.  xiv. 


xxxvi  Introduction 


as  guests.  Mary,  repentant,  appears,  addresses  words  of 
welcome  to  Christ,  and  anoints  his  feet.  The  parable  of  the 
debtors  follows.  The  text  does  not  repeat  the  quia  muUiim 
aman'f  motif,  but  only  that  "Beleefe  hath  saved  thee."  In 
the  "Coventry"  Plays  Mary  is  present  in  the  "Lazarus" 
scene,'  at  "The  Betrayincr  of  Christ,"'  "The  Crucifixion  of 
Christ,"  '  in  the  scene  t)f  "The  Three  Maries,"*  where  she 
refers  to  Christ's  casting  seven  devils  out  of  her,  and  in 
"Christ  Appearing  to  Mary,"^  where  again  the  casting  out 
of  devils  is  related.  In  the  Digby  Plays  Mary  appears  both 
in  the  "Mystery  of  the  Burial  of  Christ,"''  where  she 
laments  her  past  sins  for  the  pain  they  had  given  Christ, 
although  he  had  forgiven  her,  and  in  "Christ's  Resurrec- 
tion,"' where  again  in  retrospect  she  tells  of  her  past  sins, 
and  how  she  had  washed  Christ's  feet  at  Simon's  dinner. 
In  these  two  parts  Mary's  emotional  nature  and  her  devotion 
to  Christ  are  brought  out  far  more  than  in  other  versions. 
But  the  most  important  of  all  English  dramatic  treatments 
of  the  Magdalen  theme  before  Wager,  and  the  first  English 
treatment  in  which  allegorical  machinery  is  employed,  is  the 
"Mary  Magdalene"  play  of  the  Dif/hij  Mysfcrics.^  The 
action  covers  (Part  I)  Mary's  "father  Cyrus,  and  his  death; 
Her  Seduction  by  Lechery  and  a  Gallant;  Her  Repentance 
and  Wiping  of  Jesus's  feet  with  her  hair,  and  also  her 
brother  Lazarus's  death  and  Againrising,"  and  (in  Part 
II)  "Christ's  Appearance  to  Mary  at  His  Sepulchre.  Her 
conversion  of  the  king  and  queen  of  Marcylle.  Her  feed- 
ing by  angels,  from  heaven,  in  the  wilderness.  Her  Death." 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  only  in  Part  I  is  there  any  corre- 
spondence to  the  action  of  Wager's  play.  In  Part  II  the 
legend  is  followed,  and   we  have  a  true  miracle-play,  with 

1  Ludu8  Coventriae,  ed.  J.  O.  Halliwell.   London   (Shaks.  Soc.),  1841.  pp.  223  ff. 
-'//>4rf..  p.  28r,.  './/.(./..  p.  .TJ.-!.  *//-/</.,  pp.  3.'.1  H".       i/6/(/.,  pp.  .360ff. 

•i  Digby  Mi/Ktciics,  cd.  F.  J.  FUEXIYALL,  London   (New  Shaks.  Soc),  1882,  pp.  171  ff. 
:  Ibid.,  pp.  201  ff.  *•  Ibid.,  pp.  53  ff. ;  circa  1480-90. 


Introduction  xxxvii 


morality  features.  As  a  whole,  the  Digby  play  exhibits  a  very 
charming  naiv6U  of  dramatic  presentation,  while  its  rich- 
ness and  variety  of  action,  the  outcome  of  the  traditions  of 
Catholic  legend  and  art,  compare  favorably  with  the  Protes- 
tant dogmatism  and  arid  abstractions  of  portions  of  Wager's 
work.  Mary's  downfall  in  the  Digby  play,  for  example 
(scenes  8,  9,  and  11),  is  exhibited  with  a  livelier  verisimili- 
tude. In  what  follows,  however,  there  is  not  much  to 
choose.  The  Good  Angel  in  the  Digby  version  opens  Mary's 
eyes  to  her  sin  and  provokes  her  to  repentance  somewhat 
more  precipitately  than  do  Law  of  God  and  Knowledge  of 
Sin  in  Wager.  But  the  Digby  author  is  less  interested  in 
doctrine  and  more  in  story  than  Wager,  and  so  is  less  con- 
cerned to  extract  edification  from  Mary's  conversion.  The 
episode  of  the  dinner  at  Simon's  is  treated  in  much  the 
same  way  in  both  plays.  The  Digby  author,  like  Wager, 
has  a  scene  (scene  12)  to  prepare  our  expectation  of  the 
event.  The  parable  of  the  two  debtors  is  introduced  in 
both.  As  in  the  Chester  plays,  the  quia  midtum  amavit 
text  is  not  introduced,  but  Jesus  says  to  Mary  simply  "thy 
feyth  hath  savyt  thee."  Here,  however,  the  seven  devils 
all  appear,  are  cast  out,  and  "enter  into  hell  with  thondyr," 
where  Wager,  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  his  stage,  could 
present  but  two  or  three,  and  these  "without  the  doore," 
where  they  might  do  their  best  to"roare  terribly."  For  it 
seems  plain  that  Wager  followed  the  accepted  interpretation 
and  identified  the  seven  devils  which  Christ  cast  out  of 
Mary  with  the  seven  deadly  sins,  who  accordingly,  in  the 
older  miracle-plays,  traditionally  attend  her.^  Wager,  of 

course,  with  his  limited  means,  can  bring  forward  only  three 
of  the  traditional  seven  (Pride,  Cupidity,  and  Carnal  Con- 
cupiscence) ;  but  these,  by  a  sort  of  artless  dramatic  synec- 
doche, stand  doubtless   a  part  for  the   whole.     The  Digby 

1  Ceeizenach,  I,  p.  196. 


xxxviii  Introduction 


author  has  »^reat  o[)portnnities  otherwise  for  comic  and  spec- 
tacular business,  from  which  Wager  was  ])recluded.  Infi- 
delity, the  Vice,  however,  with  the  latter,  does  his  best  to 
make  up  the  deficiency. 

Whether  Wager  knew  or  made  use  of  this  Digby  Mag- 
dalen play  is  quite  uncertain,  in  spite  of  the  resemVjlances 
here  indicated.  As  already  suggested,  there  are  certain 
traditional  elements  in  his  play  which  are  not  to  be  found 
in  the  biblical  story  which  he  professes  for  his  source.  He 
may  have  drawn  them  from  the  "doctours"  whom  he  men- 
tions in  the  same  connection.  Other  Latin  or  English 
plays,  extant  or  non-extant,  he  may  have  known.'  But  in 
any  event  his  indebtedness  to  known  sources  other  than  the 
Bible  is  singularly  slight. 

It  is  improbable,  moreover,  that  Wager  knew  other  ver- 
sions of  the  Magdalen  story,  non-dramatic.  Of  these, 
before  his  day,  there  were  several.     A  Middle- 


English  Mag- 
dalen Literature,  English    verse     Lcf/end    of  Marij     Mcujddlene 

non-dramatic  j^.^^  ^^^^^  ^^j-^^j  ^^  q  Horstmann  in  Herrig's 
Archiv'  from  two  MS.  versions  (Trin.  Coll.  M8.  R  3,  25, 
and  from  Lambeth  MS.  228),  Like  most  other  versions 
it  is  essentially  nothing  more  than  the  old  Lcf/cnda  Aurca 
story  amplified  and  versified.  Similar  is  the  version  from 
the  Bodleian  MS.  Laud  108,  edited  by  Horstmann  in  his 
Sdinmhouj  (ilioKjlischer  Legeudcn,^  and  in  the  Early  South- 
English  Lcgendaru,  or  Lives  of  Saints.*  Somewhat  differ- 
ent, but  based  on  the  same  material,  is  the  Dc  S.  Maria 
Magdalena  Historia  from  MS.  Harl.  41*.t('».'  The  Legenda 
Aurea,  freely  treated,  is  again  the  basis  of  Barbour's  version,* 

1  On  the  traditional  elements  in  the  Digby  play  cf.  Ceeizenach,  I,  p.  296. 

2Braiinschw<'iK,  1882.  Vol.  LXVIII,  pp.  .VJ-7.3. 

•'•Heilbrtinn,  lbX7;  pp.  148--62:  with  a  fraRmontary  version  (pp.  16.3-70)  from  MS. 
Auchinl.,  Eklinb.  Advoc.  Libr. 

«  Lc)n<loii  (  Karly  Ehk.  Text  Soc),  1887. 

'•>  Altenylixchc  Legeniicn,  neue  Folge,  ed.  Horstmann  (Heilbronn,  1881),  pp.  81-92. 

''Barbour's  Legemlensammlung,  ed.  Hobstmann  (Heilbronn,  1881),  pp.  123-37 
(from  Cambr.  Univ.  Libr.  MS.  Gg.  II.  6). 


Introduction  xxxix 


although  other  authorities  also  seem  to  be  used  in  parts. 
Still  another  version  is  that  of  Bokenham ;'  while  a  version 
resembling  that  of  the  Trinity  College  MS.  is  the  "Magda- 
lena"  of  the  Legends  of  the  Saints  in  the  Scottish  Dialect 
of  the  14th  Century.'^  Later  in  date  (circa  1480),  and  much 
more  limited  in  scope,  is  the  Lamentation  of  Mary  Magda- 
leyne,  at  one  time  attributed  to  Chaucer,  and  first  printed  in 
Thynne's  Chaucer,  1532.*  Of  about  the  same  date  is  the 
prose  Life  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene,^  a  mere  translation  from 
the  French  version  of  the  Legend  a  Aiirea  of  Jean  de 
Vignays,^  and  distinct  from  Caxton's  translation.  More 
than  all  this,  the  Magdalen  legend  had  so  penetrated  into 
the  popular  literature  of  the  age  that  in  the  ballad  of  The 
Maid  and  the  Palmer  her  story  is  blended  with  that  of  the 
woman  of  Samaria  of  John,  chap.  4,'* 

With  the  Reformation,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  the  subject  recedes  into  the  background,  while 
Later  Magdalen  ^^  ^^^'^  legend  of  the  saint,  aside  from  the  Bible 
literature  story,  almost  no  mention  is  made,  except  here 

and  there  by  English  Catholic  writers.  Thus  it  is  in  Robert 
Southwell,  Marie  Magdalen's  Fiinerall  TearesJ  To  Ger- 
vase  Markham  is  attributed  Mary  Magdaleii's  Lamenia- 
tions  for  the  Losse  of  her  Maister  Jesus.^ 

1  Bokenham'' s  Legenden,  ed.  Horstmann  (Heilbronn,  1883)  pp.  126-59. 

2Ed.  W.  M.  Metcalfe  (Scottish  Text  Soc,  1889),  pp.  256-84. 

3Ed.  Bertha  M.  Skeat  (Cambridge,  1897). 

■*Ed.  ZuPiTZA,  in  Herrig's  Archiv,  XCI,  207-24,  from  Durham  Cathedral  MS. 
5.2.14. 

5/6(d.,  XCV,p.  439. 

*>Cf.  Child,  English  and  Scottish  Popular  Ballads  (Boston,  1882),  I.  p.  228.  In 
Scandinavian  versions  the  heroine  is  called  Magdalena  by  name.  "The  popular 
ballads  of  some  of  the  southern  nations  give  us  the  legend  of  the  Magdalen  uncom- 
bined.  "  (Sargent  and  Kittredge,  Engl,  and  Scot.  Fop.  Ballads,  p.  39.) 

T  A  copy  of  the  edition  of  1602  is  in  the  British  Museum.  Of.  in  his  Poetical 
Works,  ed.  Turnbull  (London,  1856),  pp.  lb,  45,  "Mary  Magdalen's  Blush,"  and 
"Complaint  at  Christ's  Death." 

s  London,  1601.  Reprinted  by  Grosartin  the  Miscellanies  of  the  Fuller  Worthies' 
Library,  II.  The  British  Museum  also  contains  a  poem,  1603,  signed  J.  C,  on  Saint 
Marie  Magdalen's  Conversion. 


X 


1  Introduction 


Most  significant  and  interesting,  however,  of  all  the  later 
Magdalen  literature  is  the  poem  by  Thomas  Robinson  on 
the  Life  and  Dcaih  of  M((rij  Ma(jd(dcn<%  1()12,  recently 
retrieved  from  oblivion  by  Dr.  Sommer.'  This  is  an  alle- 
gorical poem,  in  the  manner  of  Spenser  plus  Crashaw,  with 
passages  of  considerable  beauty.  The  legend  is  only 
slightly  utilized.  Dr.  iSommer  thinks  that  Robinson  may 
have  known  the  Digby  play.  Wager  is  quite  as  likely, 
although  that  he  knew  neither  is  more  probable. 

Crashaw's  Sainte  Mdnj  Macjdalene,  or  the  Wci'per^  is 
better  known.*  It  is  slightly  later  in  date  than  Robinson's 
poem,  to  which  it  bears  a  certain  general  class-resemblance. 
Both  are  descants  on  the  theme  rather  than  direct  treat- 
ments of  the  story,  and  both  show  something  of  the  Marinist 
manner. 

Of  later  date  than  this  (1646),  there  is  very  little  litera- 
ture dealing  with  our  theme. 

1  Ed.  H.  O.  SOMMEE  (MarbuFK,  1887). 

-'  Cf.  R.  Crashaw,  Complete  Works,  cd.  \.  B.  Gbosart  U8"2),  I.  pp.  3-18.  Cf.  also 
II,  p.  40. 

3  See  also  the  Magdalen  poems  by  Geo.  Herbert  (Works,  ed.  Grosart,  1874,  I,  199) 
and  by  Henry  Vauphan  (Poems,  ed.  Chambers,  London  1896,  I,  227). 


THE  PROLOGUE 

Nulla  iam  modesta  fclicitas  est 
Qua'  malignantis  denies  vitare  possit 

No  state  of  man,  be  it  neuer  so  modest, 

Neuer  so  vnrebukeable  and  blamelesse. 
No  person,  be  he  neuer  so  good  and  honest. 
Can  escape  at  any  season  now  harmelesse  ; 
But  the  wicked  teeth  of  suche  as  be  shamelesse 
Are  ready  most  maliciously  him  for  to  byte  ; 
Like  as  Valerius  in  his  fourth  booke  doth  write. 

10     We  and  other  persons  haue  exercised 

This  comely  and  good  facultie  a  long  season, 
Which  of  some  haue  bene  spitefully  despised ; 
Wherefore,  I  thinke,  they  can  alleage  no  reason. 
Where  affect  ruleth,  there  good  iudgeme»t  is  geason. 
They  neuer  learned  the  verse  of  Horace  doubtles, 
Nee  ilia  laudabis  stadia,  aid  aliena  reprehendes. 

Thou  shalt  neither  praise  thyne  owne  Industrie, 

Nor  yet  the  labour  of  other  men  reprehend. 
The  one  procedeth  of  a  proude  arrogancie, 
20  And  the  other  from  enuie,  which  doth  discommend 

All  thyngs  that  vertuous  persons  doe  intend. 
For  euill  will  neuer  said  well,  they  do  say, 
And  worse  tungs  were  neuer  heard  before  this  day. 

I  maruell  why  they  should  detract  our  facultie : 
We  haue  ridden  and  gone  many  sundry  waies  ; 

Yea,  we  haue  vsed  this  feate  at  the  vniuersitie  ; 
Yet  neither  wise  nor  learned  would  it  dispraise : 

3 


4      An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

But  it  hath  ben  perceiued  euer  before  our  dayes 
[Aiiftj  That  foles  loue  nothing  worse  tha//  foles  to  be  called. 

30  A  horse  will  kick  if  you  touche  where  he  is  galled  ! 

Doth  not  our  facultie  learnedly  extoll  vertue  ? 

Doth  it  not  teache,  Grod  to  be  praised  aboue  al  thing  ? 
What  facultie  doth  vice  more  earnestly  subdue  ? 
Doth  it  not  teache  true  obedience  to  the  kyng  ? 
What  godly  sentences  to  the  mynde  doth  it  bryng ! 
I  sale,  there  was  neuer  thyng  inuented, 
More  worth  for  man's  solace  to  be  frequented. 

Hipocrites  that  wold  not  haue  their  fautes  reueled 
Imagine  slaunder  our  facultie  to  let ; 
40     Faine  wold  they  haue  their  wickednes  still  concealed ; 
Therfore  maliciously  against  vs  they  be  set ; 
O  (say  they)  muche  money  they  doe  get. 

Truely,  I  say,  whether  you  geue  halfpence  or  pence. 
Your  gayne  shalbe  double,  before  you  depart  heiice. 

Is  wisedom  no  more  worth  than  a  peny,  trow  you  ? 
Scripture  calleth  the  price  therof  incomparable. 
Here  may  you  learne  godly  Sapience  now. 
Which  to  body  and  soule  shal  be  profitable. 
To  no  person  truly  we  couet  to  be  chargeable ; 
50  For  we  shall  thinke  to  haue  sufficient  recompence, 

If  ye  take  in  good  worth  our  simple  diligence. 

In  this  matter  whiche  we  are  about  to  recite, 

The  ignorant  may  learne  what  is  true  beleue, 
Wherof  the  Apostles  of  Christ  do  largely  write, 
Whose  instructions  here  to  you  we  wil  geue. 
Here  an  example  of  penance  the  heart  to  grieue 
May    be    lerned,   a    loue    which   from  Faith  doth 

spring ; 
Authoritie  of  Scripture  for  the  same  we  will  bring. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene 


Of  the  Gospell  we  shall  rehearse  a  fruictfull  story, 
60  Written  in  the  .vii.  of  Luke  with  wordes  playne, — 

[AiiiajThe  storie  of  a  woman  that  was  right  sory 

For  that  she  had  spent  her  life  in  sinne  vile  and  vain. 
By  Christes  preachyng  she  was  conuerted  agayn. 
To  be  truly  penitent  by  hir  fruictes  she  declared, 
And  to  shew  hir  self  a  sinner  she  neuer  spared. 

Hir  name  was  called  Mary  of  Magdalene, 
So  named  of  the  title  of  hir  possession. 
Out  of  hir  Christ  reiected  .vii.  spirites  vncleane, 
As  Mark  and  Luke  make  open  profession. 
70  Doctours  of  high  learnyng,  witte,  and  discretion, 

Of  hir  diuers  and  many  sentences  doe  write, 
Whiche  in  this  matter  we  intend  now  to  recite. 

Of  the  place  aforesaid,  with  the  circumstance, 

Onely  in  this  matter  (God  willing)  we  will  treate  ; 
Where  we  will  shewe  that  great  was  hir  repentance. 
And  that  hir  loue  towards  Christ  was  also  as  great. 
Hir  sinne  did  not  hir  conscience  so  greuously  freate, 
But  that  Faith  erected  hir  heart  as^ain  to  beleue 
That  God  for  Christ's  sake  wold  all  hir  sins  forgeue. 

80     We  desire  no  man  in  this  poynt  to  be  ofPended, 

In  that  vertues  with  vice  we  shall  here  introduce  ; 
For  in  men  and  women  they  haue  depended : 

And  therfore  figuratiuely  to  speake,  it  is  the  vse. 
I  trust  that  all  wise  men  will  accept  our  excuse. 
Of  the  Preface  for  this  season  here  I  make  an  ende  ; 
In  godly  myrth  to  spend  the  tyme  we  doe  intende. 

The  ende  of  the  Preface. 


t)     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

[Aiiih]  Here  entreth  Infidelitie,  the  vice. 

InjidcUiiv. 

With  heigh  down  down  and  downe  a  down  a, 

S(th((ifor  DiiDuh'  Domine,  Kjjn'ch'ijsoii, 
He,  Missa  est,  with  pipe  vp  Allehiija. 

Sed  libera  nos  a  nudo,  and  so  h^t  vs  be  at  one. 

Then  euery  man  brought  in  his  owne  dishe  ; 

Lord  God,  we  had  wonderfull  good  fare  ; 
I  warrant  you  there  was  plentie  of  fleshe  and  fishe ; 

Go  to,  I  beshrew  your  heart  and  if  you  spare. 

A  god's  name  I  was  set  vp  at  the  hye  deace  ; 
10         "Come  vp,  syr,"  sayd  euery  body  vnto  me. 
Like  an  honest  man  I  had  the  fyrst  meace  ; 
Glad  was  he  that  might  my  proper  person  see. 

When  we  had  dined,  euery  man  to  horsebacke, 
And  so  vp  vnto  the  mount  of  Caluarie. 

I  trow  you  neuer  heard  of  suche  a  knacke ; 

Muche  woe  had  some  of  vs  to  scape  the  pillorie. 

But  when  we  came  to  hye  Jerusalem, 

Who  then  but  I,  maister  Infidelitie  ? 
Mary,  I  was  not  so  called  among  them  ; 
20         No,  I  haue  a  name  more  nigher  the  veritie. 

In  lurie,  Moysaicall  lustice  is  my  name. 

I  would  haue  them  iustified  by  the  lawe. 
It  is  playne  infidelitie  to  beleue  the  same ; 

What  then  ?     From  the  faithe  I  doe  them  withdraw. 

There  is  one  come  into  the  countrey  of  late. 

Called  Christ,  the  sonne  of  God,  the  lewes  Messias : 

Of  the  kyngdome  of  God  he  begynneth  to  prate ; 
But  he  shall  neuer  bryng  his  purpose  to  passe. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene 


No,  I,  Infidelitie,  stick  so  much  in  the  lewes  harts, 
30         That  his  doctrine  and  wonders  they  wyl  not  beleue ; 
[Aivo]I  warant  that  the  chief e  rulers  in  these  partes 
Will  deuise  somewhat  his  body  to  mischeue. 

Infidelitie,  no  ?     Beware  of  me,  Infidelitie  ! 

Like  as  Faith  is  the  roote  of  all  goodnesse. 
So  am  I  the  head  of  all  iniquitie, 

The  well  and  spryng  of  all  wickednesse. 

Mary,  syr,  yet  I  conuey  my  matters  cleane ! 

Like  as  I  haue  a  visour  of  vertue. 
So  my  impes,  whiche  vnto  my  person  do  leane, 
•40         The  visour  of  honestie  doth  endue  ; 

As  these  :    Pride  I  vse  to  call  cleanlynesse  ; 

Enuie  I  colour  with  the  face  of  prudence  ; 
Wrathe  putteth  on  the  coate  of  manlynesse  ; 

Couetise  is  profite  in  euery  man's  sentence  ; 

Slouth  or  idlenesse  I  paint  out  with  quiete  ; 

Gluttonie  or  excesse  I  name  honest  cliere ; 
Lechery,  vsed  for  many  men's  diete, 

I  set  on  with  the  face  of  loue,  both  farre  and  nere. 

How  sale  you  to  Infidelitie  once  agayne  ? 
50  Infidelitie  all  men's  heartes  doe  occupie  ; 

Infidelitie  now  aboue  true  Faith  doth  remayne, 
And  shall  do  to  the  worldes  ende,  I  thinke,  verily. 

Yea,  that  same  Messias  doth  many  things  ; 

Yet  I  will  so  occupy  the  rulers'  myndes, 
Bothe  of  byshops,  phariseys,  elders,  and  kyngs. 

That  fewe  or  none  of  them  shalbe  his  frendes. 

Here  entreth  Mary  Magdalene,  triflyng  |  with  her  garmentes. 


8     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Marijp  Miujihdcm-. 

I  beshrew  his  heart.     Naughtye,  folishe  knaue, 
The  most  bungarliest  tailers  in  this  countrie, — 

That  be  in  the  worlde,  I  thinke.     80  God  me  saue, 
00  Not  a  garment  can  they  make  for  my  degree. 

[Aiv6]Haue  you  euer  sene  an  ouerbody  thus  sytte  ? 

Nowe  a  mischief  on  his  dronken  knaues  eare ! 
The  knaues  drynke  till  they  haue  lost  theyr  wytte, 
And  then  they  marre  vtterly  a  bodies  geare. 

I  had  liefer  than  .xx.  shillings,  by  this  light. 

That  I  had  him  here  now  in  my  fume  and  heate. 

What !     I  am  ashamed  to  come  in  any  man's  sight. 
Thinke  you  in  the  waste  I  am  so  great  ? 

Nay,  by  gis,  twentie  shillings  I  dare  holde, 
70         That  there  is  not  a  gentlewoman  in  this  land 
More  propre  than  I  in  the  waste,  I  dare  be  bolde. 
They  be  my  garmentes  that  so  bungarly  do  stand. 

Beshrew  his  heart  once  agayne,  with  all  my  hart  ! 

Is  this  geare  no  better  than  to  cast  away  ? 
Let  hym  trust  to  it,  I  will  make  him  to  smart. 

For  marryng  of  my  geare  he  shall  surely  pay. 

Infidel  Hie. 

God  forbyd,  mistresse  Mary,  (ind  you  so  tender  and 
yong  ! 
For  marryng  of  your  geare  he  is  greatly  to  blame. 

JIdrij. 

What  haue  you  to  do?     Holde  your  bablyng  tong. 
80  Haue  you  any  thyng  to  doe  with  the  same  ? 

Iifidclific. 

These  vnha[)py  tailors,  I  trowe,  be  acurst. 

Most  co»/monlv  when  thev  make  j;entlewome;rs  cjeare 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  9 

In  the  myddes  they  set  the  piece  that  is  worst. 
Yea,  that  is  the  fashion  of  them  euery  where. 

The  worst  piece  is  in  the  uiydst  of  your  garment, 

And  it  is  pieced  into  it  so  vnhappily, 
That  by  my  trouthe  it  is  past  amendement; 
Meddle  with  it,  and  you  spy  11  it  vtterly. 
Mary. 

Speake  you  in  ernest,  or,  I  pray  you,  do  you  mock? 
90         Trow  you  that  my  garment  can  not  be  amended? 

Iitjidclifie. 

Mock?     I  know  that  you  come  of  a  worshipful  stock. 
He  that  mocketh  you  ought  to  be  reprehended. 

[Bi«]  Of  tayler's  craft,  I  tell  you  I  haue  some  skill, 

And  if  I  shold  medle  with  the  pece  that  is  in  the 
midst, 
I  should  make  it  worse,  or  at  the  least  as  yll; 
Therfore  to  let  it  alone  as  it  is,  I  iudge  it  best. 

Naught  it  is,  and  so  you  may  weare  it  out ; 
Though  it  be  new,  it  will  be  soone  worne, 
3Iarij. 

It  were  almose  to  hang  suche  a  foolish e  loute. 
100       All  they  that  see  me  now  will  laugh  me  to  scorne. 

No  gentlewoman  is  ordred  in  this  wyse. 

My  maydens,  on  the  other  side,  are  suche  sluts. 
That  if  I  should  not  for  myne  owne  clothes  deuise, 

Within  a  while  they  would  not  be  worth  a  couple 
of  nuts. 
hifideUtk'. 

Of  my  troutli  it  wer  pitie  in  myne  opinion 

But  that  your  geare  should  be  well  trimmed, 
For  you  are  well  fauoured,  and  a  pretie  mynion, 

Feate,  cleane  made,  wel  compact,  and  aptly  lymmed. 


10     An  Enteblude  of  the  Repentance 

In  lerusalom  there  is  not,  I  dare  say, 
110       A  sweter  countenance,  nor  a  more  louyng  face, 
Freshe  and  flourishyng  as  the  floures  in  May; 

I  haue  not  sene  a  ge?itlewoma«  of  a  more  goodly  grace. 

Your  parents,  I  know,  were  very  honorable, 

"SVhiche  haue  left  you  worshipfully  to  lyue  here; 

And  certainly  I  iudge  it  very  commendable. 

That  with  your  owne  you  can  make  good  chere. 

Marij. 

I  thanke  you  for  your  good  worde,  gentle  friend, 
And  forasmuch  as  you  did  know  my  parentes, 

I  can  no  lesse  doe  than  loue  you  with  all  my  mynd, 
120       Redy  to  do  you  pleasure  at  your  commandementes. 

InfidcJitie. 

Verba  jniellarum  foliis  leniora  cadiicis, — 
The  promise  of  maidens,  the  Poet  doth  say. 

Be  as  stable  as  a  weake  leafe  in  the  wynde; 
Like  as  a  small  blast  bloweth  a  feather  away, 

[Bi6]       So  a  faire  word  truely  chaungeth  a  maiden's  mynd. 

Forsothe,  I  thanke  you,  O  louyng  worme.     Good  lord. 
Yea,  I  knew  your  father's  state  and  condition ; 

The  nobilitie  of  lurie  can  beare  me  record, 

That  he  was  a  man  of  a  worshipfull  disposition. 

130  Iwis,  mystresse  Marie,  I  had  you  in  myne  amies 

Before  you  were  .iii.  yeares  of  age,  without  doubt. 
I  preserued  you  many  tymes  from  sore  harmes, 

Which  in  your  childhode  your  enimies  went  about. 

A  gentlewoman  of  noble  byrth,  as  I  doe  tliinke, 

Should  haue  seruants  alwais  at  her  co;»maundenie;<t. 

You  are  able  to  geue  to  many  both  meate  and  drinke. 
Yea,  honest  wages,  and  also  necessary  raiment. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  11 

Marij. 

I  perceiue  right  well  that  you  owe  me  good  will, 

Tendryng  my  worshipfuU  state  and  dignitie: 
140  You  see  that  I  am  yong  and  can  little  skill 

To  prouide  for  myne  owne  honor  and  vtilitie. 

Wherfore  I  pray  you  in  all  thyngs  counsell  to  haue, 
After  what  sort  I  may  leade  a  pleasant  life  here; 

And  looke  what  it  pleaseth  you  of  me  to  craue, 
I  will  geue  it  you  gladly,  as  it  shall  appere. 

Infidelitie. 

Say  you  so,  mistresse  Mary  ?  Wil  you  put  me  in  trust  ? 

In  faith  I  will  tell  you,  you  can  not  trust  a  wiser. 
You  shall  Hue  pleasantly,  euen  at  your  heart's  lust, 
If  you  make  me  your  counseller  and  deuiser. 

150  Remember  that  you  are  yong  and  full  of  dalliance, 
Lusty,  couragious,  fayre,  beautifull  and  wise. 
I  will  haue  you  to  attempt  all  kyndes  of  pastance, 
Vsyng  all  pleasure  at  your  owne  heartes  deuise. 

Do  you  thinke  that  it  is  not  more  than  madnesse. 

The  lusty  and  pleasant  life  of  a  man's  youth 
Miserably  to  passe  away  in  study  and  sadnesse? 
[Biia]      It  is  extreme  foly,  mistresse  Mary,  for  a  truth. 

Be  ye  mery,  and  put  away  all  fantasies. 

One  thyng  is  this,  you  shal  neuer  be  yonger  in  dede. 
160  Your  bodily  pleasure  I  would  haue  you  to  exercise. 
Sure  you  are  of  worldly  substance  neuer  to  nede. 

Mary. 

Certainly  my  parents  brought  me  vp  in  chyldhod 

In  vertuous  qualities  and  godly  literature. 
And  also  they  bestowed  vpon  me  muche  good, 

To  haue  me  nourtred  in  noble  ornature. 


12     An  Exterlude  of  the  Repentance 

But  euermore  they  were  vnto  me  very  tender; 

They  would  not  suffer  the  wynde  on  me  to  blowe; 
My  requests  they  would  always  to  me  render, 

Wherby  I  knew  the  good  will  that  to  me  they  did  owe. 

170  At  their  departing  their  goodes  they  distributed 

Among  vs  their  children,  whom  they  did  well  loue. 
But  me  as  their  dearlyng  they  most  reputed, 

And  gaue  me  the  greatest  part,  as  it  did  behoue. 

Injidelitic. 

Piicllce  j^Gstis,  indnJcjcniia  iKirentiim. 

Of  parentes  the  tender  and  carnall  sufferance 

Is  to  yong  maidens  a  very  pestilence. 
It  is  a  prouocation  and  furtherance 

Vnto  all  lust  and  fleshly  concupiscence. 

O,  mistresse  Mary,  your  parentes  dyd  see 
180       That  you  were  beautifull  and  well  fauoured. 
They  did  right  well,  as  it  semeth  me. 

That  so  worshipfully  they  haue  you  furthered. 

As  I  vnderstand,  you  haue  in  your  possession 

The  whole  castel  of  Magdalene,  with  the  purtena»ce, 

Which  you  may  rule  at  your  discretion, 
And  obtaine  therby  riches  in  abundance. 

O,  what  worldly  pleasure  can  you  want? 
What  commodities  haue  you  of  your  owne! 
lBii/>]  About  lerusalem  is  not  suche  a  plant, 
190       As  to  me  and  many  other  is  well  knowen. 

It  were  decent,  I  saye,  to  vse  the  fruition 

Of  suche  richesse  as  is  left  you  here. 
You  neuer  heard  in  any  erudition 

But  that  one  with  his  own  should  make  good  chere. 


or  Mary  Magdalene  13 

Mary. 

By  my  trouth  so  would  I,  if  I  perfectly  knew 

Which  way  I  should  good  chere  makyng  begyn. 
A  lusty  disposition  from  me  doth  ensue; 

But  without  councell  I  am  not  worth  a  pvn. 

Tiijidch'tic. 

Councell?  In  you  shall  want  no  councell  in  dede. 
200       I  know  where  a  certayne  company  is, 

Whiche  can  geue  suche  councell  in  tyme  of  nede, 
That  you  folowyng  them  can  neuer  spede  amys. 

3Iary. 

Nowe  I  pray  you  helpe  me  to  that  company, 

And  looke,  what  I  am  able  to  do  for  your  pleasure. 
You  shall  haue  it,  I  promise  you  verily. 

Yea,  whether  it  be  landes,  golde,  or  treasure. 

InJidcJitie. 

The  truth  is  so,  they  whom  nowe  I  speake  of. 
Are  persons  of  great  honor  and  nobilitie, 

Felowes  that  loue  neither  to  dally  nor  scofPe, 
210       But  at  once  will  tell  you  the  veritie. 

Mary. 

Men  of  honour,  say  you?  Tell  me,  I  you  desire. 

Can  you  cause  them,  trowe  you,  shortly  to  be  here? 
I  wyll  goe  and  prouide  some  other  attire, 

That  accordyng  to  my  byrthe  I  may  appere. 

Injideliiie. 

Byrth?     Faith  of  my  body,  you  are  well  arayde. 

I  warrant  you,  with  these  clothes  they  wil  be  content. 
They  had  liefer  haue  you  naked,  be  not  afrayde, 

Then  with  your  best  holy  day  garment. 


14     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Mcirij. 

You  are  a  mery  man  in  dede;  you  are  a  wanton. 
220       I  will  go  and  returne  agayne  by  and  by ; 
[BiiiaJAs  I  am,  I  would  with  all  my  heart  be  known, 

So  that  I  might  be  plesant  to  euery  man's  eye, 

Injidc'h'tie. 

I  pray  you  heartily  that  I  may  be  so  bold 

To  haue  a  kisse  or  two  before  you  doe  depart. 

Mary. 

If  a  kisse  were  worth  a  hundred  pound  of  gold, 

You  should  haue  it  euen  with  my  very  heart.        Exit. 

InjidclHie. 

I  thanke  you,  mistresse  Mary,  by  my  maydenhood. 
Lord,  what  a  pleasant  kysse  was  this  of  you! 

Take  her  with  you!  I  warant  you  wil  neuer  be  good. 
230       She  is  geuen  to  it,  I  make  God  auow. 

And  I  trow  I  shall  helpe  to  set  her  forward. 

Shortly  my  ofspryng  and  I  shall  her  so  dresse. 
That  neither  law  nor  prophets  she  shall  regard; 

No,  though  the  sonne  of  God  to  her  them  expresse. 

Infidelitie  is  my  name,  you  know  in  dede; 
Proprely  I  am  called  the  Serpent's  sede. 
Loke,  in  whose  heart  my  father  Sathan  doth  me  sow, 
There  must  all  iniquitie  and  vice  nedes  growe. 
The  conscience  where  I  dwell  is  a  receptacle 
240  For  all  the  diuels  in  hell  to  haue  their  habitacle. 
You  shall  see  that  Marie's  heart  within  short  space 
For  the  diuell  hym  self  shall  be  a  dwellyng  place. 
I  will  so  dresse  her  that  there  shall  not  be  a  worse. 
To  her  the  diuell  at  pleasure  shall  haue  his  recourse. 
I  will  go  and  prepare  for  her  such  a  company, 
As  shall  poison  her  with  all  kyndes  of  villanie. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  15 

Here  entreth  Pride  of  lyfe,  Cupiditie,  |  and  Carnall  Concupiscence. 

Pride. 

Whether  arte  thou  goyng  nowe,  Infidelitie  ? 

Injidelitie. 

Pride  of  Life,  now  welcom,  the  spryng  of  iniquitie ! 

0  pride  of  life,  thou  neuer  vsest  to  go  alone. 

250  Geue  me  your  handes,  also,  I  pray  you,  one  by  one. 

[Biiib] Welcome,  pride  of  life,  with  my  whole  heart  and  mynde; 
And  thou  art  welcome,  Cupiditie,  myne  owne  friend : 
What,  mynikin  carnall  concupiscence, 
Thou  art  welcome  heartily,  by  my  conscience. 

Pride. 

To  see  thee  mery,  Infidelitie,  I  am  right  glad. 

Cupiditi. 

When  Infidelitie  is  in  health,  I  can  not  be  sad. 

Carnall  concupiscence. 

Infidelite  !  O  Infidelitie,  myne  owne  infidelitie, 

1  am  glad  to  see  thee  mery  now,  for  a  suretie. 
I  maruell  what  thou  dost  in  this  place  alone ; 

260  I  thought  that  out  of  lurie  thou  hadst  ben  gone. 

Infideliiie. 

Out  of  lurie  ?  No,  carnall  lust,  to  thee  I  may  tell 
That  with  the  chief  princes  now  I  do  dwell : 
The  bishops,  priestes  and  pharisies  do  me  so  retayne. 
That  the  true  sense  of  the  lawe  they  do  disdayne. 

Pride  of  lyfe. 

In  faith,  there  is  some  knauery  in  mynde, 
That  here  by  thy  selfe  alone  we  doe  thee  fynde. 

Cupiditi. 

Infidelitie  in  our  father's  cause  is  occupied, 
As  within  a  while  it  shall  be  verified. 


l(j     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

InjideJUic. 

Am  I  ?  You  would  say  so  if  ye  knew  all. 
270  I  was  goynt^  forth  you  to  t-all. 

Know  you  not  a  wenche  called  Mary  Magdalene  ? 

Pride. 

Do  I  know  liir  ?  She  is  a  prety  wenche  and  a  cleane. 
Since  she  had  discretion  hir  haue  I  knowne. 
Mary  Magdalen  (quod  he) ;  in  dede  she  is  myne  own. 
It  is  as  proude  a  litle  gyrle,  truely,  I  thinke, 
As  euer  men  sawe  in  this  world  eate  or  drinke. 

Cupid  it  i. 

And  somwhat  to  do  with  hir  now  and  then  I  haue  : 
I  allure  hir  for  hir  owne  profite  alway  to  sane. 
I  haue  dressed  hir  so  well,  truely,  I  beleue, 

280  That  alredy  for  God's  sake  nothyng  she  will  geue. 

Cantrdl  concti. 

For  my  part  in  hir  I  haue  kindled  such  a  fyre, 
That  she  beginneth  to  burn  in  carnall  desyre. 

Injidclitie. 

LBivajTushe,  as  yet  you  haue  but  hir  mynde  moued, 
Whom  she  may  forsake  if  she  be  reproued  : 
But  I  would  haue  hir  cleaue  vnto  you  so  fast, 
That  she  shall  not  forsake  you  while  her  life  doth  last. 

Pride. 

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, 

2'JO  Fillyng  hir  with  wickednesse  beyond  all  measure. 
In  vs  foure  without  faile  be  contained 
As  many  vices  as  euer  in  this  world  raigned. 
Now  if  we  by  thy  meanes  may  in  hir  remain. 
She  shall  be  sure  all  kyndes  of  vices  to  contain. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  17 

Car.  con. 

Within  my  selfe  you  know  that  I  contain  a  sort, 
Whiche  by  name  before  you  here  I  wil  report : 
My  name  is  carnall  concupiscence  or  desyre, 
Which  all  the  pleasures  of  the  fleshe  doth  require. 
First,  the  fleshe  to  nourishe  with  drinke  and  meate, 

300  Without  abstinence  like  a  beast  alway  to  eate ; 
To  quaffe  and  drinke  when  there  is  no  necessitie, 
loying  in  excesse,  bealy  chere,  and  ebrietie. 
I  containe  in  my  selfe  all  kynd  of  lecherie, 
Fornication,  whoredom,  and  wicked  adulterie, 
Eape,  incest,  sacrilege,  softnesse,  and  bestialitie, 
Blyndnesse  of  mynde,  with  euery  suche  qualitie, 
Inconstancie,  headinesse,  and  inconsideration. 
After  the  heartes  poyson  and  filthy  communication ; 
So  then  to  the  hate  of  God  I  do  them  bryng, 

310  Causyng  a  loue  in  himself  inordinatly  to  spryng. 
These  and  suche  like  I  containe  in  my  person. 
Thus  you  see  that  carnall  lust  goeth  neuer  alone. 

Infidelitie. 

Thou  hast  reckned  an  abhominable  rable  ; 

Where  thou  dwellest,  the  deuyll  may  haue  a  stable. 

Cupiditi. 

[Biv6]With  thee  I  may  boldly  compare,  I  trow. 
For  as  many  vices  in  me  as  in  thee  do  grow. 
You  know  that  my  name  is  called  Cupiditie, 
Whom  Scripture  calleth  the  roote  of  all  iniquitie. 
Infidelitie  in  dede  is  the  seede  of  all  syn, 

320  But  cupiditie  openeth  the  gate  and  letteth  liym  in. 
I  conteyne  theft,  deceate  in  sellyng  and  bying, 
Periurie,  rapine,  dissimulation,  and  lying, 
Hardinesse  of  heart,  otherwise  called  inhumanitie, 
Inquietnesse  of  mynde,  falshode  and  vanitie. 


18     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

In  me  is  all  vengeance,  enuie,  ranker  and  yre, 
Murder,  warre,  treason  and  gredie  desyre. 
I  conteyne  the  wicked  vices  of  vsurie. 
Dice  and  card  playing,  with  all  kynd  of  iniurie. 
What  mischief  was  there  euer  yet,  or  synne, 
330  But  that  cupiditie  dyd  it  first  of  all  begynne  ? 

InfideJitic. 

There  can  not  be  a  more  fylthy  place  in  hell 
Than  that  is  where  as  cupiditie  doth  dwell. 

Cnpidiii. 

Yea,  there  is  impietie,  the  contempt  of  God's  lawe  ; 
His  worde  is  no  more  regarded  than  a  vile  strawe. 


'■o^ 


Pride  of  lyfc. 

You  contayne  vices  very  wicked  in  dede  ; 

But  how  wicked  is  he  fro>»  whom  al  syn  doth  procede  ? 

The  beginning  of  syn,  which  doth  man  horn  god  deuide, 

Scripture  calleth  it  nothyng  els  but  pride. 

For  I  my  selfe  not  onely  conteyne  you  three, 
34:0  But  all  vices  in  you,  and  that  in  euery  degree. 

Pride  despiseth  God,  and  committeth  idolatrie. 

To  God  and  man  Pride  is  a  very  aduersarie. 

I  am  full  of  boastyng,  arrogancie,  and  vainglorie, 

Enuious,  and  of  all  other  men's  wealth  right  sory. 

Pride  causeth  obstinacie  and  disobedience  ; 

Yea,  it  engendreth  idlejiesse  and  negligence. 
[Cia]  The  truth  of  God's  prophets  through  tira^its  of  pride 

Hath  euer  vnto  this  day  ben  cast  asyde. 

The  men  of  God  pride  hath  spitefully  reputed, 
350  And  with  tirants  alway  the  same  persecuted. 

Pride  would  neuer  suffer  any  vertue  to  raigne. 

But  oppressed  it  with  great  malice  and  disdaine. 

In  a  short  summe  and  fewe  wordes  you  shall  know  all  : 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  19 

Pride  caused  Lucifer  from  heauen  to  hell  to  fall. 
Yea,  pride  lost  mankynd  and  did  him  so  infect, 
That  God  from  his  fauour  dyd  him  away  reiect. 
Where  as  pride  is,  a  token  it  is  euident. 
That  all  other  vices  be  euen  there  resident. 

Infidelifie. 

Where  as  you  and  all  your  ofspryng  doth  dwell, 

360  There  is  a  place  for  all  the  diuels  in  hell  ; 

And  playne  it  is,  where  as  is  suche  fylthy  sinne. 
There  euen  in  this  world  their  hell  doth  begynne. 
By  such  time  as  with  vs  Mary  be  furnished, 
With  the  deuill  him  self  she  shall  be  replenished. 

Pi'ide. 

In  our  tragedie  we  may  not  vse  our  owne  names. 
For  that  would  turne  to  al  our  rebukes  and  shames. 

Injidelitie. 

Pride,  with  all  thy  abhominable  store. 

At  this  tyme  must  be  called  Nobilitie  and  honor. 

Cupiditi. 

Very  well,  for  these  women  that  be  vicious 
370  Are  alwais  high  mynded  and  ambicious. 

Concjiiyiscence. 

Neuer  woman,  that  could  play  a  harlot's  part, 
Was  either  humble,  or  yet  meke  in  hart. 

Injidelitie. 

Yea,  and  the  same  loued  alway  cupiditie, 
Therfore  thy  name  shall  be  called  Vtilitie. 

Pryde. 

For  hym  a  better  name  you  could  not  expresse, 
For  yll  disposed  women  are  alway  mercylesse. 


20     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Car.  concupiscence. 

They  are  alwais  scraping,  clawing,  and  gathering, 
To  maintaine  their  lines  in  wickednesse  and  synne. 

Injidcliiic. 

[cu>]  Carnall  concupiscence  shalbe  called  pleasure, 

380  And  that  pretie  Marie  loueth  beyond  all  measure. 

Pride. 

Infidelitie  may  not  be  called  infidelitie, 

InjidcUtie. 

No,  we  will  worke  with  a  litle  more  austeritie. 

Intidelitie  for  diuers  respectes  hath  names  diners, 

Of  the  which  some  of  the»i  to  you  I  purpose  to  reherse. 

With  bishops,  priests,  scribes,  seniors  and  pharisies, 

And  with  as  many  as  be  of  the  lewes'  degrees, 

I  am  called  Legall  Justice  commonly : 

For  why,  by  the  lawe  them  seines  they  do  iustifie. 

It  is  playne  Infidelitie  so  to  beleue : 

3*J0  Therfore  there  suche  a  name  to  my  selfe  I  do  geue. 
I  haue  a  garment  correspondent  to  that  name, 
By  the  which  I  walke  among  them  without  blame. 
With  publicans  and  sinners  of  a  carnall  pretence 
I  am  somtime  called  counsel,  and  somtime  Prudence. 
I  cause  them  the  wisedome  of  God  to  despise. 
And  for  the  fleshe  and  the  world  wittily  to  deuise. 
Prudence  before  Marie  my  name  I  will  call. 
Which  to  my  suggestions  will  cause  hir  to  fall, 
A  vesture  I  haue  here  to  this  garment  correspondent : 

400  Lo,  here  it  is ;  a  gowne,  I  trowe,  conuenient. 

Pride. 

For  our  honor,  I  i)ray  thee  heartily,  doe  it  weare. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  21 

InjidolHie. 

Mary  did  talke  with  me  before  in  this  geare; 
But  bicause  she  shall  the  sooner  to  me  apply, 
I  will  dresse  me  in  these  garments  euen  by  and  by. 

Put  on  a  gowne  &  a  cap. 
How  thynke  you  by  me  now  in  this  aray? 
Mary  loueth  them,  I  tell  you,  that  vse  to  go  gay. 

Cupiditi. 

Then  hadst  thou  nede  to  mend  thy  folysh  couv/tenance, 
For  thou  lookest  like  one  that  hath  lost  his  remewbrawce. 

Car.  concupiscence. 

With  the  one  eye  ouermuch  thou  vsest  to  winke; 
410  That  thou  meanest  som  fraude  therby  they  wyl  think. 
[Cii«]He  that  loketh  with  one  eie,  and  winketh  with  an  other, 

I  would  not  trust  (say  they)  if  he  were  my  brother. 

Tnjidclitie. 

Lyke  obstinate  Friers  I  temper  my  looke. 
Which  had  one  eie  on  a  wench,  and  an  other  on  a  boke. — 
Passion  of  God,  behold,  yonder  commeth  Marie. 
See  that  in  your  tales  none  from  other  do  varie. 

Pride. 

It  is  a  pretie  wenche,  that  it  is  in  dede; 

Muche  to  intreate  her,  I  thynke,  we  shall  not  nede. 

CupidHi. 

No,  for  I  thinke  she  is  yll  inough  of  hir  selfe ; 
420  She  seemeth  to  be  a  proude  little  elfe. 

Car.  concupiscence. 

I  pray  you  behold  how  she  trimmeth  her  geare! 
She  would  haue  all  well  about  her  euery  where. 


22     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Mary. 

Maide//s  (quod  she)!  There  is  no  ge?itlewoma».  I  weue, 

So  accumbred  as  I  am;  for  such  were  neuer  sene. 

Fie  on  them!    In  good  faith  they  are  to  badde; 

They  would  make  some  gentlewoman  stark  madde. 

Like  as  I  put  of  my  geare,  so  I  do  it  fynde; 

And  I  can  not  tel  how  oft  I  haue  told  them  my  mynd. 

By  the  faith  of  my  body,  if  they  do  not  amende, 
430  To  lay  them  on  the  bones  surely  I  do  intend. 

Injidclitic. 

Mdxhmi  qufvqncF  domiis  seruis  est  jjlena  siq^crbis, — 

Euery  great  house,  as  the  Poet  doth  say. 

Is  full  of  naughtie  seruantes  both  night  and  day. 

3f((rij. 

You  say  truth,  sir,  in  dede.     What,  old  acquaintance! 
Now  forsoth  you  were  out  of  my  remembrance: 
You  haue  changed  your  aray  since  I  was  here. 
I  am  glad  to  see  you  mery  and  of  a  good  chere. 

Infidelitie. 

And  I  of  yours,  mistresse  Mary,  with  hart  and  mynd! 

It  is  a  ioy  to  see  a  gentlewoman  so  louyng  and  kynd. 
440  Shall  I  be  so  bold  to  kisse  you  at  our  metyng? 

Mary. 

What  else  ?     It  is  an  honest  maner  of  greetyng. 

lufididi. 

Pleaseth  it  you  to  byd  these  gentlemen  welcome? 

Mary. 

[Cii/>]  Yea,  forsoth,  are  they  heartily,  all  and  some. 

I  will  kysse  you  all  for  this  gentleman's  sake; 

He  is  a  friend  of  myne,  as  I  do  hym  take. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  23 

Pride. 

He  is  in  dede,  you  may  be  sure,  mistresse  Mary; 
There  is  no  man  lyuyng  can  say  the  contrary. 

CiqndifL 

He  hath  ben  diligent  to  seke  vs  togither, 

And  for  your  sake  he  hath  caused  vs  to  come  hither. 

Car.  concupiscence. 

450  I  dare  say  thus  much,  that  he  is  your  friende, 

For  he  loueth  you  with  his  whole  heart  and  mynde. 
He  hath  ben  diligent  about  your  cause, 
As  it  had  bene  his  owne,  and  would  neuer  pause 
Till  he  had  performed  his  desired  request, 
Which  I  am  able  to  say  is  very  honest. 

3Ia7'y. 

A,  gentle  friend,  at  so  little  acquaintance. 
Will  you  looke  so  much  vnto  my  furtherance  ? 
It  seemeth  then  if  by  me  you  had  ben  benefited. 
You  would  haue  my  kyndnesse  gently  requited. 

Infidelitie. 

460  Quo  magis  tegitur,  magis  a^stuat  ignis, — 

The  more  closely  that  you  kepe  fyre,  no  doubt. 
The  more  feruent  it  is  when  it  breaketh  out. 

3Iary. 

Wei,  friend,  I  know  what  you  meane  by  that  verse. 
What  I  wil  do  for  you  at  this  tyme  I  wil  not  reherse. 
But  in  one  thyng  truly  I  am  muche  to  blame. 
That  all  this  tyme  I  haue  not  inquired  your  name. 

Infidelitie. 

Swete  mistresse  Mary,  I  am  called  Prudence, 

Or  els  Counsell,  full  of  wisedome  and  science. 

Here  vnto  you  honorable  Honor  I  haue  brought, 
470  A  person  alway  to  be  in  your  mynde  and  thought; 

And  this  person  is  named  Vtilitie, 


24    An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Very  profitable  for  your  commoditie; 
Pleasure  is  the  name  of  this  Mynion, 
Conuenient  for  you,  forsothe,  in  myne  opinion. 

Mai'ij. 

[CiiiajPrudence,  Honor,  Ytilitie,  and  Pleasure, 

Oh,  who  would  desyre  in  this  world  more  treasure? 
Gramercy,  heart  of  gold,  for  your  great  payne. 
Truly  of  necessitie  I  must  kisse  you  once  agayne. 

Injidcliiie. 

Will  you  so?     That  is  the  thyng  that  haue  I  wold. 
480  Euery  kisse  to  me  is  worth  a  crowne  of  golde. 

Prido. 

Leaue  kissyng,  (ind  treate  we  of  matters  more  ernest. 

Let  vs  reason  of  thyngs  concerning  your  request. 

Honor  is  my  name,  a  qualitie  for  you  requisite; 

Or  rather  of  honor  I  am  an  appetite: 

On  the  which  must  be  all  your  meditation. 

With  the  heart's  couraj^e  and  mvndes  eleuation: 

I  tell  you  this  desyre  must  be  euer  next  your  hart. 

Infidclitie. 

Nay,  hoa  there,  backare,  you  must  stand  apart! 
You  loue  me  best,  I  trow,  mystresse  Mary. 

Mary. 

490  For  a  hundred  pound  I  would  not  say  the  contrary; 
And  in  token.  Prudence,  that  I  loue  you  best, 
Here  I  ioyn  you  next  vnto  my  heart  and  breast. 

CiipidHi. 

If  ye  embrace  one,  you  must  all  embrace; 
For  our  vse  is  to  dwell  all  in  one  place. 

Concupiscence. 

Tushe,  from  our  purpose  alway  we  do  digresse: 
Let  euery  one  of  vs  his  (jualities  expresse. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  25 

Injidelitie. 

Agreed!  Mistresse  Mary,  heare  you  my  counsell: 

First,  all  thought  from  your  heart  you  must  expell. 

Trouble  not  your  selfe  with  any  fantasies. 
500  Neuer  attend  you  to  the  lawe  nor  prophecies. 

They  were  inuented  to  make  fooles  afrayd. 

Heare  them  not,  for  they  will  make  you  dismayd. 

God?     Tushe,  when  was  God  to  any  man  sene? 

I  had  not  ben  now  aliue,  if  any  God  had  bene. 

Pryde. 

Homo  homini  Deiis, — 

Man  is  God  to  man;  this  matter  is  playne; 
[Ciii6]And  beleue  you  that  none  other  God  doth  raigne. 

CujJiditi. 

Man  is  the  begynnyng  of  his  owne  operation; 

Ergo  then  of  none  other  god's  creation. 
510  Man  is  his  owne  God:  therfore  with  vtilitie 

Let  hym  labour  here  to  lyue  in  felicitie. 

Concupiscence. 

Of  many  ladies  I  am  certaine  you  haue  hard, 
Which  the  people  as  goddesses  dyd  regard: 
And  why?    This  was  the  cause  truly,  in  my  iudgement: 
They  had  all  pleasure  here  at  theyr  commaundement, 
So  that  they  lined  in  ioy,  wealth  and  prosperitie, 
Vsyng  all  pleasures  for  their  owne  commoditie. 

Injidelitie. 

To  be  a  goddesse  your  selfe,  truely  you  must  beleue ; 

And  that  you  may  be  so,  your  mind  therto  you  must  geue. 
520  All  other  gods  beside  your  selfe  you  must  despise, 

And  set  at  nought  their  Scripture  in  any  wise. 

Pride. 

How  say  you,  Mistresse  Mary,  do  we  not  gree  all  in  one  ? 


26    An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Injidcli. 

Surely,  ^iipfrrsse  Mary,  we  will  make  you  a  Goddesse 
a  none. 

Mary. 

You  please  me  excedingly  well,  verily; 
Persons  you  are  of  great  witte  and  policie. 

Pride. 

You  must  be  proude,  loftie,  and  of  hye  mynde; 

Despise  the  poore,  as  wretches  of  an  other  kynde: 

Your  countenance  is  not  ladylike  inough  yet. 

I  see  well  that  we  had  nede  to  teache  you  more  wit. 
530  Let  your  eies  roll  in  your  head,  declaryng  your  pride ; 

After  this  sort  you  must  cast  your  eies  aside. 

Mary. 

How  thinke  you  by  this  maner  of  countenance  ? 

Pride. 

Conuenieut  for  such  as  be  not  of  your  acquaintance!' 

Cu2mliti. 

I  doubt  not  but  she  will  do  right  well  hir  part, 
By  that  tyme  that  all  we  be  fast  within  hir  hart. 

Carnall  concu. 

Marke  the  garmentes  of  other  in  any  wise, 
And  be  you  sure  of  one  of  the  newest  guise. 
Your  haire,  me  thynke,  is  as  yelow  as  any  gold; 

fCivaiVpon  your  face  layd  about  haue  it  I  wold; 

540  Sometime  on  your  forehead,  the  breadth  of  an  hand; 
Somtime  let  your  attire  vpon  your  crowne  stand. 
That  all  your  haire  for  the  most  part  may  be  in  sight ; 
To  many  a  man  a  fayre  haire  is  a  great  delight. 

Injidelitie. 

In  sommer  time  now  and  then  to  kepe  away  flies, 
Let  some  of  that  faire  haire  hang  in  your  eies: 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  27 


With  a  hotte  nedle  you  shall  learne  it  to  crispe, 
That  it  may  curie  together  in  maner  like  a  wispe. 

Mary. 

By  my  trouth  you  are  a  merrie  gentleman. 
I  will  follow  your  counsell  as  much  as  I  can. 

Pride. 

550  By  your  eares  somtimes  with  pretie  tusks  and  toyes 
You  shall  folde  your  haire,  like  Tomboyes. 
It  becommeth  a  yong  gentlewoman,  be  ye  sure, 
And  yong  men  vnto  your  loue  it  will  allure. 

Cupiditi. 

If  the  colour  of  your  haire  beginneth  for  to  fade, 
A  craft  you  must  haue,  that  yellow  it  may  be  made ; 
With  some  Goldsmyth  you  may  your  selfe  acquaint, 
Of  whom  you  may  haue  water  your  haire  for  to  paint. 

Coyicupiscence. 

Besydes  Goldsmythes  water  there  is  other  geare, 
Very  good  also  to  colour  agayne  the  heare; 

560  Yea,  if  you  were  not  beautifull  of  your  vysage, 

A  painter  could  make  you  to  apere  with  a  lusty  courage. 

And  though  you  were  as  aged  as  any  creature, 

A  Painter  on  your  face  would  set  such  an  ornature. 

That  you  should  seeme  yong  and  very  faire. 

And  like  one  whose  beautie  doth  neuer  dispaire. 

Infide. 

Mistresse  Mary,  had  you  neuer  //ie  smal  pox  in  your 
youth  ? 

Pryde. 

You  are  a  mad  fellow.  Prudence,  of  a  truth. 

Marie. 

I  pray  you.  Master  Prudence,  wherfore  ask  you  that? 


28  An  Enteklude  of  the  Repentance 

Pride. 

It  is  like  that  in  you  he  hath  spied  somewhat. 

Car.  con. 

570  Alas,  good  gentlewoman,  she  blushes  like  coles. 

InfidcJUic. 

[Civbjln  dede  about  her  nose  there  be  little  prety  holes; 

Therfore  I  thynk  that  she  hath  had  the  pockes. 

I  meane  good  faith,  without  any  gaudes  or  mockes. 

Mary. 

If  there  be  any  fautes  in  my  face  verily, 
For  money  I  trust  shortly  to  haue  remedy. 

Pride. 

Mistresse  Mary,  there  is  not  a  fayrer  in  this  town. 

Infidel  I. 

Yea,  by  saint  Anne,  she  is  louely  in  color,  but  brown. 

Car.  concupiscence. 

If  she  be  not  content  with  that  natiue  colour, 
A  painter  will  set  on  one  of  more  honour. 

Tnfidelitie. 

580  I  haue  known  painters  that  haue  made  old  crones 
To  appeare  as  pleasant  as  little  prety  yong  lones. 

Pride. 

Let  vs  returne  agayne  to  our  ornamentes: 

I  would  haue  you  pleasant  alway  in  your  garments. 

Vpon  your  forhead  you  must  weare  a  bon  grace. 

Which  like  a  penthouse  may  com  farre  ouer  your  face ; 

And  an  other  from  your  nose  vnto  your  throte. 

Of  veluet  at  the  least,  without  spot  or  moate. 

Your  garments  must  be  so  worne  alway 

That  your  white  pappes  may  be  scene,  if  you  may. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  29 

Cujnditi. 

590  If  yong  gentlemen  may  see  your  white  skin, 

It  will  allure  them  to  loue,  and  soone  bryng  them  in. 

Coiicnpiscence. 

Both  damsels  and  wiues  vse  many  such  feates. 
I  know  them  that  will  lay  out  their  faire  teates, 
Purposely  men  to  allure  vnto  their  loue; 
For  it  is  a  thyng  that  doth  the  heart  greatly  moue. 
At  such  sights  of  women  I  haue  known  men  in  dede, 
That  with  talking  and  beholding  their  noses  wil  blede, 
Through  great  corage  moued  by  such  goodly  sights, 
Labouring  the  matter  further  with  al  their  myghts. 

Mary. 

600  Your  wordes  do  not  onely  prouoke  my  desire, 
But  in  pleasure  they  set  my  heart  on  fyre. 

Tnfideli. 

Sometime  for  your  pleasure  you  may  weare  a  past, 

[Dia]  But  aboue  all  thyngs  gyrd  your  self  in  the  waste. 
Vpon  your  ouer  body  you  may  nothying  els  weare, 
But  an  vnlined  garment  without  any  other  geare. 
Let  your  body  be  pent  and  togither  strained. 
As  hard  as  may  be,  though  therby  you  be  pained. 

Pride. 

Vse  will  make  the  thyng  easy,  there  is  no  doubt. 

CiqDiditi. 

Yea,  pardie,  gentlewomen  vse  it  now  all  about. 

Infidelitie. 

610  Your  nether  garments  must  go  by  gymmes  and  ioynts; 
Aboue  your  buttocks  thei  must  be  tied  on  yfiili  points. 
Some  women  a  doublet  of  fyne  lynnen  vse  to  weare, 
Vnto  the  which  they  tye  theyr  other  nether  geare. 


30     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

With  wiers  and  houpes  your  garments  must  be  made; 
Pleasure,  your  mynion,  shall  shew  you  in  what  trade. 

Concujyiscencc. 

In  the  wast  I  wil  haue  ye  as  small  as  a  wand; 

Yea,  so  smal,  that  a  man  may  span  you  with  his  hand. 

Infidch'. 

It  skilleth  not  though  in  the  buttocks  you  be  great. 

Car.  con. 

No,  for  there  she  is  like  many  tymes  to  be  beate, 

Marie. 

620  Well,  wantons,  well,  are  ye  not  ashamed? 

Pryde. 

In  dede,  mistresse,  they  are  worthy  to  be  blamed. 
You  must  reioyce  in  your  richesse  and  good, 
And  set  muche  by  your  kynrede  and  noble  blood: 
Boast  of  them,  and  when  of  them  you  do  talke. 
Of  their  commendations  let  your  tong  euermore  walk. 
Daily  thus — "my  lord,  my  father,"  or,  "mi  lady,  my 
mother," 
"My  lorde,  my  vncle,"  and  "my  maister,  my  brother." 

Marij. 

I  promise  you  I  come  of  a  stocke  right  honorable; 
Therfore  my  talk  of  them  can  not  be  to  commendable. 

InfidelHie. 

t)80  It  is  a  stock  (they  say)  right  honorable  and  good. 

That  hath  neither  thefe  nor  whore  in  their  blood. 

No    more    words.     How    say   you,  ^Ustvesse,  here   by 
pleasure  ? 

Mary. 

Forsoth,  swete  heart,  I  loue  him  beyond  al  measure. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  31 

Infidel  i. 

Body  of  god,  for  this  al  this  while  haue  I  wrought? 
[D  \h]  By  your  smirking  loke  ofttimes  on  him,  so  I  thought. 

What,  do  you  loue  hym  better  than  you  loue  me? 

Mciry. 

Which  of  you  I  should  loue  best,  truly  I  can  not  se. 

Infidcliiic. 

This  is  a  true  prouerbe,  and  no  fained  fable. 

Few  women's  words  be  honest,  constant,  and  stable. 

Conciipiscence. 

640  Truly,  M/s/resse  Mary,  if  ye  loue  me,  ther  is  nothing 
lost; 

Loue,  they  say,  ieopardeth  all,  and  spareth  for  no  cost. 

Volupias  autem  est  sola  quae  nos  vocet  ad  se, 

Et  aliciat  suapie  natura, — 

Pleasure,  sayth  one  man,  of  his  owne  nature, 

Allecteth  to  hym  euery  humayn  creature. 

Now,  what  person  soeuer  doth  pleasure  hate, 

As  a  beast  is  to  be  abiected  both  early  and  late. 

Let  me  haue  a  worde  or  two  in  your  eare. 

How  say  you  by  that  ?    Like  you  not  that  pretie  geare  ? 

Mary. 

650  Ha,  ha,  ha;  you  are  a  fond  body,  pleasure,  verily. 

Infidelitie. 

Doth  he  not  moue  you  to  matrimonie  ? 

Take  hede  that  he  bryng  you  not  to  suche  dotage. 

For  many  incommodities  truely  be  in  mariage. 

Cupid  Hi. 

Semper  liahent  lites,  alterque  iurgia  lectus, 

In  quo  nupta  iacet  minimum  dormitur  in  illo, — 

The  bedde  wherin  lieth  any  maried  wife 


32     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Is  neuer  without  cbidyng,  braulyng,  and  strife; 
That  woman  shall  neuer  sleape  in  quiete, 
Which  is  maried  contrary  to  hir  diete. 

Pri(h\ 

OGO  Of  all  bondage  truely  this  is  the  ground, 

A  gentlewoman  to  one  husband  to  be  bound. 

Car.  con. 

Tushe,  mistresse  Mary,  be  ye  not  in  subiection; 

Better  it  is  to  be  at  your  owne  election. 

What  thyng  in  this  world  excelleth  libertie? 

Neither  gold  nor  treasure,  for  a  suretie. 

Take  you  now  one,  and  then  an  other,  hardely, 
[DiiajSuch  as  for  the  tyme  will  to  you  louyngly  apply. 

JIarij. 

That  will  be  a  meane  truly  to  lese  my  good  name. 
And  so  among  the  people  I  shal  sufiPer  blame. 

Iiijidclitic. 

670  Ye  shal  not  kepe  my  counsel,  if  ye  can  not  kepe  your 
own. 
Can  you  not  make  good  chere  but  it  must  be  known  ? 

Conciijiiscence. 

As  touching  that,  I  will  be  to  you  suche  a  meane, 
As  shal  teache  you  alwais  to  conuey  the  matter  clene. 

Pride. 

Take  you  none  but  gentlemen  with  veluet  coates; 
It  is  to  be  thought  that  they  ar  not  without  groates. 

Ciipiilid. 

In  any  wise  see  that  your  louers  be  yong  and  gay, 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  33 

And  suche  fellowes  as  be  well  able  to  pay. 

il/r/r/y. 

Nay,  truely,  if  I  should  attempt  any  such  geare, 
I  would  take  where  I  loued  alway  here  and  there. 

ConcHj)isce)icc. 

680  Spoken  like  a  worthy  swete  gyrle,  by  the  masse! 
I  warant  all  this  geare  will  well  come  to  passe, 

Infidelitie. 

You  must  euer  haue  a  tongue  well  fyled  to  flatter. 
Let  your  garmentes  be  sprinkled  with  rose  water. 
Vse  your  ciuet,  pommander,  muske,  which  be  to  sell, 
That  the  odor  of  you  a  myle  of,  a  man  may  smell. 
With  swete  oyntments  such  as  you  can  appoynt, 
Vse  you  euermore  your  propre  body  to  anoynt. 

Concupiscence. 

With  fine  meats  and  pure  wines  do  your  body  norish, 
That  will  cause  you  in  all  pleasure  to  florishe; 

690  And  when  one  for  your  mynde  you  can  espye, 
Vse  a  smylyng  countenance  and  a  wanton  eye. 

Pride. 

Vpon  all  suche  as  ye  mynd  not,  looke  you  aloft ; 
To  them  that  be  not  of  your  diet  be  you  not  soft. 

Manj. 

Ha,  ha,  ha,  laugh  !     Now  I  pray  God  I  dye  if  euer  I 

did  se 
Such  pleasant  companions  as  you  all  be. 
You  speake  of  many  thynges  here  of  pleasure. 
Which  to  vse  truely  requireth  muche  treasure. 


34     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Cdr.  con. 

If  you  can  wisely  occupie  tins  pretie  geare, 
(Dii6]I  will  warant  you  to  get  an  hundred  pound  a  yeare. 

InfidcJiiic. 

700  Hold  vp  the  market,  and  let  them  pay  for  the  ware; 
Be  euer  catohyng  and  takyng,  doe  you  not  spare. 

Mary. 

I  may  vse  daliance  and  pastyme  a  while, 

But  the  courage  of  youth  will  soone  be  in  exile. 

I  remember  yet,  since  I  was  a  little  foole. 

That  I  learned  verses  when  I  went  to  schoole, 

Which  be  these: 

Forma  bona  fragilis  est;  qiiantiDn  accedit  ad  aiinos, 

Fit  minor,  &  spacio  carpitur  ilht  sno ; 

Nee  semper  viola,  nee  sempe)-  Jilia  Jlorcnt, 

710  Et  riget  amissa  spinri  relicta  rosa. 

The  pleasure  of  youth  is  a  thyng  right  frayle, 

And  is  yearely  lesse,  so  that  at  length  it  doth  faile: 

The  swete  violets  and  lylies  tlourishe  not  alway ; 

The  rose  soone  drieth,  and  lasteth  not  a  day. 

I  see  in  other  women  by  very  experience, 

That  the  tyme  of  youth  hath  no  long  permanence. 

Infidel  Hie. 

In  good  faith,  when  ye  ar  come  to  be  an  old  maude, 
Then  it  will  be  best  for  you  to  play  the  baude. 
In  our  countrey  there  be  suche  olde  mother  bees, 

720  Which  are  glad  to  cloke  baudry  for  their  fees. 

This  is  the  order,  such  as  wer  harlots  in  their  youth 
May  vse  to  be  baudes,  euermore,  for  a  truth. 

Pride. 

When  the  courage  of  them  is  altogither  past, 

In  age  they  vse  to  get  their  liuyng  with  such  a  cast. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  35 

Cupiditi. 

Tushe,  your  frends  haue  left  you  honest  possessions, 
Which  you  may  imploy  after  suche  discretions, 
That  a  worshipfull  state  you  may  maintayne. 
Besides  that  with  the  other  feate  you  may  gayne. 
Oppresse  your  tenantes,  take  fines,  and  raise  rentes; 

730  Hold  vp  your  houses  and  lands  with  their  contents; 

[Diiia]Bye  by  great  measure,  and  sell  by  small  measure; 
This  is  a  way  to  amplifie  your  treasure: 
Sell  your  ware  for  double  more  than  it  is  worth ; 
Though  it  be  starke  nought,  yet  put  it  forth. 
A  thousand  castes  to  enriche  you  I  can  tell, 
If  you  be  content  to  vse  alway  my  counsell. 

Mary. 

Yes,  by  the  faith  of  my  body,  els  I  were  not  wise, 
For  my  profite  is  your  counsell  and  deuise. 

Infidel  if  ie. 

How  say  you,  mistresse  Mary,  tell  vs  your  mynde : 
740  To  embrace  vs  and  loue  vs  can  you  in  your  heart  fynd? 

3fary. 

Truly,  hart  rote,  I  loue  you  all  .iiii.  with  al  my  hart, 
Trusting  that  none  of  vs  from  other  shall  depart; 
In  token  wherof,  I  embrace  you  in  myne  armes. 
Trusting  that  you  will  defend  me  from  all  liarmes. 

Pride. 

Will  we?  Yea,  we  will  see  so  for  your  prosperitie, 
That  you  shall  lyue  in  ioy  and  felicitie. 

Cupidifi. 

1  will  see  that  you  shall  haue  good  in  abundance, 
To  maintaine  you  in  all  pleasure  and  daliance. 


36     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Concupiscence. 

And  new  kyndes  of  pastyme  I  will  inuent, 
750  With  the  which  I  trust  ye  shal  be  content. 

lujiilcli. 

Mistresse  Mary,  can  you  not  play  on  the  virginals? 

3I(n'y. 

Yes,  swete  heart,  that  I  can,  and  also  on  the  regals; 
There  is  no  instrument  but  that  handle  I  can, 
I  thynke  as  well  as  any  gentlewoman. 

InjidcJUic. 

If  that  you  can  play  vpon  the  recorder, 
I  haue  as  fayre  a  one  as  any  is  in  this  border. 
Truely,  you  haue  not  sene  a  more  goodlie  pipe ; 
It  is  so  bigge  that  your  hand  can  it  not  gripe. 

Pride. 

Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  play  vs  a  daunce? 
760  And  we  wil  do  you  as  great  pleasure,  it  may  chaunce. 

Mary. 

Alas,  we  haue  no  suche  instriiment  here. 

\^Car.  con.^ 

I  knowe  where  you  may  haue  all  suche  geare. 
[Diii6];No  instrumentes  nor  pastime  that  you  can  require, 

But  I  can  bryng  you  vnto  it  at  your  desire. 

Cupid  Hi. 

Will  you  take  the  payne  to  go  before,  thither  ? 
And  mistresse  Mary  and  we  will  come  togither. 

Injideli. 

How  say  you,  mistresse  Mary,  are  you  content? 

Mary. 

Looke,  what  you  will  do,  I  will  therto  assent. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  37 

Pride. 

I  thiiike  it  best  that  we  .iii.  depart  hence, 
770  And  let  mistresse  Mary  com  thither  with  Prudence. 
Infidclific. 

Be  it  so;  then  you  and  I  will  come  alone. 

I  trust  that  by  the  way  we  will  make  one. 

Nay,  M.isircssc  Mary,  we  must  haue  a  song  of  .iiii.  partes, 

At  your  departyng  to  reioyce  our  mery  hartes. 

CupiditL 

The  treble  you  shall,  maister  Pleasure,  syng. 
So  freshly  that  for  ioy  your  heart  shall  spryng. 
Vtilitie  can  syng  the  base  full  cleane; 
And  Noble  Honor  shall  syng  the  meane. 

Infide. 

Mistresse  Mary,  will  you  helpe  to  syng  a  part? 

Mary. 

780  Yea,  swete  heart,  with  you  with  all  my  hart, 

Injideli. 

In  faith,  we  will  haue  a  song  of  your  name. 
Come,  syrs,  helpe,  I  pray  you,  to  syng  the  same. 

THE  SOiVG 

Hey,  dery,  dery,  with  a  lusty  dery, 

Hoigh,  mistresse  Mary,  I  pray  you  be  mery. 

Your  pretie  person  we  may  compare  to  Lais, 

A  morsell  for  princes  aud  noble  kynges; 
In  beautie  you  excell  the  fayre  lady  Thais, 

You  excede  the  beautifull  Heleue  in  all  thyugs; 
To  behold  your  face  who  can  be  wearie? 
790  Hoigh,  mystresse  Mary,  I  pray  you  be  merie. 

The  haire  of  your  head  shyneth  as  the  pure  gold; 

Your  eyes  as  gray  as  glasse  and  right  amiable; 
Y'^our  smylyng  countenance,  so  louely  to  behold. 

To  vs  all  is  moste  pleasant  and  delectable. 


38     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

[Divo]  Of  yoiir  commendations  who  can  be  wearie  ? 

Huffa,  niystresse  Mary,  I  pray  you  to  be  mery, 

Your  lyps  as  ruddy  as  the  redde  Rose; 
Your  teeth  as  white  as  euer  was  the  whale's  bone ; 

So  cleane,  so  swete,  so  fayre,  so  good,  so  freshe,  so  gay, 
800        In  all  lurie  tmely  at  this  day  there  is  none. 

With  a  lusty  voyce  syng  we,  Hey,  dery,  dery. 
Huffa,  mistresse  Mary,  I  pray  you  be  mery. 

Mary. 

Suche  pleasant  co?«panions  I  haue  not  sene  before. 
Now  I  pray  you  let  vs  dwell  togither  euermore. 

Pride. 

To  your  heart  we  are  so  fast  conglutinate, 
That  from  thence  we  shall  neuer  be  separate. 

Cupiditi. 

Yet  from  your  syght.  at  this  tyme  we  will  depart, 
Assuryng  you  to  remayn  styll  in  our  hart. 

I 

Car.  concupiscence. 

We  thre  will  go  before  some  thyng  to  prepare, 
810  That  shalbe  to  your  commoditie  and  welfare. 

Marij. 

Fare  you  well,  my  heartes  ioy,  pleasure,  and  blisse. 

All  thre. 

It  is  good  maner  at  our  departing  to  kisse.        Exeunt. 

Injide. 

I  must  kisse  to,  if  I  tary  styll. 

Marie. 

You  shall  haue  kisses  inough,  euen  when  you  will. 

Infidelitie. 

Gramercy  in  dede,  myne  owne  good  louyng  lugge; 
It  doth  me  good  in  myne  amies  you  to  hugge. 
How  say  you  now  by  these  mynions  ? 


OP  Mary  Magdalene  39 

Mary. 

I  say  as  you  say,  in  dede  they  are  mynions, 
And  suche  persons  as  long  tyme  I  haue  desired. 

820  I  tlianke  you,  that  for  me  you  haue  them  inquired. 

Infidelitie. 

You  must  thinke  on  the  counsell  that  they  did  geue  ; 
They  will  performe  their  sayinges,  you  shall  beleue. 

Mary. 

I  am  not  obliuious,  I  warant  you,  my  freinde, 
For  I  haue  printed  all  their  wordes  in  my  mynde ; 
1  haue  determined  by  them  to  direct  my  life, 
So  that  no  man  shalbe  able  to  set  vs  at  strife. 

Infideliiie. 

[Div6]Will  you  resort  with  me  vnto  Jerusalem  ? 

There  we  shall  be  sure  in  a  place  to  fynde  them. 

A  banket  they  haue  prepared  for  you,  I  dare  say ; 
830  Suche  a  one  as  hath  not  ben  sene  before  this  day. 

Mary. 

Alas,  why  do  they  suche  great  cost  on  me  bestow  ? 

Infidelitie. 

Truly  bicause  you  their  good  hearts  should  know. 
There  is  nothyng  lost  that  is  done  for  such  a  friende. 
Iwis,  mistresse  Mary,  I  wold  you  knew  al  my  mind. 

Mary. 

Gentle  Prudence,  if  you  haue  any  thyng  to  say, 
Breake  your  mynd  boldly  to  me  as  you  go  by  the  way. 

Infidelitie. 

Will  you  come  ?  You  had  nede  to  go  but  softly  ; 
Take  hede,  for  the  way  is  foule  and  slipperie : 
If  neuer  so  litle  backward  you  chaunce  to  slippe, 

840  Vp  into  your  saddle  forsoth  I  am  redy  to  skippe. 


40  An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Manj. 

Go,  wanton,  get  you  forth  with  sorow; 

We  shal  be  at  lerusalem,  I  think,  to  morow.     Exeunt. 

Here  entreth  Symon  the  Pharisie  |  and  Malicious  ludgement. 

Simon  th<'  pharisie. 

I  thoiight  surely  ihcd  here  we  shold  haue  found  him  ; 
It  was  shewed  me  that  he  was  here  about  in  dede. 

3Ialici(ms  iugoucwf. 

The  last  weke  he  was  at  the  Citie  of  Nairn, 

And  from  thens  I  wote  not  whether  he  did  procede. 
Simon. 

He  did  a  maruellous  act  there,  as  we  heard  say, 

For  the  which  the  people  do  him  greatly  praise. 
Maruels  he  worketh  almost  euery  day ; 
850       At  Naim  a  dead  chylde  agayne  he  did  rayse. 

Maliciovi's,  iiidge. 

All  things  he  doth  by  the  power  of  the  great  deuill,' 

And  that  you  may  see  by  his  conuersation. 
He  kepeth  company  with  suche  as  be  euyll, 
And  with  them  he  hath  his  habitation. 

A  frende  of  sinners,  and  a  drynker  of  wyne, 
Neuer  conuersant  with  suche  as  be  honest ; 
[Eiri]  Against  the  law  he  teacheth  a  doctrine; 
All  holy  Religion  he  doth  detest ; 

The  reuerend  bishops  and  you  the  pharisies 
860       He  calleth  hipocrites,  and  doth  you  reuile  ; 

So  he  doth  the  doctours  and  scribes  of  all  degrees. 
Beside  that,  the  Saboth  also  he  doth  defile. 

He  vseth  as  great  blasphemie  as  euer  was : 

The  Sonne  of  the  lyuyng  God  he  doth  hymself  call ; 

He  saith  that  he  is  the  very  same  Messias, 
Prophecied  before  of  the  Pro})h6ts  all. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  41 

I  promise  you,  right  worshipfull  Simon, 

Your  temple,  lawe,  and  people  shal  be  made  captiue, 
If  in  this  sort  he  be  suffred  alone, 
870       And  you  shall  lose  all  your  prerogatiue. 

Simon. 

We,  the  fathers  of  the  clergie,  diuers  seasons 

About  hym  haue  consulted  together. 
To  destroy  hym  we  haue  alleaged  reasons; 

But  many  thyngs  therin  we  do  consider. 

His  doctrine  is  maruellous,  this  is  true. 

And  his  workes  are  more  maruellous,  doubtlesse; 

If  as  yet  we  should  chaunce  hym  to  pursue, 

Muche  inconuenience  might  chaunce,  and  distresse. 

The  people  do  hym  for  a  great  Prophete  take; 
880       He  doth  so  muche  good  among  them  that  be  sicke. 
That  they  wote  not  what  on  hym  to  make; 

For  he  healeth  bothe  the  madde  and  the  lunatike. 

MalicioMS  iudge. 

Me  thinke  verily,  that  it  doth  you  behoue. 

Which  are  men  of  learnyng  and  intelligence. 
His  doctrine  and  miracles  wisely  to  proue. 

And  whence  he  had  them  to  haue  experience. 

Simon. 

By  my  faith,  I  wil  tell  you  what  was  my  pretence  : 
To  haue  bidden  him  to  dyner  this  day  I  thought, 
[Ei6]  Where  we  would  haue  examined  his  science, 
890       And  by  what  power  suche  wonders  he  wrought. 

But  if  I  can  not  haue  hym  in  my  house  this  day, 
I  will  appoynt  an  other  day  for  the  same  cause. 

Then  will  we  appoint  for  hym  some  other  way. 
If  we  fynd  hym  contrary  to  our  lawes. 


42     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

3falicious  iudge. 

Ne  credas  icmpori — trust  not  the  tyme  he  doth  say. 

I  feare  that  you  will  permitte  hym  to  long : 
There  is  euer  peryll  in  muche  delay ; 

Neuer  sufiFre  you  to  raigne  ought  that  is  wrong. 

Simon. 

Well,  seyng  that  at  this  tyme  he  doth  not  appere, 
900       I  will  returne  hence  as  fast  as  I  may. 

Take  you  the  payne  a  whyle  to  tary  here, 

To  see  if  he  chance  at  any  tyme  to  come  this  way; 

Or  if  you  here  where  he  is  resident, 

Let  vs  haue  worde  as  fast  as  euer  you  can. 

3Ialicious  iiidije. 

As  concernyng  your  request  I  will  be  diligent. 
To  doe  you  pleasure  euermore  I  am  your  man. 

It  shall  cost  me  a  fall,  I  promise  hym  truely. 

Except  I  bryng  hym  shortly  to  an  ende. 
Watche  for  hym  will  I,  in  all  places  duely ; 
910        I  will  know  what  the  marchant  doth  intende. 

A  beggerly  wretch,  that  hath  not  of  his  owne 

One  house  or  cabyn  wherin  he  may  rest  his  heade : 

His  parents  for  poore  laboring  folks  ar  wel  known. 
And  haue  not  ihe  things  which  shold  stand  the»i  in 
stede. 

No  man  knoweth  where  he  lerned  and  went  to  schoole, 
And  yet  he  taketh  vpon  hym  to  teache  men  doctrine 

But  within  a  while  he  will  proue  him  selfe  a  foole. 
And  come  to  vtter  destruction  and  mine. 

Is  he  able,  thynke  you,  to  withstande 
920       So  many  bishops,  priestes,  and  pharisies, 
Eiia]Great  learned  men,  and  seniors  of  the  lande, 

With  other  people  that  be  of  their  affinites  ? 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  43 

His  foly  by  his  presumption  he  doth  declare. 

A  while  we  are  content  that  he  doth  raigne; 
But  I  trust  to  make  him  wearie  of  his  welfare, 

If  I  may  see  hym  in  this  countrey  agayne. 

Infidelitic. 

Ha,  ha,  ha,  laugh,  quod  he  ?  Laugh  I  must  in  dede. 
I  neuer  sawe  a  bolder  harlot  in  my  life. 

To  prompt  hir  forward  we  shall  not  nede; 
930       No  poynt  of  synne  but  that  in  hir  is  rife. 

Malicious  iugemeni. 

Infidelitie  ?  What  a  diuell  doest  thou  here  ? 
I  had  not  knowen  thee  but  by  thy  voyce. 

Injideliiie. 

Malicious  iudgement,  I  pray  thee,  what  chere  ? 
To  see  thee  mery  at  my  heart  I  doe  reioyce. 

3falicions  iudge. 

What  a  diuell  meanest  thou  by  this  geare  ? 
This  garment  is  not  of  the  wonted  fashion. 

Infide. 

For  euery  day  I  haue  a  garment  to  weare, 
Accordyng  to  my  worke  and  operation. 

Among  the  Pharisies  I  haue  a  Pharisies'  gown; 
940       Among  publicans  and  synners  an  other  I  vse; 
I  am  best,  I  tell  thee  now,  both  in  citie  and  towne, 
And  chiefly  among  the  people  of  the  lewes. 

This  is  the  cause :  their  Messias,  whom  Christ  they  call, 
Is  come  into  the  world,  sinners  to  forgeue. 

Now  my  labour  is  both  with  great  and  small. 

That  none  of  them  do  hym  nor  his  wordes  beleue. 


44     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

The  bishops  and  pharisies  I  make  the  more  hard  harted. 

The  syniies  of  them  that  are  disposed  to  synne 
I  augment,  so  that  they  can  not  be  conuerted; 
950       So  that  hard  it  will  be  any  grace  to  wynne. 

Malickms  iudgc. 

Among  them  Malicious  iudgeme*<t  is  not  my  name : 

The  true  intellection  of  the  law  they  doe  me  call. 
[Eii^jCanially  I  cause  them  to  vnderstand  the  same, 

And  accordyng  to  their  owne  malice  to  iudge  all. 

Injidclltie. 

Thou  knowest  that  among  them  I  am  Justice  legal; 

For  by  the  dedes  of  the  law  they  will  be  iustified; 
So  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Messias  euangelicall 

Slialbe  despised,  and  he  therfore  crucified. 

Malicious  iiigemenf. 

The  reuerend  father  Simon  the  Pharisie, 
960       To  haue  spoken  with  him,  euen  now  was  here : 

Vnder  the  pretence  of  frendship  and  amitie, 

He  would  bid  him  to  diner,  and  make  him  good  chere ; 

Not  for  any  good  will  that  to  hym  he  doth  owe, 
But  to  proue  his  fashion,  learnyng,  and  power. 

Injidch'tic. 

"  Good  will,"  quod  he  ?  No,  no,  that  I  do  know. 
For  yf  they  durst,  he  should  die  within  this  houre. 

But  let  this  passe.     I  will  tell  thee  what  I  haue  done: 
Knowest  thou  not  a  wench  called  Mary  Magdalen  ? 

M(dicious  indgc. 

Yes,  mary,  I  dyd  see  her  yesterday  at  noone. 
970       A  pretie  wenche  she  is  in  deede,  and  a  cleane. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  45 

Infidel  itic. 

I  haue  brought  her  now  into  snche  a  case, 

That  she  is  past  the  feare  of  God  and  shame  of  man ; 
She  worketh  priuily  in  euery  place; 

Yea,  and  prouoketh  other  therto  now  and  than. 

I  would  thou  dydst  see  hir  disposition; 

Thou  hast  not  sene  hir  like,  I  think,  in  thy  dayes. 

Mah'ciovLS  iudcje. 

If  she  haue  tasted  of  thy  erudition, 

I  doubt  not  but  she  knoweth  all  wicked  ways. 

To  se  her  fashion  I  would  bestowe  my  forty  pence; 
980       But  at  this  tyme  I  can  no  longer  tary  here; 
About  my  busynesse  I  must  depart  hence, 

Seekyng  for  the  same  Christ  both  farre  and  nere. 

Infideli. 

Very  little,  I  hope,  for  his  commoditie. 
To  doe  hym  any  good  doest  thou  intende? 

31  all c ions  iudge. 

[Eiiia]Thou  kuowest  my  mynde  right  well,  Infidelitie. 
What  nede  we  any  more  tyme  to  spende? 

Farewell,  thou  wilt  come  to  diner  to  day? 

Maister  Symon  will  haue  him,  if  it  be  possible.     Exit. 

Infidel  Hie. 

Thou  knowest  that  I  dwell  with  such  men  alway, 
990       For  in  his  heart  I  am  euen  now,  inuisible. 

Well  remembred, — yet  I  must  prouide  a  garment 
Agaynst  that  I  come  to  my  master,  Symon, 

About  the  which  the  preceptes  of  the  testament 
Must  be  written  in  order  one  by  one. 


46     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Nowe  will  I  returne  to  my  minion  againe. 

I  may  not  from  hir  be  away  absent. 
If  hir  companie  I  should  a  litle  refraine, 

I  knowe  well  that  she  would  not  be  content. 

Mary. 

Horeson,  I  beshrowe  your  heart,  are  you  here? 
1000       I  may  doe  what  I  will,  for  you. 

Tnfidclitie. 

Huffa,  mistresse  Mary,  are  you  so  neare? 
I  thought  otherwise,  I  make  Grod  auowe. 

I  pray  you  let  me  haue  a  worde  in  your  eare: 
I  promise  you  he  is  a  mynion  felowe. 

By  my  faith,  I  thought  that  you  had  ben  there, 
For  I  sawe  when  you  dyd  hym  folow. 

Mary. 

By  my  faith,  Prudence,  you  haue  a  false  eye: 

A  body  can  neuer  so  secretely  worke, 
But  that  theyr  daliance  you  will  espie; 
1010       I  trowe  for  the  nones  you  lye  in  corners  and   lurke. 

But  sirra,  how  say  you  to  hym  in  the  flaxen  beard? 

That  is  a  knaue,  that  horeson ;  wote  you  what  he  did  ? 
In  my  life  was  I  neuer  worse  afrayde; 

When  I  came  to  bed,  I  found  him  there  hid. 

"Out,  alas"  quod  I,  "here  is  some  yll  spirite." 
A  swete  sauour  of  muske  and  ciuet  I  smelt. 
[Eiii6]  "Come  and  lye  with  me,  Mary,"  quod  he,  "this  night." 
Then  I  knew  who  it  was,  when  his  beard  I  felt. 

Infuh'Utie. 

I  beshrew  your  hearts,  whore  and  thefe  wer  agreed. 
1020       You  knew  the  sjnrit  wel  inough  before  you  cam  there. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  47 

I  am  sure  that  so  honestly  he  had  you  feed, 
That  the  reward  dyd  put  away  the  feare. 

Mary. 

Grood  lord,  who  is  this  that  yonder  doth  come? 
What  meane  the  tables  that  be  in  his  hand? 

Infidclitie. 

Come  asyde  a  little,  and  geue  hym  roume. 
And  what  he  is  anone  we  shall  vnderstand. 

The  Lawe. 

The  Lawe  of  God  at  this  tyme  I  do  represent, 

Written  with  the  fynger  of  God  in  tables  of  stone, 
Wherby  the  people  might  know  their  lord  omnipotent, 
1030       And  how  that  he  is  the  Lord  God  alone. 

A  peculiar  people  to  him  selfe  he  had  elected, 
Comming  of  the  stocke  of  faithfuU  Abraham, 

Whom  by  the  lawe  he  would  haue  directed, 

After  that  out  of  Egypt  from  Pharao  they  came. 

In  me  as  in  a  glasse  it  doth  plainly  appere. 
What  God  of  his  people  doth  require; 

What  the  peoples'  duetie  is,  they  may  see  here. 
Which  they  owe  vnto  God,  in  paine  of  hell  fyre. 

In  me  is  declared  the  same  iustice, 
1040       Whiche  vnto  God  is  acceptable. 

Man's  synne  is  here  shewed,  and  proude  enterprise, 
Wherby  he  is  conuicted  to  paines  perdurable. 

It  was  necessary  and  it  dyd  behoue, 
Considering  man's  pride  and  temeritie, 

Whiche  was  dronke  and  blynde  in  his  owne  loue. 
To  make  a  lawe  to  shewe  his  imbecillitie. 


48     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Except  the  lawe  had  rebuked  his  vanitie, 

So  much  he  would  haue  trusted  in  his  own  strength, 
[Eiva]  And  beleued  that  through  tliQ  power  of  his  humanitie 
1050       He  might  haue  obteined  sakiation  at  length. 

Wherfore,  as  I  sayd,  to  a  glasse  compared  I  may  be, 
Wlierin  clerely  as  in  the  sunne  lyght, 

The  weakenesse  and  sinne  of  him  self  he  may  se; 
Yea,  and  his  owne  damnation,  as  it  is  ryght. 

For  the  curse  of  God  foloweth  synne  alway, 
And  damnation  foloweth  malediction: 

By  this  it  appereth  as  cleare  as  the  day, 

That  my  oflBce  is  to  fyll  the  mynde  with  affliction. 

I  am  a  ministration  of  death  workyng  yre; 
1060       I  shewe  God's  request,  and  man's  vnabilitie; 
I  condemne  hym  for  synne  vnto  eternall  fyre; 
I  fynde  not  one  iust  of  man's  fragilitie. 

Mary. 

0  Prudence,  heare  you  not  what  the  law  doth  say? 
Excedingly  it  pricketh  my  conscience. 

1  may  crie  "out  alas"  nowe,  and  "welaway," 

For  I  am  damned  by  God's  owne  sentence. 

Infidelitie. 

"Prick  of  co»scie7K'e,"  quod  she?  It  pricketh  you  not 
so  sore 
As  the  yong  man  with  the  flaxen  beard  dyd,I  thinke. 
What  a  diuell  about  him  here  do  you  poare? 
1070       If  euer  I  see  any  suche,  I  pray  God  I  synke. 

The  more  you  loke  on  him,  iliQ  worse  like   him  you 
shal. 

Come  away,  come  away  from  him,  for  very  shame. 
And  in  dede  will  you  be  gasyng  on  him  styll? 

If  you  repent  not  this,  let  me  suffer  blame. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  49 

Mary. 

0  frend  Prudence,  doe  you  see  yonder  glasse? 
I  will  tell  what  therin  I  doe  see. 

1  can  not  speake  for  sorrowe.     Now  out,  alasse ! 

All  men  for  synne  by  God's  sentence  damned  be. 

The  spirite  of  God  speaketh  by  kyng  Salomon, 
1080  That  no  man  on  earth  lyueth  without  synne. 
[Eiv6]  Dauid  saith  there  is  none  good,  no,  not  one; 

No,  not  a  child  that  this  day  doth  his  life  begynne. 

Nowe  synne,  I  see,  require th  eternall  damnation; 

If  a  childe  be  damned  that  is  but  a  day  olde, 
Alas,  where  then  shall  be  my  habitation, 

Whiche  hath  done  more  synnes  than  can  be  tolde  ? 

The  Laice. 

Yea,  woman,  God  doth  not  onely  prohibite  the  dede, 

But  he  forbiddeth  the  lust  and  concupiscence ; 
Therfore  thy  heart  hath  great  occasion  to  blede, 
1090       For  many   lustes  and  dedes  hath  defiled  thy  con- 
science. 
Injidelitie. 

Body  of  God,  are  you  so  madde  him  to  beleue? 

These  thyngs  are  written  to  make  folkes  afrayde. 
Will  ye  to  him  or  to  me  credence  geue? 

Or  to  your  f rends,  by  whom  you  wer  neuer  dismaid  ? 

And  I  put  case  that  the  wordes  nowe  were  trewe, 

He  speaketh  of  men,  but  no  women  at  all; 
Women  haue  no  soules, — -this  saying  is  not  newe; 
Men  shall  be  damned,  and  not  women  which  do  fall. 
The  Law. 

By  this  terme  "man,"  truely,  in  holy  Scripture, 
1100        Is  vndertake  both  man,  woman,  and   child,  in  dede; 
Yea,  as  many  of  both  kyndes  as  be  of  man's  nature, 
Whiche  procede  of  Adam  the  first  parent's  sede. 


50     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Enter  knowledge  of  Sinne. 

By  the  Lawe  commeth  the  knowledge  of  synne, 

Whiche  knowledge  truely  here  I  represent, 
Whiche  freate  and  byte  the  conscience  within, 
Causyng  the  same  euermore  to  lament. 

I  am  euermore  before  the  conscience  sight, 
Shewyng  before  hym  his  condemnation, 
So  that  by  the  dedes  of  the  law,  or  by  his  own  might, 
1110       He  can  not  attaine  vnto  saluation. 

InfidelUie. 

Lo,  Mary,  haue  ye  not  sponne  a  fayre  threde? 
Here  is  a  pocky  knaue,  and  an  yll  fauoured; 
IFia]    The  deuill  is  not  so  euill  fauoured,  I  thinke  in  dede, 
Corrupt,  rotten,  stinkyng,  and  yll  sauoured. 

Knoicledge  of  sjjnne. 

It  is  not  possible  truly  to  declare  here 

The  horrible,  lothsome,  and  stinkyng  vilitie, 
Which  before  the  eyes  of  God  doth  appere. 

Committed  by  this  wretched  woman's  iniquitie. 

Mary. 

Now,  wo  be  to  the  time  that  euer  I  was  borne! 

1120       I  see  that  I  am  but  a  damned  deuill  in  hell; 

I  know  that  there  with  diuels  I  shall  be  torne. 

And  punished  with  more  pains  than  my  tong  can  tell. 

O  blessed  Lawe,  shew  me  some  remedy! 

The  Prophete  calleth  thee  immaculate  and  pure. 
Thou  of  thy  selfe  in  many  places  doest  testifie 

That  the  kepers  of  thee  are  alway  safe  and  sure. 

The  Law. 

He  that  obserueth  all  tliyngs  written  in  me. 
Shall  Hue  in  them,  as  Moyses  doth  expresse: 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  51 

But  neuer  man  yet  in  this  world  I  dyd  see, 
1130       Which  dyd  not  the  contentes  in  me  transgresse. 

It  is  beyond  all  man's  possibilitie 

To  obserue  any  commaundement  in  me  required. 
Therby  appeareth  his  weaknesse  and  fragilitie, 

Hapned    through  sinne,  that  against  God  he  co?j- 
spired. 

Knoivledge  of  synne. 

The  power  of  the  law  is  man's  synne  to  declare, 

And  to  shew  his  damnation  for  the  same; 
But  to  giue  saluation  for  the  soules  welfare, 

The  lawe  doth  no  suche  promise  any  tyme  proclame. 

Mary. 

If  there  be  no  more  comfort  in  the  lawe  than  this, 
1140       I  wishe  that  the  lawe  had  neuer  ben  made. 
In  God  I  see  is  small  mercy  and  lustice, 

To  entang-le  men  and  snarle  them  in  such  a  trade. 

Infidel itie. 

I  can  you  thanke  for  that,  Mary,  in  dede. 

Well  spoken !     An  vniust  God  do  you  esteme. 
[Fi6]    Euen  from  the  heart  that  sentence  dyd  procede. 
Feare  not,  their  vniust  God  do  you  blaspheme. 

You  see  no  remedy  but  vtter  damnation. 

Folowe  my  counsell,  and  put  care  away ; 
Take  here  your  pleasure  and  consolation, 
1150       And  make  you  mery  in  this  worlde  while  you  may. 

Of  one  hell  I  would  not  haue  you  twayne  to  make. 

Be  sure  of  a  heauen  while  you  dwell  here ; 
Refresh  your  self,  and  al  pleasure  doe  you  take ; 

Plucke  vp  a  lusty  heart,  and  be  of  a  good  chere. 


52     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Mary. 

O,  this  knowledge  of  synne  is  so  in  my  syght, 
That  if  I  should  dye,  truely  I  can  not  be  uiery. 

InJidcUtie. 

We  will  ridde  the  knaue  hence  anon  by  this  light, 
Or  else  of  his  life  I  will  soone  make  him  wearie. 

The  Law. 

O  synner,  from  thy  heart  jmt  that  infidelitie, 
IIGO        Which  hath  drowned  thee  already  in  the  pit  of  hell; 
Trust  thou  in  God's  might  and  possibilitie, 
Wlierof  neither  anjjell  nor  man  is  able  to  tell. 


O" 


Knowledge  of  synne. 

That  thing  in  dede,  whiche  to  man  is  impossible, 

Is  a  small  thyng  for  God  to  bryng  to  passe ; 
This  mercy  to  all  senses  is  comprehensible, 

Which  he  will  declare  by  his  holy  Messias. 

The  Law. 

That  thing  which  I  can  not  do  through   my   infirmity, 
God  is  able  by  his  son  to  perform  in  tyme  appointed. 
All  my  contentes  be  shadowes  of  his  maiestie, 
1170       Whom  now  in  this  tyme  God  hath  anoynted. 

Knowledge  of  syiuie. 

That  Messias  alone  onely  shall  the  law  fulfill. 

And  his  fulfilling  shall  be  in  suche  acceptation. 
That  God  for  his  sake  shall  pardon  mankyndes  yll, 

Acceptyng  his  offeryng  for  a  full  contentation. 

The  Law. 

That  Messias  is  the  stone  spoken  of  before. 
Which  of  vayne  builders  should  be  refused; 
[Fiia]  Yet  he  shall  be  the  corner  stone  of  honour, 

Which  in  the  building  of  god's  tey//ple  shal  be  vsed. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  53 

Knoicledge  of  Siiinc. 

And  all  that  trust  in  hym  with  true  beleue, 
1180       That  he  is  very  God  and  man,  into  this  world  sent, 
God  will  all  their  synnes  for  his  sake  forgeue, 
So  that  they  can  be  contrite  and  repent. 
3fary. 

I  euer  beleued  yet  vnto  this  day, 

That  God  was  able  of  nothyng  all  thyngs  to  make  ; 
And  as  well  I  beleue  also  that  he  may 
Forgeue,  and  mercy  vpon  synners  take ; 

But  seyng  that  he  hath  made  a  determination 

By  a  law  that  none  shall  be  saued,  good  or  badde, 
Then  he  that  would  looke  for  any  saluation, 
1190       Truly  I  take  hym  ten  tymes  for  worse  than  madde. 

Infideliiie. 

He  that  will  not  the  kepers  of  the  law  saue, 

Which  obserue  diligently  his  commaundementes, 
Much  lesse,  truly,  on  them  mercy  he  will  haue. 

Which  haue  contemned  all  his  words  and  iudgements. 

The  Law. 

Wei,  Mary,  I  haue  condemned  thee  vnto  hell  fyre. 

Yet  not  so  condemned  thee,  but  if  thou  canst  beleue 
In  that  Messias,  which  for  thee  doth  enquire. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  thy  sinnes  he  will  forgeue. 

Thy  sore  is  knowen,  receiue  thy  salue  and  medicine; 
1200       I  haue  the  sicke  to  the  leache;  geue  good  eare; 
Hearken  diligently  vnto  his  good  discipline, 

And  he  will  heale  thee,  doe  nothyng  feare.       Exit. 
Infidelitie. 

Let  me  fele  your  poulses,  mistresse  Mary.    Be  you  sick  ? 
By  my  trouth  in  as  good  te/«pre  as  any  woman  can  be: 
Your  vaines  are  full  of  bloud,  lusty  and  quicke ; 
In  better  taking  truly  I  did  you  neuer  see. 


54     An  Enterlude  of  the  Kepentance 

Knoirh'dge  of  synne. 

The  body  is  whole,  but  sick  is  the  conscience, 
Which  neither  the  law  nor  man  is  able  to  heale ; 
[Fii6]    It  is  the  word  of  God,  receyued  with  penitence, 
1210       Like  as  the  boke  of  wisedome  doth  plainly  reueale, 

Injidclitie. 

Conscience?     How  doth  thy  conscience,  litle  Mali? 

Was  thy  conscience  sicked,  alas,  little  foole? 
Hooreson  fooles,  set  not  a  pynne  by  them  all. 

Wise    inough,    in    dede,    to    folowe    their    foolishe 
schoole ! 

You  bottell-nosed  knaue,  get  you  out  of  place; 

Auoyde,  stinkyng  horeson;  a  poyson  take  thee; 
Hence,  or  by  God  I  will  lay  thee  on  the  face; 

Take  hede  that  hereafter  I  doo  you  not  see. 

Knowledge  of  synne. 

Though  I  appere  not  to  hir  carnall  syglit, 
1220       Yet  by  the  meanes  that  she  knoweth  the  lawe, 
I  shall  trouble  hir  always  both  day  and  night. 
And  vpon  hir  conscience  continually  gnawe. 

Infideliiie. 

What  chere  ?     Nowe  is  here  but  we  twaine  alone. 
Be  mery,  mistresse  Mary,  and  away  the  mare! 
A  murreyn  go  with  them !     Now  they  be  gone, 
Plucke  vp  your  stomacke,  and  put  away  all  care. 

Mary. 

O,  maister  Prudence,  my  heart  is  sore  vexed. 

The  knowledge  of  synne  is  before  me  alway. 
In  my  conscience  I  am  so  greuously  perplexed, 
1230       That  I  wote  not  what  to  doe,  truly,  nor  say. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  55 

Here  entreth  Christ  lesus. 
Infidelifie. 

Benedicite,  arte  thou  come,  with  a  vengeance? 

What  wilt  thou  do?     Mary,  doe  you  loue  me? 
My  wordes  print  well  in  your  remembrance: 
To  yonder  felowes  saying  doe  you  neuer  gree. 

Christ  lesus. 

Into  this  worlde  God  hath  sent  his  owne. 

Not  to  iudge  the  world,  or  to  take  vengeance, 
But  to  preache  forgeuenesse  and  pardon, 

Through  true  faith  in  hym,  and  perfect  repentance. 

The  Sonne  of  man  is  come  to  seke  and  saue 
[Fiiia]       Suche  persons  as  perishe  and  go  astraye. 
124:1  God  hath  promised  them  lyfe  eternally  to  haue, 
If  they  repent  and  turne  from  theyr  euill  way. 

The  kyngdom  of  heauen  is  at  hand,  therfore  repent; 

Amende  your  lyues,  and  the  Gospell  beleue. 
The  Sonne  of  God  into  this  world  is  sent 

To  haue  mercy  on  men,  and  theyr  synnes  to  forgeue. 

Mary. 

O  here  is  the  Messias,  of  whom  we  haue  harde. 
What  say  you,  Prudence,  is  not  this  same  he? 

Infidelitie. 

A,  Mary,  do  you  my  wordes  no  more  regard? 
1250       You  haue  a  waueryng  witte,  now  well  I  doe  see. 

Is  not  this  a  lyke  person  the  sonne  of  God  to  be. 
And  the  Messias  whiche  the  worlde  should  saue? 

He  is  a  false  harlot,  you  may  beleue  me, 

Whome  you  shall  see  one  day  handled  like  a  knaue. 

If  the  lawe  of  God  published  by  Moyses 
Be  not  able  to  bryng  men  to  saluation, 


56  An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Muche  lesse  suche  a  wretched  man  doiibtlesse 
Can  do  ought  for  your  soules  consolation. 

Tushe,  take  one  heauen  in  this  present  world  here, 
1260       You  remember  what  before  to  you  I  haue  sayd: 
Pluck  vp  your  heart,  wenche,  and  be  of  good  chere ; 
Neuer  regard  his  words;  tushe,  be  not  afrayd. 

Marij. 

The  lawe  hath  set  my  synnes  before  my  syght, 

That  I  can  not  be  mery,  but  am  in  despaire. 
I  know  that  God  is  a  ludge,  equall  and  right, 

And  that  his  lawe  is  true,  pure,  cleane,  and  fayre. 

By  this  law  am  I  condemned  alredy  to  hell ; 

The  wordes  he  hath  spoken  must  be  fulfilled. 
Of  myrth  and  ioy  it  is  but  foly  to  tell, 
1270       For  I  perceiue  that  both  body  and  soule  be  spilled. 

Christ. 

Like  as  the  father  raiseth  the  dead  agayne, 
[Fiiib]       And  vnto  life  doth  them  mercifully  restore. 
So  the  Sonne  quickeneth  the  dead,  it  is  playne. 
And  geueth  them  a  life  to  Hue  euermore. 

Verily,  verily,  I  say,  he  that  heareth  my  voyce, 
And  beleueth  on  him  that  hath  me  sent. 

Shall  haue  euerlastyng  life  therin  to  reioyce, 
And  shall  not  come  into  damnable  torment; 

But  the  same  passe  from  death  vnto  lyfe. 
1280       Repent,  and  trust  in  God's  mercy  for  my  sake. 

With  the  sinnes  of  the  world  be  at  debate  and  strife, 
And  vnto  grace  my  heauenly  father  will  you  take. 

All  they  whom  the  law  condemneth  for  synne, 

By  faith  in  me  I  saue  and  iustifie. 
I  am  come  sinners  by  repentance  to  winne, 

Like  as  the  Prophet  before  did  [)rophecie. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  57 

Christe  speaketh  to  Mary. 

Thou  woman,  with  mercy  I  do  thee  preuent; 
If  thou  canst  in  the  Sonne  of  God  beleue, 
And  for  thy  former  lyfe  be  sory  and  repent, 
1290       All  thy  sinnes  and  offences  I  doe  forgeue. 
Injideliiio. 

Who  is  the  sonne  of  God,  sir?  Of  whom  do  ye  talke, 

Which  hath  this  power  wherof  you  do  boast? 
It  is  best  for  you  out  of  this  countrey  to  walke. 
And  neuer  more  be  sene  after  in  this  coast. 

"The  Sonne  of  God,"  quod  he?   This  is  a  pride  in  dede. 

Trowest  thou  that  the  father  can  suffer  this? 
They  come  of  Abraham's  stocke  and  holy  sede, 
And  thou  saiest  that  they  beleue  all  amisse. 
Christ. 

Auoide  out  of  this  woman,  thou  Infidelitie, 
1300       With  the  .vii.  diuels  which  haue  hir  possessed. 
I  banish  you  hence  by  the  power  of  my  diuinitie. 
For  to  saluation  I  haue  hir  dressed. 

Infidelitie  runneth  away.    Mary  falleth  flat  downe. 
[Fiva]  Cry  all  thus  without  the  doore,  and  roars  terribly. 

Diuels. 

O  lesus,  the  Sonne  of  God  euer  liuing, 

Why  comest  thou  before  the  tyme  vs  to  torment? 
In  no  person  for  thee  we  can  haue  any  abidyng. 
Out  vpon  thee,  the  sonne  of  God  omnipotent. 
Christ. 

Arise,  woman,  and  thanke  the  father  of  heauen. 

Which  with  his  mercy  hath  thee  preuented. 
By  his  power  I  haue  reiected  from  the,  spirits  seuen, 
1310       Which  with  vnbelief  haue  thy  soule  tormented. 
Mary. 

Blessed  be  thy  name,  O  father  celestiall; 

Honor  and  glory  be  giuen  to  thee,  world  without  end. 


58     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

O  Lord,  doest  thou  regard  thus  a  woma/i  terrestriall  ? 
To  thee  what  tong  is  able  worthy  thanks  to  repend  ? 

0  what  a  synfull  wretche,  Lord,  haue  I  bene? 
Haue  mercy  on  me,  Lord,  for  thy  name's  sake. 

So  greuous  a  sinner  before  this  day  was  neuer  sene; 
Vouchsafe  therfore  compassion  on  me  to  take. 

lesus  Christ. 

Canst  thou  beleue  in  God,  the  maker  of  all  thing, 
1320  And  in  his  onely  sonne,  whom  he  hath  sent? 

Marij. 

1  beleue  in  one  God,  Lord  and  heauenly  kyng. 

And  in  thee,  his  onely  sonne,  with  hearty  intent. 

Good  Lord,  I  confesse  that  thou  art  omnipotent; 

Helpe  my  slender  beliefe  and  infirmitie ; 
My  faith,  Lord,  is  waueryng  and  insufficient; 
Strength  it,  I  pray  the,  with  the  power  of  thy 
maiesty. 
Christ. 

No  man  can  come  to  me,  that  is,  in  me  beleue, 

Except  my  father  draw  hym  by  his  spirite. 

Faith  &  repe«ta?ice  entreth. 
Behold,  Faith  and  Repentance  to  thee  here  I  geue, 
1330       With  all  other  vertues  to  thy  health  requisite. 

Faith. 

Note  well  the  power  of  God's  oranipotencie: 

That  soule,  which  of  late  was  a  place  of  deuils. 
He  hath  made  a  place  for  him  self  by  his  clemencie, 
Purgyng  from  thence  the  multitude  of  euils. 

Repentance. 
[Fivh]  The  mercy  of  Christ  thought  it  not  sufficient 
To  forgeue  hir  synnes,  and  deuils  to  pourge, 
But  geueth  hir  grace  to  be  penitent. 

That  is,  hir  soule  euer  after  this  day  to  scourge. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  59 


The  vertue  of  Repentance  I  do  represent, 
1340       Which  is  a  true  turnyng  of  the  whole  lyfe  and  state 
Vnto  the  will  of  the  lord  God  omnipotent, 
Sorowing  for  the  sinnes  past,  with  displesure  and 
hate. 

That  is  to  say,  all  the  inward  thoughts  of  the  hart, 
And  all  the  imaginations  of  the  mynde. 

Which  were  occupied  euill  by  Sathan's  arte, 

Must  hence  forth  be  turned  after  an  other  kynd, 

Dauid,  my  father,  on  his  synnes  did  alway  thinke, 

Howe  horrible  they  were  in  God  almighties  sight ; 
Teares  were  his  sustenance,  yea,  both  meat  and  drinke ; 
1350       His  hole  meditation  was  in  heauen  both  day  and 
night. 

So  that  Repentance  is  described  in  Scripture 

To  be  a  returnyng  from  syn  with  all  the  soule  and 
hart. 

And  all  the  life  tyme  in  repentyng  to  endure. 

Declaring  the  same  with  the  sen[s]es  in  euery  part, 

As  thus :  Like  as  the  eyes  haue  ben  vaynly  spent 
Vpon  worldly  and  carnall  delectations, 

So  henceforth  to  wepyng  and  teares  must  be  bent, 
And  wholly  giuen  to  godly  contemplations. 

Likewise  as  the  eares  haue  ben  open  alway 
1360       To  here  the  blasphemyng  of  God's  holy  name. 
And  fylthy  talkyng  euermore  night  and  day, 
Nowe  they  must  be  turned  away  from  the  same, 

And  glad  to  heare  the  Gospell  of  saluation. 
How  God  hath  mercy  on  them  that  doe  call. 

And  how  he  is  full  of  pitie  and  miseration, 

Raisyng  vp  suche  agayne  as  by  synne  dyd  fall. 


60     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

IGifi]    The  tong  which  blasphemie  hath  spoken, 

Yea  and  filthily,  to  the  hurt  of  soule  and  body, 
Wherby  the  precepts  of  God  haue  ben  broken, 
1370       Must  hence  forth  praise  God  for  his  mercy  daily. 

Thus,  like  as  all  the  members  in  tymes  past 

Haue  ben  seruantes  of  vnrighteousnesse  and  synne, 

Now  Repentance  doth  that  seruice  away  cast, 
And  to  mortifie  all  his  lustes  doth  begynne. 

True  repentance  neuer  turneth  backe  agayn; 

For  he   that  laieth   his  hand  on  the   plough,   and 
loketh  away, 
Is  not  apt  in  the  kingdom  of  heauen  to  raigne. 

Nor  to  be  saued  with  my  sainctes  at  the  last  day. 

3farij. 

O  Lorde,  without  thy  grace  I  do  here  confesse 
1380       That  I  am  able  to  do  nothyng  at  all. 

Where  it  pleaseth  thee  my  miserie  to  redresse, 
Strencfth  me  now  that  hence  forth  I  do  not  fall. 

Graunt  me,  Lord,  suche  a  perfect  repentance, 

And  that  I  looke   no  more   back,  but  go  forward 
still ; 

Put  my  miserie  euermore  into  my  remembrance. 
That  I  may  forthinke  my  life  that  hath  ben  so  yll, 

Fayfh. 

The  holy  vertue  of  Faith  I  do  represent, 

loyned  continually  with  repentance ; 
For  where  as  the  person  for  synne  is  penitent, 
1390       There  I  ascertain  him  of  helth  and  deliuerance ; 

Wherfore  I  am  a  certaine  and  sure  confidence, 
That  God  is  mercifuU  for  Christ  lesus'  sake; 

And  where  as  is  a  turnyng  or  penitence, 
To  mercy  he  will  the  penitent  take. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  61 

Faith  tlierfore  is  the  gyft  of  God  most  excellent; 

For  it  is  a  sure  knowledjje  and  coornition 
Of  the  good  will  of  God  omnipotent, 

Grounded  in  the  word  of  Christes  erudition. 

[Gift]    This  faith  is  founded  on  God's  promission, 
1400       And  most  clerely  to  the  mynde  of  man  reuealed, 
So  that  of  God's  will  he  hath  an  intuition, 

Which  by  the  holy  ghost  to  his  heart  is  sealed. 

Iiej)entancr. 

This  Faith  with  the  word  hath  such  propinquitie, 

That  proprely  the  one  is  not  without  the  other. 
Faith  must  be  tried  with  the  word  of  veritie, 

And  the  chyld  is  by  the  father  and  mother. 

lesus  Christ. 

Yea  truly,  if  this  faith  do  from  God's  word  decline, 

It  is  no  faith,  but  a  certayn  incredulitie. 
Which  causeth  the  mynd  to  wa?^der  in  strange  doctrine, 
1410       And  so  to  fall  at  length  into  impietie. 

Faith. 

The  word  to  a  glasse  compare  we  may. 

For,  as  it  were,  therin  Faith  God  doth  behold, 
Whom  as  in  a  cloude  we  loke  vpon  alway. 

As  hereafter  more  plainly  it  shal  be  told. 
Mary. 

My  heart  doth  beleue,  and  my  mouth  doth  publish 

That  my  lord  lesus  is  the  sonne  of  God  eternall. 
I  beleue  that  my  soule  shall  neuer  perysh, 

But  raigne  with  him  in  his  kyngdom  supernall. 

Bepentance. 

The  operation  of  Faith  is  not  to  enquire 
1420       What  God  is  as  touchyng  his  propre  nature. 

But  how  good  he  is  to  vs  to  know,  faith  doth  desyre, 
Which  thyng  appereth  in  his  holy  Scripture. 


62  An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Faifh. 

It  is  not  inoiigh  to  beleue  that  God  is  true  only, 

Which  can  neuer  lie,  nor  deceaue,  nor  do  yll ; 
But  true  faith  is  persiiaded  firmly  and  truely, 

That  in  his  word  he  hath  declared  his  will; 

And  also  what  soeuer  in  that  word  is  spoken, 

Faith  beleueth  it  as  the  most  certaine  veritie, 
Which  by  his.  spirit  he  doth  vouchsafe  to  open 
1430     To  all  such  as  seke  hym  with  all  humilitie. 

Repctiiducc. 
[Qiia]  Christ,  the  sonne  of  God,  here  hath  promised 
Forgiuenesse  of  synnes  to  you,  syster  Mary; 
Of  his  owne  mercie  this  to  do  he  hath  deuised. 
And  not  of  your  merites,  thus  you  see  plainly. 

If  in  this  promise  you  be  certain  and  without  doubt, 
Beleuing  that  the  word  of  his  mouth  spoken 

He  is  able,  and  also  will  do  and  bryng  about, 
Then  that  you  haue  Faith  it  is  a  token. 

Mdi'ij. 

O,  lesu,  graunt  me  this  true  faith  and  beleue. 
1440       Lord,  I  see  in  my  self  as  yet  imperfection ; 
Vouchsafe  to  me  thy  heauenly  grace  to  geue. 
That  it  may  be  my  gouernance  and  direction. 

Christ. 

Mary,  my  grace  shall  be  for  thee  sufficient; 

Goe  thy  way  forth  with  faith  and  repentance; 
To  heare  the  Gospell  of  health  be  thou  diligent. 

And  the  wordes  therof  beare  in  thy  remembrance. 

Faiih. 

Though  in  person  we  shall  no  more  appeare. 
Yet  inuisibly  in  your  heart  we  will  remayne. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  63 

Bi'poitancc. 

The  grace  of  God  shal  be  with  you  both  far  and  nere, 
1450     Wherby  from  all  wickednesse  I  shall  you  detaine. 

Mai^y. 

Honor,  praise,  and  glory  to  the  father  eternall ; 

Thankes  to  the  sonne,  very  god  and  very  man; 
Blessed  be  the  holy  gost,  with  them  both  coequall. 
One  god,  which  hath  saued  me  this  day  from  Satha». 

Exeunt. 
Christ. 

I   thank   thee,  O  father,  O  lord  of  heuew,  earth  and 
of  al. 
That  thou  hast  hidden  these  things  from  the  sapient, 
And  hast  reuealed  them  to  the  litle  ones  and  small; 
Yea,  so  it  pleased  thee,  O  father  omnipotent. 

All  things  of  my  father  are  committed  vnto  me, 
1460       And  who  the  sonne  is,  none  but  the  father  doth  know. 
No  man  but  the  sonne  knoweth  who  the  father  shold  be, 
And  he  to  whom  the  sonne  wil  reueale  and  showe. 

[Gii6]   Come  vnto  me  all  you  that  with  labor  are  oppressed, 
And  are  heauy  laden,  and  I  will  you  comfort; 
Dispaire  not  for  that  you  haue  transgressed, 
But  for  mercy  do  you  boldly  to  me  resort. 

My  yoake  vpon  your  neckes  do  you  gladly  take, 

And  learn  of  me,  for  I  am  lowe  and  meke  in  hart, 
And  you  shal  fynd  rest  for  your  soules  neuer  to  slake. 
14:70       My  yoake  and  burden  is  light  in  euery  part. 

I  came  not  into  the  world,  the  righteous  to  call, 
But  the  synfull  persons  vnto  repentance: 

The  whoale  haue  no  nede  of  the  physition  at  all. 
But  the  sicke  haue  nede  of  deliuerance. 


64     An  Enteklude  of  the  Kepentance 

Verily,  I  say  vnto  you,  that  the  angels 

Haiie  more  ioy  in  one  synner  that  doth  repent, 

Than  in  many  righteous  persons  else, 

Which  are  no  sinners  in  their  iudgement. 

Here  entreth  Symon  the  Pharisie  and  malicious 
Judgement ;  Symon  biddeth  Christ  to  dynner. 

Sijmon. 

God  spede  you,  syr,  heartily,  and  well  to  fare; 
1-480       I  reioyce  much  that  I  chaunce  you  here  to  fynde ; 
In  good  soth  I  was  sory,  and  toke  muche  care 
That  I  had  no  tyme  to  declare  to  you  my  mynde. 

We  know  that  you  do  much  good  in  the  countrey  here, 
Wherfore  the  liuyng  God  is  gloritied: 

You  heale  the  sicke  persons  both  farre  and  nere. 
Like  as  it  hath  ben  credibly  testified. 

Christ. 

My  father  euen  vnto  this  tyme  worketh  truely. 

And  I  work  according  to  his  commandement  and  wil ; 
The  Sonne  can  do  nothyng  of  hym  selfe  duely, 
1490       But  that  he  seeth  the  father  doyng  alway  still. 

Whatsoeuer  the  Father  doth,  the  sonne  doth  the  same ; 
For  the  father  doth  the  sonne  entierly  loue, 
[Giiia]  And  sliewetli  him  al  things  to  the  praise  of  his  name, 
And  shal  shew  him  greter  works  thaw  these,  as  you 
shal  proue. 

Malicious  iiuU/e. 

Lo,  sir,  what  nede  you  haue  more  testimonie? 

You  heare  that  he  doth  him  self  the  sonne  of  God 
call. 
Doth  not  the  law  condemne  that  blasphemie, 

Commaunding  such  to  be  slaine  great  and  small? 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  05 

Sijmon. 

For  a  season  it  behouetli  vs  to  haue  pacience; 
1500       I  shewed  you  the  reason  wherfore  of  late, 
At  this  season  I  pray  you  do  your  diligence, 
And  semble  rather  to  loue  hym  than  to  hate. 

Shall  it  please  you,  syr,  this  day  to  take  payne 
With  me  at  my  house  to  take  some  repast? 

You  shal  be  welcome,  doubtlesse.     I  tell  you  playne 
No  great  puruiance  for  you  I  entend  to  make. 

Christ 

My  meate  is  to  doe  his  will  that  hath  me  sent. 
But,  syr,  I  thanke  you  of  your  great  curtesy. 
To  come  to  you  I  shall  be  very  well  content, 
1510       So  that  you  will  appoynt  the  houre  stedily. 

Sijmo7i. 

All  things  be  in  maner  ready,  I  thinke,  verily. 

In  the  meane  season  in  my  gardein  we  will  walke. 
Take  the  paines  to  go  with  me,  I  pray  you  heartily. 

Till  dinner  be  ready,  of  matters  we  will  talke. 

Christ. 

With  a  good  will  I  will  waite  vpon  you ; 

Pleaseth  it  you  to  go  before ;  you  know  the  way. 

Symon. 

Sirra,  you  see  how  that  we  are  appointed  now. 
Make  all  thyngs  ready  without  delay. 

Malicious  iiulge. 

Sir,  I  will  go  about  as  fast  as  I  may. 
1520        In  good  fayth  I  would  that  I  might  haue  my  will: 
I  would  prepare  for  hym  a  galowes  this  day, 
Vpon  the  whiche  I  desyre  his  bloud  to  spill. 


GC)     An  Enteblude  of  the  Repentance 

Injidcliiie. 

A  vengeance  take  hym,  thefe;  is  he  gone? 
From  Mary  Magdalene  he  did  uie  chace: 
[Giiib]  From  Symon  the  Pharisie  he  will  driue  me  anon, 
So  that  no  where  I  shal  be  able  to  shew  my  face. 

Malicious  imUje. 

Nay,  we  are  so  surely  fixed  in  the  Pharisies  mynde, 

That  his  blasphemous  words  can  not  driue  vs  thence. 
Women's  heartes  turne  oft  as  doth  the  wynde, 
1530       And  agayne  of  the  law  they  know  not  the  sence. 

In  malice  I  haue  made  them  all  so  blvnde, 
That  they  iudge  nothyng  in  Christ  aryght. 

To  the  letter  of  the  law  so  fast  I  do  them  bynde. 
That  of  the  spirite  they  haue  no  maner  of  light. 

InjidcJiiic. 

I  will  tell  thee,  Malicious  ludgement, 

His  wordes  be  of  suche  strength  and  great  power, 
That  the  diuell  hym  self  and  all  his  rablement 

He  is  able  to  expell,  and  vtterly  to  deuoure. 

Malicious  iiidijc. 

Tushe,  hyde  thy  selfe  in  a  Pharisies  gowne, 
154:0       Suche  a  one  as  is  bordered  with  the  co/«maundeme?/ts, 
And  then  thou  maist  dwel  both  in  citie  and  in  towne, 
Beyng  well  accepted  in  all  men's  iudgements. 

InjidcJitie. 

As  for  a  gowne,  I  haue  one  conuenient ; 

And  lo,  here  is  a  cappe  agreing  to  the  same. 

Malicious  iud<j('. 

As  thou  saiest,  that  geare  is  very  ancient; 
I  warant  thee  now  to  escape  all  blame. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  67 

Mary,  of  one  tliyng  thou  must  take  good  hede: 

As  nere  as  thou  canst,  let  him  not  behold  thy  face. 
Doubt  thou  not,  but  he  shall  haue  his  mede, 
1550       If  I  remayne  with  the  lewes  any  space. 

Tnfidelitie. 

And  as  for  the  reuerend  byshop  Cayphas, 

With  all  the  Aldermen  of  Jerusalem, 
Will  helpe  to  bryng  that  matter  to  passe; 
For  I  am  like  for  euer  to  dwell  with  them. 

MaliciouB  mgevi cut. 

The  same  Christ  dineth  with  Simon  to  day. 

Who  commanded  to  prepare  the  table  in  all  hast. 
[Giva]  Helpe  to  make  all  ready,  and  the  cloth  to  lay, 

For  surely  here  he  purposeth  to  take  his  repast. 

InjidclUie. 

By  God,  he  shall  haue  soure  sause,  it  may  hap. 
1560        Do  thy  parte,  and  surely  I  purpose  to  watche; 
It  shal  be  hard,  but  we  will  take  hym  in  a  trap: 
He  shall  fynde  hym  here  that  will  hym  matche. 

3Ialicio\is  iudge. 

Go  and  fetche  trenchers,  spoones,  salt  and  bread; 

See  whether  the  cookes  be  ready,  also,  I  pray  thee. 
They  will  come  to  dynner,  I  dare  lay  my  head, 

Before  that  all  things  prepared  well  shall  be. 

Infidelitie. 

A  straw,  all  this  geare  wyll  quickly  be  doone ; 

The  cookes  be  ready,  also,  I  am  sure. 
Let  me  see,  byr  lady,  it  is  almost  noone; 
1570       I  maruell  that  they  can  so  long  fastyng  endure. 


68     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

3IaUcious  irnhje. 

Yonder  they  come ;  tume  thy  face  out  of  sight ; 
Thou  must  make  curtesy  downe  to  the  ground. 

InfideJiiic. 

I  would  he  were  hanged,  by  God  and  by  this  light ; 
For  neuer  before  this  day  was  I  thus  bound. 

Symon. 

Sir,  now  are  you  welcome;  I  pray  you  come  nere. 

Fetche  in  meate,  syrs,  I  pray  you,  quickly. 
I  promise  you  I  byd  you  for  no  good  chere; 
But  such  as  it  is,  you  ar  welcome  hartily. 

InfidcJUie. 

Pleaseth  it  you  to  washe,  syr,  here  is  water. 
1580     Let  not  yonder  beggerly  felow  wash  with  you. 

Simon. 

Can  you  not  a  while  dissemble  the  matter  ? 
It  is  no  tyme  to  talke  of  suche  geare  now. 

Will  you  sit,  sir  ?  Bryng  hither  a  cushion  and  a  stoole. 
Set  it  down,  I  say,  there,  there  at  the  table's  ende. 

Injideli. 

Here  is  a  businesse  with  a  beggerly  foole; 
It  greueth  me  the  tyme  about  him  to  spende. 

Go  to,  you  are  welcome  hither  to  my  maister  Simon; 
Thinke  your  self  at  home  in  your  owne  place. 

Christ. 
[Givb]  I  thanke  you,  sir;  I  will  syt  downe  euen  anone; 
1590       But  tirst  we  will  prayse  God,  and  say  our  grace. 

Blessed  art  thou,  heauenly  father,  which  of  thy  mercy 
Hast  made  man  to  thyne  owne  image  and  similitude. 

Which  through  Sathan's  wicked  malice  and  enuie 
Was  spoiled  of  thy  grace  and  of  ghostly  fortitude. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  69 

But  at  this  tyme,  of  thy  mercy  appointed, 

Thou  hast  looked  on  man,  of  thy  compassion. 

And  sent  thyne  owne  sonne  with  thy  spirit  anoynted, 
Which  for  his  synne  shall  make  satisfaction. 

Let  all  creatures  praise  thee  for  their  creation ; 
1600       Glory  to  thy  name  for  their  preseruation ; 

Laude  and  honour  to  thee  for  their  restauration ; 
All  thankes  to  thee  for  eternall  saluation. 

Simon. 

I  pray  you,  sitte  downe ;  I  pray  you  heartily ; 

You  are  welcom;  I  pray  you  eate  such  as  is  here; 
Go  to,  I  would  not  haue  you  to  make  any  curtesy ; 

I  am  sory  that  for  you  I  haue  no  better  chere. 

Injidelitie. 

It  is  simple  chere,  as  you  say,  in  dede; 
It  is  to  good  for  him,  by  the  Masse ; 
Haie  is  good  ynough  for  hym  theron  to  feede, 
1610       Or  for  any  such  foolishe  asse. 

Malicious  iiidge. 

Marke  you  not,  what  in  his  grace  he  dyd  say  ? 

"  Thou  hast  sent  thy  sonne  anointed  with  the  holy 
ghost." 
By  these  words  euidently  vnderstand  we  may, 

That  to  be  the  son  of  God  of  him  selfe  he  doth  boast. 

Simon. 

Wherof  doe  you  .ii.  talk  ?  What  is  the  matter  ? 

Is  there  any  thing  that  doth  grutch  your  conscience  ? 

Malicious  iudge. 

This  is  the  truth  of  our  talke;  yea,  I  wil  not  flatter; 
Your  srest  said  a  word  wherof  I  wold  haue  i;itelli- 
gence. 


70     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

He  thanked  God,  at  this  tyme  nowe  appointed, 
1620       That  on  men's  synnes  he  had  pitie  and  compassion, 
[Hioj   And  hath  sent  his  sonne  with  his  spirite  anointed. 
Which  for  his  sinne  shoukl  make  satisfaction. 

Hath  God  into  this  world  sent  his  owne  sonne  ? 

Or  who  is  the  sonne  of  God,  I  wold  be  glad  to  know  ? 
Like  as  now  he  speaketh,  so  oft  tymes  he  hath  done; 

The  tyme  and  place  I  am  able  to  showe. 

S union. 

I  pray  you,  my  guest,  his  mynde  do  you  satisfie : 
It  is  said,  that  the  sonne  of  God  you  do  your  self  call. 

Christ. 

I  am  come  into  this  world  the  truth  to  testifie, 
1630       Wherof  the  scripture  and  the  Prophets  do  witnes  all. 

If  I  of  my  self  should  beare  testimonie, 

My  witnesse  of  you  should  not  be  taken  as  true'; 

But  there  is  an  other  that  witnesseth  of  me  verily; 
And  I  know  that  his  testimonie  is  true. 

Of  man  truely  no  testimonie  do  I  take; 

But  I  speake  these  wordes  that  saued  you  myght  be. 
The  Sonne  of  God  is  sent  hither  for  your  sake. 

Whom  in  the  glorie  of  his  maiestie  you  shall  se. 

The  workes  which  to  me  the  father  doth  geue, 
164:0       That  I  may  doe  them,  those  workes  to  you,  I  say, 
Beare  witnesse,  if  you  haue  the  grace  to  beleue, 

That  the  father  hath  sent  me  into  the  world  this  day. 

Besides  these  workes,  the  father  that  hath  me  sent. 
Hath  by  many  scriptures  of  me  testified; 

By  the  whiche  the  matter  is  euident. 

That  my  wordes  spoken  before  are  verified. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  71 


But  the  father  you  haue  neuer  heard  speaking, 

And  what  he  is  by  faith  you  haue  neuer  sene ; 
His  word  you  haue  not  in  you  remayning  ; 
1650       Therfore   to  him  whom  he  hath  sent  faithful  you 
haue  not  hen. 
Serch  the  scriptures,  for  you  thi»k  in  your  mind 
That  in  them  you  shall  obtaine  life  eternall; 
[Hi6]    Them  to  beare  witnesse  of  me  you  shall  fynde, 

How  I  am  the  sonne  of  the  liuyng  God  immortall. 

Symon. 

Wei  sir,  you  ar  welcom ;  I  wold  not  haue  you  to  think 

That  I  did  byd  you  hither  to  tempt  or  to  proue, 
But  that  I  would  haue  you  both  to  eate  and  drinke, 

Euen  as  my  entier  friend,  and  for  very  loue. 
Wherfore  any  thing  that  is  here  done  or  sayd 
1660       Shalbe  layd  vnder  foote,  and  go  no  further; 
For  surely  if  your  wordes  should  be  betrayd. 
As  a  blasphemer  the  people  would  you  murder. 

Christ. 

You  know  that  there  is  .xi.  houres  in  the  day, 

And  night  commeth  not  till  the  .xii.  houres  be  expired. 
It  is  not  in  man's  power  my  life  to  take  away. 

Till  the  houre  commeth  of  my  father  required. 

Infidelitie. 

"Vnder  the  foote,"  quod  he?  If  I  kepe  counsell, 

I  would  I  were  hanged  vp  by  the  very  necke. 
Fye  on  hym,  horeson  traitour  and  very  rebell ! 
1670        Hear  you  not  how  god  him  self  he  beginneth  to  check  ? 

Malicious  iudge. 

Though  maister  Symon  doth  but  few  wordes  say. 

Yet  I  warrant  you  he  beareth  this  geare  in  mynde. 
Doubt  thou  not  but  he  will  fynde  suche  way. 

That  he  shal  be  ryd,  and  as  many  as  be  of  his  kynde. 


^ 


72  An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Simon. 

Go  to,  I  pray  you ;  alacke,  you  eate  no  meate : 

You  see  that  at  this  tyme  we  haue  but  plaine  fare. 

Christ 

When  we  haue  sufficient  before  vs  to  eate, 
Let  vs  thanke  God,  and  put  away  all  care. 

Miivij  J\I(i(/(hiIrn  sadly  apparelled. 

The  more  that  I  accustom  my  self  with  repentance, 
1680       The  more  I  see  myne  owne  synne  and  iniquitie ; 
The  more  knowledge  therof,  the  more  greuance. 
To  a  soule  that  is  conuerted  from  hir  impietie. 

To  all  the  worlde  an  example  I  may  be, 
In  whom  the  mercy  of  Christ  is  declared, 
LHii«]  O  Lord,  what  goodnesse  dydst  thou  in  me  see. 
That  thus  mercifully  thou  hast  me  spared  ? 

What  goodnesse  ?  Nay,  rather  what  a  rable  of  euils, 

Full  of  wickednesse,  like  one  past  all  grace, 
Replenished  with  a  multitude  of  deuils, 
1690       Which,  as  in  hell,  in  my  soule  had  their  place. 

These  were  the  merites  and  dedes  that  I  had; 

Onely  thy  vnspeakable  mercy  did  me  preuent; 
And  though  that  my  life  hath  bene  so  bad, 

Yet  thou  wilt  no  more  but  that  I  should  repent. 

0  who  shall  geue  me  a  fountayne  of  teares. 
That  I  may  shed  abundantly  for  my  synne  ? 

This  voice  of  the  Lord  alwais  sou»deth  in  myn  eares : 
"  Repent,repent,  and  thou  shalt  be  sure  heauen  to  wy  n." 

He  saith  also,  "Do  the  fruictes  of  Repentance." 
1700       O  Lord,  who  is  able  those  worthy  fruictes  to  do  ? 

1  am  not  able  to  doe  sufficient  penance. 

Except  thy  grace,  good  Lord,  do  helpe  me  therto. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  73 

But  like  as  the  parts  of  my  body  in  tymes  past 
I  haue  made  seruants  to  all  kynd  of  iniquitie, 

The  same  iniquitie  away  for  euer  I  do  cast, 
And  will  make  my  body  seruant  to  the  veritie. 

This  haire  of  my  head  which  I  haue  abused, 

I  repute  vile  and  vnworthie  to  wipe  my  lordes  fete; 
No  obsequie  therwith  of  me  shalbe  refused, 
1710       To  do  my  Lord  lesus  seruice,  as  it  is  most  mete. 

These  fleshly  eies  which  with  their  wanton  lookes 
Many  persons  to  synne  and  vice  haue  procured. 

They  haue  ben  the  diuel's  volumes  and  bookes, 

Which  from  the  seruice  of  God  haue  other  allured. 

Nowe,  you  synfull  eyes,  shed  out  teares  and  water, 
Wash  the  Lord's  fete  with  them,   whom  you  haue 
oft'ended. 
[Hii6]  To  shew  such  obsequie  to  hym  it  is  a  small  matter, 

Which  by  his  grace  hath  my  synfull  life  amended. 

O  wretched  eies,  can  you  wepe  for  a  thing  temporall, 
1720       As  for  the  losse  of  worldly  goodes  and  parents, 
And  can  you  not  wepe  for  the  lorde  celestiall. 

Which  losse  incomparably  passeth  all  detrimentes  ? 

With  this  oyntment  most  pure  and  precious, 

I  was  wont  to  make  this  carkas  pleasant  and  swete, 

Wherby  it  was  made  more  wicked  and  vicious. 
And  to  all  vnthriftynesse  very  apt  and  mete. 

Now  would  I  gladly  this  oyntment  bestowe 
About  the  innocent  feete  of  my  sauiour. 
That  by  these  penitent  fruictes  my  lord  may  know 
1730       That  I  am  right  sory  for  my  sinfull  behauiour. 


74     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

All  my  worldly  substance  abused  before, 
V  And  through  vnbelief  of  synne  made  instruments, 

Now  will  I  bestow  them  onely  to  his  honor, 

In  helpyng  hym,  and  for  his  sake  other  innocents. 

I  shall  not  ceasse  to  seeke  till  my  lord  I  haue  found; 

He  is  in  the  house  of  Symon,  I  heard  say; 
The  house  standeth  on  yonder  same  ground; 

It  was  told  me  that  he  dyneth  there  to  day. 

I  was  not  ashamed  to  synne  before  the  Lordes  sight, 
17-40       And  shal  I  be  ashamed  before   ma/i  the   same  to 
coyjfesse  ? 
To  my  Lord  lesus  now  forth  will  I  go  right, 

Acknowledgyng  to  him  my  penitent  heart  doubtlesse. 

Let  Marie  creepe  vnder  the  table,  abyding  there  a  |  certayne 
space  behynd,  and  doe  as  it  is  specified  in  |  the  Gospell.  Then 
Malicious  Judgement  spea  |  keth  these  wordes  to  Intidelitie. 

MaUciovLS  iiigement. 

Lo  syr,  what  a  felow  this  is!     It  doth  appere, 

If  he  were  suche  a  prophet  as  of  him  self  he  doth  say, 
[Hiiiaj  He  would  know  what  maner  of  woman  this  same  is  here. 
A  sinner  she  is,  he  can  not  say  nay. 

Injidelitie. 

"A  sinner,"  quod  he  ?  Yea,  she  is  a  wicked  sinner  in  dede. 
This  is  she  from  whom  he  did  me  expell. 
Behold,  how  boldly  after  hym  she  doth  procede. 
1750       A  harlot  she  is,  truly,  I  may  tell  you  in  counsell. 

Malicious  iiidgr. 

Yea,  and  yet  to  touche  hym  he  doth  her  permit, 

Which  is  agaynst  the  law;  for  persons  defiled 
Ought  not  among  the  iust  to  intromit. 

But  from  their  company  should  be  exiled. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  75 

Malicious  iudge.  [Infidelitie?] 

I  pray  you  see,  how  busy  about  hym  she  is. 

She  washeth  his  feet  with  teares  of  hir  eyes: — 
Heigh,  mary,  yonder  is  like  to  be  nothyng  amisse. 

Behold,  she  anoynteth  him  to  driue  away  flies. 

Trow  you  flidi  maister  Symon  thinketh  not  somwhat? 
1760  Yes,  I  hold  you  a  groate,  though  he  say  nothing. 

Malicions  iudge. 

He  is  not  content,  I  warant  you  that ; 

Which  thyng  you  may  see  by  his  lookyng. 

Symon. 

Syrs,  take  away  here,  we  will  no  more  now. 

This  fyrst!  Are  you  in  such  things  to  be  tought? 
What  meane  you?     Wherabout  do  you  looke? 

I  maruell  wherabout  you  do  occupy  your  thought. 

lesus  Christ. 

Simon,  the  truth  is  so,  I  haue  a  thing  in  my  mynd. 
Which  vnto  you  I  must  nedes  expresse  and  say. 
Simon. 

Maister,  say  what  you  will;  wordes  are  but  wynde. 
1770       I  will  heare  you,  truly,  as  paciently  as  I  may. 
Christ. 

There  were  two  detters,  whom  I  dyd  well  know, 

Whiche  were  in  debt  to  a  lender  that  was  thriftie; 
The  one  fine  hundred  pence  truely  did  owe, 
And  the  other  ought  not  aboue  fiftie. 

Neither  of  these  debters  had  wherwith  to  pay ; 

Wherfore  the  lender  forgaue  both,  as  it  dyd  behoue. 
[Hiiib]  Nowe  according  to  your  iudgement  I  pray  you  say, 

Which  of  these  detters  ought  the  lender  most  loue? 
Symon. 

Mary,  he  to  whom  most  was  forgiuen,  I  suppose. 
1780       In  few  wordes  truly  you  haue  heard  my  sentence. 


7G  An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

Christ. 

You  haue  rightly  iudged,  and  to  the  purpose, 
Absoluyng  my  question  like  a  man  of  science. 

See  you  this  woman?     I  know  that  in  your  hertes 
You  condemne  her  as  a  synner  very  vnmete 

To  enter  among  you,  and  to  touche  any  partes 
Of  my  body,  yea,  either  head  or  feete; 

Saying  among  your  selues,   "If  this  were  a  Prophet, 

He  would  know  what  maner  a  woman  this  is. 
Which  thus  commeth  in  while  we  be  at  meate; 
1790       A  sinner  she  is,  and  hath  done  greatly  amisse." 

I  say  vnto  you,  that  into  this  world  I  am  come 
To  call  suche  great  detters  vnto  repentance. 

The  iust,  which  in  their  co;<ceits  owe  but  a  small  suwme, 
Haue  no  nede  of  their  creditours'  deliuerance. 

InjidcJUic. 

What  a  thief  is  this!     He  iudgeth  our  master's  thoght. 
If  we  destroy  hym  not,  he  will  surely  marre  all. 

Mah'ciows  ixdgc. 

I  euer  sayd  that  he  was  worse  than  nought ; 
But  among  vs  puruey  for  him  we  shall. 

Symon. 

Sir,  you  take  vpon  you  very  presumptuously ; 
1800       I  haue  bydden  you  vnto  my  house  here  of  good  will, 
And  you  reason  of  matters  here  contemptuously: 
But  take  your  pleasure,  it  shall  not  greatly  skill. 

Chrisf. 

I  say  vnto  you,  that  for  this  cause  was  I  borne. 

To  beare  witnesse  vnto  the  veritie. 
I  see  who  be  hypocrites  full  of  dissemblyng  scorne, 

And  who  be  persons  of  faith  and  simplicitie. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  77 

Where  as  you  thinke  you  haue  done  me  pleasure, 
In  bidding  me  to  eate  and  drinke  with  you  here, 
fHivrt]  Your  intent  was  to  sliew  your  richesse  and  treasure, 
1810       And  that  your  holynesse  might  to  me  appeare. 

But  this  woman  hath  shewed  to  me  a  little  obsequie; 

For  these  gestures  whiclie  she  sheweth  to  me 
Procede  from  a  true  meanyng  heart,  verily, 

As  by  her  humilite  plainly  you  may  see. 

When  I  came  into  your  house  the  truth  to  say, 
You  gaue  me  no  water  to  washe  my  f eete  withall ; 

This  woman  hath  washed  them  here  this  day 

With  the  teares  of  her  eies  which  on  them  did  fall ; 

With  the  haire  of  hir  head  she  hath  wiped  the  same, 
1820       Thinking  all  other  clothes  therto  ouer  vile ; 
Horrible  in  hir  sight  is  hir  synne  and  blame, 
Thinkyng  hir  self  worthy  of  eternall  exile. 

You  gaue  me  no  kisse,  as  the  maner  of  the  countrey  is ; 

But  this  woman,  since  the  tyme  that  I  came  in. 
Would  not  presume  my  head  or  mouth  to  kisse. 

But  my  feete,  lamenting  in  hir  heart  for  hir  syn. 

My  head  you  did  not  anoynt  with  oyle  so  swete. 
As  men  of  this  countrey  do  their  guestes  vse ; 
But  with  most  precious  balme  she  anointed  my  fete; 
1830       No  cost  about  that  oyntment  she  doth  refuse. 

Blessed  are  they,  as  the  Prophete  doth  say. 

Whose  sinnes  are  forgiuen  and  couered  by  God's 
mercy ; 

Not  by  the  dedes  of  the  lawe,  as  you  thinke  this  day, 
But  of  God's  good  will,  fauour  and  grace,  freely. 

At  this  woman's  synne  you  do  greatly  grutche, 
As  though  your  selues  were  iust,  holy,  and  pure ; 


78     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

But  many  sinnes  are  forgiuen  hir  bicause  she  loued 
muche, 
And  of  the  mercy  of  God  she  is  sure. 

He  to  whom  but  a  little  is  remitted  in  dede 
1840       Loueth  but  a  little,  we  se  by  experience. 
fHivfci  All  haue  sinned,  and  of  God's  glory  haue  nede; 
Therfore  humble  your  selues  with  penitence. 

I  say  to  thee,  woman,  thy  synnes  are  forgeuen,  all ; 

God  for  my  sake  will  not  them  to  thee  impute: 
For  strength  to  continue,  to  hym  do  thou  call. 

And  see  that  thankes  thou  do  to  hym  attribute. 

3I((rij. 

The  mercy  of  God  is  aboue  all  his  workes,  truely; 

What  is  it  that  God  is  not  able  to  bryng  to  passe? 
I  thanke  thee.  Lord  lesu,  for  thy  great  mercy; 
1850       Thou  art  the  sonne  of  the  liuyng  God,  our  Messias. 

3f(ilici(ms  iudge. 

How  say  you  by  this?     Here  is  a  greater  matter  yet: 
He  forgiueth  synnes,  as  one  with  God  equall. 

Infidel  Hie. 

And  he  may  perceiue  truely,  that  hath  any  wit, 
That  he  is  but  a  man  wretched  and  mortall. 

Chrisf. 

Woman,  I  say,  thy  faith  hath  saued  thee;  go  in  peace. 

Now  art  thou  pacified  in  thy  conscience. 
Through  thy  faitlie,  I  doe  all  thy  sinnes  releace, 
Assuryng  thee  to  haue  mercy  for  thy  negligence. 

Mary. 

O  ioyfull  tydynges,  O  message  most  comfortable! 
18G0       Let  no  sinner,  be  he  neuer  in  so  great  dispaire, 
Though  he  were  synfull  and  abhominable. 
Let  him  come,  and  he  will  make  hym  faire. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  79 

Blessed  be  the  Lord,  of  such  compassion  and  pitie; 

Praise  we  his  name  with  glorie  and  honor; 
I  shall  declare  his  mercy  in  towne  and  citie. 

Thankes  be  to  thee,  my  Lord,  now  and  euermore. 

Symon. 

I  see  the  wordes  whiche  I  haue  heard,  proued  true. 
Men  say  that  you  are  new  f angled  and  friuolous, 
Goyng  about  the  law  and  our  rulers  to  subdue, 
1870       Introducyng  sectes  perillous  and  sedicious. 

Maliciows,  imhje. 

I  can  no  longer  contain e,  but  must  say  my  mynde. 
In  dede  it  is  so,  for  by  his  diuelishe  erudition, 
[lia]     Which  he  soweth  among  the  people  of  our  kynde, 
At  length  they  will  make  a  tumult  and  sedition. 

Such  blasphemy  since  the  beginning  was  not  heard, 
That  a  man  shal  call  him  self  God's  naturall  sonne; 

To  condemne  the  law  of  God  he  is  not  afeard, 
Despisyng  all  things  that  our  fathers  haue  done. 

Injidelitie. 

Pleaseth  it  you,  reuerend  father,  to  geue  me  licence 
1880       To  say  my  mynde  to  this  blasphemer  and  thiefe, 
In  fewe  wordes  you  shall  haue  my  sentence: 
Of  all  heretikes  I  iudge  hym  to  be  the  chiefe. 

Perceiue  you  not,  how  he  doth  begyn? 

He  commeth  to  none  of  the  princes  and  gouerners, 
But  a  sort  of  synners  he  goeth  about  to  wyn. 

As  publicans,  whores,  harlots,  and  vniust  occupiers. 

Then  he  preferreth  before  such  men  as  you  be. 
Saying,  that  they  before  you  shall  be  saued. 
An  honest  man  in  his  company  you  shall  not  see, 
1890       But  euen  them  which  haue  them  selues  yll  behaued. 


80     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

MiK'li  good  doe  it  you ;  here  is  sause  for  your  meate. 

Maister  Simon,  looke  vpon  this  felow  in  season, 
For  in  continuance  he  will  worke  such  a  feate, 

That  you  shall  not  release  with  all  your  reason. 

Christ. 

0  Symon,  put  away  that  Malicious  iudgement, 
Which  in  your  heart  you  do  stubbornly  contayne. 

You  shall  not  perceyue  God's  commandement, 
As  long  as  he  in  your  conscience  doth  remayne. 

Malic  ions  iiKjcment. 

Lo,  syr,  now  that  God  he  hath  blasphemed, 
1900       Now  his  law  he  doth  contemne  and  despise; 
The  Justice  therof  of  hym  is  nothyng  estemed ; 
To  destroy  the  same  vtterly  he  doth  deuise. 

Sijmon. 

Thinke  you  vs  ignorant  of  god's  law  and  will, 
Which  vpon  our  garments  do  them  weare  ? 
[li?']     Who  but  we  doe  the  law  of  God  fulfill, 

For  his  precepts  with  vs  in  all  places  we  beare  ? 

Christ. 

To  fulfill  the  law  requireth  God's  spirite, 
For  the  law  is  holy,  iust,  and  spirituall; 
Of  loue  to  be  obserued  it  is  requisite, 
1910       And  not  of  these  obseruances  externall. 

As  long  as  you  haue  this  malicious  iudgement, 
Accompanied  with  Infidelitie, 

1  say  you  can  not  kepe  God's  commaundement, 

Though  you  shew  an  outward  sanctitie. 

Injidclitic. 

Lo,  syr,  here  he  calleth  me  Infidelitie, 

And  you  know  that  I  am  called  Legal  lustification ; 
You  heare  that  it  was  spoken  by  God's  maiestie, 

That  a  man  shall  line  by  the  lawes  obseruation. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene.  81 

An  honest  guest!     Come  out,  dogge!     Yea,  mary, 
1920       Good  maners  thus  to  taunt  a  man  at  his  table! 
But  with  fooles  it  is  foUie  to  vary  ; 

His  wordes  be  taken  but  as  a  tale  or  a  fable. 

Sijmon. 

Away  with  this  geare!     How  long  shall  we  syt  here? 
At  once!     We  haue  somewhat  els  to  do,  I  thinke. 

Christ. 

Thankes  be  to  thee,  O  Father,  for  this  chere ; 

Thankes  be  to  thee  for  our  repast  of  meate  and  drinke. 

Now,  sir,  you  shall  licence  me  to  depart; 

And  the  heauenly  Father  might  illumine  your  mynd, 
Expellyng  this  infidelitie  from  your  hart, 
1930       Which  with  Malicious  iudgeme/it  kepeth  you  blynd. 

Symon. 

Fare  ye  well!     For  me,  you  shall  no  countes  render; 
All  shall  be  layd  vnder  the  feete  that  is  here  spoken. 

Tnfide. 

Though  you  forget  it,  yet  we  purpose  to  remember. 

You  know  the  way ;  go,  I  pray  you ;  the  doore  is  open. 

Exit. 
Malicious  iudge. 

For  God's  sake,  syr,  you  and  such  as  you  be, 

Looke  vpon  this  felow,  by  myne  aduise; 

[liia]    For  what  he  goth  about  all  you  may  see; 

Yea,  you  haue  had  warnyng  of  hym  twise  or  thrise. 

Infidelitie. 

All  the  multitude  beginneth  after  him  to  ronne; 
1940       You  see  hym  and  know  his  doctrine  and  opinion ; 
If  you  suffer  hym  till  more  people  he  hath  wonne, 
Strangers  shall  come  and  take  our  dominion. 

Haue  you  not  heard  his  open  blasphemie? 

The  Sonne  of  God  he  presumeth  him  self  to  name ; 


82     An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

The  Justice  of  the  lawe  he  condemneth  vtterly; 
To  suffer  him  to  lyue  will  turne  to  your  shame. 

Symon. 

It  shall  behoue  you  to  dog  him  from  place  to  place; 
Note  whether  openly  he  teache  suche  doctrine; 

If  he  doe,  accuse  hym  before  his  face; 
1950       For  I  will  cause  the  byshops  hym  to  examine. 

IiiJidcJUic. 

And  where  as  he  willeth  you  vs  to  expell, 

Callyng  vs  wicked  nicknames  at  his  pleasure, 
He  goeth  about  to  make  you  to  rebell 

Against    God    (iiul   his   lawes,   as  he  doth   without 
mesure. 

Malicions  iugcment. 

For  my  part  I  wil  watche  hym  so  narowly, 

That  a  word  shall  not  scape  me  that  doth  sounde 
Agaynst  you,  the  fathers,  that  Hue  so  holyly. 

But  to  accuse  hym  for  it  a  way  shalbe  found. 

Symon. 

Well,  the  tyme  of  our  euenyng  seruice  is  at  hand ; 
1960       We  must  depart,  the  sacrifice  to  prepare. 

Infideli. 

If  you  depart,  we  may  not  here  ydle  stande; 

For  to  wayte  vpon  you  at  all  tymes  ready  we  are. 

Exeunt. 

Mary  entreth  with  Justification. 

At  my  beyng  here  euen  now  of  late. 
It  pleased  my  Lord  lesus,  of  his  great  mercy, 
To  speake  sentences  here  in  my  presence. 
Of  the  which  I  haue  no  perfect  intelligence. 
The  fyrst  is:    "Many  sinnes  are  forgiuen  hir,"  sayd 
he, 
"Because  she  hath  loued  much," — meanyng  me. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  83 

[lii'']     I  pray  yoa,  most  holy  lustification, 

1970  Of  this  sentence  to  make  a  declaration. 
lustification.  ^ 

A  question  right  necessary  to  be  moued, 
For  therby  many  errors  shall  be  reproued. 
It  were  a  great  errour  for  any  man  to  beleue 
That  your  loue  dyd  deserue  that  Christ  shold  forgeue 
Your  synnes  or  trespasses,  or  any  synne  at  all; 
For  so  to  beleue  is  an  errour  fanaticall. 
And  how  can  your  loue  desyre  forgiuenesse  of  your  yl, 
Seing  that  the  law  it  is  not  able  to  fulfill? 
The  law  thus  commaundeth  as  touchyng  loue: 

1980  Thou  shalt  loue  thy  Lord  God  as  it  doth  behoue, 

With  al  thy  hert,  with  al  thy  soule,  and  with   al  thy 

stre/igth ; 
And  thy  neighbor  as  thy  self.      He  saith  also  at  length : 
There  was  neuer  man  borne  yet  that  was  able 
To  per  forme  these  preceptes  iust,  holy,  and  stable. 
Sane  onely  lesus  Christ,  that  lambe  most  innocent. 
Which  f ulfilleth  the  law  for  suche  as  are  penitent. 
But  loue  foloweth  forgiuenesse  of  synnes  euermore. 
As  a  fruict  of  faith,  and  goth  not  before. 
In  that  parable  which  vnto  you  he  recited, 

1990  Wherin  he  declared  your  sinnes  to  be  acquited. 
He  called  you  a  detter  not  able  to  pay: 
Then  your  loue  paid  not  your  dets,  perceiue  you  may. 
The  forgiuenesse  of  your  sinnes  you  must  referre 
Only  to  Christes  grace ;  then  you  shall  not  erre. 
Of  this  thing  playn  knowledge  you  may  haue. 
In  these  wordes:  "Go  in  peace,  thy  fayth  doth  thee  saue." 
So  by  faith  in  Christ  you  haue  lustification 
Frely  of  his  grace,  and  beyond  man's  operation ; 
The  which  lustification  here  I  do  represent, 

2000  Which  remayn  with  all  suche  as  be  penitent. 


84  An  Enterlude  of  the  Repentance 

[liiio]  Here  commeth  loue,  a  speciall  fruicte  of  Faith. 
As  touchyng  this,  heare  mekely  what  he  saith. 

Mary. 

O,  how  much  am  I  vnto  lesus  Christ  bound, 

In  whom  so  great  mercy  (uul  goodnesse  I  haue  found? 

Not  onely  my  synfuU  lyfe  he  hath  renued, 

But  also  with  many  graces  he  hathe  me  endued. 

Loue  entreth. 

I  am  named  loue,  from  true  faith  procedyng. 
Where  I  am  there  is  no  vertue  nedyng, 
Loue  commyng  of  a  conscience  immaculate, 

2010  And  of  a  faith  not  fained  nor  simulate, 

Is  the  end  of  the  law,  as  Scripture  doth  say. 
And  vnto  eternall  felicitie  the  very  path  way. 
This  loue  grounded  in  Faith,  as  it  is  sayd. 
Hath  caused  many  euyls  in  men  to  be  layd. 
For  where  as  the  loue  of  God  in  any  is  perfite. 
There  in  all  good  workes  is  his  whole  delite. 
This  true  loue  with  Mary  was  present,  verily, 
When  to  Christ  she  shewed  that  obsequie. 
But  this  loue  dyd  procede  from  beleue; 

2020  When  Christ  of  his  mercy  dyd  hir  sinnes  forgeue, 
Loue  deserued  not  forgeuenesse  of  sinnes  in  dede, 
But  as  a  fruite  therof  truely  it  did  succede. 

lust  ijicat  ion. 

Of  this  matter  we  might  tary  very  long. 
But  then  we  should  do  our  audience  wrong. 
Which  gently  hath  heard  vs  here  a  long  space; 
Wherfore  we  will  make  an  end  nowe  by  God's  grace, 
Praying  God  that  all  we  example  may  take 
Of  Mary,  our  synfuU  lyues  to  forsake; 
And  no  more  to  looke  backe,  but  to  go  forward  still, 
2030  Folowyng  Christ  as  she  did,  and  his  holy  will. 


OF  Mary  Magdalene  85 

Loue. 

Such  persons  we  introduce  into  presence, 

To  declare  the  conuersion  of  hir  offence. 
[iiii6]   Fyrst,  the  lawe  made  a  playne  declaration, 

That  she  was  a  chylde  of  eternall  damnation: 

By  hearyng  of  the  law  came  knowledge  of  synne ; 

Then  for  to  lament  truely  she  dyd  begynne. 

Nothyng  but  desperation  dyd  in  hir  remayne, 

Lokyng  for  none  other  comfort  but  for  hell  payne. 

But  Christ,  whose  nature  is  mercy  to  haue, 
2040  Came  into  this  world  synners  to  saue; 

Which  preached  repentance,  synnes  to  forgeue, 

To  as  many  as  in  hym  faithfully  dyd  beleue. 

By  the  word  came  faith;  Faith  brought  penitence; 

But  bothe  the  gyft  of  God's  magnificence. 

Thus  by  Faith  onely  Marie  was  iustified. 

Like  as  before  it  is  playnly  verified: 

From  thens  came  loue,  as  a  testification 

Of  God's  mercy  and  her  iustification. 

Mary. 

Now  God  graunt  that  we  may  go  the  same  way, 
2050  That  with  ioy  we  may  ryse  at  the  last  day, 

To  the  saluation  of  soule  and  body  euermore, 
Through  Christ  our  Lord,  to  whom  be  all  honor. 

FINIS. 


NOTES 

Title-page  of  the  reprint,  line  17:  "Foure,"  possibly  a  misprint 
for  "fine."  See  Introduction,  above,  p.  xvii.  The  entry  itself  may 
be  taken  as  indicating  that  the  play  was  designed  for  a  regular 
company  of  strolling  actors  rather  than  for  schoolboys.  Cf.  Cham- 
bers, II,'  p.  188. 

THE    PROLOGUE 

I,  2.  Verum  nulla  tarn  modesta  f elicit  as  est,  quae  malignitatis 
denies  vitare  possit. — Valerius  Maximus,  IV,  vii. 

II.  This  comely  and  good  facnltie,  refers,  I  take  it,  to  the  "fac- 
ulty" or  art  of  acting  (as  the  following  context  seems  to  show), 
rather  than  to  that  of  play-writing.  The  words  are  written  to 
express  the  actors',  not  the  author's,  sentiments. 

16.  Nee  tua,  etc.     Horace,  Epistola  xviii  {ad  Lollium),  39. 

22.  Cf.  W.  C.  Hazlitt,  English  Proverbs,  p.  238:  "111  will  never 
said  well." 

26.  Yea,  we  haue  vsed  this  feate  at  the  vniuersitie,  does  not 
necessarily  mean  that  the  actors  had  played  this  very  play  at  "  the 
university."  "This  feate"  refers  to  "our  facultie,"  or  the  business 
of  acting.  The  phrase  could  hardh^  refer  to  the  feat  of  composing 
plays,  in  pursuit  of  which  a  playwright,  and  especially  a  cleric  like 
Wager,  would  not  be  likely  to  ride  and  go  many  ways.  This  whole 
prologue  is  an  interesting  and  very  early  document  in  the  history  of 
the  Elizabethan  and  pre-Elizabethan  controversy  over  stage-plays 
and  acting.  The  drama  is  here  conceived  as  a  serious  social  and  edu- 
cational instrument.  But  men  like  best  to  be  amused  ! — In  the  lines 
which  follow  (31  ff.)  the  term  "  our  facultie"  seems  to  be  stretched 
to  cover  also  the  content  of  the  actors'  lines,  /.  e.,  the  playwright's 
contribution  as  well  as  the  actors'.  But  it  is  an  actor  doiibtless 
who  is  supposed  to  be  speaking,  and  not  the  author.  Cf.  1.  42. 
On  sixteenth  century  performances  at  the  universities  cf.  Chambers, 
MedioRval  Stage,  II,  pp.  194  ff.;  Churchill  and  Keller,  in  the  Shake- 
speare-Jahrbuch,  XXXIV,  pp.  220-323. 

32.  al  thing.     Used  in  a  collective  sense;  cf.  everything. 

43.  whether  you  gene  halfpeiice  or  pence  —  indicating  possibly 

87 


88  Notes 

a  double  scale  of  admission  to  the  plaj',  perhaps  according  to 
location  or  aeconiniodation;  that  the  actors  sometimes,  however, 
depended  upon  voluntary  contributions  appears  from  occasional 
allusions,  as  in  Mavkind,  11.  i'lO  ff. 

53-58.  The  author's  homiletical  motive,  to  expound  "tioie 
beleue''  and  make  manifest  that  faith  was  the  root  of  the  love 
which  saved  Mary  Majifdalen. 

(57.  This  is  the  traditional  inttMpretation,  adopted  in  all  the  pre- 
ceding^ Eng-lish  versions  of  the  story  of  ^Mary  Magdalen  from  the 
Legenda  Aurea.    Cf.  Caxtou's  Golden  Legend:  "Mary  Magdalene 

had  her  sui-name  of  Magdalo,  a  castle She  with  her  brother 

Lazarus,  and  her  sister  Martha,  possessed  the  castle  of  Magdalo, 
which  is  two  miles  from  Nazareth."     Cf.  1.  184  in  Text,  above. 

68,  69.  Cf.  Mark  16:9  and  Luke  8:2. 

70.  Among  the  Doctours  consiUted  by  Wager  may  very  likely 
have  been  Erasmus,  the  English  translation  of  whose  Paraphrase 
upon  the  newe  iestamente  appeared  in  1548.  The  translation  of 
the  paraphrase  upon  Luke  is  dated  1545  and  was  made  by  Nicolas 
Udall.  Erasnuis,  however,  is  nonconnnittal  and  does  not  expressly 
identify  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner  of  Luke,  chap.  7,  with  the 
Mary  Magdalen  named  in  Luke,  chap.  8,  as  Wager  does.  But  his 
inteipretations  of  the  moi-al  sense  of  the  chapter  otherwise  corre- 
spond with  those  of  Wager.  A  second  doctour  may  have  been 
Bishop  Fisher  (see  above,  p.  xxviii,  n.  4).  The  Netherlander  Philici- 
nus,  whose  Latin  drama,  Magdalciia,  appeared  in  1544,  may  have 
been  another  of  Wager's  authorities.  This  last  point  I  have  been 
inia])le  to  verify. 

80.  Cf.  W.  Wager,  The  Longer  thou  lirc.st,  1.  1896:  "We  desire 
no  man  here  to  be  offended." 

80-83.  These  lines  seem  to  hv  an  excuse,  addi-essed  to  a  Pmi- 
tan-minded  audience,  for  introducing  such  a  figure  as  Christ's  upon 
the  stage  at  all  in  company  with  the  vices  of  the  piece,  as  well  as  for 
painting  the  passages  of  life  with  some  realism,  and  for  giving  no 
absolute  heroine,  purely  edifying  in  her  conduct,  in  Mary,  but  a  real 
woman  of  llesh  and  lilood,  in  whom  virtues  and  vices  "depend." 
To  the  nuxlern  mind  of  course  this  opposition  is  the  very  first  prin- 
ciple of  drama. 

THE    TEXT 

2-4.  Infidelity  enters  uttering  a  medley  of  nonsense  and  scraps 
of  quotations  traditional  with  and  id«'ntifying  the  part  of  the  Vice 


Notes  89 

in  the  moralit}' -plays  and  other  "interludes."    C/".,  for  example,  the 

entrance  of  Infidelity's  counteipart  "Infidelitas"  in  Bale's  Comedy 

Concenninge  Thre  Lawes,  11.  178  ff.  (ed.  Schroeer,  Halle,  1882,  p.  29). 

Salvator  mundi  are  the  opening  words  of  one  of  the  ancient  hymns 

of  the  Church  used   in  the  service  for  Advent,  the  Nativity,  All 

Saints,  etc.    The  Kyrie  eleison  follows  the  Introit  in  the  mass.    At 

solemn  mass,  Ite,  missa  est,  is  chanted;  while  Alleluya  would  be 

heard  constantly  in  the  musical  part  of  the  service  or  in  hymns. 

Sed  libera  uos  d  iiialo,   is  a  portion  of  the  Latin  version  of  the 

Lord's  Prayer,  repeated  in  the  mass.     The  parody  of  the  Catholic 

service  here  suggested  is  parallel  to  that  of  "Mahound"   in  the 

Mary  Magdalene  of  the  Digby  Plays,  11.  1185  ff.     See  also  Roister 

Doister ;  Skelton,  j^cissim ;  the  Mass  of  Drunkards  {Reliq.  Antiq.)  ; 
etc. 

9.  deace  =  dais,  but  monosyllabic,  as  regularly  in  sixteenth 
century  English,  and  here  rhjaning  with  meace.  Cf.  Halliwell, 
s.  v.  Deis. 

11.  meace,  perhaps  =  mess,  i.  e.  helping — or  perhaps  the  first 
company  at  dinner  to  be  helped.  Missum,  O.  Fr.  mes,  Mod.  Fr. 
mets,  "ce  qui  est  mis  sur  la  table."     Cf.  Nares,  s.  v.  Mess. 

18.  For  the  idiom  cf.  the  refrain  of  the  old  song  of  Lady  Green- 
sleeves  (sixteenth  century):  "and  who  but  my  Lady  Greensleeves." 

33.  In  the  text  of  1566  this  line  appears  as  Infidelitie,  no  beware 
of  me  Infidelitie,  which  we  perhaps  should  punctuate  as  Infideli- 
tie! No;  beware  of  me,  Infidelitie! 

38-40.  Unless  the  word  visour  be  here  used  in  a  purely  meta- 
phorical sense,  these  lines  might  be  taken  to  indicate  that  part 
of  the  disguise  of  the  vices  or  at  least  of  Infidelitiy,  the  Vice,  was  a 
mask  worn  over  the  face.  Later  allusions  in  the  text,  however  (as 
in  11.  407  if.,  1571),  render  this  improbable.  Yet  masks  were  often 
used  in  the  pre-Shaksperian  drama.  See,  for  example.  All  for 
Money.  {Cf.  Shakespeare- Jahrb.,  XL,  pp.  134,  155,  183).  Cf. 
Eckhardt,  Die  lustige  Person,  p.  141,  who  assumes  the  use  of  a 
mask  by  Infidelity. 

41-48.  These  are  the  conventional  seven  deadly  sins  of  mediae- 
val theology,  traditionally  associated  with  Mary  on  the  basis  of  the 
biblical  account  of  the  seven  devils  which  Christ  cast  out  from  her 
(herein  represented  at  1.  1300).  Cf.  Creizenach,  I,  p.  196.  Three 
of  them,  under  slightly  altered  names,  joined  with  Iniquity  the 
Vice,  are  here,  later,  represented  as  Mary's  chief  tempters. 


IH)  Notes 

59.  In  the  original  That  he  in  the  worlde  I  fhinke,  so  God  me 
sane,  Not  a  garment,  etc.  The  period  perhaps  should  be  after 
sane,  instead  of  thi»ke. 

91.  J  knoa-  that  i/on  come  of  a  worshipful  stock.  According  to 
the  legend:  "Mary  Magdalene  ....  was  born  of  right  noble  lin- 
eage and  parents,  which  were  descended  of  the  lineage  of  kings" 
(Caxton's  Golden  Legend).     Cf.  11.  127-9,  below. 

121.  Verba  iniellariDu  foliis  Iriiiora  cad2(cis.  Ovid,  Anwres, 
II,  xvi,  45. 

129.  of  a,  n-orshipfuU  f//sposi'//o«,  apparently  =  in  an  honored 
position  or  condition  in  life. 

140.  can  little  skill,  know  but  little  how,  have  but  little  skill, 
cf.  N.E.D.,  S.V.,  can,  B,  I,  c. 

162-79.  The  theme  which  our  author  here  improves  upon  was  a 
favorite  one  with  the  interlude  writers.  Cf.,  for  example.  The  Dis- 
obedient Child,  and  Nice  Wanton,  both  of  about  1560. 

174.  Puellae pestis  indulgentiaparentum.  I  have  been  unable 
to  identify  this  quotation.  It  is,  however,  referred  to  and  partly 
repeated  in  William  Wager's  The  Longer  thou  livest  the  more 
fool  thou  art  {Shakespeare- Jahrbuch,  XXXVI,  p.  41). 

189.  plant,  i.  e.,  apparently  "the  castel  of  Magdalene,  with  the 
purtenance."  An  anticipation  of  one  of  the  special  modern  mean- 
ings of  the  word.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  5. 

227.  by  my  maydenhood.  Eckhardt,  Die  lustige  Person,  p. 
141,  remarks  upon  this  phrase:  "Die  cynische  Beteuerung  des 
Y'lce, 'by  my  maydenhood,'  konnte  als  Beispiel  einer  fi-eiwilligen 
passiven  Komik  gelten."  No  more,  and  no  less,  than  the  same 
character's  Faith  of  my  body  in  line  215.  The  phrase  is  nothing 
more  than  a  common  expletive,  in  all  probability  without  special 
application.     But  see  Eckhardt,  p.  214. 

280.  1  make  God  auow.  Cf.  the  same  phrase  in  Bale's  Kynge 
Johan  (Camden  Soc.),  p.  64.  Also  in  W.  Wager's  The  Longer,  etc., 
1.  746.     It  is  common  elsewhere  in  sixteenth  century  English. 

237-240.  To  a  similar  effect  "Sinne"  the  Vice  in  All  for 
Money,  1.  546  {Shakespeare-Jahrbuch,  XL,  p.  159),  ])roclaims  that 
he  contains  "al  sinnes  generally."  And  so  frequently  in  other 
moralities.     Cf.  Eckhardt,  Die  lustige  Person,  pp.  101, 103. 194,  etc. 

267.  Infidelitie  in  our  father's  cause  is  occtipied.  Wager 
seems  to  confuse  somewhat  the  genealogy  of  his  Vices.  In  1.  232 
Infidelity  refers  to  this  worshipful  company  as  "  my  ofspryng"  (cf 


Notes  91 

1.  39,  where  /wpf^s  may  bear  the  old  meatiinj?  of  "sons,"  "off- 
sprhig"),  and  in  1.  237  to  "my  father  Sathan."  Here  Cupidity 
seems  to  claim  Satan  as  father  of  the  lot.  In  Bale's  Kijrujc  Johan 
(Camden  Soc.  p.  26)  Infydelyte  is  named  as  "granfather"  of  the 
vices. 

302.  bealy  chere.     Cf.  All  for  Money,  1. 1462,  "bellie  pleasiue." 

318.  Cf.  1  Tim.,  6:10. 

347.  of  pride,  i.  e.,  out  of  pride,  as  a  result  of  pride. 

362.  An  early  appearance  of  the  doctrine  of  the  hell  that  is  in 
this  life,  to  be  found  later  in  Marlowe,  Milton,  Byron,  and  others. 

391-400.  Cf.  Isa.  59:17;  61:3,10;  Eph.  6:13;  also  Logeman, 
Elckerlyc-Everyman  (Ghent,  1902),  pp.  130  f . 

423.  Maidens  {quod  she)!  This  figure  and  turn  of  phrase, 
which  Wager  so  much  affects,  is  not  uncommon  elsewhere  among 
his  contemporaries.  See,  for  example.  Bale's  Tentjitacyon  (ed. 
Grosart,  in  "Miscl.  of  Fuller  Wor.  Libr.  1870)",  p.  16: 

"What,  holy,  quoth  he?     Naye,  ye  were  neuer  so  holye,"  etc. 

425.  ?o  =  too.    So  in  427  o/=  off. 

431.  Maxima  quaeque  domus  semis  est  plena  superbis.  Juve- 
nal, Sat.  V,  66. 

433.  naughtie  seruantes.  "Servis  .  .  .  .  superbis"  would  sug- 
gest that  naughtie  is  possibly  a  misprint  for  haiightie. 

460.  Slightly  misquoted  from  O^ad,  Metamor^jhoses,  IV,  64,  who 
writes : 

Quoque  magis  tegitur,  tectus  magis  aestuat  ignis, 
said  of  the  love  of  Pyramus  and  Thisbe.     Mary,  1.  463,  claims  to 
understand  the  general  application  of  the  figure.     We  later  (1.  690) 
find  her  quoting  Latin  verses  "  that  I  learned  ....  when  I  went 
to  schoole." 

477.  heart  of  gold.  See  the  same  term  of  endearment  in  Bale's 
Thre  Laices,  1.  478. 

487.  After  this  line  the  stage  direction  Pride  embraces  Mary 
may  be  understood.  The  action  calls  forth  Infidelity's  exclamation 
in  the  next  line. 

505.  Homo  homini  Dens  est,  si  suvmi  officium  sciat  —  Caecilius 
Statins,  1. 264 (p.  89,  in  O.  Ribbeck,  Comicornm  Eomanorum  jyraeter 
Plautnm.  Fragmenta,  3d  ed.,  Leipzig,  1898). 

530  ff.  The  interesting  satire  on  manners  and  dress  which 
follows  evidently  is  frankly  Tudor  in  time  without  fear  of 
anachronism. 


92  .       Notes 

566-73.  There  is  equivocation  here  between  the  two  kinds  of 
pox  most  mentioned  in  the  literature  of  the  age,  calling'  forth 
Mary's  blushes  and  the  asseveration  of  Infidelity  in  1.  573. 

573.  gaiides  or  mockes.  Cf.  W.  Wager,  The  Longer  thou 
livest,  1.  4:77  ("Neither  mockes  nor  gaudes"). 

581.  prety  yong  lones,  i.  e.,  Joans,  maids. 

597.  Bleeding  at  the  nose  has  always  been  regarded  as  an  omen 
{cf.  the  Malone  Variorum  Shakespeare,  V,  54;?/).  and  sometimes  as 
an  omen  of  love  {cf.  Brand,  Pop.  Antiq.,  1855,  III,  p.  175). 

602,  past,  i.  e.,  paste. 

612.  Some  ivomen.     Misprinted  as  Som  eivomen  in  original. 

642.  Voluptas  aiifem  est  sola,  quae  nos  vocet  ad  se,  et  alliciat 
suapte  natara  —  Cicero,  De  Finibus,  T,  xvi. 

648-51.  The  word  or  two  which  Concupiscence  puts  in  Mary's 
ear  are  doubtless  similar  in  tenor  to  those  whispered  to  Moros  by 
Pastime  in  W.  Wager's  The  Longer  thou  livest;  cf.  11.  839-42 
{Shakespeare- J ahrbuch,  XXXVI,  p.  37). 

654.  Juvenal,  Sat.,  vi,  269.  The  true  reading  of  these  lines,  dif- 
fering from  Wager's,  is: 

Semper  habet  lites,  alternaque  jurgia,  lectus 
In  quo  nupta  jacet;  minimum  dormitur  in  illo. 

694.  The  word  laugh  in  this  line  looks  like  a  stage  direction 
which  has  crept  into  the  text.  But  cf.  1.  927,  below,  and  the  same 
phrase  in  Bale's  Kynge  Johan  (Camden  Soc),  p.  65. 

707.  Forma  bonum  fragile  est,  quantumque  accedit  ad  annos, 
Fit  minor,  et  spatio  carpitur  ipsa  suo. 
Nee  violae  semper  nee  hiantia  lilia  florent, 
Et  rigef  amissa  spina  relicta  rosa. 
— Ovid,  De  Arte  Amandi,  II,  113. 

783  ff.,  the  song.  With  the  comparisons  with  Lais,  Thais, 
and  Helen,  cf.  the  similar  comparisons  in  the  Balade  in  Chaucer's 
Legend  of  Good  Women,  The  Prologue,  11.  249  ff.  Other  compari- 
sons (hair  of  gold,  eyes  gray  as  glass,  teeth  white  as  whale's  bone) 
are  commonplaces  of  medi;eval  poetry. 

796.  The  Huffa  of  this  refrain,  and  of  1.  1001  below,  is  the  six- 
teenth century  form  of  the  Hof  of  the  evil  spirits  in  the  mystery- 
plays.     Cf.  Collier,  Hist.,  II,  p.  154. 

845.  the  Citie  of  Nairn  [Nain].  Cf  Luke  7:11.  Given  as  Naim 
in  the  sixteenth  century  versions  of  the  Bible. 


Notes       ,  93 

850.  C/.  Luke  7:12-15. — Agayne  he  did  rayse,  i.  e.,  resurrect, 
raise  to  life  again;  cf.  1.  1271. 

895.  A'e  credas  tempori.  I  am  unal)le  to  place  this  quotation. 
The  context  would  seem  to  indicate  the  Vulgate,  but  I  cannot  trace 
the  phrase  there.    Not  entered  in  the  Sacronim  Biblioimm  Vnl- 

gatae  editionis  Concordanfiae,  auctore  Hugone  Cardinali 

Lugduni,  1665.  Trust  not  the  tynie  he  doth  say,  i.  e.,  do  not  tiiist  in 
the  date  he  names. 

1000.  for  you,  i.  e.,  so  far  as  concerns  you.  Cf.  N.  E.  D.,  s.  v. 
for,  IX,  26,  b. 

1013.  afrayde,  probably  a  printer's  correction  of  afeard,  which 
is  required  by  the  rhyme.     Cf.  1.  1877. 

1041.  proude  enterprise,  pride  and  boldness. 

1062.  of  man's  fragiUtie,  i.  e.,  out  of  (or  among)  the  fragile  race 
of  men. 

1143.  I  can  you  thanke.  Idiomatic:  to  con  thanks  =  to  be 
thankful. 

1144.  An  vniust  God  do  you  esteme,  i.  e.,  esteem  God  to  be  an 
unjust  God;  the  word  him  to  be  supplied  after  you  ;  although  just 
possibly  an  is  a  misprint  for  as;  the  same  imperative  construction, 
however,  occurs  two  lines  below  in  do  you  blaspheme. 

1175-8.  C/.  Psalm  118:22;  Matt.  21:42;  Mark  12:10;  1  Peter 
2:6 

1200.  I  haue  the  sicke.     haue  is  an  evident  misprint  for  leaue. 

1212.  Was  thy  conscience  sicked  f  For  the  form  cf.  II  Hen. 
IV,  Act  IV,  sc.  iv,  128  :  "  Edward  sick'd  and  died." 

1215.  You  bottell-nosed  knaue.  The  same  elegant  phrase  of 
abuse  occurs  in  AH  for  Money,  1. 461  {Shakesiieare-Jahrbuch,  XL, 
p.  157). 

1283.  All  they.  For  the  locution  cf.  11.  535,  2027  {all  ice),  695 
(you  all).  Cf.  also  Bale's  God's  Promises  (Hazlitt's  Dodsley,  I.  p. 
322):  "All  they  received  one  spiritual  feeling  doubtless." 

1296.  the  father.  Plural,  as  is  shown  by  the  theyoi  the  follow- 
ing line,  and  possibly  a  misprint  iov  fathers. 

1300  ff.  Cf.  Luke  8:2.  etc.  All  the  other  early  English  versions 
of  the  Magdalen  story  allude  to  the  incident  of  the  casting  out  of 
seven  devils  from  Mary.  The  uproar  of  the  devils  balked  and 
deprived  of  their  prey  is  an  obligate  performance,  traditional  from 
the  days  of  the  mystery-plays.     Cf.  Creizenach,  I,  p.  203. 

1504,  1506.  According  to  the  scheme  of  the  verse  these  lines 


'.H  Notes 

should  rhyme.  They,  however,  do  not.  Mr.  W.  A.  White  suggests 
to  read  some  rejKisf  to  take,  which  happily  restores  the  missing 
rhyme.  The  order  of  the  words  in  the  text  may  be  an  original 
printer's  error. 

1553.  Supply  they  before  will. 

1569.  byr  lady.  The  common  contraction  for  by  our.  More 
often  in  the  phrase  "byr  lakins." 

1587.  In  the  original  misprinted  hitherto. 

1651.  the.     The  original  has  //',  an  evident  misprint  for  y^. 

1663.  .xi.houres.    An  obvious  misprint  for  .xw.    C/.  John  11:9. 

1695  f.,  1715  f.,  1719.  The  motive  of  Mary's  tears,  deriving  from 
the  bililical  account,  and  here  so  often  reciu-red  to,  is  variously 
elaborated  in  most  of  the  literature  and  art  dealing  with  the  Mag- 
dalen subject.  See  especially  the  poems  by  Southwell,  Markham, 
and  Crashaw,  already  referred  to  (pp.  xxxix-xl). 

1755-60.  This  speech  in  the  original  is  given  by  error  to 
Mai icioKS  j nd<jei)ient.     It  evidently  belongs  to  Infidelity. 

1757.  Heigh,  for  hoigh!,cf.  78-i. 

1763,  1765.  Again  the  expected  rhyme  is  missing.  Prof.  Brandl 
suggests  to  read  for  1765  icherabout  looke  you.  Cf.  the  same 
rhyme  in  P.  45,  47. 

1774.  ought  =  owed. 

1860.  Perhaps  to  be  read:  Let  no  sinner.,  be  he  neuer  so  great 
[a  sinner],  dispaire. 

1880.  blasphemer  and.  Misprinted  as  blasphemerand  in 
original. 

1963  ff.  At  this  point  the  rhyme-scheme  changes  from  alter- 
nate quatrains  to  couplets.  These  first  two  lines,  however,  are 
unrhymed.  Prof.  Brandl  suggests  the  restoration  of  the  rhyme 
by  altering  1.  1964  to  read  of  his  mercy  great. 

2023-26.  A  similar  excuse  for  breaking  off  a  similar  discourse 
—  the  fear  of  wearying  the  audience  —  is  advanced  also  near  the 
end  of  W.  Wager's  The  Longer  thou  livest  (11.  1875-79:  cf. 
Shakespeare-Jahrbuch,  XXXVI,  p.  62). 

2054.  A  device  of  a  circle  enclosing  a  shield  bearing  an  eagle 
and  a  key,  with  the  motto  Po.st  Tenebras  Li'x  aroimd  the  margin, 
follows  the  word  Finis  and  fills  the  rest  of  the  last  page. 


GLOSSARIAL  INDEX 

A,  1.  L.  456,  interj.     Ah! 
2.  L.  1788,  prep.    Of. 

Abiected,  647,  ppl    Cast  off.     Cf.  New  Engl.  Diet. ;  Halliwell. 

Accumbred,  424,  ppl.     Entang'led,  encumbered.     Cf.  N.E.D. 

Acquited,  1990  (rhymes  with  recited),  ppl.     Paid  for,  atoned  for. 
Cf.  N.E.D.,  I,  4. 

Affect,  P.  14,  sb.    Affection,  passion.     Cf.  N.E.D.  (1, 1,  c,  3);  Nares. 

Aldermen,  1552,  sb.    Rulers,  nobles.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1,  b. 

Allecteth,  645,  v.  t.    Allures,  "alliciat."     Cf.  N.E.D.;  Halliwell. 

Almose,  99,  .s-6.     Alms,  charity.     Cf.  N.E.D. 

Alway,  300,  350,  376,  470,  495,  588,  713,  989,  etc.,  adv.    Always,  all 
the  time. 

Ascertain,  1390,  v.  t.     To  assure,  make  certain.     Cf.  N.E.D. 

Attire,  541,  sb.     Head-dress,  tire.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  4. 

Away-the-raare,  1224.    Away  with  care!     Cf.  Halliwell;  Nares. 

Backare,  488,  v.  i.     Back  up,  go  back.     Cf.  N.E.D.;  Nares;  Halli- 
well. 

Bealy,  302,  sb.  as  a.    Belly. 

Beleue,  P.  53,  1179,  2019  (rhymes  with  geue,  etc.),  sb.     Belief. 

Bon  grace,  584,  sb.     A  bonnet,  or  shade  for  the  face.     Cf.  N.E.D. ; 
Nares;  Halliwell. 

Bungarliest,  58,  a.    Clumsiest,  most  awkward.    Line  72,  bungarly. 
Cf.  N.E.D. 

By,  532,  632,  649,  817, 1851,  prep.    About,  concerning.    Cf.  N.E.D., 
26. 

Cast,  castes,  724,  735,  sb.     Contrivance,  device,  trick.     Cf.  N.E.D., 
VII. 

Chargeable,  P.  49,  a.    Costly,  burdensome.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1, 4. 

Commendable,  629,  a.    Commendatory.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  2. 

Commoditie,  472.  810,  983,  sb.    Advantage.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  2,  c. 

Conglutinate,  805,  ppZ.     Attached,  united.     Cf.  N.E.D. 

Contentation,  1174,  sb.    The  making  of  satisfaction  for  sin.    Atone- 
ment.    Cf.  N.E.D.,  5,  b. 

Conuey,  37,  673,  v.  t.     To  manage,  conduct  (in  evil  sense).     Cf. 
N.E.D.,  12. 

95 


96  Glossarial  Index 

Courage,  corage,  1.  LI.  561,  703,  723,  sb.    Spirit,  vigor. 

2.  L.  r,i)S.     Lust.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  3,  e. 
Deace.  9,  sh.    Dais.  O.  Fr.  deis,  "table,  estrade."    Cf.  N.E.D.  (dais). 
Dearlyng,  172,  sb.     Darling,  favorite.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  c. 
Decent,  191,  a.     Proper,  becoming. 

Decline.  1407,  v.  i.    To  turn  aside,  fall  away  from.    Cf.  N.E.D.,  1, 3. 
Depended,  P.  82,  ppZ.     Existed  (?);  been  interdependent  (?). 
Detract,  P.  24,  r.  t.     To  depreciate.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  L  3. 
Detrimentes,  1722,  sb.    Losses,  damage.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 
Diete,  47,  659, 693,  sb.    Taste,  liking,  way  of  living.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  2. 
Dispaire,  565,  c.  i.    To  spoil,  decay.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Disposition,  129,  .s6.    Conditionf?),  position!  ?).     Cf.  N.E.D.,  8. 
Dresse,  2.32,  243,  279,  1302,  c.  t.     To  prepare,  treat,  manage.     Cf. 

N.E.D. 
Ebrietie,  302  sb.    Drunkenness.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Entreating,  title-page,  2,  pjjl.     Treating.  Cf.  N.E.D.,  s.  v.  entreat, 

I,  3. 

Erected,  P.  78,  ppl.     Raised  up,  roused,  emboldened.     Cf.  N.E.D., 

II,  5. 

Erudition,  193,  977,  1398, 1872,  sb.  Teaching,  lore,  precept,  doctrine. 

Cf.  N.E.D.,  2. 
Facultie,  P.  24,  31,  39,  etc.,  .sb.    Art,  profession.     Cf.  N.E.D.  II,  8. 
Fashion,  9(54,  979,  sb.     Mode  of  action,  behavior.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  6. 
Fautes,  P.  38;  574,  sb.     Faults. 
Feate,  108,  a.    Neat,  proper,  elegant.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Foole,  704,  1212,  sb.     Fool  (as  term  of  familiarity  or  pity).     Cf.  N. 

E.  D.,  I,  1,  c. 
For,  1000.  prep.    So  far  as  concerns.    Cf.  N.E.D.,  IX,  26,  b. 
Forthinke,  1386,  r. f.   To  repent.  Cf.  N.E.D.;  Nares;  Halliwell. 
Freate,  P.  77;  1105,  v.  t.     To  fret,  gnaw,  trouble. 
Frequented,  P.  37,  pp/.    Made  use  of,  patronized. 
Gaudes,  573,  sb.     Jests,  tricks,     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1 ;  Cent.  Diet. 
Geare,  sb.  1.  LI.  64,  74,  76,  78,  82,  402,  421,  605,  613,  935,  1545,  etc. 

Dress,  apparel.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  I,  1. 

2.  LI.  5.")8,  762,  1923.     Appliances.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  II,  5. 

3.  LI.  649,  678,  681,  698,  1567,  1582,  1672.     Matter,  aflfair.     Cf. 
N.E.D.,  Ill,  11. 

Geason,  P.  14,  a.     Rare,  uncommon. 

Ghostly,  1591,  a.     Spiritual.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 

Gis,  69,  sb.     By  Gis,  an  oath.     Softened  form  of  Jesus. 


Glossarial  Index  97 

Glad,  13fi3,  vd.    To  be  glad,  to  rejoice.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 
Gouernance,  1442,  sb.    Direction,  sway.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1,  b. 
Gree,  522.  1234,  v.i.     Agree.     Cf  N.E.D.,  5. 
Greuance,  1681,  sb.    Trouble,  grief.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  2. 
Grutch,  1.  L.  1616,  r.f.     To  trouble.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  s.  v.  grudge,  4:. 
2.  L.  1835,   V.  i.     To    murmur,  complain.       Cf.  N.E.D.,   s.  v. 

grutrh,  1. 
Gymmes,  610,  sb.     Joints,  links.     Cf.  N.E.D.  s.  v.  Gimmor,'^  3. 
Habitacle,  240,  s6.    Habitation,     cy.  iV.£.i;. ;  Halliwell. 
Haire,  543,  sb.    For  head  of  hair. 
Hardely,  666,  adv.    Boldly.     Cf.  N.E.D. 

Harlot,  1253,  s6.  Vagabond,  knave  (applied  to  men).  Cf.  N.E.D.,1. 
Hart  rote,  741,  sb.     Beloved  one.     Cf.  N.E.D.  s.  v.  Heart-root,  2. 
Headinesse,  307,  sb.    Headstrongness.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Holde,  69, 1760,  v.  t.    To  bet,  wager.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  13;  Halliwell  (9). 
Inconsideration,  307,  sb.     Thoughtlessness,  heedlessness.     Cf.  N. 

E.D. 
Inquired,  820,  ppZ.    Sought.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Intromit,  1753,  v.i.     To  enter  among,  to  have  to  do  with.     Cf.  N. 

E.D.,  3. 
lugge,  815,  sb.     A  term  of  endearment  (Joan).     Cf.  N.E.D. 
lurie,  128,  sb.    Jewry,  Judea,  the  land  of  the  Jews.    Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 
lust,  1062,  a.     Righteous.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 
Iwis,  130,  834,  adv.     Certainly,  indeed.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Knacke,  15,  sb.    Trick.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 
Lese,  668,  v.t.    Lose.     Cf  N.E.D.,  3,  s.  v.  lose. 
Let,  P.  39,  v.t.     To  hinder,  to  damage,  harm.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 
Magnificence,  2044,  sb.     Munificence.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet..  2;  Spenser 

(Glolje  ed.),  p.  4,  col.  a,  1.  5. 
Marchant,  910,  sb.     A  fellow  [familiar].     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  1,  s.  v. 

merchant,  3. 
Maude,  717,  sb.    A  hag,  an  old  woman. 

Meace,  11,  sb.     Mess;  allowance  (?)     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.  s.  v.  mease. 
Mischeue,  32,  v.t.     To  injure.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Miseration,  1365,  sb.    Commiseration.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Miserie,  1381,  1385,  sb.    State  of  spiritual  unregeneracy  (?). 
Myddes,  83,  sb.    Midst,  middle.     Cf.  1.  85.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.  s.  v 

in  idst. 
Mynikin,  253,  a.     Small,  fine,  dainty.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Nourtred,  165,  pp/.     Nurtured. 


98  Glossarial  Index 

Obsequie,  1709,  1717,  1811,  2018,  sb.   Obsequious  service.    Cf.  Cent. 

Diet.;  Nares;  Bale's  Tcmptaryon  (ed.  Grosart),  p.  23,  1.  20;  p. 

2fi.  1.  15.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Obseruation,  1918,  sb.    Observance,     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  8. 
Of,  78l,jan7}.     About,  concerning.     C/.  iV.^.£>.,  VIII,  26,  a. 
On,  881,  prep.    Of.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  II,  22,  b. 
Omature,  165,  563,  sb.     Accomplishments,  polish,  style.     Cf.  Cent. 

Dirf.     Cf.  N.E.D. 
Ouerbody,  61, 604:,  sb.    A  garment.     Cf.  N.E.D.:  cf.  Engl.  Dialect 

Diet.,  ed.  Wright,  IV,  385. 
Pastance,  152,  sb.    Pastime.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.;  Halliwell. 
Perfite,  2015  (rhymes  with  delife),  a.     Perfect. 
Plant,  189,  sb.     An  "establishment,"  outfit. 
Pretence,  887,  sb.     Design,  intention;  or,  pretext  (?). 
Preuent,  preuented,  1287,  1308,  1692,  v.t.    To  forestall;   to  hinder 

from  sin;  save  (used  here  apparently  as  a  cm-rent  specialized 

term  of  religious  dialect). 
Promission,  1399,  sb.    Promise.  Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Purtenance,   184,  sb.     Appurtenances.     Cf.   Cent.  Diet.;  Nares; 

Halliwell. 
Puruiance,  1506,  sb.    Provision.     Cf.  Halliwell;  Cent.  Diet.  s.  v. 

purveyance. 
Rablement,  1537,  sb.     Disorderly  crowd,  ra]>ble.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  1. 
Recorder,  755,  .sb.     A  musical  instrument.     Cf.  N.E.D.,  Nares,  etc. 
Regals,  752,  sb.     A  musical  instrument.     Cf.  Halliwell;  Nares. 
Reiected,  1309,  j^pl-    Expelled,  driven  out. 
Reproued.  1972,  pp/.    Refuted,  disproved.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  4. 
Returnyng',  1352,  vbl.  sb.    A  turning  away. 
Repend,  1314,  r.t.     To  give  in  retiirn,  requite.     Lat.  re-pendo. 
Richesse,  192,  1809,  .s6.     Riches. 
Sapience,  P.  47,  sb.    Doctrine,  wisdom. 
Semble,  1502,  v.  i.    To  seem.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Sentence,  44,  sb.    Opinion,  judgment.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Sicked,  VlVl,  ppl.    Grown  sick. 
Simulate,  2010,  ppl.  a.     Simulated. 
Skilleth,  618,  v.  i.     To  make  a  difference,  be  important. 
Slake,  1469,  v.  i.    To  decrease,  cease.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  I,  8. 
Sort,  295,  1885,  sb.    Company.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Strength.  1326,  1382,  v.  t.     To  strengthen.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet. 
Sufferance,  175,  sb.     Indulgence,  toleration.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  4. 


Glossarial  Index  99 


Taking.  1206,  vbl.  sb.    Condition. 

Tomboyes,  551,  sb.    Strumpets  (?).     Cf.  Cent.  Diet,  3. 

Tusks,  550,  sb.     Tufts  of  hair.    Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  3;  Halliwell. 

Vndertake,  1100,  ppl.  for  undertaken,  i.  e.  understood,  included. 

Vilitie,  1116,  sb.    Vileness.    Cf.  Cent.  Diet. ;  Halliwell,  s.  v. "  vilete." 

Also  in  W.  Wager's  The  Longer  thou  livest,  1.  202. 
Virginals,  751,  sb.    A  musical  instrument,     Cf.  Nares,  etc. 
Wanton,  219,  620,  sb.    A  lewd  person.     Cf.  Cent.  Diet,  7. 
Witte.  525, 1250,  sb.    Sagacity,  wisdom,  intellect.    Cf.  Cent.  Diet.,  1. 
Wittily,  896,  adv.     Cunningly,  shrewdly,  wisely. 
Worshipfull,  129,  a.    Honored. 
WorshipfuUy,  114,  adv.    Honorably,  in  high  regard. 


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The  names  of  the  Players. 


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PR  Wager,  Lewis 

3178      The  life  and  repentaunce  of 

W2A7  Marie  Magdalene 

190.; 


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