Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/46

Rh It has been twice printed, once with a translation by John Keigwin of Mousehole, edited by Davies Gilbert in 1826, and by Dr. Whitley Stokes for the Philological Society in 1862. There is very little in this poem beyond a versified narrative of the events of the Passion, from Palm Sunday to Easter morning, taken directly from the four Gospels, with some legendary additions from the Gospel of Nicodemus and elsewhere, preceded by an account of our Lord's fasting and temptation. The metre consists of eight-lined stanzas (written as four lines) of seven-syllabled lines. There are two hundred and fifty-nine of these stanzas.

6. The Ordinalia.—These consist of three dramas collectively known under this title. The first play, called Origo Mundi, begins with the Creation of the World, the Fall of Man, Cain and Abel, etc.; this being followed by the building of the Ark and the Flood, the story of the temptation of Abraham closing the first act. The second act gives us the history of Moses, and the third represents the story of David and of the building of Solomon's Temple, curiously ending with a description of the martyrdom of St. Maximilla as a Christian (!) by the bishop placed in charge of the temple by Solomon. The second play, Passio Domini, represents the Temptation of Christ, and the events 'from the entry into Jerusalem to the Crucifixion; and this goes on without interruption into the third play, Resurrectio Domini, which gives an account of the Harrowing of Hell, the Resurrection, and the Ascension, with the Legend of St. Veronica and Tiberius, and the death of Pilate. As in the Poem of the Passion, the pseudo-Gospel of Nicodemus and other legendary sources are drawn upon.

But running through the whole and interwoven with the Scriptural narrative comes the beautiful and curious Legend of the Cross. The legend, most of which is in the dramas, is this. When Adam found himself dying, he