Page:Ludus Coventriae (1841).djvu/13

 MS. affords much evidence in favour of James's title, except so far as it shows that Dugdale himself had no doubt whatever about its correctness. It will be observed that Dugdale does not give a right reference to the press-mark of the manuscript, and he had probably not examined the volume with much attention, or he could scarcely have omitted to notice the following passage at the end of the prologue, which has been adduced to prove that these mysteries were not exclusively performed before the "gentyllys and ȝemanry" of Coventry:—

"A Sunday next, yf that we may, At vj. of the belle we gynne oure play In N. towne."

"The letter N," observes Mr. Collier, "is placed for the nomen of the town, which was to be filled up as occasion required, by the person making the proclamation." If the opinion I have formed of their locality be correct, I can account for this by supposing that the prologues of the vexillators belong to another series of plays, or that these mysteries were occasionally performed at other places. The summaries of the pageants, as given in the prologue, are often confusedly numbered; and it must be confessed that the conclusion would suit a company of strolling players much better than the venerable order of the Grey