Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/293

 MIRACLE CYCLES. 281 isolated passages, or else, on the other, present a close similarity in dramatic structure and in the order of events. The literature which has grown up round the subject in the course of the last twenty-five years is considerable, but as yet it can hardly be said either that any authoritative view of the matter has emerged, or that investigation has been pursued to its limit. With regard to the plays in which a considerable portion of common text makes the general relation pretty clear, there yet remain various questions of detail which are open to doubt. What exaftly do we mean when we say as we do say that the Wakefield cycle borrows from that of York? Was it properly a borrowing at all, or are both descended from a parent cycle to which York adheres rather more closely than its rival ? If the Wakefield cycle is a compilation from various sources, was the com- piler at liberty to take what he would from York, or did he take what he could ? At what period did the borrowing occur? Was the borrowing from York a factor in the original compilation of the Wakefield cycle, or a later process which displaced earlier plays ? In considering those correspondences which do not amount to substantial identity of text various things should be borne in mind. The occurrence of verbal parallels should be regarded with suspicion, and various possibilities considered before drawing conclusions even when the connexion is evident. The different miracle cycles contain a great many parallels, and they are not always parallels with one another. The York plays have been shown to be