Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/385

 MIRACLE CYCLES. 371 the reign of Henry VIII. Had he examined more carefully the manuscript he was editing he would have found the hand of the main scribe both correcting and rubricating the additional play. When we come to examine the make-up of the manuscript numerous irregularities become apparent. In some cases it would seem that the scribe wrote on a series of detached leaves, and though there was probably some reason for his doing so, this is not always easy to discover. In other cases the dislocation in the natural sequence of the leaves throws welcome light upon the manner in which the cycle was compiled. I shall have occasion to make use of the evidence such dislocations supply later on, and will here confine myself to the discussion of two remarkable in- stances. One occurs in the course of the scene representing the Last Supper. This, which is laid at the house of Symon the Leper, is interwoven by means of alternating scaffolds with that of the Conspiracy. Now it happens that in one place the scene originally shifted from the house of Symon to the Council Chamber at the junction of two quires. This is proved by an original catch- word. But at this point two leaves were inserted containing an elaborate version of the incident of Jesus warning his disciples that one of them was about to betray him. This incident already ap- peared in simpler form further on, so that the insertion caused actual duplication. The catch- word was altered to connect with the inserted leaves. But that was not all. One further leaf was prefixed to those already inserted. This