Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/391

 MIRACLE CYCLES. 377 The third main guide in our investigation is the comparison of the text as we find it with the description of the individual pageants supplied by the ' vexillatores ' of the Prologue. This is by far the most powerful instrument of criticism at our disposal, and to it and to the metrical and other analysis of the plays themselves we must now turn. I propose to go more or less systematically through the cycle, and as I go I shall gather together what- ever evidence I can find for the unravelling of the problems it presents. You will, of course, under- stand that in such a ledlure as this it is impossible to do more than brush the surface of a fascinating subjefl and select a few of the more striking points for comment. Our survey must needs be cursory, and I must ask your indulgence if in the course of it I touch upon certain points the bearing of which may not be immediately apparent. It must suffice if by the end of my allotted hour I can produce sufficient points of evidence to warrant the very general and provisional inferences I propose to draw. The Prologue is spoken by three ' vexillatores ' or standard bearers, who recite in turn the subjects of the various pageants. It is composed, like a large portion of the cycle itself, in thirteeners. As a rule one stanza describes one pageant, but occasionally the description fills two stanzas, or one stanza describes two pageants. Two stanzas near the beginning are imperfect, consisting of four lines each, space being left in the manuscript for their completion. Towards the end four stanzas are distinguished by the greater length of their