Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/404

 390 PROBLEMS OF THE ENGLISH 21, the 'Woman in Adultery/ xxi and 24, and the ' Raising of Lazarus/ xxii and 25, are regular short octave plays, and agree with the Prologue, though it cannot be confidently asserted that the stanzas in the latter must have been written for the extant plays. In particular the remarkable and lively drama of the Adulteress seems rather inade- quately described. The c Baptism ' and ' Tempta- tion of Christ/ Prologue xix, xx, text 22 (not numbered 1 ), 23, also agree with the Prologue, and are in thirteeners. This concludes the third section of the cycle. It would be useless on this occasion to make any detailed analysis of the Entry and Passion sections, since the problems they present are far too com- plicated to yield to any but the most minute inves- tigation. A few very general remarks must there- fore suffice. The most striking feature of these sections is the appearance of a source which has not so far been in evidence, even if it has been present at all. Considerable portions of this part of the cycle are, namely, written in a mixture of quatrains, some of long, some of short lines, and of couplets. To what extent the former may be due to the breakdown under revision of earlier octaves we need not inquire, since this can hardly account for all cases in which they appear. But that considerable revision and rewriting has taken* place is evident. The correspondence with the Prologue, except in one important respect to be 1 The scribe cancelled two leaves at the beginning of this play, and in their place inserted one leaf with the verso not quite full. On this inserted leaf he forgot to repeat the play number.