A Miracle-Play relating to Mary Magdalen is remarkable as having required four scaffolds for the exhibition; Tiberius, Herod, Pilate, and the Devil having each their several stations; and one of the directions being, “Enter the Prince of Devils on a stage, and Hell underneath the stage.”  Mary lives in a castle inherited from her father, who figures in the opening of the play as King Cyrus.  A ship owned by St. Peter is brought into the space between the scaffolds, and Mary and some others make a long voyage in it.  Of course St. Peter’s ship represents the Catholic Church.  The heroine’s castle is besieged by the Devil with the Seven Deadly Sins, and carried; Luxury takes her to a tavern where a gallant named Curiosity treats her to “sops and wine.”  The process of Mary’s repentance and amendment is carried through in due order.  Tiberius makes a long speech glorifying himself; a parasite named Serybil flatters him on his good looks, and he in return blesses Serybil’s face, which was probably carbuncled as richly as Corporal Bardolph’s.  Herod makes his boast in similar style, and afterwards goes to bed.  The devils, headed by Satan, perform a mock pagan mass to Mahound, which is the old name for Mohammed.  The three Kings of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil figure in the play, but not prominently.  A Priest winds up the performance, requesting the spectators not to charge its faults on the poet.

Here, again, we have allegorical personages, as Lechery, Luxury, and Curiosity, introduced along with concrete particular characters of Scripture.  This is carried still further in another play of a later date, called the Life and Repentance of Mary Magdalen, where we have divers personifications of abstract ideas, such as Law, Faith, Pride, Cupidity, and Infidelity; the latter being much the same as the Vice or Iniquity who figured so largely in Moral-Plays.  Infidelity acts as the heroine’s paramour, and assumes many disguises, to seduce her into all sorts of vice, wherein he is aided by Pride, Cupidity, and Carnal-concupiscence.  When she has reached the climax of sin, he advises her “not to make two hells instead of one,” but to live merrily in this world, since she is sure of perdition in the next; and his advice succeeds for a while.  On the other hand, Law, Faith, Repentance, Justification, and Love strive to recover her, and the latter half of the play is taken up with this work of benevolence.  At last, Christ expels the seven devils, who “roar terribly”; whereupon Infidelity and his companions give her up.  The piece closes with a dialogue between Mary, Justification, and Love, the latter two rejoicing over the salvation of a sinner.

This play was printed in 1567, and is described in the title-page, as “not only godly, learned, and fruitful, but also well furnished with pleasant mirth and pastime, very delectable for those which shall hear or read the same:  Made by the learned clerk, Lewis Wager.”  It bears clear internal evidence of having been written after the Reformation; and the prologue shows that it was acted by itinerant players, and had been performed “at the university.”