Then he gives as his gift a bob of cherries.

The second shepherd speaks:—­

    “Hail! sovereign saviour! for thee have we sought. 
    Hail, noble child and flower that all thing hast wrought. 
    Hail, full of favour, that made all of nought. 
    Hail!  I kneel and I cower!  A bird have I brought
        To my bairn. 
    Hail, little tiny mop,
    Of our creed thou art crop,*
    I would drink to thy health,
        Little Day Star!”

Head.  The third shepherd speaks:—­

    Hail! darling dear full of Godhead! 
    I pray thee be near when that I have need! 
    Hail! sweet is thy cheer!  My heart would bleed
    To see thee sit here in so poor weed
        With no pennies. 
    Hail! put forth thy dall.*
    I bring thee but a ball: 
    Have and play thee with all
        And go to the tennis.”

    Hand.

And so the pageant of the shepherds comes to an end, and they return home rejoicing.

This play gives us a good idea of how the Miracles wound themselves about the lives of the people.  It gives us a good idea of the rudeness of the times when such jesting with what we hold as sacred seemed not amiss.  It gives, too, the first gleam of what we might call true comedy in English.

Chapter XXXIV THE STORY OF EVERYMAN

A LITTLE later than the Miracle and Mystery plays came another sort of play called the Moralities.  In these, instead or representing real people, the actors represented thoughts, feelings and deeds, good and bad.  Truth, for instance, would be shown as a beautiful lady; Lying as an ugly old man, and so on.  These plays were meant to teach just as the Miracles were meant to teach.  But instead of teaching the Bible stories, they were made to show men the ugliness of sin and the beauty of goodness.  When we go to the theater now we only think of being amused, and it is strange to remember that all acting was at first meant to teach.

The very first of our Moralities seems to have been a play of the Lord’s Prayer.  It was acted in the reign of Edward III or some time after 1327.  But that has long been lost, and we know nothing of it but its name.  There are several other Moralities, however, which have come down to us of a later date, the earliest being of the fifteenth century, and of them perhaps the most interesting is Everyman.

But we cannot claim Everyman altogether as English literature, for it is translated from, or at least founded upon, a Dutch play.  Yet it is the best of all the Moralities which have come down to us, and may have been translated into English about 1480.  In its own time it must have been thought well of, or no one would have troubled to translate it.  But, however popular it was long ago, for hundreds of years it had lain almost forgotten, unread except