INTRODUCTION.  xxxvii

(notably  for  that  of  Jesus  in  the  Temple)  we  can  trace  the
influence  of  the  Yorkshire  cycles,  and  the  play  on  the  sacrifice
of  Isaac  was  borrowed  either  from,  or  from  the  same  original
as,  the  Brome  play,  printed  by  Miss  Toulmin  Smith.  But  if
it  be  true,  as  Professor  Ten  Brink  suggests,  that  the  Chester
cycle  is  both  less  important  and  less  original  than  those  of
York  and  Woodkirk,  and  that  its  best,  both  of  pathos  and
humour  appears  to  be  borrowed,  it  must  be  allowed  on  the
other  hand  that  its  author  was  possessed  of  an  unusual  share  of
good  taste.  There  is  less  in  the  Chester  plays  to  jar  on
modern  feelings  than  in  any  other  of  the  cycles.  The  humour
is  kept  more  within  bounds,  the  religious  tone  is  far  higher,  and
though  the  plays  are  not  spoilt  by  any  obtrusive  didacticism  such
as  we  find  in  the  Coventry  cycle,  the  speeches  of  the  Expositor
at  the  end  of  each  play  show  that  a  real  effort  was  made  to
serve  the  religious  object  to  which  all  Miracle  plays  were
ostensibly  directed.  On  a  comparison  of  the  contents  of  this
cycle  with  that  of  York  we  note  that  fresh  subjects  are  intro-
duced in  the  histories  of  Lot  and  of  Balaam,  in  the  play  on
Ezekiel,  which  contains  prophecies  of  the  end  of  the  world
and  the  Fifteen  Signs  of  Doom,  and  in  the  very  curious  em-
bodiment of  the  medieval  legends  on  the  coming  of  Antichrist.
