COLLECTION OF ENGLISH MIRACLE-PLAYS OR MYSTERIES: CONTAINING TEN DRAMAS FROM THE CHESTER, COVENTRY, AND TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF THIS DESCRIPTION BY WILLIAM MARRIOTT, Ph. Dr. BASEL: SCHWEIGHAUSER & CO; AND BROCKHAUS & AVENARIUS, PARIS. PREFACE. The Editor of the following pages has been induced to publish the present Collection of English Miracle-plays or Mysteries, from its appearing to him to be a desideratum. This will no doubt be apparent, if it be considered, that, although much has been done to illustrate the history of the English theatre, especially of the sixteenth century, not one of the various publications on this subject, contains a single play of the Chester, Coventry, or Townely series. That these dramas are particularly deserving of attention, can scarcely be denied, as they are the oldest pieces of the kind in existence, and present us moreover with the only connected view, that is to be had, of the manner in which the whole Bible was theatrically represented. It is also a little singular, that the publications of Dodsley, Hawkins and others, afford but little information on this subject; that of Collier on the contrary much more, though his remarks are unfortunately too much scattered in his excellent work. That so little has been done as yet to give a correct view of the ancient history of the English |