Doubtless these performances abounded in what seem to us ludicrous features; and, though their main purpose was serious, they were not in England at least intended to be devoid of fun. But many of the features in question are in truth only homely and _naïf_, and the simplicity of feeling which they exhibit is at times pathetic rather than laughable. The occasional grossness is due to an absence of refinement of taste rather than to an obliquity of moral sentiment. These features the four series have more or less in common, still there are certain obvious distinctions between them. The _York_ plays (48), which were performed at Corpus Christi, are comparatively free from the tendency to jocularity and vulgarity observable in the _Towneley_; several of the plays concerned with the New Testament and early Christian story are, however, in substance common to both series. The _Towneley Plays_ or _Wakefield Mysteries_ (32) were undoubtedly composed by the friars of Widkirk or Nostel; but they are of a popular character; and, while somewhat over-free in tone, are superior in vivacity and humour to both the later collections. The _Chester Plays_ (25) were undoubtedly indebted both to the _Mystère du vieil testament_ and to earlier French mysteries; they are less popular in character than the earlier two cycles, and on the whole undistinguished by original power of pathos or humour. There is, on the other hand, a notable inner completeness in this series, which includes a play of _Antichrist_, devoid of course of any modern application. While these plays were performed at Whitsuntide, the _Coventry Plays_ (42) were Corpus Christi performances. Though there is no proof that the extant series were composed by the Grey Friars, they reveal a considerable knowledge of ecclesiastical literature. For the rest, they are far more effectively written than the _Chester Plays_, and occasionally rise to real dramatic force. In the _Coventry_ series there is already to be observed an element of abstract figures, which connects them with a different species of the medieval drama. Moralities. The Devil and the Vice.