_a_ 34. _þe pley of Ȝork._ The York Paternoster Play has not survived, but there are records from 1389 of a Guild of the Lord's Prayer at York, whose main object was the production of the play. It seems to have been an early example of the moral play, holding up 'the vices to scorn and the virtues to praise', and it probably consisted of several scenes, each exhibiting one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The last recorded representation was in 1572. See Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_, vol. ii, p. 154. The association of the friars with the production of religious plays is confirmed by other writings of the time. They were quick to realize the value of dramatic representation as a means of gaining favour with the people, and their encouragement must be reckoned an important factor in the development of the Miracle Play. _a_ 51. _wher_, 'whether'; cp. _b_ 207. In ll. 197, 266, 274, it introduces a direct question; see note to V 118. _b_ 20. _Gregory_, Gregory the Great. See his work _In Primum Regum Expositiones_, Bk. iii, c. 28: _praedicatores autem Sanctae Ecclesiae... prophetae ministerio utuntur_ (Migne, _Patrologia_, vol. lxxix, col. 158). _b_ 44. <_God_>. Such omissions from the Corpus MS. are supplied throughout from the copy in Trinity College, Dublin, MS. C. III. 12. _b_ 79-80. Cp. Luke xxi. 36 and 1 Thessalonians v. 17. _b_ 89-91. Proverbs xxviii. 9. _b_ 126. _as Ambrose_: In 386 St. Ambrose, besieged in the Portian Church at Milan by Arian sectaries, kept his followers occupied and in good heart by introducing the Eastern practice of singing hymns and antiphons. See St. Augustine's _Confessions_ Bk. ix, c. 7. _b_ 131-2. _placebo._ Vespers of the Dead, named from the first word of the antiphon, _Placebo Domino in regione vivorum_ (Psalm cxiv. 9). _dirige._ Matins of the Dead, named from the first word of the antiphon, _Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam_ (Psalm v. 9). Hence our word _dirge_. _comendacion_: an office in which the souls of the dead are commended to God. _matynes of Oure Lady_: one of the services in honour of the Virgin introduced in the Middle Ages. The whole question of these accretions to the Church services is dealt with by our English master in liturgical study, the late Mr. Edmund Bishop, in his essay introductory to the Early English Text Society's edition of the _Prymer_, since reprinted with additional notes in his _Liturgica Historica_ (Oxford 1918), pp. 211 ff.