It is not to be supposed that we have the text of the plays as written _at first_, for the original plays are without doubt much older than the fifteenth century. We find that the quarrels of Noah and his wife formed so familiar a story that they became proverbial. Chaucer says:-- “Hast thou not heard (quod Nicholas) also The sorowe of Noe with his felowship Or that he might get his wife to ship.” Chaucer wrote this about 1390, and it appears certain, therefore, that our play of _Noah_, and probably those on the same subject at Wakefield and Newcastle-on-Tyne, were often performed by the middle of the fourteenth century. The metre employed varies, but a large proportion is in eight line stanzas, sometimes with two rimes:-- a a a b a a a b and sometimes with three; a a a b c c c b as may be seen in the following example:-- CHRIST’S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM THE CORVYSORS PLAYE _Pagina decima Quarta, de Jesu intrante domum Simonis Leprosi, et de aliis rebus._ JESUS. Brethren, goe we to Bethanye, To Lazarre, Martha, and Marye, For I love moche their companye! a a a b Thedder nowe will I wende. Symond the Leaper hath praied me In his house to take charatye; a a a b With them nowe it liketh me A whyle for to lende. PETRUS. Lorde, all readye shall we be In life and death to goe with thee; Greate joye they maye have to see a a a b Thy cominge into their place. PHILIPPE. Lazarre thou raysed through thy pittie, And Symonde also, messille was he, Thou clensed, Lorde, that wotten we, a a a b And holpe them through thy grace. _Tunc ibunt versus domum Simonis Leprosi._ LAZARRUS. Welckome, Lorde, sweete Jesu, Blessed be the tyme that I thee knewe! From death to liffe through thy vertue a a a b Thou raysed me not yore; Fower dayes in eairth when I [had] layne, Thou granteste me life againe. Thee I honoure with all my mayne, c c c b Nowe and ever more. But other metres are frequently used. A very fine dramatic effect is produced in some of the plays by the sudden use of the short Skeltonian metre. In the play of the _Passion_ the Tormentors cry:-- And thou be messye And loth for to lye Who smote thee? Crye If thou be Christe. Now he is bounden Be he never so wounden Soon he shall be founden With flaps in fear. In woe he is wounden And his grain is grounden, No lad unto London Such law can him lere (teach). Again in the _Crucifixion_:-- SECUNDUS JUDAEUS. This coat shall be mine, For it is good and fine And seam is not therein That I can see. TERCIUS JUDAEUS. Yea, God give me pain And (if) that shall be thine, For thou art ever incline To draw towards thee. QUARTUS JUDAEUS.